Update: Repair Extension Program…
Long-standing complaints that the 2011 MacBook Pro suffered from a manufacturing fault resulting in GPU glitches and failures don’t appear to be going away, as an online petition calling for Apple to fix or replace affected machines reaches more than 18,000 signatures.
To:
Timothy D. Cook, Apple Inc
Craig Federighi (Apple Inc) (Apple Inc), Apple IncReplace or Fix All 2011 Macbook Pro with Graphics Failure
The petition notes the premium spent to buy Apple laptops, and says that Apple’s only response to date has been to ask owners to pay for an extremely expensive logic board replacement …
An Apple Support Communities thread on the issue has now reached over 9,000 posts across more than 600 pages even as Apple has been removing entries, and a Google search for 2011 MacBook Pro GPU brings up autocomplete suggestions for searches totalling over three million hits.
Owners of machines suffering from the problem have also been tweeting with the hashtag #MBP2011, and there are a number of websites devoted to the issue. Owners are reporting Apple repair costs of between $300 and $700, with diagnoses often pointing to failure of either the soldering or thermal paste on the AMD Radeon HD 6750M.
Apple did offer a free video card replacement on some mid-2011 iMacs exhibiting similar symptoms, though the cards in the MacBook Pro are different, and such recalls are rare. The most recent was in August, when Apple offered free battery replacements for some iPhone 5 phones.
We’ve asked Apple for comment but expectations are low obviously. These things usually take some class action lawsuits to elicit a response from Apple.
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In the social media age 18k people seriously annoyed about such an expensive laptop being only good for a couple of years equals a tsunami of bad publicity. C’mon, Apple. We used to be your fans.
Keeping a close eye on this. I have this exact machine and this exact card. My wife now uses it for work. To my knowledge, it has not yet developed severe graphics issues….even though I’ve suspected that it had graphics issues day 1 when I purchased it. Now I gotta go take a look at it.
I was in your shoes, and then within a week and a half of my first symptom, it was a brick (still is). I would recommend trading it in for cash somewhere while it still works. I wish I would have.
Are you suggesting that your solution would have been to trick someone into purchasing a computer you’re certain is going to turn into a paperweight? That’s pretty fucked up.
I’m on my second GPU in my machine, the first died in the warranty and the second just outside it. The second replacement lasted only 9 months and it cost me almost $400 to get it replaced. They really need to make this right considering that it’s making me seriously consider not purchase another Pro laptop from them in the future. They tried everything they could to avoid replacing the GPU while it was under warranty and they were immediately okay with charging me $400 the second time. For a machine that cost me $2800+ new, it had better last longer than three years before it becomes utterly useless twice. Apple has more than enough money to make this right, they have literally no reason not to.
I’m sure wants to make it right, but your forgetting that this is also AMDs problem for poor quality on their part, which is why I wait until Apple switches to Nvidia on updates.
I didn’t buy an AMD laptop, I bought an Apple laptop. I don’t care who the part was made by, the warranty and the product was sold to me by Apple. It is their responsibility for fixing problems on the product that they sell.
You’re not stupid, only a little slow. If you read the article properly before jumping to the comments section, you would have noticed this: “with diagnoses often pointing to failure of either the soldering or thermal paste on the AMD Radeon HD 6750M.”
Does AMD solder/paste their chips to the logic board, or was it Apple’s job? AMD is only a chip maker, their chip either lives or fails, and it’s never failed, it’s only the lead-free, poor professional installation and bad thermal paste application are all elements that contribute to this said disaster. After all, if you used macs from 2007 and up, you would have heard about the catastrophes caused by a real failure in nVidia chips which continued to plague laptops up to 2010. In conclusion, it turns out it’s nVidia which makes potentially faulty chips, added to the manufacturing problems by apple, not AMD by any means.
Next time try googling/binging matters before a discussion… it makes things easier for us and you as well.
A multi billion company should clear up its mess. Their one day iPhone sales already can cover up the 18k mbp2011
I also have this exact machine but never had any such issues.
