I have an early and late 2011 MacBook pro 17". Trying to add a SSD and install Mac OS. I get a CPU panic message on apple logo boot screen when I try to boot using a USB and then it restarts to light gray screen. Internet recovery does the same thing. Any solutions? Thanks.
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MacBook pro 17" 2011 CPU panic on boot screen
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Is your USB installer drive (which contains macOS Sierra BTW) known to work fine on another machine?
Does the installer boot with the old HDD in it?
Is the RAM OK?
These machines are well-known for having defective AMD GPUs, but I don't think it would panic that early if the GPU were the cause. In any case, have you ever experienced any GPU-related problems on this machine? Has the AMD GPU been disabled by any chance?
Yes
I didn't get these with any RAM or HDD. I supplied my own.
Not sure. These aren't originally my MacBooks. Just trying to see if I can upgrade them and get them working again. Thanks for your assistance.
Have you ever seen any white, pink or green lines on the screen that don't look normally and/or has the laptop ever shutdown or started beeping out of nowhere. Those are some of the signs of GPU failure.
I know kernel panic are also a sign but is much less likely, though I have seen it happen before.
No colored lines or beeps. Just the message when I try to boot from a USB with Sierra. It then restarts and either goes to a white screen or I get the message again if I try to boot from the USB in a perpetual loop. Thanks for the reply.
I bought it off amazon 2 years or so ago. They no longer sell them I suppose because of copyright. It has worked for other macbooks I restored but it's been a while since I used it so I guess it could become corrupt. Thanks for the reply.
If the OS isn't system specific and it's an OS that is supported by that Mac, then your issues could be with the Mac itself. That model of Mac is affected by a known issue with the GPU. And GPU issues on MacBook Pros (at least in the case of the 2007/08 and 2011 models) tend to manifest in all sorts of wonky ways.
