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

[FarmerBob]

Keyboard Lights get broken on every MB/P that I have installed on after installing the the "Post Install Patches". Prior to no problems. But on an 8,2 would love to try it with the patches.

I've just stopped. And am going to take a break and not do anything for a while . . .

 

[Queen6]

Keyboard Lights get broken on every MB/P that I have installed on after installing the the "Post Install Patches". Prior to no problems. But on an 8,2 would love to try it with the patches.

I've just stopped. And am going to take a break and not do anything for a while . . .

MBP 8.2 is more complex to deal with and I believe requires HW mods to regain full functionality. My own MBP 8.2 on High Sierra it's dGPU is heavily restricted by SW, yet is still engaged and seen in the system. I'm of the opinion now, if the dGPU was going to fail it would have done so years ago when being pushed to it's limits on a more than frequent basis.


MBP 8.1 should be able to disable the dGPU via NVRAM and retain KB lighting & sleep. As always OS revision is a big factor. After 12 years I just use it as needs be, mostly as a media server. Push it hard from time to time and dont worry about it. At this age anything could let go anytime, or it could continue on for another 12 years?

Q-6

 

[tomcatrr]

Keyboard Lights get broken on every MB/P that I have installed on after installing the the "Post Install Patches". Prior to no problems. But on an 8,2 would love to try it with the patches.

I've just stopped. And am going to take a break and not do anything for a while . . .

2011 Macbook Pro 15"
Works keyboard and lcd light brightness!!

Now the "fun".
This MBP don´t work hibernation in macOS or Manjaro.
The fun is, I repair another 2011 15" MBP and the pause/hibernation works 100%.
He have 8 GB 1333Mhz of Ram.
Could be 1333 vs 1600 Mhz the hibernation fail?
(The true is in my case I can hear the 3 beeps, after suspend).

 

[FarmerBob]

I'm finding that the 8,1-3 series is a curious lot. And the first series to have three iterations. Which goes with a design jump.

I just rolled back my 7,1 to 0.6.8 hoping to get it a little more solid. Haven't been there for long so I'm not sure what gonna happen. Plus, 0.6.8 to 1.0.0 is quite a jump itself . . .

 

[0134168]

View attachment 2316329
2011 Macbook Pro 15"
Works keyboard and lcd light brightness!!

Now the "fun".
This MBP don´t work hibernation in macOS or Manjaro.
The fun is, I repair another 2011 15" MBP and the pause/hibernation works 100%.
He have 8 GB 1333Mhz of Ram.
Could be 1333 vs 1600 Mhz the hibernation fail?
(The true is in my case I can hear the 3 beeps, after suspend).

Which version of OCLP?

 

[tomcatrr]

Which version of OCLP?

About what?

I start using OCLP, since there is no need for "terminal commands" and you have GUI interface.
But before OCLP , I use HS and Catalina with Dosdude patch.
And keyboard and LCD brightness working

 

[0134168]

About what?

I start using OCLP, since there is no need for "terminal commands" and you have GUI interface.
But before OCLP , I use HS and Catalina with Dosdude patch.
And keyboard and LCD brightness working

Don´t understand your answer, sir.

 

[tomcatrr]

Don´t understand your answer, sir.

your right, its confusing!
Sorry about that!

What I want to say, is since I use OCLP, in my MBP 8.2, I never lost keyboard light and LCD brightness.

Happy new year!

 

[Queen6]

Sadly end of an era approaches My 2011 15' MBP no longer recognises any external audio and being a media server pretty much kills it's use in this role Going to refresh the OS outside of that not looking good. External audio just dropped off and successive reboots only report the internal speakers

Likely the 2011 MBP will be replaced by a ThinkPad with a dGPU. Little too early to make the call, equally not wanting to spend my life messing with such matters. If the OS refresh results in the same behavior it's done and time to be recycled... unless I can find another use for it...

ThinkPad I'll just wipe and refresh Windows 10 and we'll be back online as it should pick up the disk array and same as the old Mac will be offline 99% of the time. Either that or Linux as battery run time is not a consideration in this role...

