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Author Topic: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.  (Read 4447 times)

W.T. Jones

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My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« on: November 26, 2015, 05:12:32 pm »

As the title says my late 2011 15" Macbook pro has quit. It started by the screen going black after it woke up from inactivity. I tried to reboot and the screen apple image was all jagged with lines running across the screen and it would not go past the initial apple logo screen. I let 'er set for a day & tried to reboot again, this time it fired up. I ran it for a while & then it went to sleep. It woke up ran one or two operations and then the screen went blank. rebooted again and the screen image was all jagged, misplaced & jumbled with lines going across the screen then it quit.  The screen appears to be functional it simply will not boot now. I have not tried in a day or more anyway to reboot, but never the less something is wrong.  I am not skilled enough to diagnose much less fix it I know that much.

I am not sure if the hard drive ( I am fairly certain it is a standard disk type)  has expired or something like the graphics adapter or some other component has failed. Where does one take an Apple laptop to be repaired or at least diagnosed? Apple store? I have never been to one, I bought this one online from Apple.

If it can be repaired for a decent price it would be much better than laying out $2200 bucks or more that I don't have for a new one. Any advise on repairs or ideas what could be wrong?

sigh... I really liked that computer, warts & all!

Warren
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Warren

Some Guy

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2015, 06:30:57 pm »

Tough call.

Maybe an Apple store, if you have one nearby, would be first shot.  After that, likely a new one as it is almost 5 years old.

I had an old 6 year old Sager running Windows 7 (originally) that puked a week or two ago.  Paid $4K for it.  Old hardware and the internal modem/Wi-Fi/Lan hardware finally gave up.  No connection to anything worked even being cabled.   Couldn't even deactivate software either.  It went immediately to a "black screen" which means you are toast with Windows.

Maybe 4 years into ownership, the X-rite i1 software told me to "Crank up the brightness."  I couldn't as it was max'ed out already after four years.  I tore into it and replaced the LCD screen with a $120 LG replacement out of LCD Screens in Seattle, Wa (I think?) and got me back the brightness.  But two more years later and the Wi-Fi/Lan pukes and it's a no-go to anywhere.   It's dead.

Time for new Apple gear.  This stuff doesn't seem to make it with a new OS or drivers made for newer stuff and then it runs iffy with older hardware stuff.

Okay.  Even my new wiz-bang $2,500 gaming computer running Windows 10 Home and the latest nVida card pukes too after only one week of ownership.   >:(

SG
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digitaldog

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2015, 07:09:27 pm »

Try rebooting but when you hear the tone, hold down Command-Option-P-R key until you hear the tone again. Keep those keys down two, three cycles. Can't hurt.
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2015, 03:41:57 am »

Where does one take an Apple laptop to be repaired or at least diagnosed? Apple store?

Find a handy Apple store and make an appointment at the amusingly named Genius Bar. It's free. I've found them to be extremely helpful. You can do it all online, as I recall.

Jeremy
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E.J. Peiker

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2015, 12:40:16 pm »

As the title says my late 2011 15" Macbook pro has quit. It started by the screen going black after it woke up from inactivity. I tried to reboot and the screen apple image was all jagged with lines running across the screen and it would not go past the initial apple logo screen. I let 'er set for a day & tried to reboot again, this time it fired up. I ran it for a while & then it went to sleep. It woke up ran one or two operations and then the screen went blank. rebooted again and the screen image was all jagged, misplaced & jumbled with lines going across the screen then it quit.  The screen appears to be functional it simply will not boot now. I have not tried in a day or more anyway to reboot, but never the less something is wrong.  I am not skilled enough to diagnose much less fix it I know that much.

I am not sure if the hard drive ( I am fairly certain it is a standard disk type)  has expired or something like the graphics adapter or some other component has failed. Where does one take an Apple laptop to be repaired or at least diagnosed? Apple store? I have never been to one, I bought this one online from Apple.

If it can be repaired for a decent price it would be much better than laying out $2200 bucks or more that I don't have for a new one. Any advise on repairs or ideas what could be wrong?

sigh... I really liked that computer, warts & all!

Warren

Those are usually signs of a graphics card that is either going bad or overheating.
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tcphoto1

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2015, 01:05:27 pm »

I would make an appointment at a local Apple Store and let them test it. I do remember a recall on some MBP models that experienced graphic card failures, perhaps your model is included. Good luck
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W.T. Jones

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2015, 08:28:27 pm »

Thanks folks, I will try to get down to the Apple Store in Nashua NH, it is quite a hike for me so it might take awhile. I will call & see about an appointment
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Warren

patanegra

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2015, 03:16:06 pm »

Get it fixed for free by Apple. They repaired mine within 2 days.

https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

Good luck!
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W.T. Jones

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #8 on: November 29, 2015, 06:40:44 pm »

Get it fixed for free by Apple. They repaired mine within 2 days.

https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/

Good luck!

Thank you Patanegra, I will call on Monday.
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Warren

Joe Towner

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2015, 01:23:56 pm »

Here's some good documenation on it: http://mbp2011.org/

To test it yourself - and get back up and running with the internal graphics though at a much slower speed, try this:
https://people.cam.cornell.edu/~zc227/extras/early2011mbp_graphics.html#tempfix

It happened to mine, and having the proof made it super easy.  It's fixed for free, and they even replaced the battery and the broken foot pad.
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kers

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2015, 03:42:50 pm »

Those are usually signs of a graphics card that is either going bad or overheating.
+1
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W.T. Jones

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2015, 06:49:10 pm »

A bit of an update, I have an appointment with the local(Manchester NH) Genius Bar Genuises Monday Dec 7 at 1615 hrs. Lets hope they fix 'er up free, that would make my day. :)
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Warren

W.T. Jones

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Re: My Macbook has died, Update
« Reply #12 on: December 08, 2015, 05:43:32 am »

Yesterday afternoon I took the Macbook into see the geniuses and they ran some tests, the video failed. So they are sending it out for repair. El Freebo
Which makes me happy. Thanks to TC & patanegra for first pointing out the extended repair program. I should see it back in a couple days.
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Warren

tcphoto1

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #13 on: December 08, 2015, 09:19:03 am »

Happy to hear that it turned out well. I had a MBP serviced a few years ago and it turned around in 24 hours, three days total with shipping. Apple is good about warranty work, I had a MBP replaced because it took three repairs to not fix the issue, seven years later and the replacement is still going strong.
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Joe Towner

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Re: My Macbook has died, but I am not sure what has gone wrong.
« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2018, 02:04:32 pm »

Old thread, but the return of solder issues has killed my Early 2011 MBP again.  Apple has discontinued their replacement of the boards, so we're on our own now.

I'm most likely going to have it reball'ed which will fix it permanently, but until then, there is a UEFI hack that'll let you force only the Intel graphics: 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/

It beats looking at a funky screen while moving off data.
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