On third Logic board in the last 6 weeks..i’m disgusted with this for a £1,500 laptop that has last me just over 3 years. My cheap P.C last longer at 8 years. I purchased apple product as i kept reading how amazing their products were, i feel completely let down and have had to stop all work on my music that i have done for the past 17years..due to this problem. Apple need to do the right thing and do a recall. No other company would sell faulty products and get away with it.
let’s face it..apple doesn’t have to do anything.
Patrick, please enlighten me as to why. They have produced a faulty mac, why would so many people complain otherwise. There is clearly a design Fault. I’ll take it you have a mac that works fine hence your comment!
I had this problem just last month, had to get the logic board replaced. What bugged me the most was the fact it happened a few months after my applecare expired.
My $3,000 mid-2011 MacBook Pro has become so unreliable! I never thought I’d compare this machine to a PC old dell laptop or toshiba satellite notebook but this is getting ridiculous. As I’m working as a freelancer everyday counts and when I can get a gig it’s very important to provide results. With my mbp I can’t count on doing anything anymore. Regular browsing or just sitting with no apps open it freezes. Sitting praying and hovering over the thing hoping it will turn on. What gives Apple. I still believe in you so please fix this issue. We’re losing money here!
Hold your breath. It will be coming soon. It’s never a recall with Apple though. It’s a repair extension. Meaning if your machine exhibits the behavior and it fails the exam then it will be fixed at no cost. If it doesn’t fail the exam you won’t get a replacement. Similar to the iPhone 5 battery replacement and the power button replacement, iMac 2011 replacement. It must fail the exam. I’m pretty sure this program will come out soon. Also if you have already paid for a replacement you can get a refund once the program starts.
I hope it’s more than that. Ive had two logic board replacements, and it looks like I’m close to needing a third one. If they can’t fix the issue permanently they should give people affected the closest unaffected machine.
Agreed. I’m on my second one now and have no faith it won’t break again within 6 months. For a $3000 machine after taxes this is completely unacceptable.
Same here. Nothing but a complete brand new replacement. No more band aid fixes!
That’s an interesting image. I get something similar on my screen of the 2012 rMBP when ever it wakes up from sleep (only since upgrading to Yosemite). Though after it wakes up, I never run into any GPU issues (or other issues actually). Even run 1080p video at full screen without issue.
Posting from a used (and dented) 2011 MBP that I bought at an Apple reseller. When I got the machine, Mountain Lion was the latest OS. I ran into graphical glitches infrequently, but they would mess up the whole screen and I would sometimes have to reboot to clear them up. Then when Mavericks landed, I only had very rare glitches that were just a nuisance that I could ignore if I had to. Since upgrading to Yosemite… nothing. Not a single visual anomaly.
I’m not accusing anyone of anything, I’m not saying that there isn’t a real problem that these people are experiencing, but… I wonder what would happen if they all did a fresh install of the latest OS X on their systems. I just wonder.
A fresh install does not work. I have read many comments where people have tried this!
Bizarre… My MacBook Pro suffered greatly on Lion but it cleared up after upgrading to Mountain Lion and stayed OK on Mavericks.
And now, on Yosemite, it’s reared its ugly, stuttering head again. iTunes playback affected as well. Well, it’s back to the drawing board to apply the steps that previously alleviated the problem, while hoping that some replacement program can be squeezed out of Apple’s tight mitts.
This is more than a graphical glitch brought about by software, this is a graphics card failure. I have had this happen to me twice already. The problem is the discreet graphics card failing (Radeon 6750 in my case). If you never or rarely use any programs that switch over to that graphics mode you should be fine. my first card failed in Lion, my second card failed in Mavericks, and I doubt this third card will make it past Yosemite
If you never or rarely use any programs that switch over to that graphics mode you should be fine.
