MBP 1,1-10,2 Force 2011 MacBook Pro 8,2 with failed AMD GPU to ALWAYS use Intel integrated GPU (EFI variable fix)

[Weird Kinder]

Hello everybody

Is possible to do the same with Radeon HD 6770M 512mb on an iMac 2011 intel i7 2.8ghz , 20 gb of ram?

 

[i-rui]

Hey guys, I'm happy to report that after long struggles with trying to find a PERMANENT fix for this crappy GPU I finally found one that works like a charm! Now I can restart my MBP and it will boot normally by using the Intel GPU rather than the faulty AMD GPU and I no longer have to bring it back to life after each restart!

just wanted to say Thanks! I have a 17" 2011 MacBook Pro that was giving me constant trouble and just followed your instructions and it seems to be working ok so far (fingers crossed!).

FYI I'm running 10.13.6 with Security Update 004.

Cheers!

 

[MacTinkerer2011Fan-Pun]

Hey guys, I'm happy to report that after long struggles with trying to find a PERMANENT fix for this crappy GPU I finally found one that works like a charm! Now I can restart my MBP and it will boot normally by using the Intel GPU rather than the faulty AMD GPU and I no longer have to bring it back to life after each restart!

Below I'm sharing the exact steps I followed and I hope it can help someone else as well.

First of all, many thanks to @jaynaland for pointing me into the right direction and then @MacTinkerer2011Fan-Pun for his continual help.

I have a 15" late-2011 MBP and I'm on High Sierra 10.13.6 (with Security Update 2020-003 installed). (This would probably also work with Security Updates 004 or 002 etc. but can't say for sure, though.)

I mostly followed the procedure by arhirienko from GitHub, though I had to add some of my own tweaks in order to really make it work. It is a very straight-forward manual, but please make sure to follow the instructions very closely and to type the commands precisely:

1. Reset SMC. (Shutdown your MBP, unplug everything except charging cable and hold leftShift + Ctrl + Option + Power for about 15 secs. Then let go and you should see the the light on the charging dongle flash once.)
2. Reset PRAM. (Turn on your MBP and immediately hold Command + Option + P + R buttons. Hold it until you hear the chime at least 2 times.
3. Shut down your MBP and turn it on again and then boot using Command + S.
4. Manually type nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00 and run it.
5. Manually type nvram boot-args="-v" and run it.
6. Manually type reboot and run it.
7. Boot using Command + R (this may take a bit longer for the progress bar with Apple logo to boot).
8. Go to Utilities in the menu bar above and open Terminal.
9. Disable SIP: manually type csrutil disable and run it.
10. Manually type nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00 and run it.
11. Manually type nvram boot-args="-v" and run it.
12. Manually type reboot and run it.
13. Boot using Command + S.
14. Manually type /sbin/mount -uw / and run it.
15. Manually type mkdir -p /System/Library/Extensions-off and run it.
16. Manually type mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX3000.kext /System/Library/Extensions-off/ and run it.
    
    ****CAVEAT: in my case the step no. 16 didn't work properly and I kept getting the following message: ... “Directory not empty”. For some reason I had the AMDRadeonX3000.kext file both in Extensions and Extensions-off folder when ideally the kext file should be only in the Extensions folder and by running step no. 16 you'd move this kext file into the Extensions-off folder. So what I had to do was force-delete the kext file from my Extensions-off folder in order to be able to successfully move it there from the Extensions folder.
    
    So, if you get the “Directory not empty” message after running step no. 16, using the following command to force-delete the kext from Extensions-off folder helped in my case:
    
    Manually type rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions-off/AMDRadeonX3000.kext and run it.
    Then repeat step no. 16.
17. Manually type touch /System/Library/Extensions/ and run it.
18. Manually type reboot and run it.

It will show a bunch of text in the screen (don't be alarmed, let it finish) and then it will restart again. On the second restart it will show a bunch of text in the screen again and then it will show normal login screen and your computer now should work properly.

