Some 2011 MacBook Pros Experiencing GPU Glitches, System Crashes

[Max(IT)]

I was looking at getting the late 2011 version. Sigh!

Are there any MBP's that are not problematic? And don't say the Retinas because I don't think they have been around long enough. Though I will say that they are probably the best of the bunch as long as one doesn't miss user upgradeability.

Calm down ....

There is absolutely no clue that all the amd chipset used in 2011 MBP are faulty or going to die in the near future. They sold millions of MBP during 2011 and 2012, and we are seeing just a few defective on the net.
We need evidence of a systemic problem before panic.

 

[dollystereo]

I have an early 2011 15" (6750) and played loots of WOW on it, stressing hard the gfx. Not a single glitch, just to let you know that not all the machines are affected.

 

[macbook-dan]

Happened to mine, I paid a few hundred dollars and they swapped out the motherboard. Works ok now.

Pissed me off, total quality fail.

 

[Max(IT)]

I feel like I am part of the minority here but I have owned my 2010 17" MacBook Pro since day one of its release and have not had any issues with the graphics card. I've been using an external monitor with it for most of its life meaning the NVIDIA 330M is always in use. With it being almost 4 years old, at this point even if it did crap out and die I would still feel like I got my moneys worth out of it. But I expect it to last at least another 4 years...

Actually is the contrary: most of the people are using MBP without any issue, but some are defective after a few years.

 

[Max(IT)]

I use my 15" late 2011 6770m every day. This error never occurred on my machine.
I think it could be that i changed the thermal compound on the cpu and gpu when the computer was about a year old. By then the original thermal compound was all dry and with risk of cpu and gpu overheating. So by now i feel great to have done it.

So you guys with working 2011´s should consider doing this.

And dont go for the cheapest thermal compound out there. I used the Arctic Silver and computer still runs cool and deadsilent at low intense work.
Also download Gfxcardstatus app, to force integrated gpu or just get a notification when the machine switches to dedicated gpu.

I'm monitoring temperatures on my MBP and it's not overheating with my daily use. The previous 2009 model was at least 10' C hotter in the same condition.

 

[WolfSnap]

When I first purchased my Early-2011 17" MBP around June of '11, within about a month trying to connect an external monitor to the thunderbolt port didn't work (literally, it was like I did nothing.. No blue screen, etc..)

I returned it and they gave me an entirely new computer. At the time she said the replacement computer was a 'Rev. C' computer; the original I had purchased was a 'Rev. A'. Since that computer was swapped, I've had zero issues (so far).

Here's my theory; those who purchased the Rev A/B computers are having the issues; the Rev C was released to fix the issues of the thunderbolt and the GPU issue.

I, unfortunately, have no way to prove any of this, and I certainly don't know how to even check for rev level, but, it IS an interesting idea and is worth checking into.

 

[TAKeanice]

Issue persists

I had this issue, until my graphics card failed completely. This was shortly after the european 2-year warranty period ended, but the repair shop (apple approved) said it was clearly a manufacturer´s issue, though he didn´t have this often.
The exchange board was 650€, plus 40€ diagnosis.
The issue, though, is still there, and I fear that in another 2 years this board will fail again.
I recognized, that mostly after taking a screenshot (cmd+shift+3) ist was gone immediately. But on the screenshot, the distortion is more than visible.

After Replacement:
http://pbrd.co/1f0DahC
http://pbrd.co/1f0DlJG
When the graphics failed completely:
http://pbrd.co/1f0Dywu
http://pbrd.co/1f0DLQw

I don´t know where the images before the failure are. But they look very similar.
One correction to the article: The tasks don´t need to be graphics intensive.

 

[tweddle]

2011 17" MBP GPU failure - new logic board didn't fix it

I had this issue on a 2011 17" MBP. It was extremely frustrating with crashes and corruptions on a daily basis. The console logs said the GPU was frequently resetting, and these types of effects (http://vimeo.com/77697733).

My MBP was under applecare so they replaced the GPU, but that didn't work (immediately after I brought it home I could recreate the issue use a webGL based demo on a fresh user account). I spent hours on the phone with apple and in the apple store, it was an insane experience (took two months to resolve). FYI: I noticed it started occurring right after I updated to Mavericks, but nobody I talked to ever wanted to consider that drivers could have been an issue, and said that my laptop was the first time they had ever heard of this.

The workaround: Use gfxCardStatus (http://gfx.io) to disable the discrete GPU after any boot up, and it "works" fine if you don't need the discrete GPU.

