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GPUs Dropping Dead In 2011 MacBook Pro Models
New submitter blackwizard writes "MacRumors is reporting on pervasive GPU failures in 2011 MacBook Pro machines, leading both to intermittent video issues, corruption, crashing/freezing, and eventually even failure to boot. Luckily for Apple, the machines are now out of warranty (unless you bought AppleCare). The issues have been reported both on Apple's own forums and other blogs. Apple has so far failed to take action on the problem. Will they take ownership of the issue, or continue to ask customers to pay for an entire new logic board when just the GPU fails?"
If it's truly faulty hardware Apple will typically own up to it and offer repairs free of charge. I have the 2008 MBP that had a logic board issue and Apple replaced it for free even though I was well past the warranty and didn't have AppleCare.
Motherboard failure happed to me with a Mac Mini only one month after the warranty expired. The problem was that the epoxy used on the boards when they were made was in short supply, so a substitute resin was used on some to keep production up. Apple wanted $499 for a new board. I never bought another Apple product again. If your MacBook Pro died. Find out what it will cost to replace the board. After your shock go look for a new machine. Apple price gouges the aftermarket.
Thankfully, I was there to tell them "I told you so."
You bought a laptop because a desktop is too old-fashioned. Well, in a laptop, there is no separate graphics card that you could replace. The GPU, like all the other chips, is soldered to the "logic board". That's a non-repairable item, so it needs to be replaced to fix the computer. Or just buy a new one. You know you want to.
About a week ago I cleaned off the giant gobs of heat sink compound on my early 2011 15" MBP's CPU & GPU and replaced it with Arctic Silver to help address overheating and display issues. So far it is running cooler and I haven't had a lockup again yet. I run it lid open driving the internal display and a 24" Cinema display. I also maxed out the ram to 16gb and replaced the boot drive with a SSD to help curtail heat but I have no idea if the latter will create more heat. The mobo was replaced once for this issue over a year ago but it still continued to run too hot and eventually the display(s) would lock up. I'd certainly be open to a voluntary recall or perhaps a significant discount on a new machine. Dreams are nice.
If you read the forums... all the macs' gpus tend to fail. They aren't designed to last past warranty. The amount of heat coming off those things is comparable to some of the worst-built PC laptops that actually have decent ventilation. The limited elegance of the Mac directly correlates with the lack in serviceability and specs.
MacBooks are mostly used for appearance. Surely, the hipsters can go to a coffee shop with one that doesn't have a working GPU.
Apple has shown they will replace whatever is necessary, if there is a defect. When the Nvidia 8400M chip was defective (material in chip package caused solder ball fracture due to thermal expansion), they replaced main boards. Dell used the same chip in XPS laptops (I had one and it did die), and supplied the same fix. Of course, in that instance they got some reimbursement from Nvidia.
Smart corporations know to do the right thing or take a righteous bitch slapping from consumers and lawyers.
Apple's version of video cards fail far more than the same board in a PC, both ATI and NVidia have something like 470% higher failure rates when in a Mac Pro compared to a generic Intel PC. It's no surprise they are doing the same in laptops. No doubt there's a subtle designed in failure for obsolescence to ensure people keep replacing machines every 2-3 years.
"Will they take ownership of the issue, or continue to ask customers to pay for an entire new logic board when just the GPU fails?"
Seriously?
Apple has a history of acknowledging and providing free fixes for issues of this magnitude, if they're really affecting a significant percentage of the population. I've been the beneficiary of such a fix in the past myself.
Hell, that's even mentioned in the linked article:
Mid–2011 iMacs with AMD Radeon HD 6970 graphics cards experienced similar failures and in August of 2013, Apple initiated a Graphics Card Replacement Program for the computers, replacing the graphics cards of affected iMacs at no cost.
So with the MacRumors article having only come out yesterday, it seems pretty aggressively snide to be suggesting that Apple's going to ignore the issue.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
Thin and looks over cooling is the apple way
mid-2010 have the same issue.
Playing an mpg4 video was usually great for exacerbating the issue. Watch it kernel panic!
Apple replaced mine without issue, hassles and at any cost to me two years and eleven months after I bought it. I had applecare in effect.
Will they take ownership of the issue, or continue to ask customers to pay for an entire new logic board when just the GPU fails?
