I have a MacBook Pro early 2011 that will only boot into safe mode, trying anything besides single user results in a crash or hangs with a white screen, can't even boot from an El Capitan USB, current OS is 10.6.8. There is also a pink tinge to the screen and in safe mode there are red vertical lines an inch thick every inch (inch tinted red inch normal.) I have verbose here before a white screen hang.
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3Possible duplicate of How to disable discrete graphics card and use only integrated graphics MacBook Pro Early 2011?. Though the linked question is completely different the reason (broken GPU) and therefore the answer probably is the same.– klanomathCommented Feb 19, 2016 at 18:59
1 Answer
I would say that you have a dying/dead discreet GPU, as that's a known problem with your model of MacBook Pro. Booting into safe mode may be doing something to help your GPU (I have an Xserve with a confirmed dying GPU that boots in safe mode but not without it) so it boots properly. I would highly recommend getting your MacBook Pro replaced as soon as possible via the Apple program. I would suggest you run Apple Hardware Test and verify that your GPU is dead/dying, but this may not be possible given your current state. Similarly, you can run a GPU stress test program like Unigine Heaven and see if your GPU quits.
The only thing I find interesting is your previous shutdown reason: overheating. According to this post, shutdown code -3 is temperature based. That's strange, but not impossible.
In any case, seeing if you can get your computer replaced probably isn't a bad idea since it's pretty likely your GPU is dying. Go to an Apple store, explain the issue, and they'll probably give you a new computer.