Mid 2012 15" MacBook Pro GPU failure

[CheeseBread365]

I've got a Mid 2012 15" MBP, had it for a few years now, its been working great up until recently.
I've always heard this was a reliable model, I don't really hear about issues with this one too much, moreso I hear about problems with the Early 2011 and Late 2011 15" and 17" machines, rather than the Mid 2012 15" machines with the Nvidia GPU.

Anyways, a few days ago I lifted up my Mid 2012 and the screen went all weird and the thing shut off shortly thereafter. I started messing around with it and noticed this problem was easy to replicate. Typing hard on the keyboard or grabbing the laptop while pressing on the bottom cover would trigger these problems. This was the first time I'd ever noticed it doing this.

Anyways, the fact that it can be triggered by movement of the laptop leads me to believe this is a solder related issue with the GPU chip, similar to the issue the 2011 models suffered from.

I figured I'd make a post here about this, just to document the issue, and maybe if anybody had any advice on something else this could be. I'm going to try reflowing the GPU in a few days to see if it helps at all, I hope I can fix it as I do really like my Mid 2012 15" MBP. I suppose none of the 15" MBP models are immune to this issue, but its a bit disappointing my 2012 suffered from it so early on. My Mid 2010 15" MBP has easily 4x as many hours on it as this 2012, and it still works flawlessly (With me having replaced the common failure-prone capacitor, of course), despite the thing reaching 98 degrees celsius regularly. My 2012 has fresh thermal paste and all the fans are clean and work good, and it doesn't run excessively hot, it actually runs cooler than the 2010 does by a fair amount (My 2010 is a 2.8GHz model and its a toaster to say the least).

 

[shardey]

Have you tried using and external monitor to see if that works?

 

[CheeseBread365]

Have you tried using and external monitor to see if that works?

Doesn't work. The whole machine freezes up when the GPU disconnects, and I have to restart it. Sometimes the image will restore itself, but it will still be frozen.

 

[iMacDragon]

Sounds like maybe solder ball joints failing from the sound of what triggers it

 

[Yebubbleman]

I've got a Mid 2012 15" MBP, had it for a few years now, its been working great up until recently.
I've always heard this was a reliable model, I don't really hear about issues with this one too much, moreso I hear about problems with the Early 2011 and Late 2011 15" and 17" machines, rather than the Mid 2012 15" machines with the Nvidia GPU.

Early 2011 and Late 2011 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros have an issue with the AMD graphics. Largely the issue stems from two factors: (1) Generational issues with the AMD Radeon HD 6000 series and (2) the fact that all of the permutations of those GPUs ran way too hot for the unibody enclosure, basically adding insult to injury.

The non-retina Mid 2012 15-inch MacBook Pros had zero issues with the GeForce GT 650M. However, the Mid 2012 and Early 2013 (same machine, really) had issues with that same GPU stemming primarily from the fact that, while that same GPU was fine in the unibody enclosure, the Retina enclosure was too thin to provide adequate cooling.

Apple lumped in the Early 2011, Late 2011, Mid 2012 Retina, and Early 2013 Retina all into the same repair extension program, but it's not like anything could really be done to remedy these issues. Replacements would inevitably fail again.

Anyways, a few days ago I lifted up my Mid 2012 and the screen went all weird and the thing shut off shortly thereafter. I started messing around with it and noticed this problem was easy to replicate. Typing hard on the keyboard or grabbing the laptop while pressing on the bottom cover would trigger these problems. This was the first time I'd ever noticed it doing this.

View attachment 2176553

Yup! Looks like you're suffering from it!

Anyways, the fact that it can be triggered by movement of the laptop leads me to believe this is a solder related issue with the GPU chip, similar to the issue the 2011 models suffered from.

I figured I'd make a post here about this, just to document the issue, and maybe if anybody had any advice on something else this could be.

Nope, textbook case of GPU failure.

I'm going to try reflowing the GPU in a few days to see if it helps at all, I hope I can fix it as I do really like my Mid 2012 15" MBP. I suppose none of the 15" MBP models are immune to this issue,

Not all 15-inch MacBook Pros suffered from GPU issues. Again, Mid 2012 non-retina, Late 2013-Mid 2015 never did either. And you don't have any regular failures from the Touch Bar era through the end of the Intel era.

I'll grant you that 2006 to 2011 wasn't great for GPUs in 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pros. But not all of them had issues like this.

but its a bit disappointing my 2012 suffered from it so early on. My Mid 2010 15" MBP has easily 4x as many hours on it as this 2012, and it still works flawlessly (With me having replaced the common failure-prone capacitor, of course), despite the thing reaching 98 degrees celsius regularly. My 2012 has fresh thermal paste and all the fans are clean and work good, and it doesn't run excessively hot, it actually runs cooler than the 2010 does by a fair amount (My 2010 is a 2.8GHz model and its a toaster to say the least).

It's a design defect on that model. You were going to experience it inevitably. Apple has a few products like this throughout history where no matter how many times you send it in to fix an issue, it'll just inevitably come back. This just happens to be one of those.