Once your MBP is up and running again, you will now be able to shutdown/restart your MBP without fears of it not booting again.

One last thing to do is to turn off the verbose mode (ie. a bunch of text showing up on the screen when you restart your MBP), so follow these steps:

1. Restart your MBP and boot using Command + R.
2. Go to Utilities in the menu bar above and open Terminal.
3. Manually type nvram boot-args=" agc=0" and run it.
4. Manually type reboot and run it.

And you're good to go!

PS: it is advisable not to do any system updates after this anymore because it will likely result in having to do the whole procedure again!

As per GitHub:

If an update that contains changes to the AMD drivers is about to take place it is advisable to move back the AMDRadeonX3000.kext to its default location before the update process. Otherwise the updater writes at least another kext of a different version to its default location or at worst you end up with an undefined state of partially non-matching drivers.

After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra.

Just a note to add, when I put SIP back on after i.e. 'csrutil enable' I got problems, my intel gpu driver didn't load properly. I had to leave SIP switched off. Probably a good idea to use a firewall and antivirus or to a spyware check fairly regularly. Also I'm sticking with Sierra because when I use high Sierra I get a slow boot because of the trim/apfs SSD problem in high Sierra.

 

[Juraj22]

This thread just saved my 2011 Macbook pro , thanks.

 

[MacTinkerer2011Fan-Pun]

Ok so I have a Macbook 2011 that I'm trying to install a new SSD drive in... before discovering this thread I had actually tried the steps here:

GPU problem - Boot Hangs on Grey Screen

I found this according to my problem in this thread: Boot hangs on grey screen (even when booting from USB drive with fresh OS X install) My MacBook Pro 15" Early 2011 with AMD Radeon HD 6750M exh...

apple.stackexchange.com

But I'm guessing I probably screwed something up since I am a newbie. When I restart I get this screwed up pixelated screen. You can tell that it's loading but then after awhile it turns into a black screen.

Video 08-09-2020, 8 13 35 PM.mov

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

I then try to reboot from USB (High Sierra) which is possible and it doesn't have the screwed up pixelated screen, and use the steps from the first page:

nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

nvram boot-args="-v"

reboot

But after rebooting it keeps rebooting from the USB and not from the hard drive (even when I choose it as the startup drive). I should note that during restarting I get a black screen with a lot of text which look like errors.

Video 08-09-2020, 7 14 57 PM.mov

Shared with Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

*Update, ok so I took out the USB an tried rebooting and now all I get is the question mark folder.

Hi,

It looks like your operating system is not installed properly on your SSD. You could either restore it from a time machine back up of your old hard drive or you could use internet recovery to install high Sierra.

 

[saldin]

I've remained in 10.11.6 (15G1510, since I'm afraid to update to the latest 15G22010 and have it be unbootable) for several years after my Early-2011 GPU died and I disabled it on EFI, and have been living without being able to put the laptop to sleep (executing halt every day after finishing work).

But now a few problems are starting to compound, like iWork and other software phasing out support for 10.11 and the COMODO root certs not being updated on Safari 11.1, and I'm wondering if it's possible to upgrade to 10.12.6 Sierra, or maybe even 10.13.6 High Sierra, the latest OS supported by my model...

I don't mind making a backup and wiping my hard drive to perform a clean install and then do a file restore. Does anyone know if there's a guide I could follow to do it? And also if there are any known issues on 10.12 and 10.13 like the sleep crash on El Cap?

Thanks in advance!

I made a backup of my startup volume with CarbonCopyCloner (30-day trial) and decided to go ahead with an in-place upgrade. It ended up being very straightforward: applying the update, and when the process got stuck, I had to do the same old rigmarole of modifying the nvram, moving the kext, and rebuilding the kext database.

My MBP 2011 booted into High Sierra and it asked to update again to update Safari to v13.1.2 and apply the Security Update 2020-005. Again, at the end it ran into issues (a boot loop) that got fixed by repeating the process of modifying the nvram, moving the kext, and rebuilding the kext database. I left verbose boot enabled just in case something happens and I need to figure out where the problem's coming from. I left SIP enabled and haven’t run into any problems, other than those described as follows.

