Apple has seemingly continued to ignore a serious problem with some of its older MacBook Pros.

For months now, owners of older versions of the laptop have reported malfunctions and Apple reportedly refuses to act on the problem.

The bug apparently affects MacBook Pros from early 2011, according to BGR, disrupting many owners' computer use. Many have been venting their concerns and irritation on support forums online, asking others for advice when the bug strikes their computer and leaves it almost dead.

One Apple support forum thread has amassed more than 1 million views and has had more than 7,600 replies. In the thread's first post, user "abelliveau" reports how his screen suddenly went blue and he had to do a hard reset to restore it to normal. However, since that episode the computer glitches in the same manner. The only way the author could get it to work again was via a hard reset.

AppleInsider reports that Apple has refused to make any formal statements on the problem, even though they report that at least lower-level employees of the company know about the issue.

The issue has been found to be with the computers' discreet AMD-built GPUs, reports AppleInsider, However, because the company only reacts to widespread issues, Apple Genius Bar employees have no other way of dealing with the issue but referring disgruntled customers to third-party repair companies, like one Hong Kong Apple store.

AppleInsider explains how the issue manifests itself: "the GPU issue might present itself onscreen as visual artifacts, banding or a blank screen. What triggers the failure is unknown, though a common thread seems to be graphics-intensive operations like watching high-definition videos and performing processor-intensive operations in digital media programs."

Many MacBook owners affected by this would likely have no way of fixing the problem through the company since most extended AppleCare warranties have already expired, explains AppleInsider. Some have resorted to a Change.org petition asking Apple CEO Tim Cook to act on the issue. It has gathered more than 8,700 signatures out of the needed 10,000.