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macbook-pro-2011-defective-gpu-fix-v2.md

Works for macOS Sierra and High Sierra (Improved version)

Taken from StackExchange

Thanks to LangLangC

For temperature and other improvements see https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d16e7743e6f056fedbebc329333d79df

This method leaves brightness control enabled

Reset SMC

Shutdown, unplug everything except power and hold

leftShift + Ctrl + Option + Power

I holded for 5 seconds, but holding just for an instant should work

Reset NVRAM: Power up and hold

Command + Option + p + r

Until you hear the startup chime two times.

Shutdown computer

Power up and boot into Single User Recovery by holding

if you are on high sierra 10.13.6+ you might need to use Command + r instead

Command + r + s

Disable SIP (This takes a bit to complete so wait for it)

csrutil disable

Disable Discrete GPU on boot by running

nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

Enable verbose boot mode (This will show text everytime you boot up, shutdown or restart your mac)

nvram boot-args="-v"

Reboot

reboot

Boot into Single User-mode by holding

Command + s

It might look as if it hanged, but press enter and you should see the shell (root#)

Mount root partition writeable

/sbin/mount -uw /

Make a kext-backup directory

mkdir -p /System/Library/Extensions-off

Move ONLY ONE offending kext out of the way

mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonX3000.kext  /System/Library/Extensions-off/

Inform the system to update its kextcache:

touch /System/Library/Extensions/

Reboot

reboot

It will show a bunch of text in the screen (don't be alarmed, let it finish) and then it will restart again In second restart it will show text in the screen again and then it will show normal login screen Your computer now should work properly (dGPU off and iGPU on, shown as i in gfxCardStatus

BIG CAVEAT FOR APPLE UPDATES

If an update that contains changes to the AMD drivers is about to take place it is advisable to move back the AMDRadeonX3000.kext to its default location before the update process. Otherwise the updater writes at least another kext of a different version to its default location or at worst you end up with an undefined state of partially non-matching drivers.

After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra.

@mnemos2000
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mnemos2000 commented Sep 25, 2022 via email

@wulfhunter
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wulfhunter commented Sep 25, 2022 •
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Hopefully battery is now charging?On the network install .. couple of silly questions?Booting from ROM image loader is at least starting and signs of successful network access are apparent?Do you have another (older) disk to try just to be 100% sure new disk is not defective or somehow incompatible?On Sep 24, 2022, at 22:42, wulfhunter @.> @. commented on this gist. Alright so I've got MBP 2011 15". The original HDD has died on me and now using a b/new SSD, installed a new battery as well. On boot up i'm getting a screen with a question mark in a folder. Trie
P_20220925_160657
P_20220925_160706
d the internet recovery method, bar progresses to 100% then just a white blank screen. Seems like I can reset SMC but not NVRAM. Any help on what I can do? —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>

Thanks mate, not sure what ROM image loader is, but attaching pics of the process. Checked a HDD and a uSB both not detecting. Battery is a b/new one fully functional. After the bar progresses to 100% its just a white screen.

@wulfhunter
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wulfhunter commented Sep 25, 2022 •
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Hi there! Your system may need an EFI update to boot from APFS file system. Please boot up with your former macOS Plus file system drive and install the EFI Bootrom update that you can download here:https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/QmZ5KmpG4SeHF8gWrHmoLcG9a3BNAcWWQoERg4q2J1kuQL/OfficialAPFSFWUpdate.zipOtherwise, format the SSD and continue using macOS Plus file system so your Mac will be able to boot. Once you install all High Sierra updates, the EFI bootrom should be updated automatically if your battery is charged and the charger connected: the Mac will reproduce a long beep and show a gross loading bar. I hope that this helps and best regards from Spain, Alberto M. Da Silva Pereira remac.es Enviado de Samsung Mobile -------- Mensaje original --------De: wulfhunter @.> Fecha: 25/9/22 11:00 (GMT+01:00) Para: cdleon @.> Cc: mnemos2000 @.>, Mention @.> Asunto: Re: cdleon/macbook-pro-2011-defective-gpu-fix-v2.md @wulfhunter commented on this gist. Any help on what I can do? restore disk from Time machine copy, or install MacOS on another MBP, or boot from CD/dvd or external HDD and install system to new SSD Thank for the reply. I don't have access to no 1 and 2. Tried booting from USB or hdd recovery (via option on startup) doesn't recognize the drives. —Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe.You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>