When like me you do use this graphics mode often (I spend all day in photoshop, Illustrator, and do some occasional video editing) The graphics card either fries up, or part of the soldering melts. When that happens your computer will Freeze and crash (sometimes turning itself off) overtime the graphics are switched. You can restart the computer and do some work, but each time the time between the crashing and burning will be shorter. 3 hours, 2 hours, 1 hour, 30 minutes, 15 minutes, until the computer just crashes on startup.
I’m on my third logic board (original, first replacement, second replacement) and I am absolutely convinced that even though I use my computer on desk in a well ventilated space, the fact that I use the discreet graphics card means that this computer I payed $2700 for is going to fail a third time in 3-4 years.
It makes no difference at all. The failure is with hardware. I have Windows 7 installed in bootcamp and it still does the same thing in that OS too. I fresh installed Mavericks twice and Windows 7 once just to placate the people at the Apple store because they swore it was a software issue and once I came in with an infrared heat gun and showed them that having the KEYBOARD register 130 degrees then they admitted it was a hardware failure. A new OS install doesn’t fix a known and ignored hardware failure.
Thank you for covering this. I have one of these affected machines. I have had 2 logic board replacements, so far, and I have already gotten some little graphical issues that indicate that this third Logic Board in 3 years is going to die soon as well.
My Macbook Pro 8.2 (late 2011) started to showing symptoms of failing graphics early in June/July this year. Towards September it was so obvious that something is definitely wrong, because machine was freezing or boot up grey screen appeared. It was taking me 10-15 attempts to get it boot to the OS X (with forcing PRAM/NVRAM resets and recovery mode).
I’ve set Genius Bar appointment in local Apple Store. Guy did diagnostics and told me what I have already knew – logic board (GPU to be precise) is dying. Then he told me it will be £380+Vat to get it done. I thought then about buying new one and ignored the issue for a while. Then MBP just stopped booting at all.
Another visit to Apple Store, this time different Genius appeared. Did diagnostics, asked me when/where I bought my machine. He noticed that there are two SSDs (one in optical bay) he said that if I replace it wi original SuperDrive he would be able to replace logic board under “Consumer law”. So I did my job, brought machine back again to Apple Store and two weeks later they have called me. I was ready to pay that £400+ but when I came, he said that it’s free. I was like “Hey? What did you say?”. Then I took MBP with me and quickly went to my car – just in case they’ll change the mind or something.
So far it works but temperatures are a bit high – like above 65°C.
Mine failed after three+ years. I took it to the Genius bar and I had a pocketful of printouts documenting the extent of the problem for others. I never needed to pull out the evidence. The Genius chose to fix it for free with no questions asked. I do not know why Apple would not just own up to the defect.
My early 2011 MBP just started exhibiting this problem one month ago. Petition signed and kind letter written to Tim.
There was a similar issue with mid-2010 MBPs with the Nvidia GT330 GPU, which developed frequent lockups, crashes, and/or corrupted images on the screen. As I have one of these, and have experienced occasional system freezes (mainly when running 3D games), I’d like to know what (if anything) is happening with that model.
There is a program for that. http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4088?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US – I had my logic board replaced free of charge. Not by Apple, but a Premium Reseller here in Denmark.
My machine died 2 months ago, it was my main development machine and the one I use when I have to travel for a client. What sucks is that I have a new client that wants to send me to Thailand but I have no machine to take with me. I’m hoping that a friend will let me borrow her machine but I hate that I spent so much money for this machine and it’s upgrades for it to be a paperweight and the response I got from Apple was not our problem.
It reinforces – once again – my personal policy … never buy apple straightaway
I’m pretty likely to get one of the new iPad Air 2 tablets, but no way am I buying immediately. By about December we will have some idea of what the problems are, whether to buy or whether to wait for the iPad Air 2 mk2.
My 2011 macbook pro started to suffer from this 8 months ago. Using it became a nightmare – you never know when it’s gonna freeze, if it’s going to boot from the 5th try or from the 20-th, or at all…
I managed to disable the AMD GPU, but it basically turns your $2500 macbook pro into a $1000 macbook – you can’t use any graphically-demanding applications, you can’t use an external display (no movies on a big-screen TV for you, loser!), etc.
