Screen turns black when gaming?

Hey guys. I was following closely this topic and I was really paranoid about the BSOD when my Macbook Pro arrived. So I downloaded the FlatOut 2 demo and played it for a long while already. It does get warmer around 66 C to 70 C and it does not freeze. Works really well. Do you think it is safe to assume that it is unaffected by this issue or is there any other tests that I should do? Thanks a lot. Ed

PS: I still have not updated to 10.5.6 and have not applied any updates yet (no trackpad update, no firmware update, no nothing)

Well, just played a marathon WOW session on the replacement MBP.... two - three hours, all setting on High (game and computer)...

It got WARM.... very WARM.... but no lock ups or BSOD. I will run again later today in windowed mode and post the temps.

Another follow-up.

I'm on my second replacement machine (third machine total), which I just got yesterday after a trip to my local Apple store. So far I haven't encountered the BSoD...keeping my fingers crossed.

Guys, new MBP user and it's absolutely wonderful.

Having some problems, however... Installed Windows Vista Ultimate (64bit) and everything was going fine... Was playing Counter Strike Source, Defcon etc... Everything great.

Then today, whilst just browsing, my laptop screen just turned off... Went black. Wasn't even playing a game, and wasn't prior to the crash either. Now, no matter what I do when in Vista, it'll either freeze or crash to black screen randomly, sometime within minutes of a fresh boot. What the ****?

Anything at all I can try? Your posts all seem to be gaming related, but I haven't had a crash at all in gaming.

One thing, I'm using the beta nVidia drivers from their site. Should I perhaps try some other drivers, or is there really no other point?

If anyone can help, or advise me on what route to take, please do so. I love this machine, but need Vista to work like it should for me to get the most out of it!

Thanks

Hey guys,

I got my MBP on Nov. 27th and I'm also having issues with BSODs while gaming. I'm running Windows XP and oddly enough, I only get a BSOD when playing Oblivion and CoD 4, yet games like Left 4 Dead and all of the Source games run fine at maxed out settings. Battlefield 2 also runs perfectly. On the OSX side I've run WoW for hours on end, though the temps do get pretty high, probably around 80-85 degrees celsius, yet never a BSOD in OSX. On the windows side, however, I use the smcFanControl trick to mitigate the poor thermal regulation, along with the use of a notebook cooling pad.

Another problem I'm having is a kind of "stutter" while playing certain games, namely Oblivion and CoD 4. Im pretty sure it's not framerate-related, as Im getting steady readings of 30-60 fps in these games. I've read on other forums that this could be a driver issue in windows, something to do with a lack of proper distribution of processing power between processor cores.

I'm praying all of this is only a software issue as I absolutely love this computer, it does everything perfectly except for gaming. If it turns out to be a hardware issue, I'd welcome a recall or at the very least a refund or a timely replacement of the faulty parts.

I'm having the same black screen issue when gaming. It only happens when using the performance graphics setting in the energy saver control panel. Must be the 9600M GT graphics chip. I"m going to see if I can get Apple to repair/replace it.

Guess it's true that there is a hardware issue:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/162/1050162/nvidia-recomends-not-buying -its-defective-chips

you should exchange your systems as soon as possible and ask for brand new models, don't know if it's possible to check which concrete GPU is in the Notebook.

this article is pretty confusing and links only to old statements from apple about the 8600 chips.
there still hasn't been any statement at all from apple about an issue with the late-2008 9600 one.

anyway, the only proven FACT so far is that many MBP users have a huge fans issue: they get stuck at 2000rpm, letting the temperature reach 100°C or more. resetting the SMC doen't solve the issue, because after a sleep or restart the fans are stuck again.
however, the third-party program called Fan Control (not "smc fan control") really solves the problem (on OS X at least) - since i use Fan Control, the temps are stabilized around 75°C, and I DON'T HAVE THE BSOD ANYMORE. you people should try it too and post your own results.

The article also mentions the 8800 and 9650 and I have no reason to believe our 9600's aren't effected by the issues of their other recent chipsets.

I've had the black screen of death happen with the fans at 6000rpm, so this is more than a simple fan issue.

Of course there isn't a statement from Apple yet, they might not even know what the exact problem is yet, or even worse they do and they won't tell us because they know what will happen when they do.

Either way it is really bad form to leave your customers in the dark for months, especially after they've spent so much money on your product.