I eventually took it into the apple store and they wanted me to demo a crash and leave it running for half an hour while they got a "more senior tech". I tried to tell them that I should shut it off as the laptop was getting to hot and it eventually shut itself down. The geniuses could never get it to boot back up again and they had to give me a (smaller screen) replacement laptop that took a month to arrive.

Apple really failed on customer service and even though I've been using macs since the IIsi, I'm doubtful if I'll ever buy another...

 

[Hustler1337]

I experience these GPU glitches on my MBP (15inch, Mid 2010). Ever since I upgraded the RAM to 8GB which was like 3 months after buying my MBP, I haven't notice or experience any glitches

I upgraded my RAM to 8GB on the Early 2011 MBP and since then my MBP has not 'overheated'/run hot unless I'm doing CPU intensive tasks. With my previous 4GB, my MBP constantly use to run burning hot from light use.

So I'm guessing the extra RAM is responsible for the significant reduction in how many times my MBP runs hot.

 

[tommybacsi]

I had the exact same issue, early 2011 15 inch MBP, AMD 6490M. First it just crashed and I could reboot, however after a few days it crashed again and I couldnt reboot, the scree had strange horizontal stripes, and after the apple logo I got only the gray screen. Of course i searched the issue and read about a LOT of people who had the same issue. I went to an official apple service partner (i am from europe) and they said this is a usual issue, I need a logic board replacement which costs about 650 usd. I was really mad becasue after almost 3 years the computer is worth around 1k in my opinion... this is a serious manufacturing issue. but i found a cheaper solution which is quite risky but it did work for me. I took my mbp to an unofficial serice company, where they reballed my GPU chip, put a new thermal paste on it (which they said was in awful condition) and since this everything is work fine!! I got my mbp back for 150 usd.... still, a premium product like a macbook pro shouldnt have this type of issue, and apple should pay for everybody's logic board replacement. the problem with the replacement however is that u get back the same crappy logic board which will fail after 2-3 years of use....

 

[Max(IT)]

I upgraded my RAM to 8GB on the Early 2011 MBP and since then my MBP has not 'overheated'/run hot unless I'm doing CPU intensive tasks. With my previous 4GB, my MBP constantly use to run burning hot from light use.

So I'm guessing the extra RAM is responsible for the significant reduction in how many times my MBP runs hot.

I don't know since I installed the 8 Gb the day I bought it.
But mine on daily use is well below 38' C ... actually one of the coldest high performance notebook I saw.

 

[Nightarchaon]

its 2014, apples built-in obsolessance feature is kicking in on those ancient 2011 models, apple care due to expire and its time to pay your dues to the house that steve jobs built, for only a large sum, you too can get equipment that is built on the cheap and wrapped in a shiny shiny case to make it seem "well built" and "quality", when in fact the components are pushed to their tolerance ,limits daily and fail early when compared to "cheap" competitors.

i really really liked apple, back in the "old" days, when the MacBooks, pros, and iMacs were actually quality, and could be serviced and upgraded to some degree by the purchaser, these new lumps of sealed shiny metal with parts that you can't fix or replace, batteries you can't swap out, well, you can keep them.

Even the OS is going down hill, mavericks has so many bugs it has me longing for snow leopard or lion, and iTunes is becoming such a mess I've switched to Plex for all my media needs.

Apples fall will be a long, long, one for it has reached the heavens on the back of the iPhone and iPad, but in doing so it has neglected is desktop OS roots in favour of the young upstart that is iOS, and once tarnished by the desktop failures, the world will begin to see apple less and less as a quality brand, more and more as an evil, like Microsoft was once held as the chief example of corporate greed, shoddy workmanship and poor quality control, not to mention monopolistic tendencies.

doesn't stop me wanting a new macbook, iPad and iPhone this year though, so i guess I'm part of the problem

 

[kelon111]

its 2014, apples built-in obsolessance feature is kicking in on those ancient 2011 models, apple care due to expire and its time to pay your dues to the house that steve jobs built, for only a large sum, you too can get equipment that is built on the cheap and wrapped in a shiny shiny case to make it seem "well built" and "quality", when in fact the components are pushed to their tolerance ,limits daily and fail early when compared to "cheap" competitors.

i really really liked apple, back in the "old" days, when the MacBooks, pros, and iMacs were actually quality, and could be serviced and upgraded to some degree by the purchaser, these new lumps of sealed shiny metal with parts that you can't fix or replace, batteries you can't swap out, well, you can keep them.

