What type of flux did you use?
What was your preheat temperature?
What was your ramp to soak (how many degrees per second)?
What was your ramp to peak (how many degrees per second)?
What was your time above liquidus? (I'll give you a hint on this one: Unless "200 C" was a typo, your TAL was zero.)
What was your cooling rate (how many degees per second)?
I urge everyone reading this thread to avoid the temptation of these home-brew remedies for 2011 MBP GPU problems. These machines are still worth quite a bit even in this condition, so it's unwise to approach as if you have nothing to lose.
There are lots of posts like this one on the web. Lots of videos too. You see someone do something relatively simple and then put it all back together and it works! But it doesn't last. And you risk making a legitimate repair more difficult.
Two things are required for a legitimate (lasting) repair:
1) Equipment that is more sophisticated than your kitchen oven.
2) A competent professional who knows how to use it.
You can get a new GPU installed or a reball of your existing GPU for $250 to $300. If you live in a big city, check for a local shop doing this type of work. If not, there are also some reputable mail-in services. In either case, do some research.
The only caveat here is that I don't know how likely it is that you would get reimbursed for this type of repair in the event that Apple does eventually recognize the problem and start a program for these machines. Though, IMHO, I think they would have made a move by now if they were going to.
I have no answer for your questions other than for you to re-read my original post... I did exactly what I described (as for cooling... I took it out of the oven !)
My original post was -
I had the same problem a couple of months ago...
I read all I could about it on the net and came to the conclusion that (in my case) it would be an expensive fix.
What helped was an app that allowed me to force the use of my chosen GFX card - Discrete or Integrated.
Despite that the problem got worse over the next couple of weeks until once powered down I was unable to turn back on my MBP (Early 2011 17" 2.3Ghz i7).
I started looking for a replacement but while doing so found 2 people who had the same problem and had tried a rather drastic repair.
Thinking I had not much to lose I tried the same thing....
The problem was identified as (possibly) being caused by faulty solder joints around the GFX chip - heat being the culprit. My MPB has been used intensively since I bought it (Cinema 4D, Avid, FCP, After Effects, Photoshop... often simultaneously, with the CPUs running at 97 - 98 C for hours (even days) at a time.
The cure... (maybe)... was to strip the MPB down to it's component parts and remove the logic board. Then I did what the other guys had suggested......
I baked it in the oven for 8 mins at 200 C !
After cooling and reassembling it booted up and ran like new
That was about 6 weeks ago and I've had no recurrence of the problem.
I understand the reasoning behind the solution - the intense heat my MPB had undergone had possibly affected the joints around the GPU connections and the baking had re-flowed the solder, remaking the connections, but it was a drastic solution and one I tried only after realising that it would cost hundreds to have it repaired by Apple which probably wasn't cost effective (being almost 3 years old).
Being so risky I could not recommend that anyone else try this unless they are ready to bin their laptop and have nothing to lose. All I can say is that several weeks ago I had an MPB that wouldn't boot up after having the problems described in this thread... now I have one that is working just as hard as it ever did and is once again cooking my legs as I work on it !
If you do decide that this might be a solution for you then please search the net for advice - reflowing solder, MacBook Pro, GFX etc etc...
Despite being immensely satisfied with having repaired it in this way I'm hugely disappointed in having a (relatively widespread) defect like this in an Apple product that Apple themselves shy away from.
I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that my "Medium Rare MBP" keeps cooking for a while longer.§
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Forgot to say that while it was apart I found a huge amount of debris in the fans... can't have helped the cooling !
UPDATE:
I have to say that I have
no experience in MacBook Pro repair.
I tried the above "solution" because I had a dead 2010 MBP.
I had to take into account the cost of repair of my dead 2010 MBP (in the UK), the revenue from a dead 2010 MPB, the revenue from a fixed 2010 MPB (minus the repair cost) and the cost of buying either a replacement 2010 MBP or a new MBP.
After all of the above calculations I decided the worth of my MBP was only as parts.
Yes, I could have sold it and rescued a few bucks but if the "repair" I'd read about worked then I would "save" hundreds. That's why I decided to give it a go.
It's now been months since the "repair" and it seems to be lasting, my MBP is working fine (I'm typing this on it right now). I've been using it for really intensive 3D GFX work and lots of After Effects projects.
I'm in no way recommending this as a solution, I'm just saying from experience that it worked for me and saved me a lot of money.
If you decide to try this then
please search the web for the details (treat my description as incomplete, collect your own data).
manufacturing fault and should be dealt with accordingly. Seems in todays world, everything is made in China or the country that offers the cheapest manufacturing solution. Where's the pride and the ethics that once accompanied all good quality products? Apple, designed in California, assembled in China, essentially meaningless. Fed up with this nonsense. We need a solution for the Macbook Pro 2011 GPU problem!