Owners of 2011 MacBook Pros report critical GPU failures, system crashes
It appears a number of early-2011 MacBook Pro models with discrete AMD GPUs are seeing issues with system crashes and hardware failures, with reports of problems escalating in recent weeks.
Screenshot of MacBook Pro graphics issue. | Source: Apple Support Communities forum member "abelliveau"
According to a 157-page thread on the Apple Support Communities forum, an increasing number of owners of early- to late-2011 MacBook Pros with discrete graphics cards are seeing what is being reported as hardware-related system crashes. And the problem appears to be getting worse.
With 206,237 views and 2,348 replies, the forum thread dates back to February 2013 with a steady stream of posts all citing issues with the discrete graphics card. Since the start of December, 53 pages of posts have been added to the growing discussion.
A majority of cases first see signs of the problem during graphics-intensive operations, like viewing high-definition videos or running heavy compute tasks. Displayed graphics become striated in some cases, while other uses have seen their screens go blank unexpectedly. A reboot temporarily solved the issue for a few forum members, but the problems returned after a short time.
Following the onset of graphical glitches, many users see their machine reboot to a blue or gray screen. For this type of issue, Apple suggests that restarting an affected Mac in Safe Mode, or resetting NVRAM/PRAM will solve the problem. In severe cases, a clean install of OS X is recommended.
As noted by forum posts, these methods -- and more -- were attempted, but did not resolve the issue.
The cause of the reported glitches is unknown at this time, though some users have speculated that heat is to blame for aggressive degradation of the discrete GPU. Some have found a solution in inhibiting automatic graphics switching to the more powerful AMD card through specialized software. Others, however, did not see success with the stopgap and were forced to replace their MacBook's logic board.
While some owners were able to take their machine in to Apple for a logic board swap, the operation is quite pricey without an extended AppleCare warranty.
Anecdotally, one AppleInsider staff member suffered from an identical issue as described in the Support Communities thread. In their case, the screen went black during heavy Photoshop editing. Upon restarting the machine, a blue screen was displayed and the MacBook's fans spooled up to near maximum RPM levels.
Rebooting to single user mode and performing a
A clean install was performed, which again revived the MacBook, but this too was short-lived. After repeated attempts to resolve the issue in single user mode and multiple clean installations, the machine is now unresponsive. When turned on, a gray screen with horizontal "squiggly" lines appears, denoting a possible hardware failure.
AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for comment and will update when a response is received.
Screenshot of MacBook Pro graphics issue. | Source: Apple Support Communities forum member "abelliveau"
According to a 157-page thread on the Apple Support Communities forum, an increasing number of owners of early- to late-2011 MacBook Pros with discrete graphics cards are seeing what is being reported as hardware-related system crashes. And the problem appears to be getting worse.
With 206,237 views and 2,348 replies, the forum thread dates back to February 2013 with a steady stream of posts all citing issues with the discrete graphics card. Since the start of December, 53 pages of posts have been added to the growing discussion.
A majority of cases first see signs of the problem during graphics-intensive operations, like viewing high-definition videos or running heavy compute tasks. Displayed graphics become striated in some cases, while other uses have seen their screens go blank unexpectedly. A reboot temporarily solved the issue for a few forum members, but the problems returned after a short time.
Following the onset of graphical glitches, many users see their machine reboot to a blue or gray screen. For this type of issue, Apple suggests that restarting an affected Mac in Safe Mode, or resetting NVRAM/PRAM will solve the problem. In severe cases, a clean install of OS X is recommended.
As noted by forum posts, these methods -- and more -- were attempted, but did not resolve the issue.
The cause of the reported glitches is unknown at this time, though some users have speculated that heat is to blame for aggressive degradation of the discrete GPU. Some have found a solution in inhibiting automatic graphics switching to the more powerful AMD card through specialized software. Others, however, did not see success with the stopgap and were forced to replace their MacBook's logic board.
While some owners were able to take their machine in to Apple for a logic board swap, the operation is quite pricey without an extended AppleCare warranty.
Anecdotally, one AppleInsider staff member suffered from an identical issue as described in the Support Communities thread. In their case, the screen went black during heavy Photoshop editing. Upon restarting the machine, a blue screen was displayed and the MacBook's fans spooled up to near maximum RPM levels.
Rebooting to single user mode and performing a
fsck to check and repair possibly corrupted files fixed the issue temporarily. Forcing the machine to use Intel integrated graphics also seemed to help the problem until the system went down after about one day of normal use. A clean install was performed, which again revived the MacBook, but this too was short-lived. After repeated attempts to resolve the issue in single user mode and multiple clean installations, the machine is now unresponsive. When turned on, a gray screen with horizontal "squiggly" lines appears, denoting a possible hardware failure.
AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for comment and will update when a response is received.
Comments
My late 2005 Intel MBP is still trooping along fine, even though I could cook pancakes on it much of the time.
That is an interesting comment considering the Intel MacBook Pros did not come out until 2006.
I think the documentation of failures should indicate a systematic, rather than random, failure which Apple needs to take care, even after the warranty period has expired.
It is especially important given the 17" is no longer being manufactured. There is no reasonable option for me and those similarly situated.
Intel switch announced in 2005 + 15" MBP introduced January 2006 + 15" MBP shipped February 2006 + 8 years = an acceptable miscalculation on the year.
My late 2005 Intel MBP is still trooping along fine, even though I could cook pancakes on it much of the time.
Originally Posted by hillstonesThat is an interesting comment considering the Intel MacBook Pros did not come out until 2006.
LOL
Upon restarting the machine, a blue screen was displayed and the
It seems PCs aren't the only ones to get BSOD
And apparently iPhone 5s's too
Intel switch announced in 2005 + 15" MBP introduced January 2006 + 15" MBP shipped February 2006 + 8 years = an acceptable miscalculation on the year.
8?9
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Got it back and put my 8GB DIMMs back in and it was crashing with no video anomaly - downloaded Remember and Memtest and determined one of the memory cards was bad - that is getting replaced under warranty.
Wish there was an easy/cheap replacement for the Radeon X1600 GPU problem on my old MBP - system still works with the GPU kext files removed but then cannot run any graphics intensive operations.
I must of picked it up during a short jaunt back in time. Even managed to pick up some 2005 email while I was there.
This is a big concern to me. I have an early 2011 17" MBP, and I have about 60 days left on Apple Care.
I think the documentation of failures should indicate a systematic, rather than random, failure which Apple needs to take care, even after the warranty period has expired.
It is especially important given the 17" is no longer being manufactured. There is no reasonable option for me and those similarly situated.
I'm in the same boat. No new 17inch models. I was planning on using mine for many years. By then, I was hoping they would bring back the 17". Hopefully there won't be issues? Does anyone with a 17" model have this issue?