Downloaded the update from Apple Support, your link seems to be broken? Installed the previous HDD. Screen with EFI Boot comes up after pressing Option during boot, nothing else. I press on EFI boot then a black screen with some text and blooms to white. See below images please.
PXL_20220925_121353863
PXL_20220925_121537249

@atrens
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atrens commented Oct 11, 2022 via email

@tronnyjenkins
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tronnyjenkins commented Oct 11, 2022 via email

@atrens
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atrens commented Oct 11, 2022 via email

@DesBw
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DesBw commented Oct 22, 2022

External Display (monitor) is working for me. I don't know if there is a way to make the Intel Graphics to use more Ram to support external monitors.

@mnemos2000
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mnemos2000 commented Oct 22, 2022 via email

@luisfromspain
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Wow. I did the heat gun trick and it came on. I’m surprised since I baked it before that the trick worked again. I’m on the 15” model. So, I have it on Catalina now, would it be recommended to go to Big Sur or Monterey or do the discrete disable process again and stick with Catalina? On Apr 19, 2022, at 11:21 PM, fromage9747 @.> wrote: @. commented on this gist.
…

Wow. I did the heat gun trick and it came on. I’m surprised since I baked it before that the trick worked again. I’m on the 15” model. So, I have it on Catalina now, would it be recommended to go to Big Sur or Monterey or do the discrete disable process again and stick with Catalina? On Apr 19, 2022, at 11:21 PM, fromage9747 @.> wrote: @. commented on this gist.
…

How did you change to Catalina?
Did you need Patch?
May you help me ?

@garytrueblue
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Hi, I may have just had a bad battery??? but to test this assumption, If I wanted to reverse the process outlined in the first post (re-enable discrete graphics) would I do the following :

  1. move radeonx3000 kext back to extensions folder
  2. enable SIP
  3. Reset SMC
  4. Reset NVRAM (does this reenable discrete graphics card)

(if not completely correct, your corrections would be much appreciated...)
Thank you...

@luisfromspain
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Recomiendo a todos este enlace para solucionar problemas:
https://dosdude1.com/mojave/

@Presquezen
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Hello. After the ultimate reboot, it starts again, shows text again, starts again, shows text again, starts again non stop. Never reaching a point when it Opens up the page of my session. Could you help?

@Presquezen
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Hello
Finaly I found myself able to open up my session. Thanks a lot for your contribution. But I can't connect any external hard drive and I can't tune the volume or the size of an image in iPhoto or the volume in iTunes. No tuning seems to work.
Some of you might be interested to know that I managed to install Snow Leopard that offers the possibility of using plenty of applications that don't work anymore on those MacBook Pros. For that, I used a Mac book pro of before 2011 that accepts Snow leopard and installed it on this faster laptop of 2011. But now I can't reinstall Snow Leopard because the connection doesn't work any more.
Any suggestion will be really appreciated

@luisfromspain
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luisfromspain commented Jul 7, 2023 via email

@PAFEROL
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PAFEROL commented Aug 7, 2023 •
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Another user SATISFIED with this thread and with the GREAT @cdleon and @artkirienko.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for this HUGE contribution and for saving our "old" MacBook Pro (early 2011 in my case, 17'').
In my case, it runs on MBP MacOS Yosemite 10.10.5 (latest version)

Some commands from the great @cdleon worked fine, but the second time the steps from @artkirienko worked fine.
After passing all the commands, it FINALLY booted the MBP with no problems and no black, gray screens or hangs. ALL WELL!!!! amazing!!!!!