That doesn't sound any different from any other manufacturer. The GPU on the laptop is, after all, soldered into the laptop motherboard. Even though is it "just the GPU" it isn't something that can be replaced on its own. I don't know why we should expect Apple to have a different standard for customer service and expected system longevity.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Like most retail stores, Apple store staff are rewarded for sales, not having not having warranty repairs. When I went there with a similar issue more than 5 years ago: http://gizmodo.com/5061605/apple-confirms-failing-nvidia-graphics-cards-in-macbook-pros-offers-free-repairs-and-refunds I was summarily dismissed by their "genius". I went from there to an Apple authorized technician who actually tested the computer and confirmed the issue. Over the next couple years the laptop had to be repaired three times until I finally replaced it with a high end ASUS. Moral of the story... never, ever buy a sexy new Apple product unless you can also afford to also buy the extended warranty.
Apple will just tell you to buy the now one.
All Apple gear is disposable, that's why it's glued together, and not meant to be repaired.
Apple hates their customers. I have no clue why anyone does business with them.
Some early/late 2011 refurbs have been popping up on the Apple Refurb Store occasionally still (although there are none on there now there was some several weeks ago). My guess is these are machines Apple is replacing for folks with AppleCare and then they are replacing the logic board and battery and reselling them as refurbs.
I have a late 2011 (a work machine with applecare) and have never seen any issues.
Charlie Demerajan of Mostly-innaccurate's only claim to fame in life is that he "courageously exposed" the "bumpgate conspiracy" revolving around failed Nvidia parts in notebooks. Looks like this is AMD's bumpgate-II although for some reason the level of hype surrounding it is drastically lower.
For the 2011 macbook pros, my guess is that this mostly impacts the AMD Radeon HD 6750M and AMD Radeon HD 6770M.
I would imagine the AMD Radeon HD 6490M doesn't get hot enough to be impacted :)
Shit, I'm getting really worried now. I've got a 2011 MacBook Pro and I do so much Ruby on Rails and JavaScript. I wake up at 4 am every day and then I put on my fedora, my anime t-shirt and I write Ruby on Rails and JavaScript libraries until 3 am the next day. Sometimes I don't even eat and urinate, but that's beside the point.
Could all my hardcore Rubying be causing my MacBook Pro to die? I do push it pretty hard. A lot of the coding I'm doing is webscale. I even use NoSQL I'm dealing with so much data. My web app's logging subsystem logs almost 2 GB of data a month. When you're dealing with a lot of data like that a superpowerful database like Mongo then I can understand my poor little MacBook having a hard time coping. Maybe I'm pushing her too hard?
I can't just ease up though. I've got so many Ruby on Rails web apps to write and so many JavaScript libraries to craft. This is a life or death situation for me. I don't want it to be a life or death situation for my MacBook either. We've been through so much! I remember writing my very first line of code ever on my laptop. It was a Ruby code and it made me feel really good. Now I'm an accomplished software architect with numerous Web 2.0 web sites under my belt like for the local veterinarian and the herbal store down the street.
Now I really don't know what to do. I'm so confused. I want my MacBook to live forever because it has become part of me. But I need to use her, too. I need her to do my Ruby on Rails coding and my JavaScript programming. I need to use my NoSQL DB but if it hurts my MacBook Pro, do I really want to use it? I just don't know any more.
If you are too poor to buy a new MacBook Pro every year you shouldn't be allowed to own one.
I couldn't imagine telling someone I own a 2011 MacBook Pro when it it 2014. I feel sorry for you people.
The warranty didn't matter. The various camera manufacturers that used the Sony CCD issued a recall and replaced the CCDs. I believe Sony picked up the tab.
CCD Sensor Problems in Consumer Imaging Products Fall, 2005 .
Most likely a capacitor problem. However if the product is out of warranty you are out of luck. The failure rate of electronics after two years is about 10%. I'm sure this falls within that standard.
It's not just Apple that's had an issue with this particular problem. HP has had an issue with their GPUs failing on their motherboards too in their notebooks.
I'm of the opinion now that notebooks just don't belong having high-end GPUs in them. Notebooks have always had a history of cooling issues because of a variety of issues from inadequate fans or other various issues. Now let's stick the equivalent of a space heater in the device and let's see what happens. I'm really surprised that this sort of thing isn't happening more often to more brands of notebooks.
Let's face it, a notebook is a portable device with very cramped internals. It's like it's become a form of art to find out just how much more stuff we can cram into an even smaller space. A notebook is a portable device, it's not meant to be your one and only device. If you want to be playing games, get a desktop; not a notebook.
