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2018-02-04

MacBook Pro 2012 broken GPU fix

I have a 17" 2011 MacBook Pro that suffers from the notorious GPU video failure (https://www.bit-tech.net/news/tech/laptops/apple-admits-gpu-design-flaw/1/)

Here is the work-around to turn off the GPU. Credit to PeytonPlaysMc

  1. Boot into Recovery Mode
    For High Sierra 10.13.4 or earlier:
    Hold Command+R+S keyboard buttons while pressing the power button

    For High Sierra 10.13.5 or later:
    Command+R+S (Recovery mode Single-user) no longer works.
    https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/332587/single-user-recovery-mode-on-high-sierra-10-13-6

    To get to Recovery Mode,
    * Hold Command+S and press the power button
    * On prompt, type command
    nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00
    reboot
    * Hold Command+R to enter Recovery Mode GUI
    * Click on "Utilities" on the top menu bar and pick "Terminal"
    * Goto Step 2 below
  2.  Disable System Integrity Protection (SIP)
     
    Type on the command prompt
    csrutil disable
  3. Reboot MacBook Pro into Single User mode
    Type on the command prompt
    reboot
    Then hold Command+S keyboard buttons
  4. Hard disk check
    Type on the command prompt
    /sbin/fsck -fy
  5. Mount root file system in read-write mode
    Type on the command prompt
    /sbin/mount -uw /
  6. Make a directory to save the AMD drivers
    Type on the command prompt
    mkdir /AMD_save
  7. Move AMD drivers to the save directory
    Type on the command prompt
    mv /System/Library/Extensions/AMD* /AMD_save
  8. Delete AMD driver cache
    Type on the command prompt
    rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/
  9. Create AMD drive cache directory
    Type on the command prompt
    mkdir /System/Library/Caches/com.apple.kext.caches/
  10. Force refresh of drive cache and reboot
    Type on the command prompt
    touch /System/Library/Extensions/
    nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00
    reboot
  11. Boot into Recovery ModeFor High Sierra 10.13.4 or earlier:
    Hold Command+R+S keyboard buttons

    For High Sierra 10.13.5 or later:
    See step 1 above
  12. Enable System Integrity Protection (SIP)Type on the command prompt
    csrutil enable
  13. Reboot MacBook Pro to normal mode.Type on the command prompt
    reboot
  14. Launch Terminal in UI and type
    sudo nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00
  15. Restart MacBook Pro one final time