Even the OS is going down hill, mavericks has so many bugs it has me longing for snow leopard or lion, and iTunes is becoming such a mess I've switched to Plex for all my media needs.

Apples fall will be a long, long, one for it has reached the heavens on the back of the iPhone and iPad, but in doing so it has neglected is desktop OS roots in favour of the young upstart that is iOS, and once tarnished by the desktop failures, the world will begin to see apple less and less as a quality brand, more and more as an evil, like Microsoft was once held as the chief example of corporate greed, shoddy workmanship and poor quality control, not to mention monopolistic tendencies.

doesn't stop me wanting a new macbook, iPad and iPhone this year though, so i guess I'm part of the problem

Apple has great marketing , don't blame yourself.

I told myself I should be spending $3000 on a military grade laptop rather than a pretty , weak MacBook laptop.

 

[tlambert]

I don't know what you are smoking, but...

I don't know what you are smoking, but... clockwise from top left:

LCD cable problem; LCD connector problem; physical damage to LCD crystal layer; LCD connector problem.

None of these pictures are representative of a broken graphics chip. They are representative of physical abuse (the lower right picture indicates an impact to the back of the case behind the problem area).

They are all pretty trivially fixable (except the lower right) by reseating the LCD connector. If the cable is damaged, replacing the cable will fix it, and not forcing the screen back away from the keyboard until physically stopped by the hinge, and then forcing it some more, will avoid the problem recurring.

Don't walk on the things, don't drop them, and don't set them down and make a tent between the keyboard and screen, putting pressure on the hinge.

 

[kelon111]

I don't know what you are smoking, but... clockwise from top left:

LCD cable problem; LCD connector problem; physical damage to LCD crystal layer; LCD connector problem.

None of these pictures are representative of a broken graphics chip. They are representative of physical abuse (the lower right picture indicates an impact to the back of the case behind the problem area).

They are all pretty trivially fixable (except the lower right) by reseating the LCD connector. If the cable is damaged, replacing the cable will fix it, and not forcing the screen back away from the keyboard until physically stopped by the hinge, and then forcing it some more, will avoid the problem recurring.

Don't walk on the things, don't drop them, and don't set them down and make a tent between the keyboard and screen, putting pressure on the hinge.

Macs are too pretty to be abused though.

This laptop is made to take some abuse but no Macs should be abused.

 

[andys265]

I had the same problem with my late-2011 15" MacBook Pro, started with glitches/freezing but eventually the graphics failed. That happened at 11 months old and the logic board was replaced under warranty. Had no problems since.

 

[sel1965]

How can you tell what version your Macbook Pro is?

 

[kelon111]

How can you tell what version your Macbook Pro is?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4132

 

[ogremoustro]

I don't know what you are smoking, but... clockwise from top left:

LCD cable problem; LCD connector problem; physical damage to LCD crystal layer; LCD connector problem.

None of these pictures are representative of a broken graphics chip. They are representative of physical abuse (the lower right picture indicates an impact to the back of the case behind the problem area).

They are all pretty trivially fixable (except the lower right) by reseating the LCD connector. If the cable is damaged, replacing the cable will fix it, and not forcing the screen back away from the keyboard until physically stopped by the hinge, and then forcing it some more, will avoid the problem recurring.

Don't walk on the things, don't drop them, and don't set them down and make a tent between the keyboard and screen, putting pressure on the hinge.

Hmm let see,

No, no, and no. My Macbook Pro has always been on a table and is having issues. It has never been dropped or anything. Oh and I've certainly never stepped on it.

 

[dongski]

I got the same MacBook Pro too, early 2011 15" 2.2 i7 AMD 6750M and just died on me. Brought to Apple Store and quoted almost $600 to replace the logic board. Told me to wait for 5 days, then called me that the logic board they ordered is also defective. I cancelled the repair when I read about the forum. Usual reply that there is no know issue for this model. My MBP is now collecting dust in my closet.

This MBP is in pristine condition, inside the original box with all accessories, plastic cover and keyboard cover as well. Now kept as a memento for buying a $2400 laptop that lasted from August 2011 to September 2013. My windows HP machine bought 2010 is still running smoothly bought for $600.

 

[kelon111]

I got the same MacBook Pro too, early 2011 15" 2.2 i7 AMD 6750M and just died on me. Brought to Apple Store and quoted almost $600 to replace the logic board. Told me to wait for 5 days, then called me that the logic board they ordered is also defective. I cancelled the repair when I read about the forum. Usual reply that there is no know issue for this model. My MBP is now collecting dust in my closet.