Just now I upgraded the Hardware (16 Gb RAM, 1 Tb SSD and put the 750 Gb HDD in the DVD bay. I mounted the DVD in an external USB SATA box.

Already transferring all the data from the HDD to the SSD. 1 hour to go and everything seems to be running fine, 1 hour to go.... (fingers crossed)

Just to say that I signed up on GitHub to say thanks here to these two characters who shared their wisdom with ordinary users, GREAT!!!!

(If you come to Spain, let me know that the beers are on me!!!) ;D

@smabe2021
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smabe2021 commented Aug 8, 2023 via email

@PAFEROL
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PAFEROL commented Aug 8, 2023

Good to hear all these positive reactions. But can you tell me which steps you used from @artkirienko. Maybe my MBP (early 2011 ) will run better and more stable thenThksBenVerstuurd vanaf mijn iPhoneOp 7 aug. 2023 om 18:59 heeft PAFEROL

Yes, of course and glad to help @smabe2021

If you load the whole reply thread, in 2019 @artkirienko (1st comment in the thread) transcribed step by step how he did it. I followed step by step exactly the same.
(If you compare, they are practically the same commands that the author of the post @cdleon transcribed in another order).
In case it helps you and if you read carefully (I recommend it if you are not familiar with UNIX commands and the terminal app as I am) they have done it from MacOS High Sierra (10.13.6 latest version) and I think the commands differ in some things, so for example, I had to use cmd+s+r (point 1 of @artkirienko) to boot in Single User Recovery mode as @cdleon said.
Another important thing, My MBP 17 was plugged to internet router with RJ45 cable, because when booting in recovery mode you need stable internet connection.

Finally, when you reboot in @artkirienko's process (point 4) and boot in recovery mode (point 5) keep pressing until you see the white text on black screen (verbose mode) and make sure you don't start to see a lot of "r" letters together... release the cmd+r keys !!!! DO NOT WAIT TO SEE the recovery mode screen with OSX reinstallation, utility disk... to release them.
Once you are there, you HAVE TO OPEN THE TERMINAL APPLICATION (utilities menu) to enter the following commands (points 6, 7, 8 and 9)
I hope I helped you!

@PAFEROL
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PAFEROL commented Aug 8, 2023

Good to hear all these positive reactions. But can you tell me which steps you used from @artkirienko. Maybe my MBP (early 2011 ) will run better and more stable thenThksBenVerstuurd vanaf mijn iPhoneOp 7 aug. 2023 om 18:59 heeft PAFEROL

I forgot to tell you something important, sorry.

These steps are important for all those people who have an older MacBook Pro that is no longer repairable and have a bad GPU beyond repair.
Because what these steps do is to BYPASS the AMD Radeon graphics card on the motherboard and use only the Intel graphics card that I think is embedded in the CPU and thus thus not boot failed again and again because the graphics card or AMD Radeon GPU soldered on the board does not work, fails and makes the computer hang without being able to start it.

It is important to be clear about this

Regards to all

P.S.: I have read that some people have completely disassembled the motherboard and put it 8 minutes in the oven of their kitchen at 185º C "thinking" that this way the thermal paste of the Radeon Chip is "cooked" again... Seeing is believing and I don't dare to fry the whole motherboard and be without a computer forever. Too much risk and foolishness, don't you think?

@Ale337-s
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Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it.
After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed.
"After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."

Can anyone help me on this?
Thanks in advance

@mnemos2000
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mnemos2000 commented Feb 12, 2024 via email

@luisfromspain
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Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."

Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."

Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."

Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."

Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."

Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."

Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Escribo en español y traduzco después al Inglés:
Me ocurrió lo mismo. Es necesario saber que, a priori, no se puede instalar un OS superior a High Sierra 10.13.6.
La solución era introducir, a través del teclado, el comando para deshabilitar el chip gráfico pero sin ver nada en pantalla. El comando es el siguiente (una sola línea):

nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

Pero al principio no funcionaba. Tardé en darme cuenta que mi teclado es español y tras reiniciar los caracteres del teclado no corresponden con los caracteres del sistema. Así que con una tabla de correspondencia en un papel introduje el comando considerando sustituir los caracteres -, =, :, ", /, \ y + por las siguientes equivalencias:

  •     (?’)         pulsar una sola tecla sin el shift

= (¿¡) pulsar una sola tecla sin el shift =
: Ñ
“ ¨
/ - es decir para sacar la inclinada de encima del siete pulsamos el - a la izqda de shift-dcho
\ ç es decir la barra raíz de alt+º se consigue con la cedilla ç

  •     ¿            es decir el signo mas se saca con shift+¿

y de este modo funcionó.

Actualmente tengo instalados dos SSD:
Uno con High Sierra 10.13.6. Su problema es que no controlo el brillo y si se cae en suspensión pierdo la pantalla con lo que tengo que apagar con el botón I/0 y reiniciar el sistema.
Otro con Catalina mediante la instalación del macOS Catalina Patcher descargado desde https://dosdude1.com/catalina/ Tengo control de brillo y si cae en suspensión no se cuelga. Por contra, el Patcher no es compatible con Chrome por su bajo nivel de seguridad pues tiene el CSRUTIL deshabitado....por lo que debo navegar con Firefox...

Todo esto después de haber leído las dos páginas:
https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d1eff7246a25193304284ecec40445b0
y
https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d16e7743e6f056fedbebc329333d79df
Espero que te sea de ayuda

====================

I write in Spanish and then translate into English:
The same thing happened to me. It is necessary to know that, a priori, you cannot install an OS higher than High Sierra 10.13.6.
The solution was to enter, through the keyboard, the command to disable the graphics chip but without seeing anything on the display screen. The command is as follows (single line):

nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

But at first it didn't work. It took me a while to realize that my keyboard is Spanish and after restarting the keyboard characters do not correspond to the system characters. So with a correspondence table on a paper I entered the command considering replacing the characters -, =, :, ", /, \ and + with the following equivalences:

  •   (?’)       press a single key without shift

= (¿¡) press a single key without the shift =
: Ñ
“ ¨
/ - to obtain the slope above the seven, press the - to the left of shift-right
\ ç to obtain, the root bar of alt+º is achieved with the cedilla ç

  •  ¿          shift+¿

and this way it worked.

I currently have two SSDs installed:
One with High Sierra 10.13.6. Its problem is that I don't control the brightness and if it goes to sleep I lose the screen so I have to turn it off with the I/0 button and restart the system.
Another with Catalina by installing the macOS Catalina Patcher downloaded from https://dosdude1.com/catalina/
I have brightness control and if it goes to sleep it doesn't hang. On the other hand, the Patcher is not compatible with Chrome due to its low level of security since it has the CSRUTIL disabled...so I have to navigate with Firefox...

All this after having read the two pages:
https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d1eff7246a25193304284ecec40445b0
and
https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d16e7743e6f056fedbebc329333d79df

I hope this helps you

@Ale337-s
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Ale337-s commented Feb 12, 2024 •
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**mnemos2000 ** commented Feb 12, 2024 via email

Dear Mnemos2000,
Thank you so much for your reply and advice.

Actually, as you suggested, I did proceed from " Boot into Single User-mode by holding", but it still remains hanging in the boot loop and never going into the system.
To be precise: I get to the last reboot and it does exactly as it is described here:
"It will show a bunch of text in the screen (don't be alarmed, let it finish) and then it will restart again In second restart it will show text in the screen again and then it will show normal login screen Your computer now should work properly"

Only that, in this case, when it comes to the second restart, it then shows the progress bar with the apple, the bar remains completely empty, then at one stage the screen goes black and the computer restarts with the chime, again by showing all the bunch of text and going to the apple-boot bar not charging, and then goes black again, and so on. It enters a neverending reboot loop...

