Force bootup a MBP with integrated?

[TDP_Equinox]

MacBook Pro, i know, terrible OSX! oooooo. I get it. 

Short story: Dedicated GPU on MBP is defective and EOL/EOW and i need a reliable way to start the machine with integrated graphics.

 

Long story: Lady came in with a "dead" MBP that is EOL/EOW (15" 2011 MBP Core i7 2.0Ghz non-retina), she just wanted her hard drive thrown in a caddy. 
She signed the waver to recycle it and i forgot about it. 
Few hours later i see it and realize i never actually tried turning it on. So I threw an SSD in there, got ready with my OSX installer, and pressed power; Low and behold, the sucker booted ( I suspect because the MBP does not use the dGPU within the installer). 
 

Install 10.10, take it home and use it for a few days. 
All of a sudden it goes black, no response, nothing. After screwing around with it for a while, taking it apart putting it back together, it went back to normal. 
So i did some research and it turns out this model is known for GPU issues, and apple just says "fuck yall". 
More research shows that the dGPU is the one with the issue, and the iGPU is fine. 
MORE research finds me a program called gfxCardStatus (wonderful tool) that allows me to chose what GPU to use, but only once inside OSX. 

Occasionally it has issues waking up from sleep or turning on, and i have to go through a really stupid process of turning it on, wrapping it in a towel, suffocating the SOB until it turns off and then quickly boot it up and set it to use the iGPU. While this works, it is not very elegant. 
Is there a way (keyboard shortcut, etc) to force it to boot with the iGPU?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Prastupok]

MacBook Pro, i know, terrible OSX! oooooo. I get it. 

Short story: Dedicated GPU on MBP is defective and EOL/EOW and i need a reliable way to start the machine with integrated graphics.

 

Long story: Lady came in with a "dead" MBP that is EOL/EOW (15" 2011 MBP Core i7 2.0Ghz non-retina), she just wanted her hard drive thrown in a caddy. 

She signed the waver to recycle it and i forgot about it. 

Few hours later i see it and realize i never actually tried turning it on. So I threw an SSD in there, got ready with my OSX installer, and pressed power; Low and behold, the sucker booted ( I suspect because the MBP does not use the dGPU within the installer). 

 

Install 10.10, take it home and use it for a few days. 

All of a sudden it goes black, no response, nothing. After screwing around with it for a while, taking it apart putting it back together, it went back to normal. 

So i did some research and it turns out this model is known for GPU issues, and apple just says "fuck yall". 

More research shows that the dGPU is the one with the issue, and the iGPU is fine. 

MORE research finds me a program called gfxCardStatus (wonderful tool) that allows me to chose what GPU to use, but only once inside OSX. 

Occasionally it has issues waking up from sleep or turning on, and i have to go through a really stupid process of turning it on, wrapping it in a towel, suffocating the SOB until it turns off and then quickly boot it up and set it to use the iGPU. While this works, it is not very elegant. 

Is there a way (keyboard shortcut, etc) to force it to boot with the iGPU?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

I had similar issues with my rMBP... try these.

 

Reset SMC: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

Reset NVRAM: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

[Firearm2112]

I'm kind of glad I didnt purchase a Mac with a dGPU, they all seem to go bad at some point.

 

Try to reset the SMC and NVRAM, like the guy above said. I have heard that has a good chance of fixing the problem

[TDP_Equinox]

I had similar issues with my rMBP... try these.

 

Reset SMC: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295

Reset NVRAM: http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

 

I'm kind of glad I didnt purchase a Mac with a dGPU, they all seem to go bad at some point.

 

Try to reset the SMC and NVRAM, like the guy above said. I have heard that has a good chance of fixing the problem

 

PRAM Reset done, and an SMC Reset requires me to take the thing apart again; not elegant, and doesn't work anyways.

 

The non-elegant solution that i currently use is i wrap the sucker in a blanket and suffocate the SOB until it turns off, and then i start it up again. 

That forces that iGPU to take over. 

[Prastupok]

PRAM Reset done, and an SMC Reset requires me to take the thing apart again; not elegant, and doesn't work anyways.

 

The non-elegant solution that i currently use is i wrap the sucker in a blanket and suffocate the SOB until it turns off, and then i start it up again. 

That forces that iGPU to take over. 

SMC reset is just Shift-Control-Option as you start it up on the newer models...

 

Or just a battery removal.. there is no disassembly required for any of those methods.

[TDP_Equinox]

SMC reset is just Shift-Control-Option as you start it up on the newer models...

 

Or just a battery removal.. there is no disassembly required for any of those methods.

Forgot about Shift-Control-Option. 

 

But a battery removal does require me to take the back off lol. 

[Prastupok]

Forgot about Shift-Control-Option. 

 

But a battery removal does require me to take the back off lol. 

 

Then you are doing it wrong... you shouldn't be taking the back off on the unibody macbooks. The keyboard option is how it should be done. Did you read the article? Only on the removable battery should you remove it.

[Prastupok]

Mines still going strong with 4 years on it.

My mid-2012 one that I dropped 3 grand on died after 6 months. Got it fixed 3 times subsequently. That particular generation had logic board problems like crazy.

[TDP_Equinox]

Then you are doing it wrong... you shouldn't be taking the back off on the unibody macbooks. The keyboard option is how it should be done. Did you read the article? Only on the removable battery should you remove it.

I did the battery thing only while i had the machine apart already anyways. 

Remember, this was when i still thought that it could have been anything other than the dGPU. 

Just for shits 'n' Giggles, i forced it to switch to the dGPU and it crashed instantly so i tried Shift-Control-Option; nothing. 

I did my old "Overheatthissobwithablanket" Trick to get it back. My goal is not to find out what is wrong or how to fix it; i already know that. The AMD card is shit and i need to replace the logic board.

My goal is to find a better solution to force the iGPU upon bootup that does not involve wrapping it in a blanket and over heating it. 

[Prastupok]

I did the battery thing only while i had the machine apart already anyways. 

Remember, this was when i still thought that it could have been anything other than the dGPU. 

Just for shits 'n' Giggles, i forced it to switch to the dGPU and it crashed instantly so i tried Shift-Control-Option; nothing. 

I did my old "Overheatthissobwithablanket" Trick to get it back. My goal is not to find out what is wrong or how to fix it; i already know that. The AMD card is shit and i need to replace the logic board.

My goal is to find a better solution to force the iGPU upon bootup that does not involve wrapping it in a blanket and over heating it. 

 

I should ask why you had it apart to begin with?

[TDP_Equinox]

I should ask why you had it apart to begin with?

I had it apart because i was swapping RAM sticks, hard drives, unplugging stuff, etc because it is a third party SSD, third party RAM, and because i can.

Normal troubleshooting.