I'm having this issue and have an appointment for the Genius Bar next week. Hopefully they don't charge me an arm and a leg for a fix since it's their engineering problem.
Just lost a mid 2010 MBP to a failed mainboard after some heavy lifting. Would only boot to a gray screen after POST and would not boot from any device, internal, external or networked and would not accept any keystrokes whatsoever. Repair is about 600$ in parts alone. Not happy. But at least I didn't waste money on Applecare that would only just have expired half a year ago.
I have an MacbookPro8,3 with no problems, but it is a late 2011 model - crossing my fingers. Did the late 2011 model have a different GPU setup and/or better soldering?
I have an MacbookPro8,3 with no problems, but it is a late 2011 model - crossing my fingers. Did the late 2011 model have a different GPU setup and/or better soldering?
I am glad AppleInsider is posting this article. Most web sites are afraid to say anything publicly to criticize Apple. But an even bigger problem is the issue with "burn-in" on most of the screens that have shipped with every version of the Retina MacBook Pro laptops (both 13 and 15-inch). Here is a thread that details the problem so many users have been experiencing:
I hope AppleInsider can also publish an article about this, in order to pressure Apple into doing something about it, instead of denying that the problem even exists, or saying that image retention is normal.
This is just too common now. When is the industry going to deal with this at the fundamental level? These chips aren't built for heat tolerance in portables.
This is what killed my MacBook Pro 3,1. Because of it, I refuse to let my newer 5,5 MacBook Pro get intensive GPU and CPU activity. Makes it less a workstation and more an Internet console.
I have an 17" Early 2011 MacBook Pro with 2.2 Ghz Intel Core i7 and the Intel HD graphics 3000 512 MB but have not yet see any of these symptoms. Does this alert apply to all 2011 MacBook Pros or are there exceptions? I am hoping to hear that mine is an exception. I went through the Nvida logic board problem with my previous MacBook Pro. That was an epic nightmare.
Not sure why you'd say that when I lost $3,000 on a laptop because of poorly designed hardware and they are doing nothing to help.
Because it either didn’t happen at all or you don’t know what you’re talking about. Either way, your post does absolutely nothing to help your position.
Same issue with my early 2011 MacBook Pro (2.2 GHz Core i7, Radeon HD 6750M). Just forked $300 for a re-seating of GPU (pulling it out and re-soldering). Bad connection of GPU to logic board is the root cause of this issue.
Also, keep an eye on the fans. Sometimes they get dirty and may even fail as a result of a minor bump (usually the power connector gets loose and disconnects the fan) reduced airflow accelerates the GPU issue. Generally, you should keep CPU and GPU as cool as you can. Use a third party laptop cooling tray.
This issue is the result of a design and/or manufacturing flaw and should be covered by some kind of repair extension program. I hope this issues gets more media coverage to force Apple to act on this.
This is just too common now. When is the industry going to deal with this at the fundamental level? These chips aren't built for heat tolerance in portables.
This is what killed my MacBook Pro 3,1. Because of it, I refuse to let my newer 5,5 MacBook Pro get intensive GPU and CPU activity. Makes it less a workstation and more an Internet console.
I think they might have dealt with it already. The newer laptops cool down much more quickly than earlier models and with the move to Iris Pro in the entry 15", that limits the amount of people that will be affected in future because Intel graphics don't suffer the same problems. It's also important to remember that most of Apple's laptop buyers aren't owners of 15" laptops. Their average selling price for laptops is $1200-1300 so the majority of their laptop sales are Macbook Airs and 13" laptops with IGPs.
Estimates are that around 80% of the laptop sales are 13" MBPs and Airs, 20% for the rest. That 20% is still a lot of people as they sell 14m laptops a year so 2.8m 15" owners per year. With the new Iris Pro, the owners of laptops with dedicated GPUs will probably drop below 5% of the laptop base.
I have an 17" Early 2011 MacBook Pro with 2.2 Ghz Intel Core i7 and the Intel HD graphics 3000 512 MB but have not yet see any of these symptoms.
Does this alert apply to all 2011 MacBook Pros or are there exceptions? I am hoping to hear that mine is an exception.
Your 17" laptop also has a 6750M GPU in it - they have 2 GPUs. Everybody wants to be the exception but all the 2011 models have the same design and components.
People have a habit of thinking that these are $3k expenses when they fail. 3 year old $3k laptops are only worth around $1000-1400 so that's the loss if it fails after 3 years. They can be sold on right now and replaced with refurbs with warranties:
and those warranties can be extended to another 3 years. There's no sense in holding onto old technology until it gives up and then mourning the huge initial outlay. If people keep selling and upgrading, that doesn't happen.