This is my first Apple computer and it is looking like it will be my last unless they speak up soon. It's getting to the point where my laptop will have been in repair longer than I've actually had it working properly.

monsieur_gris:

While I think it's great you've had success with the third-party program you mentioned, the point is we, as consumers, should not have to rely on installing third-party applications to resolve this issue. You may be happy rigging/fixing your own laptop, but I spent $2,499.99 + sales tax for a machine that should run great out of the box.

Well, my replacement laptop.... is now experiencing some bizarre "rainbow" video scramble when I play WOW in low performance mode, then the system locks... (after only 10 minutes)....

I could have bought a box for 1/2 price with twice the performance.

I think I will try and return this for a full refund...... I could not be more unhappy.

Apple + Gaming = EPIC FAIL !

I was getting this panic message playing WoW on my brand new MBP -- It would happen after only a couple of minutes in GT mode (never happened using the low-performance video card)... I called AppleCare, discussed the contents of this message (specifically, the NVRM Read Error on GPU 0), and they agreed to repair/replace it.

I'm writing you this note on the replacement -- I played WoW for an hour with everything set on High and with the GT video card... Heard the fans spin-up fast (ps, I didn't hear this on the previous machine!) and the machine is hot to the touch, but no black screen of death.

PS - There's a useful Dashboard widget called, iStatPro that shows you the temp of the GPU as well as the fan speeds... It's interesting to watch while you have WoW running...

Good luck, and fingers-crossed for a great gaming experience on this Mac.


Fri Dec 26 13:39:48 2008
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x00405DEB): "NVRM: Read Error: GPU 0, PCI 0x00000200, BAR0 0xe4000000 0x60abb000"@/SourceCache/xnu/xnu-1228.9.59/iokit/Kernel/IOLib.cpp:724
Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x603bfc38 : 0x12b4f3 (0x45b13c 0x603bfc6c 0x1335e4 0x0)
0x603bfc88 : 0x405deb (0x49da40 0xea5280 0x603bfccc 0x603bfcbc)
0x603bfca8 : 0xc764f7 (0xea5280 0xea5280 0xe69c88 0x0)
0x603bfce8 : 0xf2dd1a (0x7ab3804 0x7abc804 0x61002c 0xcb2b13)
0x603bfd28 : 0xf4179a (0x7abc804 0x61002c 0x603bfd68 0xcb29af)
0x603bfd48 : 0xda8881 (0x7abc804 0x7abd004 0x1984000 0x7ab4004)
0x603bfd68 : 0xddb05d (0x7abc804 0x7abd004 0x1 0x0)
0x603bfec8 : 0xd5a17e (0x7abc804 0x0 0x603bff18 0x603bff14)
0x603bff38 : 0xc770a5 (0x7ab3804 0x42be2004 0x0 0x0)
0x603bff58 : 0xc621f0 (0x42be2004 0x258f96a0 0x603bff78 0x1a336f)
0x603bff78 : 0x13eed2 (0x7296000 0x42be2004 0x1a336f 0x74dea78)
0x603bffc8 : 0x1a017c (0x0 0x0 0x1a30b5 0x74f92e8)
Backtrace terminated-invalid frame pointer 0
Kernel loadable modules in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.nvidia.nv50hal(5.3.6)@0xeba000->0x110efff
dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(5.3.6)@0xc5d000
com.apple.NVDAResman(5.3.6)@0xc5d000->0xeb9fff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(1.7.1)@0xc4f000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.5)@0x5f8000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(1.7.1)@0x77f000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:
9G55

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 9.6.0: Mon Nov 24 17:37:00 PST 2008; root:xnu-1228.9.59~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: MacBookPro5,1 (Mac-F42D86C8)

Though Apple has a bad track record with games on OS X, it's more appropriate to in this instance to say, "Nvidia + Gaming = EPIC FAIL" since these same chips are causing problems on other platforms as well.

Though how it got past Apple's QA...?

I agree, yet it's a pain in the *** to have to send the machine back for a repair (since it's probably too late for me for a replacement), add to this some installed software with activation keys based on the hardware SN, and no guarantee or official statement of any sort that sending it back will change anything… this is pretty nightmarish. why the **** did i paid double price for a MBP instead of a MB btw? because i needed firewire…

Well, it seems Nvidia has a brilliant solution for their defective chips:
"Buy Our New Chips!"

http://vr-zone.com/articles/nvidia-s-solution-to-defective-gpus--buy-our-new-chi ps/6351.html?doc=6351

In one word: unbelievable...!