MBP 1,1-10,2 Permanently Disable 2011 15"/17" MacBook Pro Dedicated GPU - gMux IC Bypass

[raileanu]

Replying to follow this progress.

Also if anyone has a permanent solution of for the GPU fix WITHOUT soldering that allows PRAM/NVRAM reset and working backlight control in High Sierra and higher like Mojave that would be great.. if so, please let me know .

Working on Sierra with R8911 resistor removed and a special USB Ubuntu bootable that modded the EFI. All works like a charm but looking for a solution as described above.

Im cool with software solutions but soldering brings some higher skills and equipment with it that I don’t have (yet)...

Hello. What is the procedure you have use with Ubuntu?

 

[erebos007]

Done With the soldering ! Wasn't too easy, needed to buy a cheap chinese microscope off ebay but managed to make it at last ! Thx !

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

Unfortunately, it is physically impossible to permanently disable the dGPU without soldering. However, I am in the process of creating a drop-in board, that makes the soldering process much easier.

I’m definitely interested in the quick mod board. My 2011 will not finish a reinstall of MacOS with the EFI solution. Unless I have a second fault, I’m willing to try drastic mods before giving up and scrapping for parts.

 

[AdamMagus]

Please keep us posted on this. I want to use my 17" as a dj rig for serato. The large screen will make it easier to see for an old guy like myself.

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

Dosdude1, regarding your gMux bypass, I have a comment and question:

In your post, you mention that the jumpers are basically sending the LVDS for the integrated GPU to the display and bypassing the gMux. Now, I'm not familiar with this IC, but many ICs have enable and disable lines that default to certain configs. Is there a chance (assuming you have analyzed the gMux or are familiar enough with it, that one can simply jump a reset pin, select, or enable pin so the gMux defaults to the iGPU all the time with less jumpers?

You're already pulling R9682, which is the LVDS_DDC_SEL_IG pull down line. Maybe pull or jump a different line or two?

No reflashing required. No mess of wires.

What do you think? Or do no LVDS signals get through until the IC is powered up?

 

[dosdude1]

Dosdude1, regarding your gMux bypass, I have a comment and question:

In your post, you mention that the jumpers are basically sending the LVDS for the integrated GPU to the display and bypassing the gMux. Now, I'm not familiar with this IC, but many ICs have enable and disable lines that default to certain configs. Is there a chance (assuming you have analyzed the gMux or are familiar enough with it, that one can simply jump a reset pin, select, or enable pin so the gMux defaults to the iGPU all the time with less jumpers?

You're already pulling R9682, which is the LVDS_DDC_SEL_IG pull down line. Maybe pull or jump a different line or two?

No reflashing required. No mess of wires.

What do you think? Or do no LVDS signals get through until the IC is powered up?

The gMux IC is controlled via a software interface over the system's SMBUS interface, it is not controlled by pulling a line up/down. Therefore, it's not possible to bypass it by simply pulling a line high/low. Also, I've found that if you leave the gMux IC in place, reflashing the firmware is not necessary.

 

[erebos007]

Hmm another update. After being able to complete the soldering work my mbp is starting again BUT I just tried to reinstall macos on the machine and sadly it fails :/ I tried with another SATA cable, an internal SSD, an internal HDD, I tried on an external usb3 HDD... no way . With the internal drive, the Installer tells that he wasn't able to unmount the drive and with the external drive the install is starting then stops with the message that no packet can be installed ...
I made a new macos installation on another 2011 mbp with a working gpu then I put the ssd in this one and...it's starting to boot then the loading bar with apple logo remains stuck at 0%.

Do you think It can be related to the modification ?

 

[dosdude1]

Hmm another update. After being able to complete the soldering work my mbp is starting again BUT I just tried to reinstall macos on the machine and sadly it fails :/ I tried with another SATA cable, an internal SSD, an internal HDD, I tried on an external usb3 HDD... no way . With the internal drive, the Installer tells that he wasn't able to unmount the drive and with the external drive the install is starting then stops with the message that no packet can be installed ...
I made a new macos installation on another 2011 mbp with a working gpu then I put the ssd in this one and...it's starting to boot then the loading bar with apple logo remains stuck at 0%.

Do you think It can be related to the modification ?

Nope, the issue is most likely that the system date and time is set incorrectly.