While there's no 17" model any more, the rMBP offers the same working resolution so eventually people will just have to get over it because the machines won't hold out forever.
I had an early 2011 17" MBP. The same issue started late April 2013. I did a ton of testing and at first I thought it was a software issue. Anytime it would happen I would run a permissions scan and found a directory tied to the discrete graphics card corrupt. I would repair the directory and it would be ok for a whie. So, I installed Cocktail and set it to automatically repair permissions daily.
However, the issue was never fully resolved. The next work around (used until I sold it) was installing gfxCardStatus. Then setting it to integrated at all times. Doing this made it possible for me until I rebooted. Then I would spend 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours trying to reboot. I just had to continue to reboot until it booted on the integrated card.
So, I only rebooted when it was absolutely necessary which was every 30 days or so.
The integrated work around made it manageable but the biggest issue was I couldn't use an external monitor since it requires the discrete card.
It may be a coincidence but this issue seemed to occur more frequently with Lion and Mountain Liion and less frequently with Snow Leopard.
I ended up selling the 17" MBP for what I could get for it and purchased a lightly used 15" MBPr and immediately purchased AppleCare.
I learned a valuble lesson with this laptop, buying AppleCare is a must not optional. And I probably won't keep a Mac after the AppleCare has runout.
I have been a very happy Mac user since 2010 but this is very frustraiting.
Welcome to my nightmare. I have had two consecutive MacBooks fail. The obvious original titanium MBP that Apple eventually decided to fix (after I emailed Steve Jobs who told me Apple would not cover it out of warranty) but by then I had tossed it. And now two days ago my 2010 MacBook Air (which over the last week was running substantially hot with no SMC button pushing would fix). After begging and pleading with Apple Corporate I got waved away with a coupon. How f*cking rich do you people think I am? I am saddened and now Macless. After calculating what I would have made had I purchased Apple Stock instead of Macs? About $549,000.00.
[email protected] (Please Apple read this and call so I don't continue to cry)
My 2011 15" MBP had this same problem. First the screen would flicker in strange ways, flip, overlap, looking a bit like an old broken CRT television, and sometimes the plain, blue screen. The fans would also suddenly come on full blast, when I hadn't even started working yet. I extended use of it using gfxCardStatus and forcing the machine to use the integrated graphics instead of the discrete card. The problem was actually getting there, since it would first have to go through the discrete before forcing the integrated. Still, it wouldn't last forever and the mac would eventually freeze (though I could at least access it to be sure everything was backed up properly).
It actually started happening right after two years, and it was clearly the AMD chip, so I took it to Apple (I thankfully had AppleCare), and they replaced the logic board without issue. Two weeks later, the problem started again, so I had to take it in again and they replaced the logic board AGAIN. In the end, since I couldn't trust the machine, I sold it at an incredibly reduced price with close to a year of AppleCare for the next person, having explained the issue in case it happens again.
This is an unacceptable situation (especially for their top, Pro laptops), and Apple should have called for an extended repair program ages ago for those without AppleCare, considering it's a product defect. I was lucky, and still, I had to buy a new one and lost money in the process.
Interesting that it took this long for this story to become a thing. You'd think 2011 machines would have started failing earlier than this, but I guess that's how these things go. Also, I have a 2011 MBP in my living room right now and I'm feeling a ticking clock now.
Comments
Glad I sold mine on ebay few months back.
Typical hardware failure. Number of posts is statistically insignificant.
Yes, typical for windows machine but not Apple. Unless Apple has gone the windows way too...
My late 2005 Intel MBP
That's not what this article is about.
I have an MacbookPro8,3 with no problems, but it is a late 2011 model - crossing my fingers. Did the late 2011 model have a different GPU setup and/or better soldering?
Same GPUs, same solder:
http://www.macrumors.com/2014/01/17/2011-macbook-pro-gpu-glitches/
"Many early and late–2011 MacBook Pro owners with discrete graphics cards seem to be experiencing GPU failures and system crashes on their machines."
https://discussions.apple.com/message/24523036#24523036
I hope AppleInsider can also publish an article about this, in order to pressure Apple into doing something about it, instead of denying that the problem even exists, or saying that image retention is normal.
This is what killed my MacBook Pro 3,1. Because of it, I refuse to let my newer 5,5 MacBook Pro get intensive GPU and CPU activity. Makes it less a workstation and more an Internet console.
Does this alert apply to all 2011 MacBook Pros or are there exceptions? I am hoping to hear that mine is an exception. I went through the Nvida logic board problem with my previous MacBook Pro. That was an epic nightmare.
