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Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Apple Over 2011 MacBook Pro Graphics Issues
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How does one renew AppleCare on a machine that's three years old? I don't think that's possible.
No lawsuit love for iMacs 
There was a widespread issue with 2006 24" iMac GPUs dying. The one I used died in 2012. The beautiful 1920x1200 (not stupid 1920x1080) 24" screen was then useless. I'm definitely never going to buy an iMac in the future; it's ridiculous to have a DESKTOP computer that's as expensive/difficult to fix as a laptop. There were complaints but never any lawsuits.
There was a widespread issue with 2006 24" iMac GPUs dying. The one I used died in 2012. The beautiful 1920x1200 (not stupid 1920x1080) 24" screen was then useless. I'm definitely never going to buy an iMac in the future; it's ridiculous to have a DESKTOP computer that's as expensive/difficult to fix as a laptop. There were complaints but never any lawsuits.
I have a custom order 2011 MBP, that I got fixed for $330 flat rate repair from Apple, earlier this year. Haven't had a problem since, but that was a hell of a headache. I've put a lot of money into upgrades on this machine, and had to pay for repairs on top of it. Not too happy about it, but I needed it to be fixed.
It's good to see these articles come up once in a while, gives me a little hope that they'll recognize the problem.
It's good to see these articles come up once in a while, gives me a little hope that they'll recognize the problem.
Actually I had a logic board replaced three times on the first Intel (non Pro) MacBook back in the day. All related to graphics.
My logic board replaced totally free of charge.
Apple replaced my board a few weeks ago, as in the UK we are covered by consumer law for up to 6 years on defective goods. Now, I'm not sure whether all retailers honour this law as was told by Apple that if I had bought the macbook from another retailer such as John Lewis, I may not have been covered. It seems it's the retailer, not the manufacturer who should honour the consumer law. But Apple here in the UK does, so a totally free repair and ready to collect in 3 working days. No complaint from me.
Just hope the thing keeps working...
Apple replaced my board a few weeks ago, as in the UK we are covered by consumer law for up to 6 years on defective goods. Now, I'm not sure whether all retailers honour this law as was told by Apple that if I had bought the macbook from another retailer such as John Lewis, I may not have been covered. It seems it's the retailer, not the manufacturer who should honour the consumer law. But Apple here in the UK does, so a totally free repair and ready to collect in 3 working days. No complaint from me.
Just hope the thing keeps working...
I've now owned 2 MacBook Pros with potentially faulty GPUs. Neither of them, a 2007 with the NVIDIA 8600M GT and now my 2011 with AMD Radeon 6770M, have failed during the course of my ownership. Maybe I just jinxed it here, but my AppleCare is still valid through next July.
I hate to say this, but Apple deserves to be sued over this. They have treated their customers very badly over this whole issue. Each and every customer affected by this should get a new MacBook Pro with retina display, or a direct cash payment that would allow them to buy anything that they want.
In the unlikely event this ends up happening, I'll definitely hope my machine fails LOL.
Finally!
In our office "died" 3 17" MBPs during last 5 months. Board replacement costs ~$700 each.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v3u6jn1d5u5r5r6/2011 MBP GPU issue.jpg?dl=0
In our office "died" 3 17" MBPs during last 5 months. Board replacement costs ~$700 each.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/v3u6jn1d5u5r5r6/2011 MBP GPU issue.jpg?dl=0
Next time, don't put the tarragon cream sauce on until after you bake it.
Don't blame the manufacturer. Blame Europe. Electronics manufacturers use lead-free solder because the European Union's laws require it. The law in question, the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, effectively prevents electronics manufacturers from shipping anything to Europe if it contains lead-based solder, unless that solder is solely inside of sealed, high-temperature components.
Unfortunately, GPUs are too big (physically) and get too hot to work well with lead-free solder. The extreme temperature changes cause thermal expansion, which fractures the more brittle lead-free solder joints. Worse, the RoHS ban on lead-based solder been an absolute disaster for equipment reliability worldwide, because no manufacturer wants to have to run a separate manufacturing line just for Europe if they can avoid it.
What Europe really needs to do is overturn that aspect of RoHS and replace it with mandatory requirements for recycling in a manner that prevents lead contamination of groundwater, etc. Consumer electronics all around the world would be much more reliable if they did. And the environmental damage from all the extra electronics junk that RoHS causes every year far exceeds any (mostly theoretical) benefit provided by the ban on lead-based solder, so as environmental laws go, this one was a total disaster.