I know from my last 15 yrs of experience with MacBooks, the GPU seems be a problem area from Apple.
Spoken from beyond the grave...
Because they can keep increasing profit margins by integrating more stuff on the motherboard, while continuing to charge the same double-premium price for premium hardware and a regular screen, and make you buy a whole new computer when just one of these components fail. This is the successful Apple business model.
A customer still using a 2011 MBP isn't a customer. They are an infidel and should be made to suffer. They were enlightened by their Mac experience and at this point close to apostasy due to their failure to upgrade regularly.
The Shiney must make certain that they suffer!
Consider: "Will they take ownership of the issue, or continue to ask customers to pay for an entire new logic board when just the chipset fails?"
My 2011 Macbook Pro 15" had a GPU which failed. My computer was
still covered by AppleCare at the time. I cannot say whether AppleCare
made a difference in how the problem was resolved or not.
The GPU fault was intermittent, which made it a pain to prove to
Apple that there was a problem, but after I photographed the screen
during the GPU misbehavior Apple began to believe there was
actually a fault. Without the photographs of the screen I am not sure
Apple would have given me a new machine.
Apple gave me a 15" Retina for no charge, and they included an external
optical drive as well. The new machine was the highest spec available,
which made it significantly more powerful than my previous machine.
I don't much like Mavericks but I'd have to say that Mavericks aside this
was a nice ending to my story of Macbook Pro problems.
If you find yourself with similar problems, I suggest you document everything
as thoroughly as possible, whether it is conversations with AppleCare via
phone, or emails to Apple, or conversations in person with Apple Store employees.
I did keep track of events and this helped things work out in my favor. Also,
the sooner you can talk directly with an Apple Store top level manager the better,
because in the store they are the people who can actually make a decision to
do something, whereas lower level store employees lack such power and thus all
the lower level people can do is talk, which does not result in a new machine being
given to you.
If you call AppleCare, I STRONGLY urge you to "escalate" the call until you get to
a person who doesn't have to read from a script to converse with you. I did this and finally
was able to speak with a fellow who had engineer-level expertise. Unlike the typical AppleCare
person this guy really knew his stuff and I am quite certain that talking with this guy made the difference
in my situation being resolved to my satisfaction.
Finally, much of the time I spent talking with AppleCare and Apple Store employees was a complete waste
of time and was incredibly frustrating. It was obvious that most of the people I interacted with thought I
could not possibly know anything and that their main purpose was to "humor me" and get me out of their
way as soon as possible. Throughout this frustrating process I kept my cool, and I believe that remaining calm and
never raising my voice helped the people who actually could help me "want" to help me ( let's face it, if you are
a belligerent asshole, some people will avoid helping even if they could help ). So, if you are faced with a problem
machine, be methodical and remain calm and never give up. It took me three weeks of talking to various Apple
employees on a daily basis before my situation was resolved, and I could not help but think that some of them
were "hoping I'd give up and go away", but I took pains to make sure they understood that until I got a new machine
I was never ever going to go away, and this "calm but persistent" strategy worked.
*
Atleast as a private person you got 5 years warranty here in Norway, companies don't have that same option. If Apple denies that they are not allowed to sell goods here.
They've had the same QC issues with Nvidia chips in MBP's in the past (GT8600M). Last time they extended the warranties. This time.... ?
We have about 30 of these machines, and have noticed a higher than expected failure rate, specifically on the gpu. We've been waiting for an official announcement, but since we have AppleCare haven't been bothered. There is very little question in my mind there's an issue, and I'm finding it interesting and revealing to watch how this plays out.
Years ago I bought a refurbished 2007 model 17" MBP that was less than year old when I ordered it from Apple's refurbished online store in 2008. Upon receiving it, ON FIRST BOOT I noticed a very similar problem. It would start to boot, video output was all distorted and then it would kernel panic! I ended up calling Apple as my unit did have a 30 or 60 day or something like that warranty. We tried a bunch of things like resetting the NVRAM, etc but the problem still occurred but only on hard boot from cold. I ended up taking pictures of the screen and sending them to Apple who then happily did a warranty swap with no questions asked. I still have the second MBP which worked greated for years. It never gets used now because it so old and the battery is shot but the build quality and ergonomics on those models were far superior to the new ones. I would love to install Linux on it but I wasn't able to get past the UEFI boot process.