And I gotta say: I succeeded (haha, success, yeah) at this only because I’m geeky enough to read through 100’s of pages of techy stuff written by affected users and lucky enough not to kill my mac while trying to remove that freaking GPU driver.
Also I’m stuck with my current version of MacOS, because I suspect upgrading it will bring AMD GPU back and only god knows if I’ll be able to boot my macbook again after that.
Bottom line: this sucks. We’re all waiting for Apple to do something about it.
While they are at it, can they also petition for the return of the 17-inch MacBook Pro? I really don’t like like any display smaller than a 17-inch, and the best portable desktop for me is the 17-inch MacBook Pro. I wish they could also ask Apple to bring back the 17-inch MacBook Pro.
People complaining about how Apple should fix this problem also forget that this is AMD’s issue too.
So? Do you think when your phone breaks where the screen was made by Samsung but sold by Apple, they can say “oh that’s not our problem, Samsung made the screen”?
Not trying to hijack the comments for this issue, but what about the 9,519 posts across 635 pages complaining about the Retina MacBook Pro burn in/image retention(https://discussions.apple.com/message/26761234?tstart=0#26761234)?
I just replaced my logic board for $620 2 weeks ago (after delaying since early August), and was unaware this was a big issue. It was HORRIBLE to deal with the problem (for work especially) so I caved and replaced rather than struggling until next summer when I plan on buying a new machine. Hopefully they deal with this as we have come to expect.
I have a late 2011 MBP / 15″ monitor / 2.5 GHz i7 / AMD Radeon HD 6770M / 16 GB DDR3 RAM (Crucial Memory) installed this year. I experienced my first logic board failure this August which the local Apple store was able to diagnose as a graphics failure. I did a flat rate repair of $310. I then experienced my 2nd logic board failure in September which was covered under the 90 day warranty. To be honest I may be on the verge of another failure. While downloading Yosemite my cooling fans spooled up to 6,000+ RPM with nothing else being done on my MBP except for that download. None of the personnel at the Apple Store nor my experience of calling in to Technical Support were able to offer a definite fix or do different. As many others have said my Mac is both my personal and work computer. In my role with corporate sales; I can’t demo our software solution when my MBP is consistently now going in for service. I was ok with the first failure because parts do see degradation; however, going through 2 logic boards now in less than 2 months is unacceptable in my opinion. Upgrading to a new MBP at this point doesn’t do much for me except give me a minor processor bump, BT 4.x, Retina display and a SSD. I don’t care about the Retina display since I use a 27″ Thunderbolt display and the rest of the tech is fairly unnecessary at this point. I would gladly take some sort of in store credit and buy a new MBP if they offered that as an option since the unit’s unreliability has cost me time / money by cancelling appointments with my customers.
This happened to me with a Sony Vaio about 6 years ago. Turned out to be a massive problem with the Nvidia 8600M GPU. Sony did the honourable thing and repaired any faulty laptops for free. This was still the last straw for me though as far as PCs go, as I had major issues with my previous HP laptop too.
Disappointing to see a similar Quality problem on a Mac, as I switched to Apple thinking I would be done with all that hassle. Apple MUST now step up and do the right thing.
By the way it’s unlikely to be a manufacturing problem with the solder. The root cause is actually the GPU is reaching too high a temperature in normal usage, and it accelerates the aging process of the solder joint, which should be able to handle several thousand HEAT-COOL cycles easily,
My MacBook Pro Late 2011 Highest End, is always slowing down, since around a year ago or a little more back my Mac has become slow as a typical Windows Machine, and I noticed that after around 2 hours into being booted up it starts to really slow down and when I use Activity Monitor RAM usage with everything closed is around 7.50GB Used, Having only 0.50GB left >< . As an example running SimCity everything on Medium its laggy but playable after a reboot.. If I open the game after 1hr of the Mac being on Simcity runs sooooo slow, you can't even use it. At around February this year I was having Fatal Errors and couldn't use my Mac for a week, then formatted and re-installed OS X and it restored but still with the slow performance. I paid 2,500 Euros for this! Not to mention my battery inflated this summer and had to remove it, problems with trackpad and had to be fixed and the one time all my data was corrupted a month after I purchased it, was still running Snow Leopard back then…… and I tend to tell people that my Mac is amazing :p haha
E-mail these guys as much as you can:
skeegan@apple.com,
giuliano_d@apple.com,
luchini@apple.com,
tcook@apple.com
I have the MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011) and the machine is no longer useable due to an apparent GPU issue. I have been a faithful Apple user for some time now and this is leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.
