17 in MBP won't load, replaced SSD, not sure what to do

[TitusVorenus]

I've got a 17in MBP from 2009 or 2010. Recently it just crashed, turned off, and then wouldn't load up again. I took the hard drive out and my other computer diagnosed the hard drive as having failed. Got a new hard drive, fresh install of OSX, it works ok until I taxed the system (about 15 min), then it crashed again. Now it won't load at all. I tried another hard drive and it still won't load.

It powers on to the Apple logo screen. The screen has faint grey/blue stripes across it then proceeds to the apple logo but will go no further.

I took it to a genius bar, where they said the tested the new hard drive and graphics card, and no problems. They have no more tests and said they can't help me further.

I assume it's the logic board. Am I correct, and what can I do now?

 

[ZapNZs]

When they performed the test, did they do it while the computer was symptomatic as shown in this image? (I am guessing the answer is yes but I want to verify to be certain)
When they tested it, did they perform the VST + MRI?
Is there any chance this is a 2011 model?

The image distortion suggests that it could be graphics related (which, if so, obviously means the logic board.) I am guessing you already tried to reset the PRAM and SMC, and tried booting into safe mode and booting into the recovery partition?

 

[TitusVorenus]

I just looked it up, it is a 2011 (see specs below). The computer was not symptomatic when they performed the test. It was strangely 100% fine during the test. The test was run shortly after I replaced the hard drive and it crashed two times at home. I took it to the store, and no problem while they ran it.

I then replaced the hard drive again with another fresh install of OSX. It won't load past that blue and white striped screen with this one either.

What should I do with PRAM and SMC?

[EDIT: the VST + MRI were both done and successful when I took the MBP to the genius bar]

MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.2 17" Early 2011

2.2 GHz Core i7 (I7-2720QM)

Intro. February 24, 2011 Disc. October 24, 2011
\/A Model A1297 (EMC 2352-1*)
Family Early 2011 17" ID MacBookPro8,3
RAM 4 GB VRAM 1 GB*
Storage 750 GB HDD Optical 8X DL "SuperDrive"

 

[Altis]

2011 are plagued with logic board failures, which IIRC stem from poor soldering on the dGPU. Some people have fixed this by heating up their logic board in the oven, if you check around on Google -- though the issue typically returns.

I suspect it may have booted up fine but when it switched from integrated graphics (iGPU) to dedicated (dGPU), caused a crash.

It might be worth trying to boot from an ISO image of some kind (such as Linux) to see what happens.

If it is indeed the dGPU, you may want to try forcing it to boot with iGPU only as per the thread here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ntel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/

 

[TitusVorenus]

@Altis I don't think I have the skills to do this

 

[jerryk]

My guess is, that if you don't have the skill to fix this, this computer is beyond economic repair since the Apple program ended last year. Even with the program it was a temporary fix. Apple swapped in a repaired board that still has a fatal design flaw.

 

[TitusVorenus]

So what do I do with it now? I recently installed 16GB of Crucial DDR3 1333 and just bought a $220 SSD for it....

 

[Sanpete]

Don't give up yet.

How long after your replaced the RAM did these problems begin? If it was soon after, try putting the old RAM back in. Maybe try that anyway.

You may have jostled an old brittle cable that needs replacing.

How hot does it run? Is it running hot when the problems arise?

 

[TitusVorenus]

RAM was installed a while before this happened. The problems started under heavy use of the processor and large data transfer. After installing the new hard drive problems started again on heavy use of the processor and data transfer.

 

[ZapNZs]

I just looked it up, it is a 2011 (see specs below). The computer was not symptomatic when they performed the test. It was strangely 100% fine during the test. The test was run shortly after I replaced the hard drive and it crashed two times at home. I took it to the store, and no problem while they ran it.

I then replaced the hard drive again with another fresh install of OSX. It won't load past that blue and white striped screen with this one either.

What should I do with PRAM and SMC?

[EDIT: the VST + MRI were both done and successful when I took the MBP to the genius bar]

MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.2 17" Early 2011

2.2 GHz Core i7 (I7-2720QM)

Intro. February 24, 2011 Disc. October 24, 2011
\/A Model A1297 (EMC 2352-1*)
Family Early 2011 17" ID MacBookPro8,3
RAM 4 GB VRAM 1 GB*
Storage 750 GB HDD Optical 8X DL "SuperDrive"

Unfortunately, as others have noted, the chance that your GPU has failed seems high. The VST will not always catch the problem when the symptoms are intermittent and the testing is done when the system is not symptomatic.