Might there be any other possible commands in this case...?
Reinstalling High Sierra is an option and/or possibility that might make it work again?
The system is still 10.13.6, I think the automatic update that was done was a security thing.
I have no idea what to do to get out of this and I really need to access my computer.
What do you think?

Thanks again. All help is much appreciated.

@Ale337-s
Copy link

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."
Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."
Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."
Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."
Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."
Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Hi everyone. I had successfully gone through these steps for the disabling of the defective card and everything was fine until yesterday I gave in to one of those insisting messages for updates from Apple, without realizing the consequences it could bring. Now my computer is no longer getting past the boot. I ran all the commands again but the fix seems to not be working anymore. The computer enters a boot hang loop and I can't find the way to work around it. After trying to understand what it could be, I stumbled upon this, which is clearly my case, but have no idea on how to proceed. "After any system update the folder /System/Library/Extensions has to be checked for the offending kext. Its presence there will lead to e.g. a boot hang on Yosemite and Sierra, an overheating boot-loop in High Sierra."
Can anyone help me on this? Thanks in advance

Escribo en español y traduzco después al Inglés: Me ocurrió lo mismo. Es necesario saber que, a priori, no se puede instalar un OS superior a High Sierra 10.13.6. La solución era introducir, a través del teclado, el comando para deshabilitar el chip gráfico pero sin ver nada en pantalla. El comando es el siguiente (una sola línea):

nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

Pero al principio no funcionaba. Tardé en darme cuenta que mi teclado es español y tras reiniciar los caracteres del teclado no corresponden con los caracteres del sistema. Así que con una tabla de correspondencia en un papel introduje el comando considerando sustituir los caracteres -, =, :, ", /, \ y + por las siguientes equivalencias:

  •     (?’)         pulsar una sola tecla sin el shift

= (¿¡) pulsar una sola tecla sin el shift = : Ñ “ ¨ / - es decir para sacar la inclinada de encima del siete pulsamos el - a la izqda de shift-dcho \ ç es decir la barra raíz de alt+º se consigue con la cedilla ç

  •     ¿            es decir el signo mas se saca con shift+¿

y de este modo funcionó.

Actualmente tengo instalados dos SSD: Uno con High Sierra 10.13.6. Su problema es que no controlo el brillo y si se cae en suspensión pierdo la pantalla con lo que tengo que apagar con el botón I/0 y reiniciar el sistema. Otro con Catalina mediante la instalación del macOS Catalina Patcher descargado desde https://dosdude1.com/catalina/ Tengo control de brillo y si cae en suspensión no se cuelga. Por contra, el Patcher no es compatible con Chrome por su bajo nivel de seguridad pues tiene el CSRUTIL deshabitado....por lo que debo navegar con Firefox...

Todo esto después de haber leído las dos páginas: https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d1eff7246a25193304284ecec40445b0 y https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d16e7743e6f056fedbebc329333d79df Espero que te sea de ayuda

====================

I write in Spanish and then translate into English: The same thing happened to me. It is necessary to know that, a priori, you cannot install an OS higher than High Sierra 10.13.6. The solution was to enter, through the keyboard, the command to disable the graphics chip but without seeing anything on the display screen. The command is as follows (single line):

nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

But at first it didn't work. It took me a while to realize that my keyboard is Spanish and after restarting the keyboard characters do not correspond to the system characters. So with a correspondence table on a paper I entered the command considering replacing the characters -, =, :, ", /, \ and + with the following equivalences:

  •   (?’)       press a single key without shift

= (¿¡) press a single key without the shift = : Ñ “ ¨ / - to obtain the slope above the seven, press the - to the left of shift-right \ ç to obtain, the root bar of alt+º is achieved with the cedilla ç

  •  ¿          shift+¿

and this way it worked.