 

[nisulid]

Hello, I ended up in this thread because I was sure that my problem was on the dGPU. Tried the simple Mac proceedings, but didn't work out for me. I started reading the thread, tried some searching, but when I saw it was like 123 pages, I kind got anxiety and went forward with instructions.

Symptoms before trying were similar to what was described in first post: image with stripes, not booting into the system. When I got the MBP the battery was stuffed, so I took it out. Tried all the basic procedures with no success, without the battery.
- Apple diagnostics tested negative.
- Reset SMC doesn't even flicker the light. Tried both removable battery and non-removable battery techniques.
- Reset NVRAM seems odd - too long between restarts
- Wouldn't boot to safe mode.
- Recovery would boot up to selecting the wifi network, but blank screen after that
- Recovery with ALT would boot to selection boot volume, blank after that or after apple logo/progress bar
- USB Bootable Installer would boot to selection of volume, blank after that or after apple logo/progress bar

Odd things:
- I pluged an SSD from another MBP (7,1 2010 with Sonoma and OCLP), and it booted a couple of times. When booted, it recognized a 23inch screen.
- The apearance os the screen/display was absolutely normal at the times of these boots.
- Image with stripes is intermittent. Sometimes image seems fine.
- Tryed all the proceedings with external display, sometimes the faulty image would be on the MacBooks display, sometimes at the external display.
- Before startup, frontal led blinks 5 times.
- Mechanic noises upon startup seem more evident.

It is now with an internal HDD with High Sierra installed as external HDD on an Imac.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance and sorry if this is a little off topic or the answer is in the thread and I couldn't find via search.

 

[hermannkm]

Tried OCLP on my 15" 2011 MacBook Pro with bad dGPU. Worked instantly.

 

[tomcatrr]

View attachment 2316329

Now the "fun".
This MBP don´t work hibernation in macOS or Manjaro.
The fun is, I repair another 2011 15" MBP and the pause/hibernation works 100%.
He have 8 GB 1333Mhz of Ram.
Could be 1333 vs 1600 Mhz the hibernation fail?
(The true is in my case I can hear the 3 beeps, after suspend).

Update

I got one 8GB and one 4GB module 1333Mhz RAM, (so 12GB) and hibernation/pause WORKS! vs 16GB 1600Mhz!
I think my MPB do not like the 1600 Mhz, also, I think that he is running more cold.

My 5cents.

 

[sharonrjones]

FIRST OFF...Thank YOU....not only for figuring it out, but taking the time to share with us others that would have had no hope....
You may not even be keeping up with this..... but I had given up after years... just tried the following and it cleared up my display, BUT I keep hanging up a apple logo, with no progress showing...any idea?

1) fsck -fy (to check a disk)
2) mount -uw / (mount a root filesystem with read/write permissions)
3) sudo mkdir /AMD_Kexts/ (make a directory to store the AMD drivers in case you'll need them in future)
4) sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMD*.* /AMD_Kexts/ (move the AMD drivers)
5) sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/ (remove the AMD drivers cache)
6) sudo mkdir /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/ (just in case OS X will be dumb and will not recreate this directory, I am creating it for OS X)
7) sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions/ (to update the timestamps so that new driver caches - without AMD drivers - will be definitely rebuilt)
8) sudo umount / (umount a partition to guarantee that your changes are flushed to it)
9) sudo reboot

All like you said...then
nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

nvram boot-args="-v"

reboot
I am now running a hardware test...any suggestions??

 

[tomcatrr]

FIRST OFF...Thank YOU....not only for figuring it out, but taking the time to share with us others that would have had no hope....
You may not even be keeping up with this..... but I had given up after years... just tried the following and it cleared up my display, BUT I keep hanging up a apple logo, with no progress showing...any idea?

