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I have a 2011 MBP, 2.2 GHz, 8 GB, AMD 6750M, 512GB SSD that I installed myself. No AppleCare. Recently, I have had these weird glitches showing up shortly after I connect an external screen: image1 image2 What makes me think that this is a GPU related issue is that it can be forced without any screen attached if I untick the automatic graphics option in macOS (OS X):
Link to Movie (currently broken)
If I leave it on, it works for a while and then glitches. There have been times where the screen just goes black or some blueish pattern, after which I'm forced to shut it down and restart. It's less noticeable on Windows though, but still annoying since I primarily use macOS. I have tried resetting the SMC and PRAM and I recently reinstalled macOS. This is not acceptable, repairing a two year old laptop by replacing the logic board will be expensive. I will call the Apple Support on Monday. Any advice?

James Risner
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pg-robban
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  • Just out of interest, what GPU do you have. – Ruskes Apr 14 '13 at 10:15
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    It sounds like you have a cable connection issue (after installing the SSD, so check for that. – Ruskes Apr 14 '13 at 10:22
  • @Buscar웃: HD3000/6750M. I can try taking it to the store tomorrow and make sure the cable is connected properly, but it has worked for a couple of months before this started to happen. – pg-robban Apr 14 '13 at 13:07
  • Serious question: why would anybody not buy AppleCare for a new and expensive machine? Good luck, and let us know. – Zo219 Apr 14 '13 at 20:56
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    @Zo219 Probably because you expect a $2000+ notebook to work properly. At least that was my reasoning for not buying it. – marijnvdwerf Aug 02 '13 at 21:01
  • The same as my reasoning for buying it. Expensive to fix, and laptops get thrown arond alot. Old days, for a Powerbook I didn't. Lot of independents who would repair. I wouldn't buy a Porsche without some kind of warranty, either. – Zo219 Aug 08 '13 at 22:34

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Since people are still commenting on this, I will post what happened as my answer: I took the MBP to a different store where they concluded that it was a faulty HDD cable since I had installed the SSD myself and they assumed it got some kind of shock for me not wearing an ESD bracelet. (Although as far as I can remember, the friend of mine who installed the SSD for me did indeed wear the bracelet, however I probably didn't use it when I installed RAM 1,5 years ago)

It seemed to work fine for a while but after that, the glitches started to reappear, and it became so bad that the MBP couldn't boot into OS X or Windows (stuck on grey screen with glitchy stripes).

Once again, I took it to the shop, they concluded that it was a faulty logic board, which would cost me a fortune to replace. However, thanks to EU consumer laws, I have the right of up to 3 years warranty if I could prove that it's the manufacturer's fault. So they let me fill in a form and send it in along with my receipt. By the beginning of July, Apple finally approved to replace the logic board for free. For now, the MBP is working properly again.

pg-robban
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    It looks like there are problems with 2011 MBPs and a lot of them fail after about 2 years of use, due to a problem with the GPU, see http://www.mbp2011.com/ – xpereta Nov 12 '13 at 11:56
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    Apple seriously needs to do something about this. My logic board has been replaced twice, the second within 3 months after the first replacement, and I saw the 70+ pages forum threads. On the plus side, the EU law thing says that I can ask for my money back or a replacement product if it has been repaired 3 times with the same defect. So here's to hope for a new 2013 rMBP :) – pg-robban Nov 13 '13 at 17:36
  • How is your MBP holding up? Many users report that the logic board replacement is not a permanent solution and they have to keep replacing it.Mine failed a couple of weeks ago. – xpereta Dec 02 '14 at 12:15
  • Knock on wood, the second replacement has been working now for over a year. I'm planning to get a new one as soon as they are released and sell this one before it too dies, unless Apple officially acknowledges the problem. – pg-robban Dec 02 '14 at 15:47
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Having just gone through something like this just yesterday, I'll suggest, nay, I'll bet even money that it's the faulty GPU that was noted above. I found my resolution here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/force-2011-macbook-pro-8-2-with-failed-amd-gpu-to-always-use-intel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/

Whitepants
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