I currently have two SSDs installed: One with High Sierra 10.13.6. Its problem is that I don't control the brightness and if it goes to sleep I lose the screen so I have to turn it off with the I/0 button and restart the system. Another with Catalina by installing the macOS Catalina Patcher downloaded from https://dosdude1.com/catalina/ I have brightness control and if it goes to sleep it doesn't hang. On the other hand, the Patcher is not compatible with Chrome due to its low level of security since it has the CSRUTIL disabled...so I have to navigate with Firefox...

All this after having read the two pages: https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d1eff7246a25193304284ecec40445b0 and https://gist.github.com/cdleon/d16e7743e6f056fedbebc329333d79df

I hope this helps you

Dear Luisfromspain,
Thank you for your help.
Actually, if I understood properly, you suggest that I might have a mismatching keyboard regarding the system. But my keyboard is set to English....and the commands seem to respond properly.
I hope I'm not missing something else from your response...
If so, please let me know.

Thank you

@Wealing
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Wealing commented Feb 25, 2024 via email

@Sp-cy
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Sp-cy commented Feb 27, 2024

If any of you are totally unable to boot into Mac-OS, this happened to me at some point and I was left between losing total usability of the laptop or installing Linux, so I installed Pop!_OS at first and then changed to Ubuntu just because it's update cycle is more frequent. I left a very messy log of the process in my blog, I apologize for the adhd mess of the write up, but it works: [How I Installed Ubuntu 23.04 on a Late 2011 Macbook Pro (for the Second Time)](https://www.sp-cy.com/note/how-i-installed-ubuntu-24-04-on-a-late-2011-macbook-pro-for-the-second-time/)

Unlike OS X, everything works fine on Linux, maybe battery life is not as good but the rest might be even better. For me it was just impossible to access Apple servers to reinstall the OS on a completely wiped SSD, so this was my best option. Hope this works for any of you that is left with an unusable laptop due to Apple's neglect.

@fromage9747
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Due to not being able to use Parsec (Metal support), I installed Ubuntu on my MacBook Pro 8,3 and it works beautifully. Highly recommend it! It's a dual boot, so if I want to go into macOS, I still can. I have since moved onto using Sunshine/Moonlight and haven't tested it in macOS as yet.

Of course, you will still need to be able to turn the MacBook on in order to do anything and disable the dGPU. Usually a quick blast of a heat gun over the dGPU will get you going again. Just please remove the motherboard and anything you can before using the heat gun on it, or you can expect some melted plastic! The one time I was lazy and didn't feel like removing the board from the case, and boy do I regret it!

@dannymorson
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If any of you are totally unable to boot into Mac-OS, this happened to me at some point and I was left between losing total usability of the laptop or installing Linux, so I installed Pop!_OS at first and then changed to Ubuntu just because it's update cycle is more frequent. I left a very messy log of the process in my blog, I apologize for the adhd mess of the write up, but it works: www.macbook-repair-dubai.ae
Unlike OS X, everything works fine on Linux, maybe battery life is not as good but the rest might be even better. For me it was just impossible to access Apple servers to reinstall the OS on a completely wiped SSD, so this was my best option. Hope this works for any of you that is left with an unusable laptop due to Apple's neglect.

Is it helpful?

@fromage9747
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@dannymorson If you are wondering if using Linux is useful, well it is! Whilst Hackintoshing my MacBook to run the latest macOS as well as get it to ignore the GPU, it would still send pulses to the GPU every now and again and would konk out after 6 months and I would have to pull it apart, heat the GPU to get going again.

After loading Linux and disabling the GPU with the Linux method, I haven't had ANY issues. Works great. Updates to Linux go off without a hitch, too.