 

[erebos007]

Nope, the issue is most likely that the system date and time is set incorrectly.

thank you! that was it.
I set the date with the terminal booting from the install disk and here we go

 

[erebos007]

@dosdude1
Do you plan to release all the info regarding the DyingLight module (like components, gerber files, etc) ? I looked at the ones you're selling off ebay but shipping cost to my country (France) is super high.

 

[rgranger]

I asked him to do this mod on my 2011 17" and it works wonderfully. It is very nice to have the system back, after 2 system board repairs. First under apple and the second on my dime. Both the brightness mod and the GPU disable were done. I think it runs much cooler now too.
Thanks again!

 

[gilles_polysoft]

UPDATE: I have finished working on a new solution for backlight brightness control! You can read about, and see this modification in action here.

Finally, once all that is wired up, the system should be good to go! The final product will look something like this:

View attachment 777906

Last Step

After all your wiring is complete, you will need to cut power to the dedicated GPU, otherwise it will simply produce waste heat. To do so, all you need to do is remove the resistor that supplies power to the GPU VCORE regulator IC, R8911.

At last, once all that is complete, you are now done! You will now have a fully working 2011 15" or 17" MacBook Pro, running off ONLY integrated graphics! No OS X modifications are necessary, and it is not reliant on any NVRAM variable (obviously). This, short of making custom firmware for the gMux chip, is the BEST solution for rectifying the defective AMD GPU issue on these machines. The only issues are the lack of brightness control as mentioned earlier, and the external display port will not work. Other than that, though, everything works perfectly!

I have a video showing the mod in detail here.

View attachment 777910

Hello,

Just a little post to testify that the solution of Collin (dosdude1) works perfectly.

I'm the manager of a little repair shop in france (we are an authorised Apple premium service provider), and a colleague and I at my office were struggling for years with defectives AMD GPUs on 15" and 17" MacBook Pro. We are well equipped (we own a LY G720 BGA reball station), and we tried everything including resoldering new GPU with lead-tin balls...
But all AMD GPU simply end by failing, and no reliable source of new, reliable chips exist.

Fact is that a year ago we had the same idea of bypassing the GMUX and we did already experimented it, but we didn't have a solution for the backlight control.

I can testify that the "dyinglight" backlight controller that dosdude1 has provided us really the definite solution to repair those machines.
We already purchased and installed more than 20 dyinglight modules and so have repaired the exact same numbers of 2011 MacBook Pros, and made 20 happy customers (and counting...)

I can't say how thankfull I am of this solution, which make those great computers have a second run and work again reliably.
Only thing is the lack of external video output : a solution exists with DisplayLink USB to vga or DVI modules (but accelerated drivers don't work with late versions of HighSierra...)

gilles

 

[erebos007]

Hello,

Just a little post to testify that the solution of Collin (dosdude1) works perfectly.
[...]
gilles

Hi Gilles,
I'm french too. I answer in english so everybody will be able to understand.
Did you order the Dyinglight modules from ebay or somewhere else ? I'm asking you because shipping costs are more than 30$ there (thus doubling the cost of the module when you need only one like myself).

 

[Matty_TypeR]

I have only just updated my MacBook Pro late 2011 with AMD 6770 to high Sierra and so far since 2011 it has never failed me with any issues. I have changed the battery twice and installed 16g of ram but its never shown any signs of video failure yet. Fingers crossed it doesn't, but good to know there is a work around if it ever happens.

nice work dosdude1

 

[ChevyNovaLN]

DosDude you're amazing. I've had a couple dead 2011 MacBook Pro's that i 'fixed' for a few weeks each by doing the hairdryer/heatgun trick on the GPU and reassembling.. and i've just let them sit once they failed for the 3rd time each. They were extras given to me by someone since they were dead anyway and i'm now again looking forward to having another option to resurrect them. I wish i knew the first thing about programming chips or i'd spend a little money and try to investigate doing a new firmware for the gMux chip. I'm primarily a windows guy with Powershell, VBscript, little bit of Python and PHP background and never got into hardware/firmware programming (wish i had haha).

Anyway, your idea/plan for the MuxHat is brilliant. Thought i'd check and see how you were progressing with that. Keep up the absolutely excellent work!!

Brian

 

[mrbbp]

Very cool mod, dude
BTW, there is no need to delete the AMD kexts if you remove the R8911

Are you sure about that?
Did you remove it?
Where is it on the board?

regards

 

[TLSonLSD]

I have a 17" late 2011 macbook pro 8,3. I saw some have done this to a 17", is there an updated wiring diagram? I identified the gMux chip, but the positions of solder points look slightly different.