The boot volume on my SSD (OWC Mercury Electra 6G) was converted to APFS and I have no issues there either. Everything works speedy. I can boot to the Recovery Partition as well, so that's also good.

Screen brightness works with no issues, but sleep doesn't work at all. It doesn't even hang like before, it just dims the screen but doesn't enter sleep mode. I don't know what to try here.

Now, that I'm up to date with macOS 10.13.6 (17G14033), I need help with a few issues I'm encountering and that I haven't found a way to fix yet:

• When I open the Mac App Store and go to the Updates section, I get the error message "The operation couldn't be completed. (NSURLErrorDomain error -1100.)". Screenshot attached. This appeared only after I updated Safari and installed the Security Update with the same Mac App Store.
• I cannot update any of the iWork apps to the latest High Sierra versions. Let's take Pages as an example: I was stuck with v5.6.2 until today, the version available on the Mac App Store is v10.2 (only for MacOS 10.15 and later), and I cannot find a way to update to an intermediate version which would be the latest supported by High Sierra (which I think would be v7.1). This appears to be the same behavior as the iOS App Store, where only the current version of an app is available, and if it's ever updated to stop supporting the currently installed OS, one cannot even redownload the last version that supported said OS. Because of that, I have a feeling I'm SOL in this regard...

I'd very much appreciate some help. Thanks in advance!

 

[alexiza]

Hey guys, I'm happy to report that after long struggles with trying to find a PERMANENT fix for this crappy GPU I finally found one that works like a charm! Now I can restart my MBP and it will boot normally by using the Intel GPU rather than the faulty AMD GPU and I no longer have to bring it back to life after each restart!

Below I'm sharing the exact steps I followed and I hope it can help someone else as well.

First of all, many thanks to @jaynaland for pointing me into the right direction and then @MacTinkerer2011Fan-Pun for his continual help.

I have a 15" late-2011 MBP and I'm on High Sierra 10.13.6 (with Security Update 2020-003 installed). (This would probably also work with Security Updates 004 or 002 etc. but can't say for sure, though.)

I mostly followed the procedure by arhirienko from GitHub, though I had to add some of my own tweaks in order to really make it work. It is a very straight-forward manual, but please make sure to follow the instructions very closely and to type the commands precisely:

1. Reset SMC. (Shutdown your MBP, unplug everything except charging cable and hold leftShift + Ctrl + Option + Power for about 15 secs. Then let go and you should see the the light on the charging dongle flash once.)
2. Reset PRAM. (Turn on your MBP and immediately hold Command + Option + P + R buttons. Hold it until you hear the chime at least 2 times.
3. Shut down your MBP and turn it on again and then boot using Command + S.
4. Manually type nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00 and run it.
5. Manually type nvram boot-args="-v" and run it.
6. Manually type reboot and run it.
7. Boot using Command + R (this may take a bit longer for the progress bar with Apple logo to boot).
8. Go to Utilities in the menu bar above and open Terminal.
9. Disable SIP: manually type csrutil disable and run it.
10. Manually type nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00 and run it.
11. Manually type nvram boot-args="-v" and run it.
12. Manually type reboot and run it.
13. Boot using Command + S.
14. Manually type /sbin/mount -uw / and run it.
15. Manually type mkdir -p /System/Library/Extensions-off and run it.
16. Manually type mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX3000.kext /System/Library/Extensions-off/ and run it.
    
    ****CAVEAT: in my case the step no. 16 didn't work properly and I kept getting the following message: ... “Directory not empty”. For some reason I had the AMDRadeonX3000.kext file both in Extensions and Extensions-off folder when ideally the kext file should be only in the Extensions folder and by running step no. 16 you'd move this kext file into the Extensions-off folder. So what I had to do was force-delete the kext file from my Extensions-off folder in order to be able to successfully move it there from the Extensions folder.
    