1) fsck -fy (to check a disk)
2) mount -uw / (mount a root filesystem with read/write permissions)
3) sudo mkdir /AMD_Kexts/ (make a directory to store the AMD drivers in case you'll need them in future)
4) sudo mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMD*.* /AMD_Kexts/ (move the AMD drivers)
5) sudo rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/ (remove the AMD drivers cache)
6) sudo mkdir /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/ (just in case OS X will be dumb and will not recreate this directory, I am creating it for OS X)
7) sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions/ (to update the timestamps so that new driver caches - without AMD drivers - will be definitely rebuilt)
8) sudo umount / (umount a partition to guarantee that your changes are flushed to it)
9) sudo reboot

All like you said...then
nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

nvram boot-args="-v"

reboot
I am now running a hardware test...any suggestions??

Hi!

The last 2011 15" that I "patch", if I remember right, I just use the :
"
1 - Boot Single User (press Command + S) at boot (If you have MacOS installed on your hard drive).
2 - If you have a blank HD, then use the USB stick/Pendrive with the MacOS installer (El Capitan, Sierra or HighSierra).
2.1 - Press Option key at boot, Position the mouse on the MacOS installer icon.
2.2 - Press Command + S and keep holding these two keys.
2.3 - Click the MacOS installer icon -> continue holding the Command + S keys until you finish the MacOS installer Single User boot .
Enter these commands (change gpu-power-prefs to Intel GPU and boot verbose):

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

nvram boot-args="-v"

reboot
"

After that, he works fine.

You can have a HDD drive problem.

 

[35mm]

Hello,

I tried doing this and I’m getting a grey screen after the logo bootup. Fans also kick up on high speed. Something I did wrong?

 

[vorob]

I’ve got a 2011 MacBook Pro with the dead AMD GPU—a classic story of an AMD GPU failure. Most likely, I used this guide to disable the GPU: [dosdude1 guide](https://dosdude1.com/gpudisable/).

Previously, this MacBook was used by my father, but I recently upgraded his machine to a 2015 model. The 2011 one is just laying around, fully working but not in use. I like to work with old hardware and experiment, so I'm considering three possible options:

1. **Selling the Machine**: It's in absolutely perfect condition, and I even have the original box. According to the used market, I can still get some money for it. Surprisingly, there is a demand for these machines, even when they are only working with the integrated GPU despite the dead AMD GPU.

2. **Soldering a New AMD Chip**: I know it’s hard to find, but replacing the chip on the motherboard is an option.

3. **Replacing the Motherboard with One from a 2012 Model**: I'm considering using a motherboard with an Nvidia chip from the 2012 model, but I'm unsure if these motherboards are compatible. They seem similar, but perhaps Apple altered something.

I know the wise decision would be to just sell this old machine or forget about it altogether, but for me, it’s not a matter of money.

 

[UnknownIdaho]

I’ve got a 2011 MacBook Pro with the dead AMD GPU—a classic story of an AMD GPU failure. Most likely, I used this guide to disable the GPU: [dosdude1 guide](https://dosdude1.com/gpudisable/).

Previously, this MacBook was used by my father, but I recently upgraded his machine to a 2015 model. The 2011 one is just laying around, fully working but not in use. I like to work with old hardware and experiment, so I'm considering three possible options:

1. **Selling the Machine**: It's in absolutely perfect condition, and I even have the original box. According to the used market, I can still get some money for it. Surprisingly, there is a demand for these machines, even when they are only working with the integrated GPU despite the dead AMD GPU.

2. **Soldering a New AMD Chip**: I know it’s hard to find, but replacing the chip on the motherboard is an option.

3. **Replacing the Motherboard with One from a 2012 Model**: I'm considering using a motherboard with an Nvidia chip from the 2012 model, but I'm unsure if these motherboards are compatible. They seem similar, but perhaps Apple altered something.

I know the wise decision would be to just sell this old machine or forget about it altogether, but for me, it’s not a matter of money.

Yes, I’ve heard of installing a 2012 15” logicboard with some modifications to the case for the ports, personally I think this is the best solution unless you can find someone to rebuild the AMD GPU so it will be reliable.

I did a LOT of research into it and the rebuilding process is possible but requires specialized tools.