Okay guys, I’m gonna clean up this a little.
17′ late 2011 user here, machine CTO’d in 2012 febr.
A few months ago, the GPU got dead, only could use the integrated one. Called apple, they wanted to wave me with £400, I refused.
I emailed tim cook, and an apple rep rung me on my phone. I arranged another machine take in, they held it for a week, and now I am on my 2nd logic board. Free of charge, out of warranty.
Now, it’s starts to get dodgy again, I have brought it back again, they said there’s no problem with the machine….
Now I am waiting until it gets so bad, that they will see the issue instantly upon bringing it in, as now it takes a few hours to get the issue to show up.
Anyways, what I want, at the end is, a replacement machine. I really fed up with two things now from apple.
1, It’s just two and a half years old, and it’s clearly an issue which cannot be resolved by replacing parts, as the GPU and the CPU will heat up eventually to a level, where it kills itself.
2, Today, i realised, there’s not AirDrop feature or handoff on my MacBook Pro as it doesn’t have BT 4.0. However, airdrop doesn’t need BT 4.0 to operate, as it works without BT on my iPhone.
So guys, Email tim, demand a repair and don’t leave yourself in the dust. There is, at least in England a policy, which says that there is 6 years of warranty is covered if the machine has a manufacturing defect.
My early 2011 MBP 15″ also suffered the same fate, after 26 months, the gpu failed, no Apple Care. Apple store in BC diagnosed it immediately as logic board and charged me almost CAD$700 for it. I agreed and after waiting for a week, they called me that the logic board they got is defective and needs to order again. I withdrawn the repair and instead bought a new one.
I was really so upset for this MBP that i took care of it like a baby. No scratches or dent, seems like brand new outside but rotten inside. Hope Apple will do the right thing.
For those without problem, you’re lucky but don’t ever assume it is not true. I don’t believe everything written on the internet but when most people described the same thing that happened to my unit, then it is real.
I have this machine/problem and replaced it with a new one. This truly pissed me off!
I have the same issue and I am totally disappointed! I would never waste any money on Apple’s expensive products!
I have a 2011 MacBook Pro and in the last few months it will not send video to my Apple HD Cinema display via display port. Could this be related?
I think mfg’s should be forced to issue recalls for technology and other consumer products as they do for cars when their is a legitimate mfg defect that is impacting the users ability to actually use their product as designed an PAID for.
Apple cannot bury their heads in the sand and expect this to go away, yes they are on top and make billions and billions every quarter but you only STAY on top when you actually deliver to the consumer.
Does this include Early 2011 MacBook Pro?
had the same problem. Already gave up and won’t buy any product from Apple nor recommend to anybody.
I’m one if the unfortunate few. Mine is at the store now, picking it up over the weekend. Cost $310.
I’m kind of relieved; expected it to be much more costly a repair, but would be great to not have to pay.
I bought a used Macbook Pro 15 inches Early 2011.. when I bought it it was dead… it showed the apple logo booting up and then from there it went straight to a blue screen. I paid a for an out of warranty facility repair.. around 375 bucks.. it turns out the graphics card was defective. They ended up replacing the logic board altogether. The computer was fine at first but it started showing a blank screen on boot up every once in a while 2 months after the repair.. at the very end of everything it turns out they had to replace the logic board once again. I sold this to my nephew for his school.. I wasn’t aware of this issue, I thought I just had bad luck..