    So, if you get the “Directory not empty” message after running step no. 16, using the following command to force-delete the kext from Extensions-off folder helped in my case:
    
    Manually type rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions-off/AMDRadeonX3000.kext and run it.
    Then repeat step no. 16.
17. Manually type touch /System/Library/Extensions/ and run it.
18. Manually type reboot and run it.

It will show a bunch of text in the screen (don't be alarmed, let it finish) and then it will restart again. On the second restart it will show a bunch of text in the screen again and then it will show normal login screen and your computer now should work properly.

Once your MBP is up and running again, you will now be able to shutdown/restart your MBP without fears of it not booting again.

One last thing to do is to turn off the verbose mode (ie. a bunch of text showing up on the screen when you restart your MBP), so follow these steps:

1. Restart your MBP and boot using Command + R.
2. Go to Utilities in the menu bar above and open Terminal.
3. Manually type nvram boot-args=" agc=0" and run it.
4. Manually type reboot and run it.

And you're good to go!

PS: it is advisable not to do any system updates after this anymore because it will likely result in having to do the whole procedure again!

As per GitHub:

If an update that contains changes to the AMD drivers is about to take place it is advisable to move back the AMDRadeonX3000.kext to its default location before the update process. Otherwise the updater writes at least another kext of a different version to its default location or at worst you end up with an undefined state of partially non-matching drivers.

After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra.

Hello john, I have followed the exact same steps but my brightness keys still don't work (though i have no sleep problems) and i don't know what else to do. Thanks in advance

 

[saldin]

Has anyone tried to use @dosdude1 Catalina patcher?

After the success of installing High Sierra, I feel emboldened to try (and still well within the 30-day trial of CarbonCopyCloner). And if Catalina doesn't support the AMD Radeon 6xxx graphics, then that means it will not install an AMD driver that will break the workaround each time an update is released, right?

EDIT: Now that I'm thinking, without an AMD driver to load, the GPU will continue to draw power and generate heat, and that will be a problem. I'd also like to know about other's sleep/wakeup and brightness experiences. Has anyone tried it that can talk about their practical knowledge?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jon08]

Hello john, I have followed the exact same steps but my brightness keys still don't work (though i have no sleep problems) and i don't know what else to do. Thanks in advance

Sorry, I never experienced problems with brightness keys so I don’t know how to help you in this case... :/

 

[KiT-ENGiNEERS]

Many thanks AppleMacFinder ! A true genius. I have repaired multiple 2011 15/17 inch models thanks to your incredible work and effort.

 

[Kimahrironso]

I did on my Macbook Pro Mid 2012 with no image and not working the iGPU is not working, when I did it I lost the image on secondary display. What is the next suggestion? Thanks.

 

[jtdel99]

Hey guys, not sure if anyone is still monitoring this thread.

I downloaded the RealMacMods fix for the AMD GPU EFI variable and removed the R8911 resistor. My MBP late 2011 is now working great. Thanks to Adam at RealMacMods.

My question is: say I do the fix again on another machine. Then I wipe the SSD for a new user. Does the modification hold? Is the coding change within the OS, or is it in a deeper part of the machine that does not get affected when the SSD is reformatted, or OS is upgraded? (I understand that with this mod, High Sierra has an issue with dimming and going to sleep mode) But what if I were to then upgrade to Mojave or Catalina. Was the dimmer (F1/F2) issue resolved on OS later than High Sierra? or is (regular)Sierra the most recent OS that keeps everything functioning "normally?" Thank you.

 

[pizzaistriangle]

Hey guys, not sure if anyone is still monitoring this thread.

I downloaded the RealMacMods fix for the AMD GPU EFI variable and removed the R8911 resistor. My MBP late 2011 is now working great. Thanks to Adam at RealMacMods.

