Hello Community,

i got a problem, my Macbook 2011 15 inch 2,2 Ghz 500 Hd 16 Gb Ram just collapsed 2 days ago.
I wont boot, stopping at about 75% at the apple logo screen, then grey screen, sometimes it starts booting again, most of the time it shut down.
After 2 days of net research, i come to the conclusion the only way to fix it is to deactivate the Radeon graphic card (im no techy, in fact i do know nearly nothing about hardware, just lil basic knowledge unfortunately) and use the intern one. As i use the MBP just for Studio One, i hope it will be ok.
Ok, i called Apple support, but they couldnt tell me nothing due to the age of the MB.
I called 2 repair shops, one told me the graphic card has to be changed 280 Euro, the other want to fix the Radeon card thru brazing. He said there was a program with which u could deativate the main graphic card, but it wont work anymore with Sierra. But he didnt sound too much trustworthy.
Unfortunately, if theres a way to fix this horrible issue in a non-invasive way , i may be the wrong guy to do it, so i have to find a pro who can do it.
Plus im a father of 3 , working 9-5 steady, i cant afford a high bill, so my little musical universe is at risk, please help me rescue it! Any help would be alpreciated. Thx in advance, guys!

 

Last edited: Oct 9, 2018

Sorry to hear this, hope you get sorted.
Personally i would hold out for a new graphics card option, maybe FleaBay has one? Hopefully someone on here has a better solution. All the best

Oh... found this, might be of help? Works out at 116 euro
https://www.macupgrades.co.uk/store/product_info.php?products_id=1019

 

I don't understand. No 2011 MBP can take 32 GB RAM.
If it's not booting it could be something as simple as a failing hard-drive or even a failing HD flex cable, which is what connects the drive to the logic board.

If this actually is a MacBook Pro, then the Video Card is soldered to the Logic Board and can't be replaced without replacing the entire board.

Did you try NVRAM and SMC resets? If yes and you've eliminated faulty hard-drive and cable then see this page.

https://realmacmods.com/macbook-2011-radeon-gpu-disable/

 

- did you try booting with the Recovery mode?
Press and hold Command+R until you see the Apple logo. If your Mac doesn't boot from the Recovery HD after Step 2, hold down the Option key while booting to display the built-in Startup Manager.
- did you try booting in safe mode?
Restart the Macintosh. Press and hold the Shift key immediately after you hear the startup tone. Then release the Shift key when the Apple logo appears.
- did you try booting from an external drive?
- maybe from a flash drive with a bootable install?

I have a different mac book pro (mid-2009) but had an issue when installed El Capitan, it went to a loophole when tried to boot it right after the first part of the install. I also needed to reset NVRAM to solve it.

 

Also use Disk Utility to Verify and Repair the disk in case it's software like corrupted directories.

 

self deleted; off topic

 

Last edited: Oct 8, 2018

If it's a hardware issue, this dude is the man. He has a YouTube channel as well.

https://www.rossmanngroup.com/

 

It's a flaw of that particular model... I'm in the same situation, years ago apple repaired it no charge, now is 300 euros here. Excluding the video card is possible... Google for it. But it's useful only for boot and backup.

 

Sorry, its 16 Gb Ram, for sure!

 

As angie said it seems to be a flaw with these models. That link I posted even states, also the "fix" is only a temp one that could possibly last months/years...


There are moderately common issues with the graphics cards in some 2011 revision MacBook Pros - effected models are those which have a dual GPU setup with both and an integrated and dedicated graphics card (so all the 2011 15in and 17in models, but none of the 13in). The dedicated card develops a fault, which can sometimes be worked around by forcing the use of the integrated GPU only, but often ends up with a completely non-functional machine.


How does this help?

The truth is, we are speculating about the underlying problem. We suspect that the solder used in these machines is suffering from problems with whiskers, which are then creating shorts. The reflow causes the whiskers to be re-absorbed, and resolves the problem. But the truth is, we don't know.

We have been offering this service for some time now, and it has a very high success rate in bringing the machine back to life. However it is not a true long-term repair and you should expect the fault to recurr at some point months, or if fortunate years, down the line.

 

For a while I worked for an Authorized Service Provider for Apple called Simply Mac. They have can run diagnostics for you for free without needing an appointment a week in advance. They also have a couple Video System tests, one which takes 5 mins and can be done at the counter and one which takes over an hour and would probably require a diagnostic fee.
The reason I'm saying this is because with a faulty video card you would see graphical glitches and anomalies. If the display looks fine while booting then turns off, I suspect there's another issue entirely.

 

Thx for your concern, and yes this reflow
procedere is what the techguy i contacted wants to do, not sure about it actually.

 

Thank you, you‘re right, maybe its something simple and not the feared insident. Ill have to make this clear, and have a pro diagnose the problem!

 

I tried some stuff , but i cant even boot from a harddrive just because i dont know how to do that, hmh. I know how to use my DAW, and thats pretty it unfortunately

 

I would, but its not booting. Can i reach to DUtil. In single user mode?

 

Thx man, but i live in Germany, and money is an issue.

 

Meaning i can trash the mbp?

 

Damn, im really upset that seems to be no ling term solution for this problem. It took me months to get my digital setup completed
Thx for the info

 

Best news i heard, thx for letting me know its possibly another problem than the gfx card issue

 

PM me I had same 15" 2011 model