Since I bought my used 16” i9 in 2021 though, my beautiful 17” hunk Of aluminuum, along with the parts 2012 15”, has been set aside. 😐

 

[Amanda Ripanykhazova]

Since I bought my used 16” i9 in 2021 though, my beautiful 17” hunk Of aluminuum, along with the parts 2012 15”, has been set aside. 😐

Yeah, I have two 17 inch MBPs, a 2008 and this 2011 one and I concluded based on similar facts that they arent much use for much any more. The (mint condition!) Core 2 Duo did work up to a year or so ago, then it became too slow for words!

I personally favour solution No:4, - donate it to a school teaching circuit board-level repairs

Lots of people used to like the Lombard but I doubt that anyone beyond the most diehard SJP fan is using them any more!

 

[0134168]

Yeah, I have two 17 inch MBPs, a 2008 and this 2011 one and I concluded based on similar facts that they arent much use for much any more. The (mint condition!) Core 2 Duo did work up to a year or so ago, then it became too slow for words!

I personally favour solution No:4, - donate it to a school teaching circuit board-level repairs

Lots of people used to like the Lombard but I doubt that anyone beyond the most diehard SJP fan is using them any more!

I have two Macbook Pro 17" Core I7 2011. Sonoma runs acceptable, but Windows runs like charm.

 

[vorob]

del

 

[vorob]

Donating a working laptop with a 4-core i7 CPU, a good screen, and in perfect condition feels like a waste to me. It can still serve others well for text work and internet browsing. Experimenting with circuit boards can be done on cheaper, older devices. If installing the motherboard from a 2012 model requires some modifications, it's certainly not ideal. So, the options are either to sell it with a note about the Intel graphics or to solder a new chip.

 

[0134168]

Dona

Donating a working laptop with a 4-core i7 CPU, a good screen, and in perfect condition feels like a waste to me. It can still serve others well for text work and internet browsing. Experimenting with circuit boards can be done on cheaper, older devices. If installing the motherboard from a 2012 model requires some modifications, it's certainly not ideal. So, the options are either to sell it with a note about the Intel graphics or to solder a new chip.

Donating things is just for that, to serve others that can´t afford to spend the money. I have donated much more modern stuff than that. It´s NEVER a waste.

 

[pete1]

2. **Soldering a New AMD Chip**: I know it’s hard to find, but replacing the chip on the motherboard is an option.

It’s not viable, because any AMD chip that you can fit will be susceptible to the same failure. If you want to keep the logic board the best bet is to use dosdude1’s gmux ic flasher to completely disable the AMD chip.

3. **Replacing the Motherboard with One from a 2012 Model**: I'm considering using a motherboard with an Nvidia chip from the 2012 model, but I'm unsure if these motherboards are compatible. They seem similar, but perhaps Apple altered something.

I did this and it worked great. You don’t need to do any case modifications. The only slight issue is a slightly different shape on the edges of the LVDS connector but it can be made to fit without too much trouble.

 

[vorob]

I did this and it worked great. You don’t need to do any case modifications. The only slight issue is a slightly different shape on the edges of the LVDS connector but it can be made to fit without too much trouble.

This sounds awesome! Do u need to search for motherboard with heatsink or they are compatible?

 

[pete1]

This sounds awesome! Do u need to search for motherboard with heatsink or they are compatible?

Just to be clear I’m talking about the 15” model, putting the 2012 board (820-3330-B) into an Early 2011 machine.

I think the heatsink is the same, I did look at them side by side. My replacement motherboard came with one, so I didn’t need to use the old one.

I was doubly lucky as I got the board cheap as it was listed as broken but it actually works fine. It’s actually an amazing upgrade because in addition to fixing the graphics chip issue, you get:

- USB 3.0,
- Faster graphics,
- Faster front side bus,
- Native Bluetooth 4.0/handoff support (you have to upgrade the Bluetooth module as well, try to get it with the donor board)
- Official support for up to Catalina (10.15) instead of up to High Sierra (10.13)