MacBook Pro 2011 blue screen with vertical lines

[Illustratordavid]

Hi

My MacBook Pro 2011 A1286 seems to boot past the Apple icon and progress bar at startup but then the screen goes blue with black vertical strips.

Booting in single user mode seems to say that it can’t read the hard disk but I have created an El Capitian bootable usb installer which has the same issue and have tried a different drive internally.

I ran a full Apple Diagnostic but this didn’t find any issues.

I have previously attempted to disable the AMD graphics card via Linux which was working fine.

Please can someone suggest the cause of this issue?

Thanks

David

 

[CoastalOR]

It sure seems like the AMD Radeon dGPU failure to me.

 

[Trebuin]

Reading that log, it looks like something else. Can you boot into network recovery at all?

 

[patwithamac]

@Illustratordavid
That same symptom appeared on my late 2011 MBP back in 2017 (conveniently two months after the replacement program expired).
I sent the system board in and had the AMD GPU replaced, and it's been working perfectly since then [*1].
The place I sent it to for the GPU replacement doesn't appear to be doing it any longer.


[*1] - My 2011 MBP doesn't see much use now that I've got a new 2018 MBP. But, for the 14 months, or so, that I used it post-GPU repair, I never saw that blue screen with vertical bars again.

 

[ifan.info]

Hi, this helps to me...

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.

 

[tweezyyzeewt]

Hi, this helps to me...

Works for macOS Sierra and High Sierra (Improved version)​

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

This method leaves brightness control enabled​

Reset SMC​

leftShift + Ctrl + Option + Power

Reset NVRAM: Power up and hold​

Command + Option + p + r

Shutdown computer​

Power up and boot into Single User Recovery by holding​

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

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


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.

But how am i supposed to get in to the recovery when i get the blue screen there? When i hit "command + r + s" i get in to the single user mode where you cant disable the SIP with "csrutil disable".

 

[ToniCH]

But how am i supposed to get in to the recovery when i get the blue screen there? When i hit "command + r + s" i get in to the single user mode where you cant disable the SIP with "csrutil disable".

Try Cmd+R instead. It boots to the actual recovery. Start terminal there and do csrutil disable.

If your problem is not the AMD GPU but something else then this fix might not work for you.