Failing MBP?

munge

munge

munge

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Always on the M1.....
Late 2011 15” MBP, replaced RAM and HDD with SSD and was always working fine.

Just installed High Sierra via thumb drive, which went fine. Was able to use it for a few days before things went wrong. But now when I try and boot, it gets stuck in boot up at mid way along the progress bar then reboots. Continuously.

Can’t get into safe mode, it just freezes on a grey screen no matter how long I leave it, loading via installer on thumb drive does same thing and doesn’t give me option to reinstall. Recovery mode freezes with a grey screen.

Single user mode and fsck shows no problems as does the hardware test from start up. Below is the screen shot from fsck running in single user mode for what it’s worth:



No idea how to show any earlier in the screen.

I have absolutely no idea why my MBP is not working. It doesn’t seem to be a hardware problem from what I can see, but don’t understand why I can’t boot from thumb drive.

Does anybody have any suggestions please? Have Genius Bar appt tomorrow but need it for work. Everything backed up so no issues with wiping SSD and fresh installing everything.

Thanks in advance.
 
Yes, that’s what I meant by hardware test from start up unless there’s another test. I’ve googled the danglies off this and tried everything I can do, feel out of options.

Not sure what Apple can do that I haven’t.
 
Have you tried a single stick of RAM, the old RAM, the old HDD etc?

Wasn't that era MBP susceptible to a SATA cable failure of some sort?
 
Haven’t got the old HDD anywhere, haven’t tried one stick of ram, but hardware tests are fine. Would the Apple Hardware Diagnostics not pick up a RAM issue?

And think he SATA issue was with the 13 inch version?
 
Oh well, was hoping for a eureka moment for somebody that would save me the effort of going to the Apple Store tomorrow.

What with there being a week wait to get an appt and having stuff to do at work, it’s all been a bit of a pita to be honest!
 
So quick update, turns out the graphics card has failed, so effectively the logic board has failed.

Looking online, it seems this was a common fault in this era of Mac and Apple did a repair program.... which true to form stopped a few months ago....

Second hand replacement logic boards are upwards of £400, before installation, so it’s not economical to repair. Apple won’t even entertain repairing it as it is obsolete. Which is bloody annoying.

So need to buy a new laptop. Very frustrating this is a known problem that I didn’t know about until it fails. Something Apple seem to have a bit of a track record of.

Aaarrgghhhh!
 
Is it insured?

Of course Apple will stop supporting older models, you can't expect their engineers to be trained in obsolete equipment? There has to be a cut off.
 
On household insurance.

I don’t expect Apple to be able to repair everything for ever, just peeves me a little when there’s a known problem with a repair plan that the customer is unaware of until something breaks just after that period expires. Feels a little underhand.

If it was a failed HDD for example with moving parts that failed after a few years, then that would be more tolerable. Seems different when the problem is something that is all over the internet once you start looking.

Am going to give Apple a bell and see if they will offer me anything off a new one but don’t hold much hope. At least now am employed by a uni so that’s something, but not cheap to replace.
 
Wasn’t aware household insurance would cover this sort of thing? Or do I foresee an accident in my future...?
 
munge said:
So quick update, turns out the graphics card has failed, so effectively the logic board has failed.
Looking online, it seems this was a common fault in this era of Mac and Apple did a repair program.... which true to form stopped a few months ago....
Click to expand...

Could you provide a link to this? Been handed a Macbook Pro with the same sympoms.
 
This is one of the sites I saw that talks about it and this is the official Apple page.

Disappointingly, they have reduced the coverage to exclude my MBP, hopefully yours might be covered. Be aware though, that there are limits even then to the age of the MBP and time from purchase.
 
munge said:
I don’t expect Apple to be able to repair everything for ever, just peeves me a little when there’s a known problem with a repair plan that the customer is unaware of until something breaks just after that period expires. Feels a little underhand.
Click to expand...

If you live near an Apple store, take it in. You might still be able to get it repaired under the scheme.
 
Tunney said:
If you live near an Apple store, take it in. You might still be able to get it repaired under the scheme.
Click to expand...
Went in yesterday and the guy said, with genuine Apple sincerity, that they couldn't do anything about my laptop. I would have to buy a new one.

Spoke to independent repairer who said they now weren't repairing them either. He knew of people who would resolder the GPU but was expensive and arguably not worth the cost...
 
It's this exact problem that means I'm typing from a surface pro 4 rather than my Early '13 rMBP. It had been crap for a long time, partly my own fault because I'm not stuck in the Apple ecosystem. Without going into the software, the hardware was always terrible, I had huge image retention, fan speed, temperature and lag issues. I don't know if Apple make customers aware of this kind of thing but since I used a reseller I had no idea. By the time I read about it this year, there were so many stories of people going through 1-5 replacements, I couldn't be bothered.
 
joey1211 said:
Any Apple users know if this is of any use

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ntel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/
Click to expand...

Isn't the internet great? There are some incredibly clever and determined people out there, just a shame that Apple couldn't put this knowledge to good use and save these people the effort they need. Although that would clearly reduce the amount of money Apple would make from people having to buy new machines....

I'll try and give it a go at the weekend and see what happens. Will banjax any gaming but at least I can access my documents properly.
 
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