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MacBook Pro Early 2011 GPU Failure?

Zarkex01

Zarkex01

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 27, 2017
12
2
So i wanted to ask if this is a dead GPU or a HDD Problem. Since i read that it could be a HDD Problem. Btw. it boots into Windows without a Problem but when i try to install AMD Drivers in Windows it says no AMD Hardware found. Can someone give me a solution or tell me what the problem is? And how can i reinstall MacOS? I can not get into the Recovery or Network Recovery. Thanks in advance.
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It could be something as simple as a loose video cable, or it could be your GPU failing. I would suggest going to an Apple Store or contacting Apple Support/a Certified Apple Technician in your area to run diagnostics to see what the issue may be.
 
tjwilliams25 said:
It could be something as simple as a loose video cable, or it could be your GPU failing. I would suggest going to an Apple Store or contacting Apple Support/a Certified Apple Technician in your area to run diagnostics to see what the issue may be.
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It doesnt boot.
 
Yes but i still think its a gpu failure because of the picture. I can boot into windows but i think Windows only works because there is no Driver for the AMD GPU
 
Then I stand by my prior statement and say that you should talk to a technician to diagnose the problem. They have specialized tools that can help you in this situation, even if the computer doesn't boot.
 
If it sticks there with screen corruption then it can't initialise the AMD GPU. Needs the GPU replacing or a replacement logic board.
 
Zarkex01 said:
Yes but i still think its a gpu failure because of the picture. I can boot into windows but i think Windows only works because there is no Driver for the AMD GPU
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I don't think that is incorrect. The integrated gpu is not the default, and it will use that by default. It would have to use software based rendering, which is horrendously slow. It would not be mistaken for a moderate drop in performance, and you wouldn't have a normal resolution.

The lack of an installed driver from AMD is irrelevant, given that there isn't any graphics switching. I noticed that stupid band comes up for me upon resetting nvram. It doesn't seem to exactly track the same issues as other graphics problems.

The people saying dead gpu here should back that one up. This model has a lot of problems, yet I am not aware of any circumstance where a dead gpu would still boot into windows. The bootloader would still go through and initialize that gpu, which shouldn't allow it to continue in that case.
 
It's the AMD dGPU. I had it fail three times on my 2011 with similar symptoms. Apple replaced the machine eventually.

The dGPU is the default, as that's what the DisplayPorts are physically wired into. Hence no graphics switching or Intel iGPU support in Windows.
 
@MagicBoy I had one fail too, but as you mentioned it defaults to the AMD gpu. It shouldn't boot into Windows if it can't initialize that gpu.

@Zarkex01 it's your money, but it's not worth the $350 for a machine that old with known issues.
 
First time mine failed it couldn't ID the AMD dGPU on the PCI-E bus. Windows defaulted back to basic (VESA?) 256 colour mode as it would with an unknown new graphics card.
 
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Zarkex01 said:
Thats not a good fix. You are just disabling the drivers from the dGPU. The internal Graphics suck.
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That is incorrect to a degree. Your machine runs most of the time on the integrated graphics. They are slower for some things, but Apple uses graphics switching. The method described there will not run normally on integrated graphics. It will cause your machine to use software rendering. That is much slower than normal use of integrated graphics.
 
At this point in time, the best "fix" for a 2011 MBPro with RadeonGate is...
... a new MacBook!
 
So you say buying a New MacBook instead of paying 390 isnt worth it? Huh. Seems strange. Definetely not going to buy a new MacBook Pro where everything is soldered.
[doublepost=1514909156][/doublepost]I mean considering a new MacBook Pro costs around 1300 for the Base Model
 
Zarkex01 said:
Thats not a good fix. You are just disabling the drivers from the dGPU. The internal Graphics suck.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. I'm on the GRUB fix at the moment, and my MBP is using the iGPU everytime, "ignoring" the dGPU. Intel's chip is good enough for most applications, and yes it does become a tad slow at times, but, you can still extend your MBP's life a little bit. Try either the EFI or GRUB fix for the meantime, if you simply need a usable machine.
 
Zarkex01 said:
So you say buying a New MacBook instead of paying 390 isnt worth it? Huh. Seems strange. Definetely not going to buy a new MacBook Pro where everything is soldered.
[doublepost=1514909156][/doublepost]I mean considering a new MacBook Pro costs around 1300 for the Base Model
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Batteries sometimes swell up when they get old, so you'll have to deal with that at some point. Keyboards can eventually fail. If the drive is the original one, it will fail. It's not worth that much to service one component.
 
thekev said:
That is incorrect to a degree. Your machine runs most of the time on the integrated graphics. They are slower for some things, but Apple uses graphics switching. The method described there will not run normally on integrated graphics. It will cause your machine to use software rendering. That is much slower than normal use of integrated graphics.
Click to expand...

Just for the record, you are entirely incorrect about this. Hardware accelerated graphics are fully functional with the AMD GPU disabled in hardware. Pretty sure you didnt read the page and made some assumptions. :p
 
AdamRealMacMods said:
Just for the record, you are entirely incorrect about this. Hardware accelerated graphics are fully functional with the AMD GPU disabled in hardware. Pretty sure you didnt read the page and made some assumptions. :p
Click to expand...

Well it might depend on what fix you apply. I noticed more mature fixes have appeared in the last year. Some of the early ones just recommended moving kexts, which does not result in hardware accelerated graphics when the OS is loaded, regardless of whether it's possible to remedy that.
 
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