2011 mbp gpu falure

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pmac

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Just wondering if anyone here has had this and how much it cost to repair?

Was in LR tonight when my mbp screen started playing up. Lines running up and down then it crashed and shut down. Rebooting it just went to a grey screen or blue screen every time I tryed a restart. System check said no hardware errors also.

But checking online it seems theres been alot of 2011 mbp's failing with gpu failures.over 20,000.

Apple care has ran out so going to have to stump the cash I guess. :(
 
~3 years old... It will be difficult but you could still try to play the not fit for purpose game with the retailer.

The whole motherboard with labour is likely to cost enough to justify a purchase of new machine. So I'd write a letter and go to store for a chat with a manager.
 
As Daugirdas says really, try not fit for purpose include estimated usage time. My Epson went wrong after 4yrs, they refused my claim but sent me a new one after I raised a small claims action against them. Apparently it was good will!
 
Thanks. Thats was my thinking. Ive just checked and it was bought from apple as a refurb on the 8th September 2012. So just over two years old. Seems there been a civil(I think it is) law suit already filed against them due to this issue.
 
You can always take it in. They've got a special tool to see if it was because of the "issue". If it is, then likely they'll repair it anyway. In my case it wasn't that actually and I used an eBay repair service and for £119 I was up and running again.
 
They have said to take it to thr genius bar and if its a hardware failure they will fix it even out of warranty. If its not I will pay.

The issue is getting an appointment though.. nearest to me isnt that near amd is fully booked for the mext week.
 
Get it in there when you can. It's a common fault and is logged on their system as a repair with no questions asked, check out the leaked guide for apple staff to confirm it, I had the same issue with 2 Mbp units and they swapped the boards like for like within 2 days :-)
 
pmac said:
They have said to take it to thr genius bar and if its a hardware failure they will fix it even out of warranty. If its not I will pay.

The issue is getting an appointment though.. nearest to me isnt that near amd is fully booked for the mext week.
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The Apple Stores always have long delays for appointments, even worse at this time of the year. I'd check with any local Apple Authorised Service Providers to see how quick they can deal with your problem. Many will process a repair same day. If you are a consumer, i.e. not a business, you can make a European Consumer Law Claim. Apples system is geared up for this, it's an option when a repair is entered. If you go down this route you will need your original receipt or invoice, even if bought from Apple.
 
dejongj said:
You can always take it in. They've got a special tool to see if it was because of the "issue". If it is, then likely they'll repair it anyway. In my case it wasn't that actually and I used an eBay repair service and for £119 I was up and running again.
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It's only the 2010 MacBook Pro's that have a dedicated MRI video test, not the 2011 models 'as a problem doesn't exist' with these. There was also a dedicated test via a bootable diagnostic for the much older 2007 and 2008 MacBook Pro's that suffered from the Nvidia GPU failure. These are now vintage, no longer supported. While it existed, the warranty extension was for 4 years. If you had an older MBP repaired by the GPU being re flow soldered, the problem will always return at some time. Only replacing the Nvidia GPU on these older models solves the problem.
 
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Thanks. Yeah as im in scotland there are only a few apple stores, with Edinburgh being the closest(hour plus train) but they did say i could take it to an authorised shop/service centre closer but would have to pay a £50 fee for them to diagnose the issue. If it's hardware failure not caused by me apple will refund it if they repair it. If they dont I have to stump the cash. Right now im tight off cash so would rather take it to apple.
 
They say it's a repair but it's not. Apple don't do any reballing - they will literally swap out the logic board and clean the internals out, most of the time they actually do a straight like for like swap as it costs less to them in terms of labour and kit.
 
Be interesting to see how you get on with this as I have the same MBP, although works fine at the moment, but for future reference just incase.
 
You can argue under law that (5yrs) that it is not fit for purpose especially if you can demonstrate a systemic fault as you have gathered from the internet.
 
Will let you know on the 28th. It was a unexpected failure.. it has shutvdown a few times before but never had screen issues and alwats restarted straight away. This time I was starting to finaly sort my large LR catalogue and the fans started going mad then it died. Earlier that night I had neen on LR as well it did have abit of a fan fit and heated up but didnt die. It does normally do this when editing alot.
 
There was someone else on here recently who had similar problems, finally fixed by replacement with a newer model. You will need to back up/copy that HDD or risk losing everything since the last back up if they don't just do a Mobo replacement (and even if they do). If you can, pull the drive, copy your data & pop it back in.
 
ancient_mariner said:
There was someone else on here recently who had similar problems, finally fixed by replacement with a newer model. You will need to back up/copy that HDD or risk losing everything since the last back up if they don't just do a Mobo replacement (and even if they do). If you can, pull the drive, copy your data & pop it back in.
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Not good news :( was worried aboit that. I dont have the skills or cables needed to remove it and copy it. As you cant see anything on screen is there any other way of doing it? Ive loads on there thats not backed up as ive been lazy with editing/backing up recently.
 
If you have another Mac, and it starts up ok then you should be able to remotely gain access to it. That is how I've installed many a Mac from my own workstation. Especially with Mac Servers.

