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Model A1286. Released February 2011 / 2.0, 2.2, or 2.3 GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 Processor

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MacBook Pro 15" Early 2011 Stuck on white screen

As stated above, When I power on my 15: Macbook Pro Early 2011 (A1286), it does the chime and Apple logo a loading sign appears and disappears like normal, when that is finished it goes into a white screen and stays there...forever.

Extra detail: When the Apple logo appears, it has a strange yellow highlight, not normal. I have attempted every Macbook short cut available.

  • Safe boot wil not boot.
  • I've reseted PRAM.
  • The hold D for hardware diagnostics does not run.
  • Recovery mode will not boot.

I've unistalled HDD for a disk check up on a different macbook and everything was squeky clean. No problems. and booted as normal.

I've tried to boot my mac with my HDD in a adapter and still same problem. Apple logo and loading sign appears and disappears then white screen.

I've tried booting it with only one ram and alternating slots and ram, no dice.

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crwdns2942205:01crwdne2942205:0

I had the same Issue (or very similar: white screen [not every time] after the chime and the apple logo [and not yellowish]). It was solved, when I finally managed to install mountain lion first and later mac os high sierra. I couldn't install Mojave.... even though I used a patcher... greez

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Sounds like a hardware (cable) problem

If this Answer is helpful please remember to return and mark it Accepted.

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There is only one solution to me that is helpful indeed. Shut down computer manually. Wait 10 seconds. Start again and when you hear the first sound/signal, press cmd/alt/P/R all at the same time until you hear the second start sound. Then release the keys. At the beginning it worked every time. Later (now) i have to do it up to 4 times. But: it works. Good luck folks!

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Yes! After 6 tries - it worked!

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Took 5 tries but worked for me. Thanks!

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

Its not working ?

crwdns2934271:0crwdnd2934271:0crwdne2934271:0

Just faced same issue on a late 2011 17” MBP with 1Tb SSD put in 1 year ago. Tried 5x and… Yes it worked! Thanks a lot

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The proposed answer was for someone who had replaced their display. There appears to be a more general situation where an early 2011 MBP can get to this state without a hardware change.

Update (08/20/2017)

I ended up agreeing that a repair, even at $440 was worth it to me to keep this machine running longer.

I was prepared to do it myself, but was only able to find replacement main boards on eBay. I ended up coming across a post though that referred me to the good folks at KT Electronics in San Jose who although not able to simply repair my board for the lower advertised price were able to replace the board with a new one (it looks new to my visual inspection), and although it is only the 2GHz version ( previously I had the 2.2GHz) the machine is back to me and seems to be running fine again.

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Yes, very true! Most of the issue is cooked tantalum caps near the GPU. Sadly Apple is no longer repairing any of the 2011 models any more. You'll need to get someone to fix your board or replace it if you can find a good one.

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Thank you, mine apparently gave up the ghost this morning. I see the replacement logic board here and now need to decide if $450 is worth it or to look for a replacement.

Tried all suggested options involving SMC and PRAM. If I boot single user mode the text console is red and black striped, but text is readable. Once it needs to switch to real graphics though it just goes white/gray.

Ran the hardware check which reported first bad memory, then bad HDD and after swapping both with spares it reported no test failures but still has display problem.

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I think it's worth fixing my self.

Apple has moved to a more throw-away design with the latest MacBook Pro. Yours while being a bit slower is still a better system!

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Rich,

Apple lost a class action suit over the 2011's. Most of the boards you will find on e-bay are listed as 're-balled'. This will usually result in a temporary fix, but, you'll be very lucky if you don't experience the same issue. The main reason most boards only have about a 90 day warranty. Louis Rossman has a video over on youtube that explains this very well.

When I recommend used Mac's to my clients, I recommend they avoid the models that Apple has had previous issues with. People will get a re-balled board, fix the system up, then sell it to an unsuspecting buyer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AcEt073...

For reference, the only models I see listed under Apple's Repair Program are:

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2012)

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15 inch, Early 2013)

https://www.apple.com/uk/support/macbook...

cheers!

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just a few minutes ago i have finished fixing my early 2011 MBP 15,disasembled everything and heat up the cpu with a heat gun for 5 minutes.Applied new paste on the cpu assembly everything back and .........i m typing this with my MBP, hoping it last at least a year more.

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