Apple should really do something about this.. I don’t want them to think I screwed them up with that computer..
I know this is a massive problem but on another note: The airdrop feature between my mac 2011 and iPhone won’t work even after the installation of Yosemite and ios 8. I’m pretty sure this is still the case with every 2011 mac.
Ya do something, else i built more hackintosh.
Repair receipt in hand waiting for Apple to offer refunds/fixes/free bjs.
Here, in Croatia (EU) I paid MBP 17″ 2011 about 3.500$ and month ago I paid 1.200$ for new Mother board because GPU is integrated! I really wish replacement program for this issue to be allowed for us!!!
Still enjoying the top of the line Macbook pro that Apple replaced my faulty 2011 model with a couple of months back. Dunno if this is the case for the USA but if you live in the UK remember: Don’t pay for the logic board replacement because its covered under UK consumer law. And if they replace it 3 times and it still fails – you can demand a new one or your money back.
I had the Early 2011 Model. After 1.5 years the gpu crashed and I had to buy a new logic board for $800 at the local Apple store, and the same happened 2 weeks ago, the replaced logic board crashed again.It seems the my logic boards just dies after 1.5 years. I gave up the idea to replace it, so I just bought a new MacBook Pro. I had 4 laptops and much more apple products but it was the worst Apple hardware what I have ever had.
Ive been dealing with this for more than a year now, had it repaired in Boston and the machine kept showing symptoms of failure, recorded it on video, took the machine to the Apple Store and the computer didn’t show anything during their tests and they refused to replace it.
I had exactly this problem… I had to change 2 times my logic board so I finally report apple to justice… I finally won the case and Apple gave me the new Macbook Pro from 2013 for free. This happened in Spain, our law protect all consumers… I recommend you to fight against this problem!
my 2011 MBP is crashing a couple times a week – I’ve got the AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1024 MB
This is the second Apple product that I’ve had ‘go bad’ – the first was a 2009 Mac Pro that had to go back twice for logic board AND power supply replacement – Apple is going to lose some customers if they don’t get their shit together
I have two coworkers that own a macbook pro of this batch, and both have this defect. They are really pissed.
Just an update. I’m going to my local Apple Store this evening for what I can only guess will be my 4th logic board. 3rd logic board in 3 months. This time my failure exactly mirrored the above graphic with the vertical lines.
my father in-law has the last 17″ macbook pro which falls under this issue as in late 2011 17″ macbook pro, the computer started behaving erratically, and then never again booted. Until we disassembled it and put the logic-board in the oven as per reballing tutorials (7 minutes at about 250º C) let it cool, apparently this solved any issue the computer has been as good as new for couple of months now. We did change the thermal paste in cpu and gpu, to try and avoid for as long as we can another failure. Its clearly a similar defect as xbox’s red rings.
That is interesting! I bought three 2011 MacBooks for myself and two collegues in work. Every single one failed and had to have new logic boards (all within the AppleCare period) 100% failure rate on three machines that cost £7500!!!
Even my fanboyism can’t make an excuse for that!
The real issue for me is what is the point of replacing a part with another that is likely to fail in the same way?
Remind again, how many billions is Apple sitting on?
I have a 2011 Mac Book Pro 15 inch and I have to exchange two weeks ago the motherboard. The price was € 460 in Berlin Apple Store. Do you already have a statement from Apple about this ongoing problem?
No response to date …
Shouldn’t have bought a Macbook in 2011
Same problem for me, from working to useless junk in about a week. Questioning whether I’ll buy another Apple product as my crappy dell lasted just as long? Disappointing that they won’t acknowledge the issue – needs more bad publicity before that will happen
This issue is causing my MacBook Pro to freeze on a daily basis. I can’t afford to replace an otherwise perfectly good machine, which I paid a premium for when it was released. Judging by others comments, I’m not convienced that a logic board repair/replacement, will solve the issue permanently. I used to be a massive Apple fan, however am now loosing my faith and confidence in their brand/products. I don’t know where to turn and am tempted to leave the Apple eco system altogether if this is indicative of their future customer service standards.