Have you got another Mac? Alternatively don't be afraid of mentioning that to the Apple Store. They should be able to get the data off or at least swap the hard drive.
 
I do have my wife's mbp. But not sure what you mean by starts okay. Apple logo shows then the screen is grey so dowsnt show the desktop or anything. Her hd is half the size so would mean doing it in stages and backing up to my external drive between.
 
If you see the apple logo then you can use target mode for backup, check google and it will give you an idea what to do :)
 
I'm a little concerned that the screen works and only there after goes to s grey. It could indicate a different problem actually. Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding something.

Anyway it is worth a try. Start up you laptop, and let it do its thing and startup. You'll likely then won't see anything, however if it keeps humming and running than it is fine.

On your wife's MacBook is it appearing on the network in Finder in the computers list? If so you could try and take remote control from there.

If it doesn't show up, start up Remote Desktop. Then, unless you know the IP address you should bring up the scanner list and hopefully it shows up in there.

If it does show using either method, connect to it and try a blank username and as password the full password your faulty MacBook. That should then give you remote access into your Mac.

It has to be on the same lan and you'll need to know the full serial number.

If that works and you can then login to your account on your Mac you are in business.

I would then go out and get an external hard drive and connect that to your Mac and instigate a full backup.


Ps. The target method mentioned above could also work. It is what I use to quickly migrate to a new Mac. However has many other uses as well.
 
The screen shows up the apple sign only which has lines running through it from what I read this is normal with this issue. Will give all these methods a try this evening.
Reading an article on the target method in not sure that will work as it says they both need to be running the same OS. I haven't upgraded to the latest yet where as I think my wifes was.
 
Ok think its in the hands off apple as I cant get anything to work.

Target mode only shows my wifes hd and backup.

Just connecting the two does show mine on my wife's sharded tab. But fails to connect..the one time it did it was only showing the shared folder so nothing was accessible.

Remote acces wouldnt connect(microsoft if that's the right one) as the username was always wrong .

Startup in safe mode/pram/target disk and recovery all emd up in a grey scrern nothing else. What ever is happening the fans go mad.
 
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You can remove the drive easily enough - just remove the screws holding the bottom on (if you don't have that size torx, Homebase sell a toolkit with the right one fr £3.99) and there it is.
 
pmac said:
Ok think its in the hands off apple as I cant get anything to work.

Target mode only shows my wifes hd and backup.

Just connecting the two does show mine on my wife's sharded tab. But fails to connect..the one time it did it was only showing the shared folder so nothing was accessible.

Remote acces wouldnt connect(microsoft if that's the right one) as the username was always wrong .

Startup in safe mode/pram/target disk and recovery all emd up in a grey scrern nothing else. What ever is happening the fans go mad.
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You don't want Microsoft remote access. You want the Remote Desktop tool. Keep the username empty and the as the password provide the serial number. That should allow a remote connection to be established allowing you to do whatever you need to do.
 
Will that be installed as standard ?. When I search it was only the ms remote access I could see.is tgere a reason they dont even connect ?. If u hadnt guessed im not clued up on comps much.
 
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The Microsoft one uses a different protocol. And when using the apple one and trying to connect using your own account may not work either unless you had screen sharing enabled.

I'll go down and take a look at mine for the exact name. I'm pretty certain it is Remote Desktop Connection. I just launch it from spotlight by starting to type its name. Or alternatively if you see you laptop name popup in finder you can click on it and you'll share the screen.
 
pmac said:
Gpu and logic board screwed hd drive might be also so will loose all my files. They are fixing it all for free though whichbis good
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Hopefully not, but good news they're fixing it for you for free.

Hopefully everything running wonderful when you get it back
 
Well yes that would point towards the logic board. However that doesn't mean the hard drive is gone at all. Considering you haven't had a backup for a while I would really request my original drive back. Or just taken out so you can read it with a tool like I linked to before.
 
Thanks for the help.
They have already taken it at the apple store. So not sure what I would do now. Can nip back if thats a better idea. But would mean making another 3plus hour round trip to drop it bk off after.
 
pmac said:
Thanks for the help.
They have already taken it at the apple store. So not sure what I would do now. Can nip back if thats a better idea. But would mean making another 3plus hour round trip to drop it bk off after.
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Can you not phone them and see if they can help out at all ?
 
Quick update..

Called them this morning after checking my repair status online and seeing it had been repaired and returned to the store on the 6th. They hadn't contacted me to let me know, but i magically got an email while someone on the phone checked out why.

Picked it up this afternoon. logic board was replaced and HD was fine and all my data on the HD is still here :)
 
Good now make a backup :)
 
pmac said:
Quick update..

Called them this morning after checking my repair status online and seeing it had been repaired and returned to the store on the 6th. They hadn't contacted me to let me know, but i magically got an email while someone on the phone checked out why.

Picked it up this afternoon. logic board was replaced and HD was fine and all my data on the HD is still here :)
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Good news. Do you know if it was replaced with the same parts? If so is it likely to happen again?

And as JP said above, definitely time to get a backup routine in place.
 
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