My question is: say I do the fix again on another machine. Then I wipe the SSD for a new user. Does the modification hold? Is the coding change within the OS, or is it in a deeper part of the machine that does not get affected when the SSD is reformatted, or OS is upgraded? (I understand that with this mod, High Sierra has an issue with dimming and going to sleep mode) But what if I were to then upgrade to Mojave or Catalina. Was the dimmer (F1/F2) issue resolved on OS later than High Sierra? or is (regular)Sierra the most recent OS that keeps everything functioning "normally?" Thank you.

Yes, when you wipe the ssd and install the macOS in there you will lose the software modification and should reapply it but i don't know if you also did the hardware modification.

Actually there is another approach to disable the dgpu. I tried this method on high sierra and later i upgrade to the catalina using dosdude's patcher. All works well including brightness controll and close/open lid from sleep mode without any hardware modification.

 

[boy80]

Yes, when you wipe the ssd and install the macOS in there you will lose the software modification and should reapply it but i don't know if you also did the hardware modification.

Actually there is another approach to disable the dgpu. I tried this method on high sierra and later i upgrade to the catalina using dosdude's patcher. All works well including brightness controll and close/open lid from sleep mode without any hardware modification.

I installed and reinstalled multiple mac os on my machines( I have four of them to mess with) and they will not lose the settings if u swap out hard drives etc. You will have to reapply if u do a pram reset it reset smc.

As for the brightness control, the moment u go higher then Sierra you will lose brightness control using this method.

As for the sleep issue u can fix that with a wiring fix as shown on the real macmod sight.

 

[jtdel99]

Thanks for the replies but now I am really confused.

pizzaistriangle says basically I would have to reapply the software mod EFI var change - so to get around THAT, he suggested trying the dosdude modification which looks like it is a .kext mod?

boy80: You are saying that my realmacmod way would NOT necessitate a reapply of the mod unless I did a PRAM reset, but I would lose the brightness control.

Who is right?

 

[mmk2118Mac]

Hey guys, I'm happy to report that after long struggles with trying to find a PERMANENT fix for this crappy GPU I finally found one that works like a charm! Now I can restart my MBP and it will boot normally by using the Intel GPU rather than the faulty AMD GPU and I no longer have to bring it back to life after each restart!

Below I'm sharing the exact steps I followed and I hope it can help someone else as well.

First of all, many thanks to @jaynaland for pointing me into the right direction and then @MacTinkerer2011Fan-Pun for his continual help.

I have a 15" late-2011 MBP and I'm on High Sierra 10.13.6 (with Security Update 2020-003 installed). (This would probably also work with Security Updates 004 or 002 etc. but can't say for sure, though.)

I mostly followed the procedure by arhirienko from GitHub, though I had to add some of my own tweaks in order to really make it work. It is a very straight-forward manual, but please make sure to follow the instructions very closely and to type the commands precisely:

1. Reset SMC. (Shutdown your MBP, unplug everything except charging cable and hold leftShift + Ctrl + Option + Power for about 15 secs. Then let go and you should see the the light on the charging dongle flash once.)
2. Reset PRAM. (Turn on your MBP and immediately hold Command + Option + P + R buttons. Hold it until you hear the chime at least 2 times.
3. Shut down your MBP and turn it on again and then boot using Command + S.
4. Manually type nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00 and run it.
5. Manually type nvram boot-args="-v" and run it.
6. Manually type reboot and run it.
7. Boot using Command + R (this may take a bit longer for the progress bar with Apple logo to boot).
8. Go to Utilities in the menu bar above and open Terminal.
9. Disable SIP: manually type csrutil disable and run it.
10. Manually type nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00 and run it.
11. Manually type nvram boot-args="-v" and run it.
12. Manually type reboot and run it.
13. Boot using Command + S.
14. Manually type /sbin/mount -uw / and run it.
15. Manually type mkdir -p /System/Library/Extensions-off and run it.
16. Manually type mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX3000.kext /System/Library/Extensions-off/ and run it.
    