Mark
Join the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2011mbp/
Keep up to date with the news articles: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Eb-f4R0rWNfK5gPPw4O38bCJZUh5zLTjxj3qSKtqXkA/edit
Mail Tim Cook and express your frustration, politely: tcook[at]apple.com
Sign the petition: https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/timothy-d-cook-replace-or-fix-all-early-2011-macbook-pro-with-graphics-failure
"Mary had a crypto key, she kept it in escrow, and everything that Mary said, the Feds were sure to know."
"Apple products retain their value longer than other manufacturers."
NOT!
GPUs (the chips that do the graphics functions) use some serious Watts when stressed. The external power regulation circuitry, that takes power from the main PSU and 'conditions' it for use by the GPU, is under constant stress, and if poorly designed will suffer damage that causes the issues witnessed with these products.
In my experience, power circuit failures are by far the greatest cause of the so-called late stage BATH-TUB (named after the shape of the failure graph) faults. Sadly, such failures are always avoidable with better power circuit designs and components. But for cost reasons, too many companies are cynical, and build to the likely use/warranty period.
You see the issue better on a standard PC motherboard. Modern CPUs have multi-phase power supplies- attempting to share the burden of conditioning the energy used by current high performance CPUs across perhaps FIVE or SEVEN replicated power circuits. But if the components used are too close to minimum spec, they will degrade across time, until providing full power becomes problematic.
In reality, this means nursing older PC gear- using it for somewhat less intensive tasks so maximum power draw never occurs.
NOTE that current high-end cards from Nvidia and AMD (780 and 290) are already reported by many users to have significant power issues- and this is at new. These cards are drawing down insane amounts of power at full tilt, and worse the users are encouraged to over-clock the cards using excessive cooling, and thrash the energy circuits even harder.
I would suggest that both AMD and Nvidia expect their performance cards to pretty much wear out after a couple of years, if subject to near continuous high-performance usage. Sadly, if the power circuits are crappy, they many be gradually wearing out even with modest use (only occasional periods of high-end gaming or other graphic intensive tasks).
AMD and Nvidia will (dishonestly) point out that many cards using there chips have circuits designed by third-parties, but in truth both AMD and Nvidia lay down stringent guidelines for their OEMs, when the OEMs are building so-called non-reference cards. Indeed, as far as I know, all current 780 and 290 cards from both companies ONLY use official power circuits, even if the cooling solutions are third party designs.
PS the best solution to the problems mentioned in the article involve DOWNCLOCKING your GPU. Frequently, by reducing GPU clocks and memory speeds by 10%+ (which barely lowers performance), hardware crashes are eliminated. Again, people with experience in nursing old hardware into very long productive life have no issue with gradually reducing the expectation of such hardware.
Apologies if this is off-topic/spam, but my mid-2010 MBP has started freezing and black screening lately, seems to always be when clicking on something - pics within Preview (fixed by switching to Xee), some pdf links, sometimes hard to know what triggered it. Googling suggested problems with configuration files in ~/Library so I deleted the entire folder and allowed it to rebuild, having to reconfigure some progs and re-enter licences but ok. Other googling said it was a Java bug and to install Oracle's JRE instead of Apple's which I did. Yet more googling said my HD was getting too full (it was) so I freed up at least 15% of that.
The frequency of freezing is considerably reduced BUT STILL OCCURS. Sigh. Hardware?
A refrigerator from 30 years ago was built to last. Modern appliances have every penny that could be saved taken into account.
That said, a 30 year old refrigerator isn't nearly as energy efficient as a modern one. You might be surprised to learn that a new one might pay for itself in two years from the savings in energy alone.
Since Apple folk keep claiming 'its just as good as PC blah.', they can do what a PC user would do: just replace the faulty component with another part of similar kind. This is why we have modular hardware design: you can customize the hardware to your needs, and replace faulty components cheaply and easily. If they can't, then their ideas about 'Trusting completely in Apples walled garden' is clearly not warranted, and they can go out and buy all new at huge expense, *and then* contemplate the e-waste they created by their buying decision. Throw away the CPU, memory, IO components, drives, etc. because video is broken. I know some Apple folk like to think of themselves as 'enlightened' and 'tree hugging', but clearly they are living in a fools paradise.
I've had the same problem for 3 weeks now.
Is this similar to the Ball Pin Grid Array (is that correct?) problems that affected some laptops using NVidia chips about four or five years ago?