I’m looking for a used Macbook.
So i will avoid 2011 models
I just got my logic board replaced for INR 31,500/- ($514).
On October 1st, 2014 my Mac Book Pro had crashed for the second time, this time I lost everything, over 200,000 files. I am in the 4th and final year as a graphic designer and all of my work is forever gone let alone all of my personal files. I was working on a project using InDesign, Photoshop, and the internet when it had crashed. When I called Apple they told me the only thing they could do was help me to re-intall the OSX Lion system. I also have had some other issues with the keyboard sticking in certain weather, the head phone jack, and at times the sound card, but they wouldn’t let me send it for repairs even though it is still fully insured. This has been very difficult for me to deal with and at times it’s very depressing to think about all of the photos I have had for years that I will never see again. Thank goodness I had uploaded a lot of my school projects and pictures to FaceBook where I can re-save them again on my hard drive, but it still leaves me very nervous to use the laptop. I will be purchasing an external hard drive next month, I wish I had done it sooner. That was another thing that bothered me a lot, Apple treated me like it was my fault that I hadn’t backed up my work, if it is so necessary to back up your hard drive, then why doesn’t Apply supply you with one upon the purchase of any laptop or PC?
You can retrieve the files from your machine using the target disk mode function and a thunderbolt or firewire 800 cable. Start up your mac holing down the T key and then connect the cable between your mac and another working mac. Your startup disk will mount on the desktop (you may have to enter your password if you use FileVault) and you’ll be able to retrieve your files.
Additionally, you can remove the AMD and ATI graphics extensions which will force the mac to use the working Intel Graphics card. Won’t be able to work on it with graphics apps but could get you out of a hole.
Come on Apple I invested $4500 in my mac pro and to have it fall like this in 3 years just after expiry of apple care is totally unbelievable.
Just to give the heads up to others i have changes the HDD for a SSD and added a fan APP to help reduce the temperature inside machine. Then updated the operating system. although it sort of works at the moment i cant rely on this for work so just don’t know what to do…
I have have just had my third logic board replaced (yes now on number 4 since new) I have considered many options for the use of dead Macbook Pro, its too large to use as a paperweight, too thick for a door stopper, possibly a memorial tombstone would be a good option, maybe Apple can issue a memorial weatherproof sleeve for the device (to prevent it from leaching toxic matter into the ground water), with “RIP Steve Jobs” engraved on it!
Mine died yesterday :(:(
MacBook Pro, 17″, Shanghai, Feb 2011 – using Macs since 1984
MBP runs so hot, it swelled the battery, making the trackpad unusable.
Shortly after, frequently freezes requiring restart, screen stripes (not always fixed by restart), and spinning beachballs. I’m not very graphics-intensive. Most of these failures occurred using iPhoto or MS Office applications.
Question: What graphics-intensive applications to avoid if one is lucky enough to own a 2011 MBP?
Question: When a 2011 MBP fails, is it the logic board, the graphics card, or the motherboard? Or all three?
It’s Xmas (even in Thailand where I live) but I just emailed Whitfield, Bryson & Mason LLP, the bigtime DC law firm running the class-action lawsuit over this issue.
Then I emailed the four Apple execs whose emails were thoughtfully provided by another poster.
Let’s all work together on this!
Mine died on Christmas day and it was repaired in June of 2013 for the same issue. I’ve already bought a new, Asus laptop. I’ve been a Mac user since I bought the original 12″ PowerBook G4 but won’t buy another Mac. A $2000 Mac should last a lot more than 3.5 years.
just now: i phoned one our about the graphic problem with apple support and then they kicked me out, super service, apple!!!!
Macbook Pro 15″, gekauft im Februar 2012: defekte Graphikkarte, Fehlerhafte Hardware by Apple: Ich habe eine Stunde mit dem Apple Service telefoniert (inkl. Warteschleife) nach einer Stunde wurde einfach aufgelegt. SUPER SERVICE – APLLE!!!
