Screen turns black when gaming?

The only thing proven so far is that a Black screen of death happens. Nothing about bad chips or mistakes by apple or anyone else.
Please think about your words before you accuse someone or some company.

For me its pretty clear that there is a heat problem due to the unibody-construct. I use fancontrol ( http://www.lobotomo.com/products/FanControl/ ) to avoid the heating issue to give me a BSOD. NEVER had a BSOD again since then (i dont use Winblows on my mac).
Bad chips by NVIDIA, a poor design by apple, silly firmware - all is possible. As long as i can avoid the BSOD with the simple solution of FanControl i am not that unhappy and i really like my MBP...

Just called apple support, they chouldn't help me because the problem only occurs in windows.
I don't have any games I can test it with in Mac, and I tried a Tomb Raider demo, but it didn't crash.

**** you macbook pro.

_*It's a valid point, that the fan outlet is under the hinge only.*_

I have desktop machines for sitting properly at to work, and the laptop for relaxed use, like whilst under a duvet, but with knees up under a duvet, *the outlet at the back gets blocked by the duvet and heats up*, as well as the lid/screen loosely lolling around, slapping back and forth, and closing if at a sheer angle when laying back not propped up. (other threads about this, i know, so i'll try not to stray off topic)

*_I had my logic board swapped between xmas eve and boxing day_*, and the 9600 went from idling at 70 to 50 degrees centigrade in OSX only! (fans remain at 2000rpm) Windows still idled at 68 - 75. From my experience with building computers, it puts me in mind of installing a processor to a motherboard without correctly applying heat-sink paste, or using bad heat-sink paste, and from what i have read about the nvidia chip bumps, it is similar to the heat-sink paste of a cpu, it is heat sensitive lead instead of tin in the solder connection of the 9600 chip to the mother board (logic board) or something like that maybe. Sloppy production by nvidia and apple if the chips are intolerant to heat and the connection to the motherboard unstable (if so) its a major blow to those companies reputations.

I admit I was seduced by what looked like advanced industrial design with this new laptop, I assumed it would be an evolution. On the simplest level, *whats with the sharp edges where you rest your wrists!!!* ouch, thank heavens for microsoft bluetooth notebook mouse 5000 for relieving that, even though the new trackpad is evolutionary and i like it very much *the sharp edges are stupid*.

*This new replacement logic board must be a combination fix of 9600 under clocking in OSX, as the chip still idles at 68 - 75 degrees centigrade in bootcamp windows xp sp3, and more heat resistant materials in an improved 9600 nvidia chip and better attachment to the motherboard.*

I have not properly tested the machine yet since the motherboard replacement as i have been on holiday, so i cannot be sure it is ok yet, but the sparkle of enthusiasm after saving for 8 months for this machine is dulled by this beta like experience.

*_Shame on you Nvidia and Apple_ - time to grow up, own up and fix up your mistakes.*

Well I was runnin sims 2 under vista with mine and the graphics scrambled after 10 minutes! yoi could almost burn yourself on the case at the top of the keyboard its insane!

And like you said if its a windows problem surely they aint got round to patching the laptop yet for windows! Mac os I think all they doing is underclocking the chips and keepin quiet about it as there aint many hardcore games for mac os to reproduce the problem and most mac users will never install windows!

If its a design issue that was not tested under a windows enviroment useing the nvidia chip under full load I dont think apple with ever admit to it as they would have to recall every laptop!

Im expecting to see a new design macbook pro befor this years out!

I am on my 3rd machine and have not installed Windows once. The BSoD issue has been happening to users who run both operating systems.

As a general update, I have been fortunate and haven't experienced the BSoD with this, my third machine. HOWEVER, I was very disappointed to notice the LCD on this machine is far from perfect. This LCD has the light bleed/leak issue on the edges, and also has what some have referred to as "theater-striping" along the bottom edge (basically the light leaks and it looks wavy, like a theater curtain). I will be returning to my local Apple store yet again - I refuse to accept anything less than near-perfection for the amount of money I have paid. Glaring imperfections are not acceptable, even if they are not as serious as the BSoD.

I'm so angry right now. For me, at first, it simply seemed like the fans weren't working very well in Boot Camp. When I opened a game, the fans would max out. Not great. So I read up on these forums, found smcFanControl and thought I was fine.

Not really.

Even with the fans blasting (not too good for the fans), Boot Camp runs ridiculously hot. Random crashes, BSODs, everything you guys are experiencing, I am too.