What is the root cause? I drive a 32" LCD TV with my Early 2011 MBP, it worked flawlessly in Lion, but Mavericks I have notice many glitches... I just assumed it was Apple's reworking of the multiple monitor code that was flaky. I seem to recall these machines have dual video drivers. If it's the internal ATI Radeon GPU that is faulty, can you force it into internal graphics mode? Or vice versa?
Is heat a factor? If so, Apple should be able to tweak the cooling thresholds with a firmware update.
It is only the 15 and 13 inch models. the 17" models do not have the same problems. That makes me happy as my 17" is my workhorse. The only laptop you could buy at the time with a Matte 1920X1080 screen and had decent hardware build. All other brand laptops made in 2011 were garbage with low res or the crap shiny screens.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
guess they wish they had another fan? Those same fan boys want people to believe that we should pay a significant premium for "Apple build quality," yet there are more than enough stories like this one that show Apple build quality (and/or design) is not worth a premium over the likes of Lenovo, HP, etc. Of course, those same fanboys who would trash those companies if the failure was in one of their laptops will simply blame AMD and not Apple for this event.
Apple had used MXM II and MXM III slots/cards for several years in the iMac. Like with the MacBook/MacBook Pro line, they've moved the iMac to a soldered GPU solution as well.
With the way Apple crams components into notebooks less than an inch thick, I can't really see an MXM slot being possible. The thickness of the logic board, MXM card and thermal plate for the GPU die on my iMac is thicker than my 2011 MacBook Pro.
I completely agree that Apple should explore replaceable GPU options, but they're not gonna be able to get it done with the current MXM standard.
Worst haiku EVER.
Naturally, I was on the internet within minutes, registering my disgust.
It's out of warranty and there is nothing for Apple to do.
The web site is called semiaccurate for a reason. It used to have all sorts of rumors, that sound interesting. Then he started doing pay timed released of news, and then got rid of the timed release. If the solder problem turns out to be Apple's fault, instead of nvidia's, Apple's, and Charlie Demerajan's, reputation will take a hit.
I guess no one looked at the pictures?
3 LCD cable problems, likely from rough treatment, and one damaged area of liquid crystal from an impact to the back of the case (same thing I did to my Sony VAIO, and had to replace the LCD on the thing).
Not sure how these qualify as a problem with the GPU. At worst, the one with the wide bars is broken cable strands from some idiot setting the thing down and making a triangle by laying it down face down with the screen open, like you would a book, and the LCD cable would need to be replaced; the other two are guaranteed they just need to reseat the connector and quit beating the shit out of the thing.
So this is a reason why some countries have consumer rights protecting them from this kind of problem.
Where I live, there is a mandatory five year protection against manufacturing defects.
As it happens, my sons 2011 MacBook Pro failed last week. Did not boot. Got it back yesterday with a new motherboard. No cost.
2011 - that was about time
There was a batch of 2008 MBPs that had a similar problem. My wife had one and the GPU died about 3.5 years later, well out of warranty. We took it to the local apple store, they checked the model and GPU, noted that there had been an issue identified with that combo and they replaced the main board free of charge (mind you, my wife was without her laptop for several days). She is still using that same computer today and I'm pretty certain that she will probably buy Mac again next time she buys a computer.
Really, when will Apple fan boys realize the days of Mac's being better then PC's hardware are over. Get real, Apple switched to standard hardware to save money and yet they still charge the same. Yea, Apple may own up if a class action suit is threatened. Like what happened with Nvidia a few years ago. Otherwise just buy another over priced new Mac fans boys better pay that Apple Care tax too.
- millions of angry, spoiled, and ignorant Apple customers
Ah yes, the braying of an Apple-bashing troll who apparently lacks the ability to make a coherent argument against Apple or their products and who thus resorts to bogus ad homenim attacks against Apple customers instead.
The real reason your GPU failed is obviously that you're looking at the screen wrong!
having posted my experiences on the issue in the Apple forum I received "You do not have permission to post in this forum.
It appears you're not allowed to view what you requested. You might contact your administrator if you think this is a mistake." within 5 minutes when trying to edit the post. While this could be a transient issue and it is not clear if the forum as such has been closed for writes, here is a cross-post:
I would like to raise a principal issue on how Apple handles these problems having gone through the MBP 2011 GPU issue full cycle twice:
in a synopsis I have reason to believe that wide-spread issues such apparently this one are being systematically:
(a) not acknowledged,
(b) not communicated in symptoms and resolution within the service/support organization,
(c) only handled reactively by design and
(d) only taken care off in a transparent and proactive way once pressure through too many publicly reported incidences has reached significant proportions as for prior instances such as the buzzing first Intel motherboards that I experienced first hand.