 

[WayneH1]

I'm confused. My second discrete AMD graphics card recently failed. (Apple replaced the first one under their extended warranty.) I ran across the excellent software solution and, after jumping through a number of hoops, was able to get it all working nicely. By nicely I mean I had control of screen brightness and no sleep/wake issue when closing the MacBook. The only perceptible loss was the inability to attach an external monitor.

The confusing part is that this all happened under High Sierra 10.13.6. Today I'm having trouble with brightness control (it's gone), the MacBook doesn't sleep when the cover is closed, and is not waking from sleep properly after it's been put to sleep manually. From reading this thread I get the impression that brightness control should have never worked for me, and yet it did.

I 'solved' this once before by using a Time Machine backup of my Extensions folder but that doesn't seem to be working for me any more.

I could probably get used to full brightness if there's no other option but I'd like to get sleep functionality back.

Any ideas or advice?

 

[dosdude1]

I'm confused. My second discrete AMD graphics card recently failed. (Apple replaced the first one under their extended warranty.) I ran across the excellent software solution and, after jumping through a number of hoops, was able to get it all working nicely. By nicely I mean I had control of screen brightness and no sleep/wake issue when closing the MacBook. The only perceptible loss was the inability to attach an external monitor.

The confusing part is that this all happened under High Sierra 10.13.6. Today I'm having trouble with brightness control (it's gone), the MacBook doesn't sleep when the cover is closed, and is not waking from sleep properly after it's been put to sleep manually. From reading this thread I get the impression that brightness control should have never worked for me, and yet it did.

I 'solved' this once before by using a Time Machine backup of my Extensions folder but that doesn't seem to be working for me any more.

I could probably get used to full brightness if there's no other option but I'd like to get sleep functionality back.

Any ideas or advice?

Those are all known issues with the software modification under macOS 10.13 and later. The only thing you can do is downgrade to an earlier version of macOS, or perform the hardware modification detailed in the OP of this thread.

 

[Dave111]

Those are all known issues with the software modification under macOS 10.13 and later. The only thing you can do is downgrade to an earlier version of macOS, or perform the hardware modification detailed in the OP of this thread.

Does the hardware modification encounter the same problem as the MuxHat in terms of LCD distortion for certain models? or is the hardware mod thru wiring 100% bulletproof and ALL displays work properly? Just trying to figure out which method to choose. Thanks.

 

[dosdude1]

Does the hardware modification encounter the same problem as the MuxHat in terms of LCD distortion for certain models? or is the hardware mod thru wiring 100% bulletproof and ALL displays work properly? Just trying to figure out which method to choose. Thanks.

We did experience one instance of this happening with MuxHat, but it was only with this one particular LCD. I tried multiple LCDs (4 others), and all those worked just fine. So, compatibility isn't 100% confirmed, but the chances of you having an issue are extremely small. Worst case, you just disable it using bodge wires as explained in the OP of this thread, which I haven't had any issues with, even with the problematic LCD.

 

[Dave111]

We did experience one instance of this happening with MuxHat, but it was only with this one particular LCD. I tried multiple LCDs (4 others), and all those worked just fine. So, compatibility isn't 100% confirmed, but the chances of you having an issue are extremely small. Worst case, you just disable it using bodge wires as explained in the OP of this thread, which I haven't had any issues with, even with the problematic LCD.

So if I understand correctly, the MuxHat works most of the time but using strictly the OP method (bodge wires) works EVERY time? In other words, even if the MuxHat happens to be incompatible you can always fall back on the original method and be reassured it’ll work?

 

[dosdude1]

So if I understand correctly, the MuxHat works most of the time but using strictly the OP method (bodge wires) works EVERY time? In other words, even if the MuxHat happens to be incompatible you can always fall back on the original method and be reassured it’ll work?

Yes, that's correct.

 

[WayneH1]

Those are all known issues with the software modification under macOS 10.13 and later. The only thing you can do is downgrade to an earlier version of macOS, or perform the hardware modification detailed in the OP of this thread.

I understand that is the 'official' answer, but I'm frustrated that I had full function just days ago - with High Sierra, after disabling the AMD - and now I don't. There has to be an explanation and a software fix that would return to that, but of course no one knows that fix.

 

[Dave111]

Yes, that's correct.

@dosdude1 Great, that is awesome news! Thanks you so much!