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2.2 GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.4 GHz), 2.5 GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.7 GHz), or 2.8 GHz (Turbo Boost up to 4.0 GHz) quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 6 MB shared L3 cache and an optional AMD Radeon R9 M370X dGPU.

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MacBook Pro glitching and artefacting

Hi all, I have this 2015 MacBook Pro that currently doesn’t boot most of the time, but it will occasionally but usually crashes soon after and reboots, it is the dGPU model. I am trying to just disable it in Recovery but I can’t boot into recovery as it commonly crashes before finally booting into recovery, or shows what is in my image. Is there any way to disable the dGPU or boot into Recovery to do such like with OpenCore Legacy Patcher as I am unable to actually disable the dGPU and even Recovery mode stresses the GPU enough for it to crash and I am unable to use Single User Mode as I am on Big Sur. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can disable the dGPU and what issues will arise from doing this on a 2015 model, as I am not familiar with these 2015 MBP GPUs dying, is it common?

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@oliverfallon since it does appear your board/GPU appears to have experienced a catastrophic failure, have you given it any thought to try a reflow of the GPU? Just in case this is a solder bump issue etc. Of course, it is not a fix but might help to narrow down the issue. Right now, you got nothing to lose on this board :-)

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The trick is to get into Safe Mode which disables the GPU driver so the Intel Graphics Engine is used alone. But I'm not sure if the AMD GPU is your issue. Are you even able to run the onboard Diagnostics? Reboot the system and press the D key are you able to get it to run cleanly?

As far as this AMD GPU failing, it was more robust over the older 2011~2014 models. But even still newer Applications (Gaming being the biggest) kept pushing the GPU's further to the edge of the point of failure, the heat buildup couldn't be taken away fast enough.

Given the pattern I'm suspecting the GPU's dedicated RAM has an issue. Which would be a blown RAM chip or the solder joints have failed.

So... Are you able to enter Diagnostics? Did any errors pop? If it was clean both within the display and diags then let's try Safe Mode. Restart the system again now press the Shift (⇧) key that should boot up cleanly as the AMD chips driver is not loaded. While you can't do much as most of the needed peripheral drivers are likewise not loaded you still should run without a crash. Locate the Crash Logs reviewing them should tell you what is the cause of the crashes Reviewing the Crash Logs you likely have a deep pile, you may want to delete it and then create a fresh event to have just one report.

Let's see what you discover, post the log output in a landscape PDF file here so we can review it as well.

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I did briefly try Safe Mode and it did load but then the Apple logo disappeared and I just had the display backlight, although the trackpad could still click, the MacBook was unresponsive. Another thing was I tried Recovery Mode again and after the 5th try, it worked but then the Apple logo began glitching all over the screen and scaling all over, then it did the same thing with the blank screen just backlight and unresponsive. Does this sound like a VRAM issue? I’ll get back to you about Safe Mode and Diagnostics once I’ve slept and I have free time to look into this again, thanks a bunch

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I have been unsuccessful in getting even into the Boot Picker and the machine doesn't even show a image on the display. I believe the AMD GPU is so dead it can't even establish a framebuffer, so I have opted to replace the logic board, although my screen's rubber gasket is peeling, so the machine clicks loudly when the magnets close the screen. I wanted to know if its possible to replace this without disassembling the LCD?

I've seen that it's possible to use soap to get the rubber under the display in the little crevice, how can I do this and how much soap should you use and isn't this unsafe as soap is under the LCD or is it not a problem? Thanks Dan!

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@oliverfallon - Before you go to that extreme let's try one more trick, here we need an external monitor, USB keyboard & mouse to connect to the system.

Carefully disconnect the battery, once disconnected with nothing connected via the ports, press and hold the power button to fully discharge the logic board for a good 15sec. Now you want to plug all three in and with the display lid fully closed now plug in the battery the system should spontaneously restart quickly press the Shift key entering Safe mode. The external should show you an image did it?

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Unfortunately not, the machine does spin up as soon as I connect the battery, but gets stuck mid boot chime like before, and nothing is displayed on my monitor, then eventually the Mac restarts automatically and boot chime loops again then reboots and this continues forever until the power button is held down. Not sure what I can do past this if the GPU is so dead the Mac can't post.

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@oliverfallon - Sadly I think you need a new logic board at this point as i don't think your AMD GPU is your root issue.

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Yes, 2015 MacBook Pro dGPUs can fail, and the usual workaround is to disable the dGPU via NVRAM/EFI or with OpenCore patches, but doing so limits external display use and some performance features.

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