    ****CAVEAT: in my case the step no. 16 didn't work properly and I kept getting the following message: ... “Directory not empty”. For some reason I had the AMDRadeonX3000.kext file both in Extensions and Extensions-off folder when ideally the kext file should be only in the Extensions folder and by running step no. 16 you'd move this kext file into the Extensions-off folder. So what I had to do was force-delete the kext file from my Extensions-off folder in order to be able to successfully move it there from the Extensions folder.
    
    So, if you get the “Directory not empty” message after running step no. 16, using the following command to force-delete the kext from Extensions-off folder helped in my case:
    
    Manually type rm -rf /System/Library/Extensions-off/AMDRadeonX3000.kext and run it.
    Then repeat step no. 16.
17. Manually type touch /System/Library/Extensions/ and run it.
18. Manually type reboot and run it.

It will show a bunch of text in the screen (don't be alarmed, let it finish) and then it will restart again. On the second restart it will show a bunch of text in the screen again and then it will show normal login screen and your computer now should work properly.

Once your MBP is up and running again, you will now be able to shutdown/restart your MBP without fears of it not booting again.

One last thing to do is to turn off the verbose mode (ie. a bunch of text showing up on the screen when you restart your MBP), so follow these steps:

1. Restart your MBP and boot using Command + R.
2. Go to Utilities in the menu bar above and open Terminal.
3. Manually type nvram boot-args=" agc=0" and run it.
4. Manually type reboot and run it.

And you're good to go!

PS: it is advisable not to do any system updates after this anymore because it will likely result in having to do the whole procedure again!

As per GitHub:

If an update that contains changes to the AMD drivers is about to take place it is advisable to move back the AMDRadeonX3000.kext to its default location before the update process. Otherwise the updater writes at least another kext of a different version to its default location or at worst you end up with an undefined state of partially non-matching drivers.

After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra.

These instructions were the best fix for me. Thanks Jon08!

 

[HEK9000]

Hi all

It is great to see that people are still working on solutions to this gpu issue!


I have tried this fix on my 17in MBP 2011, but it has not worked. I repeated the process very carefully, several times. So I must be missing something along the way…

My set-up is a little different from others in the thread in that I am running OSX 10.6.6 Snow Leopard on the machine (I use it to run old software).


My 2011 mbp is on its second motherboard, and has presented with this issue again after about 4 years, despite my running it permanently on its integrated gpu using gfxCard. The mbp is in the early stages of gpu failure, booting normally 90% of the time. I leave it permanently on now.


The code I tried is the code below from the OP at the start of the thread.
I also tried MacBook Pro dGPU Disabler, which was suggested and linked to in this thread, as well as other suggestions.


nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00
nvram boot-args="-v"
reboot


Lots of scrolling text on reboot followed by OSX loading. But still an active AMD gpu (I can select and switch to it in the gfx menu).

I did not remove the AMD drivers (Radeon 6750).
I did a PRAM SMC reset before booting directly into Command + S

I am now wondering if the code for disabling the gpu is applicable in the case of 10.6.6?
I am a complete novice in using terminal.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jackson17]

Hi guys!
I just found out about this great thread, and it seems to be working!
So now I'm thinking about trying to fix my 17in MBP 2011, but its hard drive had been wiped.
Will I still be able to fix it?

Should I start with reinstalling a system, or by disabling the amd gpu first?

Thank you!

 

[Len Tezza]

Try boot Single User Mac OS X (Command + S) then:

sudo nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

reboot

Hello,
I feel lucky I found this form and this thread...
My MBP (late 2011 17” High Sierra) won’t boot, starting screen is showing vertical pink-green stripes... Tried everything I found, all different types of booting modes. One thing that made it possible to boot for some time seemed to be doing the long Hardware Test. Made it possible to boot and work but the system crashed as soon as there was a bit more of load, e.g. when opening Fotos.
I followed the above instructions, the Mac booted as it should, everything normal and stable.
But after a system update trouble was back again and doing the above didn’t work as before.
Tried again now. The Mac won’t react.
I attach a photo of what I entered and what is written in Single User mode.
Please can somebody with more of an idea than me have a look at that?
(As (probably) evident I don’t have too much of an idea of what I am doing here...)
Cheers



Edit: force quit and booted into Single User again
Now it said: command not found after entering the code...
What to do?

