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MacBook Pro 17" late 2011 not booting, GPU failure?

Nessdufrat

Nessdufrat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 19, 2015
164
36
Between France and Switzerland
The macbook was sent two days ago to Germany. I actually found another repairman, a bit cheaper. I guess the computer won't reach him before next week, so I'm waiting to hear back from him some time next week to see if the repair if possible. If not, I'll pay for shipping back to me.
Then, I'll sell it for parts (anybody knows how much I can grab for the rest of the computer? Battery was still at 85% capacity, screen is in perfect condition, I'm at a disadvantage with the keyboard because I'm in France with a QWERTY keyboard where the standard is AZERTY... Case is tiptop condition, since it's always been covered with a skin from stickerboy skin (skin is 3M vinyl, actually worth over $100. I changed the bluetooth card for a newer standard, but I can still sell the old one too).
My main concern is the thunderbolt screen. Not sure it's worth keeping it for the tiny macbook air, and even if I end up buying up a new macbook in the next few years, it won't have the thunderbolt output. Too bad it's not PC compatible. I just LOVE this screen, but it's not compatible with my older mac pro either.
Anyway, just gotta cross my fingers that the guy will be able to repair the macbook...
 
Nessdufrat

Nessdufrat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 19, 2015
164
36
Between France and Switzerland
So, I got my computer back yesterday, I put my drives back inside today and so far, it's working. How long will it work, I don't know. I (hot)plugged in the thunderbolt screen without troubles, used it for a bit with it, and then put it to sleep (I'm on a project right now where it turns out I have nothing to do on the MacBook so far).
It ran pretty hot when I launched Photos to synchronize the latest pictures (and mostly because I wanted to get rid of a ton of pictures on my photostream and I couldn't do it on the MacBook Air for whatever reason. The Photos app was taking forever to load and wouldn't show the pictures... My iCloud space was full. So yeah, I decided that's one of the first things I would do when I'd get the MacBook Pro back. So I launched Photos and it did run pretty hot (97 Celsius degrees. At that point, the thunderbolt wasn't even plugged in yet). I had high hopes the change of thermal paste would at least make the heat issues a bit better, apparently it didn't do a thing. As soon as I closed Photos, the fans calmed down and the computer went back to a more believable temperature (around 65 Celsius degrees).

One thing that worries me is I had some strange airport related error in the console. Does anybody have a clue what that means?

3.10.17 12:33:13.739 airportd[66]: OSActivityID: 0x0000000000000375
com.apple.message.domain: com.apple.wifi.bluetooth_coex
com.apple.message.bandwidth_utilization: 35
com.apple.message.clamshell_mode: No
com.apple.message.sco_device_count: 0
com.apple.message.a2dp_device_count: 0
com.apple.message.mode: Off
com.apple.message.frequency_band: 2.4GHz
com.apple.message.per_chain_thermal_throttling: On,Off,Off
com.apple.message.desense_high_rssi: 0
com.apple.message.per_chain_ack_policy: Off,Off,Off
com.apple.message.desense: No
com.apple.message.desense_low_rssi: 0
com.apple.message.per_chain_transmit_power_offset: -7,-7,0
com.apple.message.per_chain_power: Off,Off,Off
SenderMachUUID: 10B88E2B-A776-353A-B0DC-8233C201918F
Click to expand...

(I clicked on the error to get the details, but the error message, OSActivityID: 0x0000000000000375, keeps popping up again and again. I can use the wifi without any troubles and everything seems to be working fine, but that is weird. I don't remember seeing that one before)
 
K

_Kiki_

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2017
961
281
Can you use 5GHz? There is information on Apple website with recommendation to use 5GHz
 
Nessdufrat

Nessdufrat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 19, 2015
164
36
Between France and Switzerland
I made the switch to the 5ghz, but almost immediately after that I went back to using the thunderbolt full time with the Ethernet cable plugged in. The console isn't giving me weird airport card errors anymore (at least for now). I'm still not confident launching any processor-consuming program like photoshop or InDesign. I know it's stupid because i had the computer repaired for the sole purpose of being able to use these programs, but I'm at a point in my life where I couldn't really take it if the computer were to fail again (lots of ****** things happening lately), so I'd rather wait till I'm in a better mood ^^

But it's a real pleasure to have it back. I was starting to get crazy with my PC, especially since it gave me the BSOD ten days ago with a CPU clock error, so not the kind of error you want to have on your computer.
 
