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Released October 24, 2011 / 2.2, 2.4, or 2.5 GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7 Processor

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MacBook Pro boots briefly, then hangs on blank white screen.

So as the title says, I have a MacBook Pro that will boot partially and then get stuck on a white screen until I force it to shut down. I have tried all of the usual answers I see to this sort of question such as:

  • Resetting the NVRAM.
  • Resetting the SMC.
  • Disconnecting the battery and draining all the power.
  • Tried to boot into safe mode, ended up still hanging.
  • Ran Apple Hardware Test, both normal and extended which showed no issues.
  • Tried multiple sticks and sizes of RAM.
  • Tried 3 different SSDs connected both internally and externally via an adapter.
  • Tried an external monitor to rule out display issues.
  • Booted into Single User mode and didn't notice any issues.
  • Booted into Verbose mode which ended with it still hanging.

At this point I am out of ideas to try. I know for sure the drives I'm attempting to boot from are in working condition, as I've used them until now with no issues. I don't believe it to be a hardware issue as both the tests passed with no noted issues as I mentioned above. Am I perhaps missing something or is there some obscure fix I'm just not finding through my research. Any help at all would be greatly appreciated as I've been trying to solve this issue for several hours now.

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Sadly you've hit the dedicated GPU problem!

There are two issues you can face here. The first is a Tantalum capacitor has degraded from overheating all thats needed is to switch it out for a mica capacitor. What happens here is the switch logic is not working properly between the CPU's GPU (Intel Iris) to the dedicated GPU. The second is much worse! The GPU its self has failed. This is where the solder joints under the GPU have failed due to being Lead free.

The easiest fix is to get a new logic board. Or, if you can locate someone with the needed skills & tools to fix your system a new cap and/or GPU can be done.

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Well that sucks to hear, but I do have a parts unit that I think should work hopefully. I guess I'll attempt a logic board replacement and see how that works. Thanks for your help.

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Kevin will be eternally grateful.
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