This MBP is in pristine condition, inside the original box with all accessories, plastic cover and keyboard cover as well. Now kept as a memento for buying a $2400 laptop that lasted from August 2011 to September 2013. My windows HP machine bought 2010 is still running smoothly bought for $600.

You never sold your dead MBP? I'm quite sure some people would want to buy it for spare parts.

 

[Timur]

Early 2011 17" 2.3 MBP here. AMD GPU went defective after about 2.5 years, more heavy use for the last 6 months. This happened exactly when I connected an external display while using bootcamped Windows. Neither OS X nor Windows could be booted if any GPU hardware acceleration features were used, safe boot worked, because it doesn't use hardware acceleration.

Apple Store asked for 420 EUR (incl. VAT) to replace the logic board (390 for the board, 30 service). I decided to have the GPU replaced with a new one by one of the many third party offers from Ebay. I choose an offer that specifically said to replace the GPU, not just resolder it and included 2 years warranty on the part (GPU) and 1 year warranty on the service (soldering it in, cleaning stuff, new thermal compound). Even more important, I got an analysis of the fault before the repair:

According to this the original thermal compound used by Apple baked hard over time. This caused heat to be emitted down towards the logic board instead of up towards the heatpipes. I was told that this in turn caused cracks in the BGA soldering, damage on the GPU's vcore unit and micro-fractures on the SMC. I don't know if all of these were true, but I got it all repaired for considerably less than the logic board exchange would have cost (got the broken GPU back, too).

Three things to mention:

1) Apple really should use way *less* thermal grease to begin with.

2) There is no possibility whatsoever to order an upgrade board over any channel (Apple Store or third party). Else I would have considered to buy a late 2011 board with slightly faster CPU and GPU, which would fit in the early 2011 chassis perfectly well (same design).

3) The Apple Store offered to sell me a new Macbook Pro minus what my repair would cost, aka for 420 EUR less. But I did not want to shell out up to 2000 EUR for a new laptop that is not so much of a major improvement, especially after my top-of-the-line model just died after only 2.5 years. And I suspect that they would only have made that deal if I had given them my "broken" unit in return, didn't ask, though. Not to mention that third party dealers often offer something close to that deal without any caveats anyway.

 

[HKZ/MST3K]

I had my logic board replaced for this exact issue back in the middle of October. Weirdly it wasn't overheating nor getting especially hot but it just up and started artifacting. Thankfully I have Applecare so it was just a warranty claim, and the Apple store was immediately on top of replacing it quickly, so I'm not too annoyed. I hope this one doesn't die for another couple of years because I can't afford to throw $500 at this machine again anytime soon. Thankfully mine ran just fine with the dedicated GPU turned off with gfxstatus so if it does act up again maybe I can run that trick again and keep it working.

 

[objc]

Happened to a friends 2011 MBP first... i advised him to go straight to BGA soldering (GPU replacement, no re-soldering) which is working fine now for 6 months and counting...
Replaced the thermal paste in my own 2011 MBP as a countermeasure, but ultimately I struck mine as well (while the thermal paste was all dried up and as shown many times in pictures way too much it didnt really shave off that many degrees). I also went the BGA route -- mainly because I need a working laptop and I'm using mine almost exclusively with an external screen.

I don't know enough about the Radeon issue, but a chip swap is in fact the only way to permanently solve the the 8600M GT issue on the Macbook Pro 3,1 and 4,1. In those cases, the underfill material was bad and the failure was actually inside the BGA package. Many shops claiming to fix the issue did a reflow or reball and claimed that would fix things. Those temporarily fixed the issue because in the process, they heated up the underfill and allowed things to move back into the proper place. I believe that was because the chip would be right-side-up during the process and could be pulled back into place by gravity once the underfill was heated. On the 3,1 and 4,1 models, the chips are upside down when installed in the laptop.

Until more info is available, it's hard to say if the entire chip needs to be replaced to fix the radeon 6750M issue, or if it's an issue that can be permanently fixed by a reflow or reball. However, if I were going to pay for BGA rework on one of the affected Macs, I would invest the extra $40 or so to replace the 6750M like you are recommending, just to be sure.

 

[ogremoustro]

Just took the MacBook Pro to the manhattan village apple store. $526 to fix it in the store, $310 to ship and fix it at one of their repair centers. Decided to buy some some arctic silver at the nearby fry's to see if changing the paste might solve the problem.