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What sucks is I have to pick it back up at the Apple Store. It's three hours away. Only happened to be here as my wife had to have an operation done at a bigger hospital than we have back home. So a six hour round trip to pick it up. Now that really sucks.

You should call them and explain that. Odds are they'll ship it back to your home. I live 15 minutes from an apple store but the wait for an appointment was so long I called and they took care of everything by mail - sent me a box with a prepaid label, and then overnighted it back to me as good as new.
 
You should call them and explain that. Odds are they'll ship it back to your home. I live 15 minutes from an apple store but the wait for an appointment was so long I called and they took care of everything by mail - sent me a box with a prepaid label, and then overnighted it back to me as good as new.


Good idea, I'll give it a shot.

Assuming they fix it is there a way to turn off the discrete graphics all together? I don't need it and would rather just run on the internal graphics to abound this problem from recurring.
 
Do you need to make an appointment with the Genius Bar if returning via an Apple Store? The Apple recall page doesn't make this clear.

My local Apple Store in Berlin doesn't have any appointments available until next Friday, so would rather not hang about until then!
 
I got mine back in two days. They did the "depot repair." Replaced the battery also, and the black plastic bezel between the unibody and the monitor. I asked several people several times and they insisted that it is a new, not remanufactured, logic board.
 
i get Kernel panics a few times a day but my computer is few months early for the support
 
If you take your MBP for repairs make sure you get the new logic board, not the old one as that will eventually develop the same same fault.

To ecco I have said on another thread. Under the new program they're replacing the faulty MBP's with a new motherboard which resolves all the issues. How you can tell whether or not you have the new logic board is that the new logic board supports 1600 MHz RAM where as the old one had support for 1333 MHz. To check, go to the apple in the left corner. Click ABout this Mac. And go to the Ram tab. If it says 1600, it will be running at that speed.
 

If you take your MBP for repairs make sure you get the new logic board, not the old one as that will eventually develop the same same fault.

To ecco I have said on another thread. Under the new program they're replacing the faulty MBP's with a new motherboard which resolves all the issues. How you can tell whether or not you have the new logic board is that the new logic board supports 1600 MHz RAM where as the old one had support for 1333 MHz. To check, go to the apple in the left corner. Click ABout this Mac. And go to the Ram tab. If it says 1600, it will be running at that speed.

Edit: question answered below.
 
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How you can tell whether or not you have the new logic board is that the new logic board supports 1600 MHz RAM where as the old one had support for 1333 MHz.

Given that the new boards support 1600 MHz RAM I wonder if they are using Mid 2012 boards as replacements.

You are dreaming ...

The 2011 MBPs always supported 1600 MHz RAM (there's lengthy discussions about this I am too lazy to dig out). At least quite some people reported that. Can't remember if it was true only for 15" and 17" models.

Also, my latest logic board replacement on a late-2011 15" MBP (done before the repair program, still on AC) from this year did not change anything. But it looks rather stable now, running GPUTest all the time (in this way, to fluctuate temps, see here).
 
You are dreaming ...

The 2011 MBPs always supported 1600 MHz RAM (there's lengthy discussions about this I am too lazy to dig out). At least quite some people reported that. Can't remember if it was true only for 15" and 17" models.

Also, my latest logic board replacement on a late-2011 15" MBP (done before the repair program, still on AC) from this year did not change anything. But it looks rather stable now, running GPUTest all the time (in this way, to fluctuate temps, see here).

Not dreaming just curious...

Did a google search and OWC confirm that the 2011 MBP is compatible with 1600 MHz RAM.
 
Assuming they fix it is there a way to turn off the discrete graphics all together? I don't need it and would rather just run on the internal graphics to abound this problem from recurring.

If they fix it you should just run it the way it was designed. I've had several MBPs with integrated and discrete chips and this is the first time I've ever had issue with it. You also need it to be able to switch if you ever use a 2nd monitor. If you still want to force the integrated chip you have to use a 3rd party app like gfxCardStatus.
 
If they fix it you should just run it the way it was designed. I've had several MBPs with integrated and discrete chips and this is the first time I've ever had issue with it. You also need it to be able to switch if you ever use a 2nd monitor. If you still want to force the integrated chip you have to use a 3rd party app like gfxCardStatus.


But the way it was designed is the problem. I don't need the graphics power of the discrete unit, the internal is plenty to surf the web. So if I can force it to stay off I hope to get longer life out of it. Or I may just sell it since I bought a 13" retina to replace it with. It may not get enough use to even justify keeping it.
 