Audit13

Audit13

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2017
6,895
1,837
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I would be more worried about programs that cause the machine to switch from Intel graphics to the amd graphics.

I also had the gpu replaced. Programs like safari, mail, and office use the Intel video but Photoshop and chrome use the amd gpu; therefore, I quickly do what needs to be done and quickly shutdown these programs.
 
Nessdufrat

Nessdufrat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 19, 2015
164
36
Between France and Switzerland
Oh, I'm on the Thunderbolt Display and I have the impression this one needs the AMD graphic card to support the 2560x1280 resolution and the 1280x1200 at the same time. At least the Thunderbolt Display was the instant crash method for my computer.

I didn't know chrome was using AMD. I'll be very wary of it, then. I already ditched Firefox because of the huge memory it was snatching at all times (I have the impression no matter how much ram you've got on your computer, Firefox will take 80%. I have 16gb, Firefox was often taking up to 13gb... Wtf). As much as I don't like safari, I guess I'll have to stick with it. It's the only one that doesn't make my computer run as hot as a frying pan.
 
Audit13

Audit13

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2017
6,895
1,837
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Yes, the external display needs the amd gpu which is why I am not using an external monitor for now.

Using chrome on my old mid 2010 15" also caused my machine to kernel panic when it caused the machine to switch from Intel to nvidia graphics but not when I used only safari.
 
ron1004

ron1004

macrumors 6502
Feb 6, 2010
335
33
Louisville, KY
I too have a MacBook Pro 17" late 2011 and it failed just like yours.

I had it repaired by Apple a few months before they extended the warranty - they refunded what I'd paid for the repair.

I use GFcardstatus to keep it in "Integratedx Only" and haven't had any issues.
 
xanderx007

xanderx007

macrumors 6502
Nov 7, 2017
262
140
Brammy said:
That does look like the GPU failure. Mine failed differently, but I have seen that one as well.

The short version is: no, not really. You can't really disable the chipset.
I wouldn't put any money into getting fixed, either.

I also have a love of the 2011s, but this one appears to have met its end.
Click to expand...

Aside from the software solutions (EFI and GRUB) that "ignores" the dGPU. There is a way of disabling the dGPU/chip itself by deactivating the transistor that powers it. Of course, that's way too much to handle for anyone who would not want to possibly damage the logic board just to attempt it, but, there are people who have done it.

Currently, I'm on the GRUB fix. It ignores the dGPU on the software side (technically disabling it), but, it's still drawing power. I can now use my 15" MBP e2011, and it hasn't frozen or hanged for quite a while. I can put it to sleep, shut it down, start and restart it without a hitch, though, since it's using the iGPU exclusively, it's a little bit on the slow side with graphic-intensive apps like Adobe.

Screen Shot 2017-12-05 at 09.31.47.png

[doublepost=1512437820][/doublepost]
Nessdufrat said:
Thanks!
At the moment, if something is wrong with the soldering, I guess even deactivating the chip won't change my problem, though (reflowing might. I'm starting to consider it... ).
Click to expand...

I've considered the reflow solution before (I do have a little background in electronics), but, though videos have shown that it does work, it's too risky for the normal, everyday Mac user who doesn't have background in electronics and soldering. Even having it replaced out of warranty by a non-Apple technician is a bit risky, so I went for the software route.
 
Zarkex01

Zarkex01

macrumors newbie
Dec 27, 2017
12
2
If youre from Germany try smartmod.de they offer GPU REPLACEMENT Services. Replacing them with new not affected Chips.
[doublepost=1514910797][/doublepost]"Only costs" 299 Euros.
 
K

_Kiki_

macrumors 6502a
Aug 13, 2017
961
281
Zarkex01 said:
If youre from Germany try smartmod.de they offer GPU REPLACEMENT Services. Replacing them with new not affected Chips.
[doublepost=1514910797][/doublepost]"Only costs" 299 Euros.
Click to expand...

incredible expensive
 
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