2011 MBP - Sudden Crash, Can’t Boot

[SamAaro]

Hello there.
I’m having some issues I’m really hoping someone can help me on.

I have a 2011 MacBook Pro that has been working great this whole time. I’m the original owner.

Today while working in Photoshop my MBP suddenly froze, went dark grey and crashed.

Now I can’t log back in.

I’ve cleared the NVRAM and reset the SMC based off of a google search.
I’ve gone as far as removing the battery too and restarting etc.

I’ve tried booting in Safe mode by holding Shift but nothing appears different.
I’ve tried booting in Recovery by holding CMD-R but the Utilities window won’t appear.

Sometimes it gets to the Apple Logo with loading bar and then loads a white screen.
Sometimes it gets to my log-in screen but it’s very grey with a blue tint, then when I log in it loads a white screen.

I have a Crucial SSD, so tried removing that and putting the old Hard Disk Drive back in, but it does the same thing?!?

I’ve also downgraded my ram to the original ram sticks but again, the same thing.

I don’t really know what to do.
At the very least I was hoping to back up everything (which ironically was on my to-do list today).

Any ideas, input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Fishrrman]

IMPORTANT question:
What SIZE is the display you have?

If it's either 15" or 17", the following question applies:
Do you know what "RadeonGate" is?

If not, you'd better start "reading up" on it.

Quick summary:
On 2011 15" and 17" MBP's, the discrete graphics will fail.
Apple won't repair this any more.
3rd-party replacements are too expensive to be worth it on an old MBP, and they tend to fail anyway with time.
REAL solution: start looking for a replacement.

There IS a "fix" that permanently disables the internal GPU, and runs with integrated graphics only.
There are threads here at macrumors on how to do this.

 

[Audit13]

Sometimes it gets to the Apple Logo with loading bar and then loads a white screen.
Sometimes it gets to my log-in screen but it’s very grey with a blue tint, then when I log in it loads a white screen.

I had a late 2011 15" MB Pro that did the same thing. I believe the screen is turning white as soon as it loads the AMD driver and initializes the AMD GPU.

This is a classic sign of a failed GPU.

 

[SamAaro]

IMPORTANT question:
What SIZE is the display you have?

If it's either 15" or 17", the following question applies:
Do you know what "RadeonGate" is?

If not, you'd better start "reading up" on it.

Quick summary:
On 2011 15" and 17" MBP's, the discrete graphics will fail.
Apple won't repair this any more.
3rd-party replacements are too expensive to be worth it on an old MBP, and they tend to fail anyway with time.
REAL solution: start looking for a replacement.

There IS a "fix" that permanently disables the internal GPU, and runs with integrated graphics only.
There are threads here at macrumors on how to do this.

Thank you for responding.
It’s the late 15” version.

I’ve not heard that term, but actually in 2016 I had the whole logic board replaced by Apple for I believe what you’re describing and they paid for it.

During that though I could at least log in.

I will definitely have a search for disabling the GPU and give that a try.
Thanks again.

I had a late 2011 15" MB Pro that did the same thing. I believe the screen is turning white as soon as it loads the AMD driver and initializes the AMD GPU.

This is a classic sign of a failed GPU.

This sounds like it could be the problem.
Very sad seems the logic board is only 3 years old.

Hopefully the data on my SSD is safe.
Thanks for posting.

 

[SamAaro]

Just tried aN Apple Hardware Test by booting and holding D.
Both short and long tests show no faults or troubles.
Maybe GPU’s aren’t checked during this test?

But there is a definitely blue tint and faint lines on the screen.