@MrOlegych
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Hello everyone! I have completed all the steps above. I cannot enter Single Recovery (command + r) - just a gray screen. Standard boot takes about 10 minutes, on the screen (nvram boot-args="-v") many lines appear during this time. And the system will boot and work. I do not know how to do a factory reset or reinstall High Sierra with a non-working GPU. Maybe it is possible to clean the system without reinstalling?

@Oleg-Sentia
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Part 0: R8911 должен быть ещё запаян
Part 1: Делаем сбросы, отключаем SIP, отключаем dGPU

  1. Для того чтобы начать с чистого состояния сбросим SMC:
выключим лаптоп, отключим от него все, кроме питания от сети и нажмём одновременно 

    leftShift+Ctrl+Alt+Power 

    и отпустим их одновременно; возможно несколько раз
  2. Потом нажмём одновременно и сбросим NVRAM:
    Cmd+Alt+p+r 

    пока не услышим звук включающегося компьютера два раза.
  3. Загрузимся в Single User Recovery mode удерживая

    Cmd+r+s
  4. Отключим SIP (System Integrity Protection):

crutil disable

4.1. разрешим раздел для записи и чтения
…
/sbin/fsck -fy
mount -uw /
chmod 1775 /

  1. Загрузимся в Single-User mode нажав
    cmd+s

вводим
sudo nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00
или
nvram boot-args="agc=0" тогда не надо отключать SIP
nvram boot-args="-v"
или две последние команды объединить
nvram boot-args="-v agc=0"

Добавим
sudo nvram AutoBoot=%00
Чтоб выключить автостарт при открытии крышки или подключения питания
Чтоб вернуть обратно = %03

перегрузимся
reboot

  1. Выключаем MacBook чтоб не затереть EFI переменные
    6.1. Войдём в безопасный режим (клавиша Shift нажата всё время загрузки) при этой перезагрузке, вызванной предыдущей командой.
6.2. Завершим работу с помощью меню Apple Menu> Shut Down.


Part 2: Паяем

7. Отключённый от сети Mac, поставим на не царапающуюся, стационарную поверхность, перевернём его и снимем заднюю крышку.

Установим температуру паяльника в 260°С и установим наконечник потоньше!
Задача удалить резистор R8911 с логической платы и тем самым отключить питание внешней видеокарты.
Прикоснитесь кончиком паяльника к каждой металлической стороне резистора (там, где имеются площадки), чередуя одну сторону и другую примерно на 1-2 секунды каждый, пока резистор не начинает освобождаться от логической платы. Как только это произойдет (примерно через 15 секунд), положите наконечник на сторону резистора, обращенную к открытому пространству на логической плате, и нажмите с очень небольшим усилием вверх (от логической платы).
Не забудем проверить что между двумя площадками нет паяного соединения.

  1. Когда резистор удален, для MacOS High Sierra требуется дополнительная программная и аппаратная модификация: 
Без неё экран не включится после засыпания, останется темным.
    Для предыдущих OS (El Capitan, Sierra) модификация не требуется.
Для выполнения модификации нужно просто запаять небольшую перемычку

Есть два способа, используем любой из них (но не оба):
a. паяем перемычку между PIN2 из R9704 и PIN1 C9711.
b. паяем перемычку между резистором R9202 и тестовой площадкой

После этого поставим заднюю крышку
И менее чем через 40 секунд (если SSD), Mac будет так же хорош, как и когда-либо, без AMD Radeon GPU.

Последнее замечание
После удаления резистора будем внимательны при обновлении ОС (попросту не устанавливаем MacOS выше Sierra) или внесении других существенных изменений (обязательно сохраняйте текущие резервные копии при помощи Time Machine!). Ибо работоспособность загрузочного диска может нарушиться из-за неудачного или ненормального выключения компьютера.
И стараемся не сбрасывать NVRAM, на всякий случай, иначе получим черный экран при загрузке.
Но и если сбросили ничего страшного не произойдёт, паяем резистор обратно, или просто ставим перемычку и повторим процедуру с самого начала.

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