Derzeit in Europa noch kein Serviceangebot für das schon länger bekannte Problem. In Amerika läuft schon ein Gerichtsverfahren.
I got my logic board replaced only for it to fail again less than two months later. They ended up replacing nearly everything inside the second time it was sent for repair and it was practically a new machine when I got it back. I was quoted around £500 for the logic board replacement the first time; I argued on the phone that this is clearly a known issue and they then sent me an EU claim form to fill in and my repairs were done free of charge. Funny how these things aren’t mentioned to begin with…
If you live in an EU country – ask for that form.
Also, the repair warranty is only good for a couple of months, I was lucky that it failed on me the second time when it did as it was still covered – only just! I spoke with an advisor on the phone and asked what would happen if it failed a third time but outside the repair warranty (which it is now) and they told me that it’s all logged and if it did fail again any time soon I would likely get a brand new machine. :)
Oh my gosh…I think I jinxed it. Less than a month after writing the post above – it’s just failed AGAIN! Third time. I’m outside the repair warranty now but I’m still going to phone tomorrow when they open and see what they say. They told me that the third time means a new machine. Wonder if they’ll keep their word. After all of this and after reading everyone else’s troubles, how is this allowed to carry on?
At the cost of $310 they replaced the logic board, worked for less than 90 days, so under that warranty they replaced both the logic board and battery. I guess the battery ended up getting me an extra 10 days or so, cause now it has failed again, and I am in a ‘semi’ battle with the Genius’ on what is wrong, and of course it will cost because this time it lasted 100 days. Hopefully they will do the right thing, but at the moment I am losing faith.
I got mine repaired in December 2014 ($310) and I’m starting to see the lines intermittently. Sigh.
Has anyone who has had this error actually had it fixed permanently by a replacement board? (I mean running at leat 12 months since the replacement without a problem)
Mine has been doing it for a while and up until recently I assumed it was a harddisk fault, so replaced the disk with an SSD a couple of weeks ago. It started the whole splitting the screen in 2 with lines down it and then crashing completely again this morning so I did a bit more googling and ended up here. I live in the UK so have discussed it with Apple (who to their credit were fairly helpful), have acknowledged that whilst out of warranty I can make a claim under the Sales of Goods act – they’ve referred me to an independent Apple supplier for an assessment and if they agree they will fill the legal forms out (I have visions of them trying to wriggle out of it somehow though – I almost got an admission out of them that it’s a major known issue), I’m not paying Apples ridiculous amount to get it fixed, so if they do wriggle out of it I’m left with 2 options – either pay an independent to fix it (about £200 with a 90 day warranty), or give up throwing good money after bad and just replace it, altho the new 15″ model doesn’t appeal – I’ve just bought a 1TB SSD drive and I can’t plug it into the new model annoyingly!
No, mine has just failed for a third time, this time was 11 months since they replaced almost everything inside. I’m also in the UK and I got my repairs carried out by Stormfront. I filled in an EU claims form and got all the work completed free of charge each time. They told me last time that if it happened again I would probably get a new machine. Will be interesting to see if they still say the same when I call them tomorrow.
Check this link: http://www.apple.com/ca/support/macbookpro-videoissues/
It seems that Apple has answered.
Indeed so: http://viptest.9to5mac.com/2015/02/19/macbook-pro-repair/
Apple are saying they will not help those just outside the 3 year period, and that is still rubbish service.
I had Apple care that was not usable and now they are offering refund but not for early 2011 buyers?? . How is that useful to most of the early 2011 owners?? Not happy at all with there service on this.
My 2011 literally just lapsed into this problem…1 day after the recall announcement. thanks to everyone for documenting and pushing this issue up a hill otherwise
I was once able to play a decent game of Modern Warfare on bootcamp on a 2010 model. Now on my 2011 model, I can’t even play Thomas Was Alone on bootcamp without interference. It’s absurd.
I’ve taken incredible care of my machine for it to slug out like this.