Feb. 2011 17" MBP Won't Boot

[Melrose]

Heyo,

I have a quandary: At work today, I was using Photoshop CS6 editing an image and got the beach ball - which is not surprising as this happens often enough in PS - but it went on for a minute or two, way longer than usual, and then the screen went gray. It's an early 2011 MBP that shipped with 10.6 and I did a soft upgrade to Mavericks a couple months ago. It's been glitchy since then but nothing I can't stand and no major problems at all.

I powered down using the Press-Hold salute and now it won't power up AT ALL.

If I put my ear to the casing I hear the drive engage, but it won't do anything else. Screen won't even light up. Also, I tried plugging in my 10.6 boot drive and that doesn't do anything either.

Cliffs:
- Screen went gray whilst using Photoshop
- Manually powered down
- Won't boot
- HD seems to engage
- Bootable drive won't work either

Any help would be absolutely fantastic. Thanks in advance!

As a token of my appreciation I will gift the most helpful reply with a WHOLE U2 ALBUM through iTunes!!!

EDIT
So after some more intensive troubleshooting, I can get it screen up, but it's pink/red stripes, which led me to search and find this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1675508/... welp, there goes my hopes of selling it on craigslist! It's in brand new cosmetic condition and I've taken fantastic care of it. Ah well.

Not spending >$700 on a repair when it's not uncommon to happen again and I can get a Air for just a bit more. $H1TE!

 

[yjchua95]

Heyo,

I have a quandary: At work today, I was using Photoshop CS6 editing an image and got the beach ball - which is not surprising as this happens often enough in PS - but it went on for a minute or two, way longer than usual, and then the screen went gray. It's an early 2011 MBP that shipped with 10.6 and I did a soft upgrade to Mavericks a couple months ago. It's been glitchy since then but nothing I can't stand and no major problems at all.

I powered down using the Press-Hold salute and now it won't power up AT ALL.

If I put my ear to the casing I hear the drive engage, but it won't do anything else. Screen won't even light up. Also, I tried plugging in my 10.6 boot drive and that doesn't do anything either.

Cliffs:
- Screen went gray whilst using Photoshop
- Manually powered down
- Won't boot
- HD seems to engage
- Bootable drive won't work either

Any help would be absolutely fantastic. Thanks in advance!

As a token of my appreciation I will gift the most helpful reply with a WHOLE U2 ALBUM through iTunes!!!

EDIT
So after some more intensive troubleshooting, I can get it screen up, but it's pink/red stripes, which led me to search and find this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1675508/... welp, there goes my hopes of selling it on craigslist! It's in brand new cosmetic condition and I've taken fantastic care of it. Ah well.

Not spending >$700 on a repair when it's not uncommon to happen again and I can get a Air for just a bit more. $H1TE!

Bummer. I got hit by the Radeongate debacle too on my 15" early-2011.

The only reason I resurrected it with a reball was because I needed the matte screen (I work outdoors all the time).

The retina screens still attract glare like a solar panel.

 

[Melrose]

From what I've researched so far, and I've been digging all afternoon, is that it is the graphics card. Oh, I can have it swapped out by Apple for more or less the cost of an 11" Air, but then there's no guarantee it won't crap it's pants later on... like, a few weeks or months later on.

I paid over $2k for this computer, too. Damn.

...on a completely unrelated note, anyone wanna buy a cosmetically perfect, otherwise wonderful last-model-year 17" with a toasted graphics card?

 

[yjchua95]

From what I've researched so far, and I've been digging all afternoon, is that it is the graphics card. Oh, I can have it swapped out by Apple for more or less the cost of an 11" Air, but then there's no guarantee it won't crap it's pants later on... like, a few weeks or months later on.

I paid over $2k for this computer, too. Damn.

...on a completely unrelated note, anyone wanna buy a cosmetically perfect, otherwise wonderful last-model-year 17" with a toasted graphics card?

A reballer who wants to use it for himself will, or someone who's desperate for the last of the 17" MBPs

What's the exact specs of your MBP?

 

[Melrose]

A reballer who wants to use it for himself will, or someone who's desperate for the last of the 17" MBPs

What's the exact specs of your MBP?

Nothing fancy, actually. It's the February release, not the later one, but the difference was like 2.3 to 2.4Ghz I think is all, for Sandy Bridge.

- 2.3Ghz Quad Core i7
- 4GB RAM
- 750GB or 1TB HD - I don't remember and it won't boot so I can't check atm
- 1920x1080 gloss
- Unibody, of course
- Cosmetically like new, never dropped or banged... never even looked sideways at the thing

I'll try another couple things troubleshooting and then just wipe the drive and plop it on CL. Really really bummed.

 

[yjchua95]

Nothing fancy, actually. It's the February release, not the later one, but the difference was like 2.3 to 2.4Ghz I think is all, for Sandy Bridge.

- 2.3Ghz Quad Core i7
- 4GB RAM
- 750GB or 1TB HD - I don't remember and it won't boot so I can't check atm
- 1920x1080 gloss
- Unibody, of course
- Cosmetically like new, never dropped or banged... never even looked sideways at the thing

I'll try another couple things troubleshooting and then just wipe the drive and plop it on CL. Really really bummed.

I also went for the 2.3GHz upgrade for my early-2011 15" MBP, but I put in 16GB of RAM myself (after finding that the 8GB from Apple wasn't enough). It's also got a 1GB 6750M (reballed) coupled with a matte display, and got a 512GB 840 Pro SSD.

Your machine is actually still really capable if the GPU is reballed. You can find some reballers here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2011mbp/?fref=ts