 

[vorob]

My father bought MBP 2011 (ATI 6770) in 2011 and it still works, I wonder if there are any precautions that will save this GPU from dying? Any recommendation? Or it is a factory flaw and it will 100% die?

Also maybe you can help me with this: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/check-videocard-load-on-10-13-6-mbp-late-2011.2275145/

The default monitoring app won't show GPU load.

 

[boy80]

Thanks for the replies but now I am really confused.

pizzaistriangle says basically I would have to reapply the software mod EFI var change - so to get around THAT, he suggested trying the dosdude modification which looks like it is a .kext mod?

boy80: You are saying that my realmacmod way would NOT necessitate a reapply of the mod unless I did a PRAM reset, but I would lose the brightness control.

Who is right

if u did what realmac mods suggested in their repair guide then you will lose brightness. once u install higher then Sierra. But you can swap hard drives etc and reinstall, no problems. just dont RESET NVRAM. I did this to my macbooks and many os reinstalls, trying out catalina, etc. all running great for over 1 year with zero issues. But i recently i did dosdudes newest fix with flashing the gmux. and did the brightness hack he enabled in the smc flash and its been great as well. I reset NVRAM, SMC...and no issues, macbook came right back up. currently running catalina

I had no issues with realmacmods fix..just no brightness on high sierra or above. thats why i did dosdudes gmux flash fix, as he had a hack to enable brightness back. if it wasnt for losing brightnesswith realmacmods i would have stayed with it as its free and worked really well.

thats my experience. realmacmods is solid as long as u dont reset nvram. but u lose brightness on high sierra and higher

 

[JMVB]

Found this brightness control solution for High Sierra and Mojave
I tested it in High Sierra, works fine

GitHub - stecker870/MacBook-Pro-15-Zoll-late-2011-Graphics-Card-Fix-: Screen brightness control for MacBook Pro (15 Zoll, late 2011) Graphics Card Fix

Screen brightness control for MacBook Pro (15 Zoll, late 2011) Graphics Card Fix - GitHub - stecker870/MacBook-Pro-15-Zoll-late-2011-Graphics-Card-Fix-: Screen brightness control for MacBook Pro (...

github.com

EDIT: and also I have the wake after sleep working ok!!

I don't know if that is because the above fix, or because I prior removed the AMD X3000 kext...

Check this

 

[anyany]

I wanted to thank you first for this great topic. Thanks to you, we were able to resuscitate another MacBook Pro. I already thought that I was waiting for an expensive AMD GPU (BGA chip) replacement, and here is such a nice surprise!

Here is the computer setup:
MacBook Pro 15 "i7 Late 2011 (8GB RAM SDD, A1286, Mobo 820-2565-B.)

Symptoms.
One day, the screen suddenly started to show "groats", at startup the Mac logo was faint on the white noisy screen, same with the login icons. Then just a white screen.

I followed these steps in sequence:


1. I booted the system from the "archlinux-2017.03.01-dual.iso" image CD with the "e" key pressed, in the GRUB menu I gave the "nomodeset" option and chose the "Arch Linux archiso x86_64 UEFI" option. I started the system in text console mode (the screen was dirty, but I could see most of the characters I was typing).


2. I didn't have the "gpu-power-prefs -..." file in the /sys/firmware/efi/efivars folder. I followed the next commands:

cd /

umount /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/

mount -t efivarfs rw /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/

cd /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/

chattr -i "/sys/firmware/efi/efivars/"

printf "\x07\x00\x00\x00\x01\x00\x00\x00" > /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/gpu-power-prefs-fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9

chattr +i "/sys/firmware/efi/efivars/gpu-power-prefs-fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9"

cd /

umount /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/

reboot

On this reboot it is essential that you boot once into safe mode (hold Shift throughout boot), and then choose shutdown (not restart) from the menu.