In the meantime, companies everywhere should be encouraged to stop soldering their GPUs to the motherboard. Even before RoHS, GPUs were a dubious component in laptops. Now, they are just a nightmare. It would be much more sensible for manufacturers to place the GPU on a separate daughtercard alongside the main board, so that when (not if) the next round of GPUs starts to fail because of the RoHS plague, they can just swap the GPU board with one based on a newer component.
Using a daughtercard for the GPU probably wouldn't add more than a buck to the BOM cost, and given the staggering number of GPU failures over the past few years and the high cost of those failures (particularly in terms of their impact on customer trust), I would think that such a change would easily pay for itself.
Finally. I sent in mine for repair with apple but now it's starting to act up again just over the three month warranty they gave me.
https://www.apple.com/environment/finite-resources/
Except if you bought a MBP 2011 and it's already broken.
Except if you bought a MBP 2011 and it's already broken.
There should be a class action lawsuit over the iMac SuperDrives as well. These things absolutely suck. Mine stopped reading most discs after less than 2 years of use. Then I'm expected to pay over £100 for a repair. What a joke.
One word : GOOD
Glad to see this happening. This is one of a select few incidents where I think Apple deserves to get slapped for the way they handles this. Not as if Dell or any of the others would have done it any better, but Apple is held to a higher standard bc they put themselves at a higher standard. So when they screw up the flak reigns down
Glad to see this happening. This is one of a select few incidents where I think Apple deserves to get slapped for the way they handles this. Not as if Dell or any of the others would have done it any better, but Apple is held to a higher standard bc they put themselves at a higher standard. So when they screw up the flak reigns down
Not that much of a name change or subject matter not to guess it was me eh?
It's a shame that Apple engineering didn't appreciate those same insights, I think it's been the best part of a year I've been posting on that humongous thread. The users IMO have been shafted burdening the bill for fixing these GPU's when Apple themselves could have made changes to them AT LAUNCH to stop them failing, that unfair thing probably made me hang around as this isn't just a 'take it to Apple and fix' kind of problem cos they simply cant fix them properly.
A pair of too hot chips for that chassis gets its usual bad paste and awful plate finish so a year or two down the line the lead free solder breaks. If Apple had changed the guidelines from the start doing a decent paste and die job it would have minimised a lot of these GPU's going pop.
Apple fixing it by law with lead free re-balled refurb depot logic boards is an absolute rubbish long term repair - as lead free is not malleable enough nor is it a patch on leaded with rapid heat cycles too. They still do not re-profile the heat-sink die plates exacerbating the same problem. It's hard to convince people that NOT taking it to Apple and getting a DIY lead reball is the only decent long term fix. Luckily the 9 whose boards did fail called me first and I was able to convince them to get it done themselves, they already know it hasn't broken again since and still runs cooler but now hopefully they will getting their money back.
I still advise anyone who has had their GPU fail for the first time to NOT take it to Apple, get it lead re-balled yourself; especially those in the UK where there is a good reballer on eBay and 17 inch lovers who even a refurb retina 15 as a replacement after 3 board strikes just isn't what they want - like me with my late 2011 maxed out with 16Gb/1Tb SSD!
I'm happy to see some action since Apple still fails to publicly acknowledge this.
After three logic board replacements, and the 4th beginning to fail outside of the 3 year AppleCare, I insisted I be able to return/exchange my 2011 MBP, and not be offered another defective logic board. The local Apple Store was very accommodating and was aware of the issue. After about an hour, I left the store with a brand new top of the line 15" rMBP.
I still shouldn't have had to go through multiple repairs, and be without my laptop for days, several times over its life. At least they finally made it right.
After three logic board replacements, and the 4th beginning to fail outside of the 3 year AppleCare, I insisted I be able to return/exchange my 2011 MBP, and not be offered another defective logic board. The local Apple Store was very accommodating and was aware of the issue. After about an hour, I left the store with a brand new top of the line 15" rMBP.
I still shouldn't have had to go through multiple repairs, and be without my laptop for days, several times over its life. At least they finally made it right.
RoHS allows use of leaded solder if no alternative is available.
It's not about environmental pollution as much as it is about the health of the population. Lead is really a terrible thing for humans to be contaminated with and we're trying to do something against it.
Instead of putting lead back into our products, we should be focussing on finding a replacement for leaded solder that does work well in the situations that leaded solder works well in.