This is really, really frustrating. What makes it worse is no one will admit to it. All Apple has to do is release an official statement telling us what the FSCK is going on, and what we should do. Meanwhile, the time limit before many of us, me included, have to return these defective products is running out.

I've followed most of the current significant threads on here, and I'm experiencing all the common ones. Erratic behavior, BSODs, unusable trackpad in Boot Camp. This is unacceptable.

ARGH. /rant

I Haven't installed Windows and I'm getting BSoD in COD4 and CnC3, but not very often. And if I don't hear my fans going up I put it to sleep, and I am more or less able to prevent BSOD like this. I will replace the motherboard as soon as possible however.

I'm experiencing the same problem, but it's fixed after I installed nVIDIA System Tools 6.03, you may like to try. Here are my detailed steps:

http://www.v2ex.com/2009/01/07/macbook-pro-unibody-screen-turns-black-when-gamin g/

It seems to be a driver and settings problem, not hardware.

I have read all this long thread for weeks in search for an answer, and I tried everything suggested (except for a replacement machine as I bought it online) with no success.

Today I tried what is suggested here and those nVIDIA System Tools seem to work. I haven't had much time to stress the MBP enough, but I manage to play Warhammer Online on BootCamp with Vista32 with details maxed out, for more or less 30 minutes.
Everything seemed to go pretty smooth, fans started at game loading and never stopped.

Before, I couldn't play for more than 1 minute when the dreaded BSOD used to show up. I'll try some more this evening. We'll see.

Best regards

Message was edited by: ncervellati

I am trying to adjust fan speeds via the Nvidia Control Panel > Performance > Device Settings > GPU

But it appears the fan control, which is measured as a percentage is grayed out and I cannot adjust the slider.

Has anyone else developed a workaround for this?

This doesn't make any difference for me. Fallout 3 still crashes in a minute or two if i dont turn up the fans with SMCfancontrol. But as i said in a earlier post, it still crashes in one or two hours even if i run the fans att 6200rpm (high temps, but not so that it should shutdown). I´ve tried lots of different drivers in xp, all with no discernible difference.

In OSX I´ve Tried Flatout 2, COD4 and Spore. But i've only gotten BSOD Once or twice. But i Get kernel panics about one every other day, these are almost always backtraced to Graphics drivers or: com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement.

Im bringing this machine in for a checkup and hopefully a new logic board tomorrow, Im quite convinced at least on my machine its a hardware problem.

Add me to the list with a 2.53GHz MBP. Running WoW in OSX often black screens within 5 minutes when using the 9600.

However, with smcFanControl set to 4000 RPM minimum fans, it has never black screened on me (knock on wood). It sure seems heat related. I only seem to get the black screen if I forget to change smcFanControl mode from default (quiet) to my higher setting for WoW.

It doesn't seem worth having Apple replace it given what I'm reading here. Maybe once they come to a conclusion on the problem it will be. That is if they come to a useful conclusion. I have been submitting the crash report that comes up after a forced reboot. Hopefully they are noticing the flow of them?

This is by far the hottest-running laptop I've ever had. I've had a very long line of ThinkPads (mostly T series) before this.

--Lee

I'm disappointed and upset to say that I'm also experiencing this problem. I first noticed it in Windows playing FarCry2, but then it happened in Fallout 3, and now it's getting worse and worse, to the point where I cannot use my 9600 in OS X either for extended periods of time without it happening. I plan on calling AppleCare immediately, and I refuse to settle for anything less than a hardware exchange. I also notice the "curtain" effect that the previous poster mentioned. Is there any way of telling what model LCD I have??

Thanks!

this workaround: http://www.v2ex.com/2009/01/07/macbook-pro-unibody-screen-turns-black-when-gamin g/#comment-174
may be work if you use vista, but whats about windows xp?
for me there is still the BSOD and that's not what i expected from my MBP:(

Ok I called Apple Care they said we don't know this fault and no we don't read the DISCUSSIONS :@
Very dissapointing!
I have a new idea what the problem could be: I haven't had the BSOD ever, till the last months. So I think it's the SMC-update for the fans etc. Only the mac knows about it and windows still thinks the SMC is on it. So maybe I have to reinstall Windows?? And I'm using SP2 maybe you must have SP3?
I don't know but I have the BSOD *only with games in Windows under Bootcamp*. (Flatout2, COD5)