Given that the new boards support 1600 MHz RAM I wonder if they are using Mid 2012 boards as replacements. That would mean Ivy Bridge, USB3 and Intel Graphics HD4000. Would be useful if someone could check the spec in About this Mac for their replacement board.

That isn't even remotely feasible, especially as they have 17" models as well. There was no 2012 17". Other changes would make it impractical for the 15" models. These are just more refurbished boards, but you don't have to deal with the cost of service.

I'm hoping this means that these are modified, more sturdy boards. I've got nothing to base that on than anecdotal evidence though. If anything changes, I'll update.

I doubt it. I opted for depot repair earlier this year, and the refurbished board has encountered a lot of artifact problems. They're unusual ones though, which makes me wonder if I have a ram problem.
 
That isn't even remotely feasible, especially as they have 17" models as well. There was no 2012 17". Other changes would make it impractical for the 15" models. These are just more refurbished boards, but you don't have to deal with the cost of service.

Yep agreed. Already established the 2011 logic board supports 1600 MHz RAM.
 
Yep agreed. Already established the 2011 logic board supports 1600 MHz RAM.

Yeah. It's good that the repair program goes into next year. Skylake should represent a decent improvement in integrated graphics relative to changes in software demands, at which point I will upgrade.
 
I went to the apple store yesterday. They will first run through their general test and then a specific video system test (VST). If the computer fails the test, they will send it back to the flat rate repair facility to fix the issue. So what I learnt is that they do not fix this issue in the store. They send it to the depot for repair. I am not sure whether they will fix other problems together. My battery is also bad since I haven't used and charged the computer for a while. I will report back whether they get that issue fixed as well.

I get the laptop back today. The flat rate repair facility replace the logic board and the battery for no cost. The laptop seems to be running much cooler than before. We will see how long the replaced logic board will last.
 
Apple didn't charge for defective units under warranty, so your post is full of BS.
In Europe warranty is two years, and if you spend 1800-2000€ for a notebook without Applecare you're not so smart. Thus most of the early affected users were covered by warranty. Last year customers affected will be reimbursed according to this article.

a) People who bought this pile were **** out of luck on day 366.

b) You can buy Applecare, it doesn't matter. Buy this July 2011, and August 2014 it dies, YOU'RE STILL SCREWED! :) Which is the situation MANY were in who had this problem.

I can't believe people defend this nonsense. You are free to enjoy Apple products, Apple software, Apple design, but defending this is absurd. They gave you the middle finger for a long time. You paid a premium for a premium product that was designed in a manner where it is guaranteed to fail. Accept, and move on.

It is just silly to blindly accept or reject everything one brand does because you like or dislike them.
 
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It has to with overheating the graphics card because of poor thermal paste on the chip.

OK then, so why doesn't the Intel CPU/GPU fail? That's pasted in exactly the same way.

It's a fault with the AMD GPU, or Apple implementation of it. Over application of thermal paste isn't generally a good thing but you can't name it out as the primary cause based on a YouTube video that some bloke made.

My 2011 never overheated - it ran within the design limits. Still failed. ;)
 
OK then, so why doesn't the Intel CPU/GPU fail? That's pasted in exactly the same way.

It's a fault with the AMD GPU, or Apple implementation of it. Over application of thermal paste isn't generally a good thing but you can't name it out as the primary cause based on a YouTube video that some bloke made.

My 2011 never overheated - it ran within the design limits. Still failed. ;)

I agree that too many people have blamed the lack of lead or poor thermal paste for the GPU failures. A poor paste design doesn't explain the NVIDIA 8600, 2011 AMD, and 650M failures as implementation was different on each. I've lived through failures of the first two (new computer after 3rd repairs on the first, repaired and sold the second). Fingers crossed on the 350M and 750M I'm currently running.

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The local Apple Store accepted mine twice with third party RAM and an SSD. They advised it wasn't an issue if those components passed the diagnostics tests as they repair instore. Can't comment on the Superdrive, but I'd reinstall that if it was my machine.

The OEM parts went back in when the machine was replaced after three repairs each within the 90 days.

+1 they will replace your aftermarket RAM (to stock configuration) if it fails their test but aftermarket SSD and RAM do not preclude repairs. Pretty sure optibay does void the warranty though.
 
Got mine back after 7 days. Logic board and black bar on back replaced. I have a 512gb ssd they didn't erase it. So far so good.
 
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