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Apple Initiates Repair Program for 2011-2013 MacBook Pros With Video Issues

betman said:
I have had freezes, random restarts, etc. and basically gave up and just wiped the system clean. Since then I no longer get the restarts but I get the occasional split second black screen as if a screenshot was being taken.
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Doesn't sound video card related, on the surface. Could be that there's a bad cable leading to the backlight, though - do you find that slowly tilting the display hinge back and forth does anything?

betman said:
I am also keeping my machine off things like Adobe Flash just to keep the graphics lite, but maybe I should just go back to making it work its normal load?
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No, you should obviously do your best to make sure the system never encounters any problems until the repair program ends. Certainly don't stress test it or anything like that. :rolleyes:

betman said:
Funny thing is that even when I reboot in one of those safe/reinstall modes where the "Welcome" message scrolls along in various languages, there is clear distortion in the text there.
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Those're compression artifacts, I'd say. The quality of the video itself is more likely to be at fault than anything else in that particular case.

betman said:
Is there any test I can run on my end to check out the video card(s) fully on my Early 2013 MBP 15"?
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Try and get the system to fall over under "normal operations". Use iPhoto (or Photos, whatever), play around in iMovie, play high-res videos in iTunes / Safari. Keep a camera on hand so that if you experience the sort of display corruption indicating card failure, you can take a photo / video of it.
 
Bomb Bloke said:
Those're compression artifacts, I'd say. The quality of the video itself is more likely to be at fault than anything else in that particular case.
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Maybe, but should such artifacts be displayed on a welcome screen - something seems off here if even that messes up.

I am trying to get back to that screen again - do you remember which reboot gets me to that welcome screen with the "Welcome" message scrolling in various languages?


Bomb Bloke said:
Try and get the system to fall over under "normal operations". Use iPhoto (or Photos, whatever), play around in iMovie, play high-res videos in iTunes / Safari. Keep a camera on hand so that if you experience the sort of display corruption indicating card failure, you can take a photo / video of it.
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I guess this is the next step, just giving it all and seeing how it holds up.

Is this whole video card issue something that an affected Mac has had from the very beginning, or is it something that could have developed over time?
 
betman said:
Maybe, but should such artifacts be displayed on a welcome screen - something seems off here if even that messes up.
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Yes, they really should. It's a pre-rendered, low-res video file. It's looked pixelated to me on every system I've seen it on, and that's more than a few, so I've had plenty of time to notice.

betman said:
I am trying to get back to that screen again - do you remember which reboot gets me to that welcome screen with the "Welcome" message scrolling in various languages?
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It's rigged to play at the start of the initial setup process. Getting that to trigger again involves editing certain system files in rather obscure ways, or wiping your whole drive and re-installing. It's not just a matter of holding down a few keys while turning the computer on (and given that it lets (indeed, makes) you create a new admin account every time you go through it, it's not something you want the lay-man to be able to get into on a whim).

That said, you should be able to simply locate the file and play it manually, within the OS proper. This video will likely get you there.

betman said:
Is this whole video card issue something that an affected Mac has had from the very beginning, or is it something that could have developed over time?
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In the vast majority of cases, it develops over time, though the rate is variable. A system might be unable to display anything right off the shelf (... or after a "repair"). Another, after years of use, might develop very occasional display corruption, only surfacing for a few seconds once in a blue moon.

These posts contain example screenshots of the sort of corruption you're looking for:

#1 - #338 - #526- #622 - #676
 
I have a mid-2012 rMBP.

I had a couple of freezes followed by restarts last year. This year I had 2-3 in the first quarter (even following a clean install of Yosemite). This week I've had several. The system locks up, then restarts itself within a minute. I have no graphic artifacts though.

I have checked the Console after nearly after lock up/restart and the logs are completely void of any errors at the time of the system freezing. It's as though the power were just cut. No errors, nothing.

I'm going to make a Genius appointment since my AppleCare expires this month but because I cannot recreate the issue myself, I'm not optimistic.

I need to ask: People having this issue, do your Console logs show anything?
 
Dave-Z said:
I have a mid-2012 rMBP.

I had a couple of freezes followed by restarts last year. This year I had 2-3 in the first quarter (even following a clean install of Yosemite). This week I've had several. The system locks up, then restarts itself within a minute. I have no graphic artifacts though.

I have checked the Console after nearly after lock up/restart and the logs are completely void of any errors at the time of the system freezing. It's as though the power were just cut. No errors, nothing.

I'm going to make a Genius appointment since my AppleCare expires this month but because I cannot recreate the issue myself, I'm not optimistic.

I need to ask: People having this issue, do your Console logs show anything?
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It's been a while since I looked into the logs, but from what I remember it was almost always caused by the GPU, It will be more stable if you go to Preferences > Energy Saver > uncheck the Automatic Graphics Switching thing, but you should get it fixed, don't put up with crappy work arounds.
 
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Well, for what it's worth, GPU-related reboots have indeed been known to refer to one of the relevant kexts in the subsequent panic log. Personally I haven't encountered a case where they haven't been logged, but that doesn't prove anything - it's easy not to see what isn't there! Likewise, if your system isn't logging anything about it then it's hard to say whether your symptoms are related to this issue.

I would think it might be HDD related, but in that case you'd generally retain mouse movement when the system froze (as opposed to a complete lock up, where you don't get even that), coupled with occasional drive access errors in the log (showing up at times unrelated to your freezes).

