Macbook Pro misbehaving badly.

[Ozzie]

I have a 2011 MacBook-Pro with 8gig of memory. Its up to 10.3 and has Siri and various other mod cons - but from time to time it just dies (like Dead).. I try everything to get it going again but after a couple of days I just put if down and move on to an even older MacBook for email and stuff; then on a whim I go back to the Pro hit the button and BINGO it fires up and we're off again. This has 'died' three times in the past few months and I still don't know why. It just happened again today and i've shut it down and left it alone to see what happens next. If anyone has any suggestions I'd like to hear from them. One thought is something like a soldered connection that has oxidized and disconnects when hot and reconnects when it has cooled.Problem is the restart is often up to a week after the crash and meanwhile I've tried every key combination I can think of. (???)

 

[Terry Corder]

Early 2011 Macbook Pros suffer from a known graphics / logic board problem and are subject to an Apple repair program for free repair. However, while the repair program has been extended, it is only 'til 31st December 2016. I would suggest that you get your MBP booked into an Apple store ASAP.

 

[Ormond]

Early 2011 Macbook Pros suffer from a known graphics / logic board problem

Been there, done that, with an iMac though. As I recall, the graphics card melted on to the logic board, and a $2000 Mac went down the drain. Bye bye, all done. I thought about getting it fixed, did some research, and learned the fixes often fail too given that the same parts and design are still involved. So, installed the Mac in my trash can.

Getting back on topic, if the Apple Store idea doesn't work, you could consider selling the machine to MacOfAllTrades. They're bums, so don't worry about cheating them. However, they may very then sell the machine to some innocent person without diagnosing or fixing it, so that's an argument against this option.

Another option for the future could be to buy a machine from Apple with the three year warranty, and just plan on dumping the machine when the warranty runs out. Divide the price by 36 months, and think of it like renting the machine. In this case, you'd never have to worry about parts and labor, but if something goes wrong you could be out a lot of your own time, as Apple doesn't cover that.

Finally, there's the option to just use it until it finally dies, and then don't replace it. What the heck did we all used to do with our time before computers??? I don't remember myself, but this would be a chance to find out. I hear there are real people out there in the world one can talk to face to face, but that's probably just one of those crazy internet rumors.

 

[honestone]

I have a 2011 MacBook-Pro with 8gig of memory. Its up to 10.3 and has Siri and various other mod cons - but from time to time it just dies (like Dead).. I try everything to get it going again but after a couple of days I just put if down and move on to an even older MacBook for email and stuff; then on a whim I go back to the Pro hit the button and BINGO it fires up and we're off again. This has 'died' three times in the past few months and I still don't know why. It just happened again today and i've shut it down and left it alone to see what happens next. If anyone has any suggestions I'd like to hear from them. One thought is something like a soldered connection that has oxidized and disconnects when hot and reconnects when it has cooled.Problem is the restart is often up to a week after the crash and meanwhile I've tried every key combination I can think of. (???)

Your systems specs say "iMac/13in Laptop OS:10.6.8", but your post says a 2011 MacBook Pro and OS 10.3. OS 10.3 is rather old. Is that a typo?

I would not take a pessimistic attitude like above, but instead, like Terry Corder indicated, get the machine into an Apple Store to have it fixed.

Also, have you been doing any regular disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs? What bout backups to an external device? And if the OS 10.3 is a typo, how did you "upgrade" to whatever latest OS you have?