When symptomatic, you can have the VST performed again, but, as you are aware, Apple will not service the problem regardless because the replacement program ended several months ago and the computer has now been labeled "vintage." However, the benefit of this is that you can confirm it is a GPU problem and not something else, so having it tested when symptomatic may be worth the time.

From the repair perspective, if this is the dGPU issue, that leaves finding a Mac repair service that has a logic board in stock, or purchasing a logic board from a third party seller (most of which are used) and then trying a DIY install or paying a Mac repair service to do the install, or having a GPU reball performed, none of which are ideal, none of which guarantee success, and some of which can get very expensive for such an old machine.

From the non-spendy side, other than attempting to modify the EFI to boot using integrated graphics (or intentionally overheating the computer to get it to start up, then using GFXcardStatus to set the system to integrated graphics only, and never shutting it down again or overheating it again each time you need to restart it), the options are limited

 

[Sanpete]

It's up to you how much bother it's worth to you, of course. You can take it to a computer repair service to have it diagnosed for issues like cables. You can have the solder redone if it's the dGPU, which may or may not help. If it's running hot, you can clean it. And so on. But all of these things require some bother.

 

[TitusVorenus]

Just got a quote of $350-450 to repair the logic board with 3 month warranty, depending on the company that does the repair. Given these boards are unreliable, I think I'm going to end up selling this for parts. I'll pull the hard drive before selling for sure.

I recently put two 8GB sticks of Crucial DDR3 1333 RAM in. Will I be better off pulling this and selling it separately or as one unit? I don't think I have the original RAM anymore.

Also, what's the best place to sell them? Ebay?

EDIT: I hate the throwaway aspect of these computers. This one was 100% fine for it's purposes, and with the new SSD was FAST. It seems like such a waste, but I cannot invest in something that has such unreliability issues.

 

[Altis]

Just got a quote of $350-450 to repair the logic board with 3 month warranty, depending on the company that does the repair. Given these boards are unreliable, I think I'm going to end up selling this for parts. I'll pull the hard drive before selling for sure.

I recently put two 8GB sticks of Crucial DDR3 1333 RAM in. Will I be better off pulling this and selling it separately or as one unit? I don't think I have the original RAM anymore.

Also, what's the best place to sell them? Ebay?

EDIT: I hate the throwaway aspect of these computers. This one was 100% fine for it's purposes, and with the new SSD was FAST. It seems like such a waste, but I cannot invest in something that has such unreliability issues.

I recommend trying the fixes first... not much to lose.

The steps for disabling the dGPU are straight-forward if you follow them.

You could even try tossing the logic board in the oven as others have to bring a 2011 logic board back to life (it melts the solder and resets it), though it doesn't usually work for more than a few months at a time from what I've read.

Breathe some new life into it... you might have some fun and learn along the way. The 17" is a classic.

 

[TitusVorenus]

The steps for disabling the dGPU are straight-forward if you follow them.

I really don't know what I'm doing in terminal:

sudo dd if=path/to/arch.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m

Does this mean I need to replace the "path" with the actual path to the .iso file? At this point I'm just copying and pasting off this guide:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_flash_installation_media#In_macOS

 

[Sanpete]

Probably best to post your question in the thread where the instructions are too.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ntel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/

 

[AppleMacFinder]

Just got a quote of $350-450 to repair the logic board with 3 month warranty, depending on the company that does the repair.

This $350-$450 price is probably given to you because you would like to repair MBP and these companies used to think that "Macbook Pro owner = Rich person who is probably technically unskilled" and this $350-$450 price is some kind of an Apple tax. In reality, you could disassemble your MBP, extract a motherboard, and bring it to some repair company telling: "Please do BGA reball of this GPU Chip" - and that should cost you about $50 , not $350-$450 ! Alternatively, if you would like to 100% guarantee a successful repair, in addition you could also get a completely new AMD chip - https://aliexpress.com/item/DC-2015...0028-216-0810028-BGA-Chipset/32764872143.html - HD 6750M, the same chip, but from 2015 year - and bring both chip and motherboard to some repair company telling "Please replace this BGA chip with this another BGA chip I'm holding" and that will cost you $50 + $35 = $85 . In any case the repair should be cheaper than $100 !
$350-$450 is a rip off Apple tax prices

However, if you don't want to spend even those $100, then you could try achieving this purely software fix - EFI variable . Now I start to reply to you in this thread - https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ntel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/

 

[Altis]

I really don't know what I'm doing in terminal:

sudo dd if=path/to/arch.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m

Does this mean I need to replace the "path" with the actual path to the .iso file? At this point I'm just copying and pasting off this guide:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/USB_flash_installation_media#In_macOS

Yeah when you see things like "path/to/something", that's just a filler for your path.

I believe in you!