Bad RAM could also cause freezes, but really it could be any component.
 
Bomb Bloke said:
I would think it might be HDD related, but in that case you'd generally retain mouse movement when the system froze (as opposed to a complete lock up, where you don't get even that), coupled with occasional drive access errors in the log (showing up at times unrelated to your freezes).

Bad RAM could also cause freezes, but really it could be any component.
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My experience tells me that a GPU-related issue would eventually result in my seeing some graphic artifacts (mind you I wouldn't rule it out, 'cause you never know). I would think bad RAM should result in a more conventional kernel panic or applications unexpectedly quitting (which never happens). What's happening to my system is happening so abruptly it cannot log anything. I'm definitely leaning toward a logic board failure of some sort. Such a shame that my Apple Care expires this month. :(

The Apple Hardware Diagnostic (extended) resulted in no errors, but I've been through this with enough machines to know that means absolutely nothing.

Guess I'll have to wait and see how it plays out since I cannot re-create the issue at the moment.
 
Dave-Z said:
My experience tells me that a GPU-related issue would eventually result in my seeing some graphic artifacts (mind you I wouldn't rule it out, 'cause you never know). I would think bad RAM should result in a more conventional kernel panic or applications unexpectedly quitting (which never happens). What's happening to my system is happening so abruptly it cannot log anything. I'm definitely leaning toward a logic board failure of some sort. Such a shame that my Apple Care expires this month. :(

The Apple Hardware Diagnostic (extended) resulted in no errors, but I've been through this with enough machines to know that means absolutely nothing.

Guess I'll have to wait and see how it plays out since I cannot re-create the issue at the moment.
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You said you've got a 2012 Retina MacBook, right? if so you're covered with a free repair regardless of warranty status
 
Yeah, but a repair of what? He's talking about an issue that he can't reproduce on demand, and there's no specific clues that indicate exactly which component might need to be swapped out. This repair program won't do him much good if he doesn't have a GPU issue, so he wants to find out sooner rather than later.

It might be that the tests available to service providers (which are a bit more "thorough" than the AHT) will pick something up... but they're also well known for ignoring problems. Odds are if it's taken in it won't be repaired, though I suppose there's only one way to be sure.
 
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Exactly... This is pretty much my life though... Poster child for first-world problems..
 
Dear fellow macrumors,

I have a question, regarding the replaced mainboard.
Is the replaced one an improved version or simply it is the same as the old one?

Any idea?

Many thanks.
cheers
 
If the new logic boards are improved, it's sad that they're still s$%t. I had my logic board replaced, and the replacement didn't last a week. My MBPro is back at the shop and having a third logic board installed that I know of (I bought this as a refurb last year from the Apple Store Online). I made the Apple switch last year and am truly wondering if I made a good decision, or if I have a way overpriced paperweight.
 
srfarrell said:
If the new logic boards are improved, it's sad that they're still s$%t. I had my logic board replaced, and the replacement didn't last a week. My MBPro is back at the shop and having a third logic board installed that I know of (I bought this as a refurb last year from the Apple Store Online). I made the Apple switch last year and am truly wondering if I made a good decision, or if I have a way overpriced paperweight.
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I didn't mention that this is my work machine (MBPro). I'm very nicely frustrated that I have an important report sitting upon that machine and the machine wouldn't even turn on........I'm typing this machine from a less expensive six year old Sony Vaio. Oh the irony!!
 
Fellows, no good news.
It seems the machine repeatedly restarts itself from time to time.
I left the machine on 24/7 with some software running.
 
ScottHammet said:
Sweet. A nice $300 check headed my way. My board went out 2 weeks after my 3 year Apple Care expired, so I had to pay for the motherboard replacement. Pleasant surprise to be getting a refund.
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$300 for a logic board? I was under the impression Apple charged $500-1000 for this sort of repair.
 
Hey everyone. I've just had this happen on my mid-2012 retina MacBook Pro. Pretty much on cue as the warranty has expired. I had AppleCare and it expired last week.

Before it expired, I took the machine in to fix some niggling problems: The "A" key was smudged and about to break (triangle inside A missing). The screen had plenty of stuck pixels. The battery was below 80%. I didn't know that before but to replace the keyboard, they needed to replace the entire lower unibody. They also do the battery automatically with that. And for the screen, they replace the lid - so I've got brand new metal throughout. It feels like a brand new machine! And THIS is why I always get AppleCare, and recommend it to everyone.

The scrambled screen appeared for the first time. I assume it's because of the dedicated GFX card - I went to battery mode to make a switch happen, and the issue went away. On my old system I had GFXCardStatus and set to avoid the GPU altogether. So I might just not have seen it because of that.

Either way just started happening, entire Dock area and a bit above was totally scrambled like only a GPU bug can make it appear. Wasn't app specific either.

I guess I am eligible for a replacement even though the warranty expired? But will that fix things? Dreading having to take the thing in again.
 
I have had some more instances of scrambled screen lately, but not entire screen (had a few in the past) I will say two things though.

One, the switching between IGPU and DGPU seems to take longer, the popup bubble appears, hangs there, the I changes to D, etc., and back again.

And now that I have upgraded to yosemite, I get these total freeze, BLACK screen hard reboots which I never really had before. and they are happening every other day.

Does this seem to be GPU related? I have the mid-late 2012 machine rMBP and could be covered under warranty.. but don't want to lose my sammy screen (originally swapped out machines that were poor LG)
 
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