Early 2011 MBP - Blue/Gray startup screen after reboot

[Collie]

Hi,

I have an early 2011 MBP that has been running fine till the last 4-5 months. Randomly, after a restart on on startup, I'd get the blue screen or a grey screen with a glitched/pixelated apple logo. Safe boot and/or recovery mode use fix this but now, I need to literally disconnect and reconnect the hard drive to get it to start. It starts fine but once I either sleep the machine or restart its back to a non responsive boot.

I've done several clean installs, replaced the SSD thinking it was that so think its some other hardware that is failing. The laptop has fallen off the mojave update list so I'm wondering a) what is could be b)whether its worth fixing?

Any help would be appreciated
Thanks

 

[leoborges]

If your MacBook Pro have an dedicated GPU, I'm sorry to say that it might be broken. It's a known issue. I have a MacBook Pro 17" late 2011, replaced the motherboard with Apple's recall and it burned again after 1 year or so. I'm using a fix to exclude the dedicated GPU from boot process and from the macOS as well. It's working with Intel integrated GPU only and it's working great for about a year. The solution I followed: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...fi-variable-fix.2037591/page-35#post-24956091

Maybe you'll need to find a solution for your MacBook, cause I think it's model 8,1 (early 2011). Mine is 8,2 (late 2011) but the known issue is the same. Apple won't fix your machine anymore, since they marked all 2011 MacBook Pro as vintage.

Good luck!

 

[Audit13]

Look here for a possible solution: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ntel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/

 

[Painter2002]

Look here for a possible solution: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ntel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/

I agree, although it'd help if there was a glossary for that thread, as a newbie could get lost reading through the 78 pages on that thread.

That being said, I agree with the others that it sounds like a graphics card issue. If you are technically inclined, try going through the thread @Audit13 and @leoborges listed to see if there is something that can fix your issue. Otherwise I hate to say you have a very pricey paper-weight.

 

[Audit13]

I agree, although it'd help if there was a glossary for that thread, as a newbie could get lost reading through the 78 pages on that thread.

That being said, I agree with the others that it sounds like a graphics card issue. If you are technically inclined, try going through the thread @Audit13 and @leoborges listed to see if there is something that can fix your issue. Otherwise I hate to say you have a very pricey paper-weight.

Yes, a glossary would be nice but, in the end, there are only three choices in my opinion:

1. get a replacement Mac;
2. only use integrated graphics; or
3. replace the gpu chip.

I had a mint late 2011 with a failed gpu. I paid to have it fixed so my relative could use it.

 

[Collie]

Thanks everyone - had a scan through the thread and it does indeed look like that manufacturing fault has finally caught up with me. I shall give it a proper look and see if I can get it running on integrated only. I've also contacted an Apple repair hop too to see what it would cost to fix. Failing those, I'll eBay it and take the hit on a updated model. I had been turned off the post-2015 MBPs only because everything had dropped the legacy ports and I don't fancy having to buy a lot of new adapters but that might be the way forward.