3. According to the hardware interference procedure shown here:

Macbook 2011 Radeon GPU Disable - Real Radeongate Solution.

Here we will show you a simple method we have developed to completely and totally disable your defective AMD Radeon GPU. Permanent and Cheap Fix.

realmacmods.com

I removed the r8911 resistor with a precision soldering iron. Removing it disables the ISL6263C (DC / DC Converter) that powers the AMD GPU. From now on, the AMD GPU is not seen by the system (because it is not powered). It does not heat up (hopefully) and will never attempt to replace the integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 graphics card.

In addition, with a thin kynar wire I made a connection between Pin 2 of R9704 and Pin 1 of C971, which eliminates the error of waking the screen after sleep in High Sierra.

4. From now on the MacBook turns on properly and I can work on it both on 10.13.6 High Sierra and on 10.11.6 El Capitain. The system turns on properly every time, also wakes up from sleep. The external music card (thunderbolt port) also works properly. So many functions are back to normal.


Now for things I can improve on:

1. In both versions of the system my screen is definitely too blue, something happened with the display of colors, smooth color transitions (eg a photo of the sky) look bad, such areas of "low color resolution" appear. The painting started to "snow" a bit. It could be a software problem, or a slightly damaged LVDS cable, where the two extreme (right) pins look a bit worse than the rest. Their contact surface is clean, but under the contact plate I can see partial losses of plastic.

2. In both systems the screen is too bright (I liked a bit darker screens, usually I set them to about 40-45% brightness, now it is probably 100% - it tires the eyes). I read that in High Sierra it is difficult to do, the F1 and F2 keys do not produce any reaction. However, in El Capitain F1 and F2 it displays a brightness bar, on the bar I can move the brightness slider, but the screen is still brightly bright. I would like to restore the brightness adjustment function, if possible.

3. The computer heats up less, while working in El Capitain it is now much cooler. In High Sierra, however, it is still very warm, sometimes almost hot. I haven't done anything with the AMD kext files, do I need to get them out of the /System/Library/Extensions/ folder? Now I have there:

NVDAGF100Hal.kext
NVDAGK100Hal.kext
NVDANV50HalTesla.kext
NVDAResman.kext
NVDAResmanTesla.kext
NVDAStartup.kext

I checked it at High Sierra.

I am asking for tips and help in completing this repair. You inspired me to complete a task that seemed impossible.

 

[saldin]

I've encountered a problem with High Sierra and I need to know if someone got things working:

I started noticing issues with Quick Look and Preview, showing black rectangles where content and PDF pages should be.

I googled and found that it appeared to be related to an issue with the display color profiles and that it could be remediated doing a calibration of the display profile.

I "calibrated" the display, but actually did nothing: I was only asked to set a new white point, but I left it just the same as the original color profile. After completing the process, everything was now light blue, and although the Quick Look and Preview issues were gone, there's no point in having a medicine being worse than the disease.

Not even fiddling with the white point can bring my display to the tone I had.

Has anyone else encountered this problem and fixed it properly? I'd really appreciate the help!

 

[anyany]

I've encountered a problem with High Sierra and I need to know if someone got things working:

I started noticing issues with Quick Look and Preview, showing black rectangles where content and PDF pages should be.

I googled and found that it appeared to be related to an issue with the display color profiles and that it could be remediated doing a calibration of the display profile.

I "calibrated" the display, but actually did nothing: I was only asked to set a new white point, but I left it just the same as the original color profile. After completing the process, everything was now light blue, and although the Quick Look and Preview issues were gone, there's no point in having a medicine being worse than the disease.

Not even fiddling with the white point can bring my display to the tone I had.

Has anyone else encountered this problem and fixed it properly? I'd really appreciate the help!

I have the same symptom on the MBP 15 "i7 Late 2011 820-915-B, everything is displayed more blue. For now I set the standard LCD profile, but this is not the color I had before disconnecting the AMD GPU. I found a tip in some thread to convert two resistors to 0R, but that was for MBP 17 ". Maybe one of the colleagues will suggest a solution.