Macbook Pro won't start and shows green lines

[Sankel]

Hi folks!

My mother has a Macbook Pro 17" - Late 2011.

Today she came to me and showed me some weird green lines when she boots her Macbook. They're only visible when you see the Apple Logo, afterwards thery're gone.

But that's not all, it won't go any further than the Apple Logo. I also saw that there is no Recovery HD available when pressing ALT. But, what I tried this far;

• Normal boot
• Boot with ALT (no Recovery HD seeable)
• Boot with CMD + ALT + R (forcing to use Apple's Server boot image)
• Boot with CMD + ALT + P + R (Gives a weird black line, but nothing else)
• Diagnostic test (won't run)
• Startup with Safe mode
• Resetting SMB

When I tried to boot with CMD + ALT + R, I got to choose my wifi and he begun downloading. After downloading I got a grey screen. I always end in a grey screen.

Is there something I missed, or anything I can do to completely wipe my macbook. All files are already backupped.

 

[jerryk]

Sounds like a hardware failure. Perhaps the video subsystem. Time to take it in.

 

[Sankel]

Sounds like a hardware failure. Perhaps the video subsystem. Time to take it in.

Just called Apple. There was a Call-back for this faillure. But it ended at 31 december 2016. Nice!

How much would a test cost? To see what's wrong.

 

[keysofanxiety]

Just called Apple. There was a Call-back for this faillure. But it ended at 31 december 2016. Nice!

How much would a test cost? To see what's wrong.

You won't get charged for an Apple Store to assess it. However it's definitely graphics failure. The 2011s are notorious and inherently faulty for this problem. They can fail almost immediately after years of usage.

The only thing I can recommend is not to pay for a repair. The reason is that Apple use refurb Logic Boards which will eventually exhibit the same problem.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

 

[xb2003]

As aforementioned, the repair will be costly and it WILL fail again. If you are somewhat technically inclined, just the other day someone posted a work around for this very problem. It disabled the dGPU completely though, so external monitors will not work, and your graphics performance will go way down. But it might be worth a shot if you can't afford a new one or just want to tinker. Results seem to be vary.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...d-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/#post-24407722

 

[AppleMacFinder]

However it's definitely graphics failure.

Just called Apple. There was a Call-back for this faillure. But it ended at 31 december 2016. Nice!

Actually it is possible to either do BGA reballing ($50) or BGA reballing with AMD chip replacement ($35), less than $100 in either case. However, it is possible to completely disable a discrete GPU through a EFI variable, forcing it to use integrated only all the time to make MBP usable! Here are the instructions - https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/force-2011-macbook-pro-8-2-with-failed-amd-gpu-to-always-use-intel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/

 

[Fishrrman]

If you decide to scrap it, you can open the back and remove the hard drive, and use it somewhere else.

 

[AppleMacFinder]

If you decide to scrap it, you can open the back and remove the hard drive, and use it somewhere else.

Even in a situation where both GPUs (integrated and discrete) do not work, display is smashed, graphical port is broken also, and you don't have a USB<=>HDMI adapter: even in this case it would have been possible to use MBP as a small home server (like a Mac Mini) - connect to it using SSH or Remote Desktop. But luckily it is possible to just do EFI variable fix and use this MBP at integrated only graphics for a few more years, until it completely ages