Because it either didn’t happen at all or you don’t know what you’re talking about. Either way, your post does absolutely nothing to help your position.
Also, keep an eye on the fans. Sometimes they get dirty and may even fail as a result of a minor bump (usually the power connector gets loose and disconnects the fan) reduced airflow accelerates the GPU issue. Generally, you should keep CPU and GPU as cool as you can. Use a third party laptop cooling tray.
This issue is the result of a design and/or manufacturing flaw and should be covered by some kind of repair extension program. I hope this issues gets more media coverage to force Apple to act on this.
I think they might have dealt with it already. The newer laptops cool down much more quickly than earlier models and with the move to Iris Pro in the entry 15", that limits the amount of people that will be affected in future because Intel graphics don't suffer the same problems. It's also important to remember that most of Apple's laptop buyers aren't owners of 15" laptops. Their average selling price for laptops is $1200-1300 so the majority of their laptop sales are Macbook Airs and 13" laptops with IGPs.
Estimates are that around 80% of the laptop sales are 13" MBPs and Airs, 20% for the rest. That 20% is still a lot of people as they sell 14m laptops a year so 2.8m 15" owners per year. With the new Iris Pro, the owners of laptops with dedicated GPUs will probably drop below 5% of the laptop base.
Your 17" laptop also has a 6750M GPU in it - they have 2 GPUs. Everybody wants to be the exception but all the 2011 models have the same design and components.
People have a habit of thinking that these are $3k expenses when they fail. 3 year old $3k laptops are only worth around $1000-1400 so that's the loss if it fails after 3 years. They can be sold on right now and replaced with refurbs with warranties:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FD103LL/A/refurbished-macbook-pro-23ghz-quad-core-intel-i7
http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC975LL/A/refurbished-macbook-pro-23ghz-quad-core-intel-i7-with-retina-display
and those warranties can be extended to another 3 years. There's no sense in holding onto old technology until it gives up and then mourning the huge initial outlay. If people keep selling and upgrading, that doesn't happen.
While there's no 17" model any more, the rMBP offers the same working resolution so eventually people will just have to get over it because the machines won't hold out forever.
However, the issue was never fully resolved. The next work around (used until I sold it) was installing gfxCardStatus. Then setting it to integrated at all times. Doing this made it possible for me until I rebooted. Then I would spend 30 minutes to 1 1/2 hours trying to reboot. I just had to continue to reboot until it booted on the integrated card.
So, I only rebooted when it was absolutely necessary which was every 30 days or so.
The integrated work around made it manageable but the biggest issue was I couldn't use an external monitor since it requires the discrete card.
It may be a coincidence but this issue seemed to occur more frequently with Lion and Mountain Liion and less frequently with Snow Leopard.
I ended up selling the 17" MBP for what I could get for it and purchased a lightly used 15" MBPr and immediately purchased AppleCare.
I learned a valuble lesson with this laptop, buying AppleCare is a must not optional. And I probably won't keep a Mac after the AppleCare has runout.
I have been a very happy Mac user since 2010 but this is very frustraiting.
Best of luck to you all with this issue.
Again nothing is perfect in life. Apple makes mistakes like every other company around.
[email protected]
(Please Apple read this and call so I don't continue to cry)
My 2011 15" MBP had this same problem. First the screen would flicker in strange ways, flip, overlap, looking a bit like an old broken CRT television, and sometimes the plain, blue screen. The fans would also suddenly come on full blast, when I hadn't even started working yet. I extended use of it using gfxCardStatus and forcing the machine to use the integrated graphics instead of the discrete card. The problem was actually getting there, since it would first have to go through the discrete before forcing the integrated. Still, it wouldn't last forever and the mac would eventually freeze (though I could at least access it to be sure everything was backed up properly).
It actually started happening right after two years, and it was clearly the AMD chip, so I took it to Apple (I thankfully had AppleCare), and they replaced the logic board without issue. Two weeks later, the problem started again, so I had to take it in again and they replaced the logic board AGAIN. In the end, since I couldn't trust the machine, I sold it at an incredibly reduced price with close to a year of AppleCare for the next person, having explained the issue in case it happens again.
This is an unacceptable situation (especially for their top, Pro laptops), and Apple should have called for an extended repair program ages ago for those without AppleCare, considering it's a product defect. I was lucky, and still, I had to buy a new one and lost money in the process.
Interesting that it took this long for this story to become a thing. You'd think 2011 machines would have started failing earlier than this, but I guess that's how these things go. Also, I have a 2011 MBP in my living room right now and I'm feeling a ticking clock now.