Here are my experiences in 4 acts substantiating this proposition through observations of how my 2 rMBP 2011 cases were handled:
Act 1: multi-month "diagnosis" phase
- when a rMBP 2011 started to throw graphics-related issues -- first symptoms being frequent _reproducible multi-monitor, hot-plugging triggered crashes October 2012 I: /var/log/system.log (I am unix-macosx fluent) did not yield cause candidates over weeks.
* searched public information -> no obvious pattern through the google index
* suspecting software then I filed a diligently described bug report against the OS inhttp://bugreport.apple.com
* a week later the bug screeners asked for post-crash sysdiagnose output
* I could provide no sydiagnose dumps though as triggering them post-crash with Shift-Control-Option-Command-Period was not processed by the machine any more. Looking through telling log entries in
Act 2: Trying to diagnose the issue myself for 4 Months
The next 4 months I tried to diagnose the computer's crashes diligently and in the process spending significant time on it.With sometimes several crashes per day with reproducible crashes on monitor hot-plugs at a rate of around 7 out of 10 tries there was plenty of opportunity to try things. Still, I suspected software considering there still was no obvious problem pattern visible through the google index. My interaction with the SW-Dev side of the Apple business did also not hint on hardware as a cause candidate. So besides the obvious of hoping for each OS service dot release to include a fix, I continued trying to find kernel module driver culprits, running HW diagnostics (yes you never know), watching the trigger pattern and for the most part the OS logs. In hindsight there were cues to a GPU issue as freezes appeared more often with GPU-related operations, but hot-plugging remained the only reproducible fault. Fast forward 4 months to the 3rd act.
Act 3: 1st motherboard swap
Having thoroughly exhausted my options on how to handle sometimes several crashes per day, I at last contacted Apple support. Not wanting to appear that I am looking for quick uninformed chancy HW swap I informed phone support on the issue history including the bug report# logged against the OS. I of course made note of the amount of time I had spent on it already.
* asked twice if there is anything in the customer support database(s) on a related issue - negative I heard.
The calls left off with the token on me to reinstall again and re-contact if the issue persists. Still, I would rate the handling on part of phone support perfectly right as after all I had just contacted them and the person on the other end of the line clearly did not have more information than what the google index provided to me (or to Apple support maybe as there was a hint that they look for things there too).
About 5 weeks later I finally gave up on the progre
I would like to raise a principal issue on how Apple handles these problems having gone through the MBP 2011 GPU issue full cycle twice:
in a synopsis I have reason to believe that wide-spread issues such apparently this one are being systematically:
(a) not acknowledged,
(b) not communicated in symptoms and resolution within the service/support organization,
(c) only handled reactively by design and
(d) only taken care off in a transparent and proactive way once pressure through too many publicly reported incidences has reached significant proportions as for prior instances such as the buzzing first Intel motherboards that I experienced first hand.
Here are my experiences in 4 acts substantiating this proposition through observations of how my 2 rMBP 2011 cases were handled:
Act 1: multi-month "diagnosis" phase
- when a rMBP 2011 started to throw graphics-related issues -- first symptoms being frequent _reproducible multi-monitor, hot-plugging triggered crashes October 2012 I: /var/log/system.log (I am unix-macosx fluent) did not yield cause candidates over weeks.
* searched public information -> no obvious pattern through the google index
* suspecting software then I filed a diligently described bug report against the OS inhttp://bugreport.apple.com
* a week later the bug screeners asked for post-crash sysdiagnose output
* I could provide no sydiagnose dumps though as triggering them post-crash with Shift-Control-Option-Command-Period was not processed by the machine any more. Looking through telling log entries in
Act 2: Trying to diagnose the issue myself for 4 Months
The next 4 months I tried to diagnose the computer's crashes diligently and in the process spending significant time on it.With sometimes several crashes per day with reproducible crashes on monitor hot-plugs at a rate of around 7 out of 10 tries there was plenty of opportunity to try things. Still, I suspected software considering there still was no obvious problem pattern visible through the google index. My interaction with the SW-Dev side of the Apple business did also not hint on hardware as a cause candidate. So besides the obvious of hoping for each OS service dot release to include a fix, I continued trying to find kernel module driver culprits, running HW diagnostics (yes you never know), watching the trigger pattern and for the most part the OS logs. In hindsight there were cues to a GPU issue as freezes appeared more often with GPU-related operations, but hot-plugging remained the only reproducible fault. Fast forward 4 months to the 3rd act.
Act 3: 1st motherboard swap
Having thoroughly exhausted my options on how to handle sometimes several crashes per day, I at last contacted Apple support. Not wanting to appear that I am looking for quick uninformed chancy HW swap I informed phone support on the issue history including the bug report# logged against the OS. I of course made note of the amount of time I had spent on it already.
* asked twice if there is anything in the customer support database(s) on a related issue - negative I heard.
The calls left off with the token on me to reinstall again and re-contact if the issue persists. Still, I would rate the handling on part of phone support perfectly right as after all I had just contacted them and the person on the other end of the line clearly did not have more information than what the google index provided to me (or to Apple support maybe as there was a hint that they look for things there too).
About 5 weeks later I finally gave up on the progress of getting the notebook's crash proneness resolved and contacted Apple phone support on feeling that pressing a hardware resolution is sensible having _really done everything possible from my side. The again dedicated!! 1st line phone service person on the ticket (where I would rate the phone service response again highly and this is not meant sarcastically) promised to talk to the repair shop if necessary. He even followed-up by
Looks like a repeat of the problems that the white iBook G3 had with its video controller. I got burned when my iBook G3 took a dump a month after the 3 year repair window. I haven't bought an Apple product since.
Planned failure!
continue to ask customers to pay for an entire new PREMIUM PRICED logic board
I wonder how much of the profits finds its way back to better wages in the sweatshops in China
HUMANCENTiPAD reflex is to bite the gold plated turd and have to smile.
heh.
Absolutely correct. When you hear ' they sure don't build em like they used to ' be glad that's true.
Macs never have problems! They just work!
MacBook Pros have had GPU issues going back to their inception. I recently had my 2008 MBP GPU replaced (which Apple had a program to replace the GPUs that ended in 2010 that was unfortunately after I bought it used) with a 2010 chip--that apparently didn't have the same issues the earlier models had.
the only reason they have been so good about replacements is cause its the third damn time its happened that I can remember, ibookG3, the MBP 2008 and now this one.
its a fucking video chip apple, figure it out already
$3.5K Macbook dead after 2 years?! No way this should be accepted.
Well, the profits make their way to the offshore accounts, lest apple pay US taxes.
Just a couple of days ago I reinstalled OSX on my PowerBook Pismo (discontinued 2001) in preparation for selling it. I'm keeping the Lombard because it has SCSI which I need for my Nikon slide scanner. Also selling a PowerBook G4. $50/each
Welcome to Apples' built in obsolescense!!
It's the soldering/glueing. Fluctuations in temperature make it crack.
The liability in the EU is for the lifetime of the product (Reasonable expectation). The limited warranty you get from the manufacturer is irrelevant.
If you've paid £2.50 for a laptop and it dies 366 days later, that's probably bad luck for you. If you've paid £2,000 for a laptop and it dies 18 months later, that's a design fault, because you have the reasonable expectation that a £2k laptop should last longer than that.
Sometimes you get lucky and they'll just replace it. Sometimes you have to write a letter and customer services does a 'Just this once' replacement for you. Eotehr way, it's apples liability and they need to do it. You just need to be aware of what your rights are (In the EU you're often better buying online that inshore because there's an organisation that will look after consumers who have purchased x-border within the Eu. You register your claim, they tell you what to do, if it doesn't work, they like nothing better than explaining to Apple how they need to adhere to the law to actually sell anything here).
Oh. The warranty is between you and the retailer too... Not the manufacturer...
3 year old computers... dead GPU... just replace the GPU? Oh, it's a Apple computer, nevermind then, good luck with buying a new Apple!
Let's get a wall of shame going. Upload a picture of your broken machine here:
http://breakfree.cc/
I have the problem on my 2011 MacBook Pro and apple genius said they won't even send it in to be looked at because I upgraded the hd myself.
My MacBook Pro 17" 2011 failed in the last couple of months. Fortunately it was in the last few months of apple care. It was hard to diagnose though because it was intermittent.