Screen turns black when gaming? (continued)

Ok now we know you're 'listening', Apple. Come on and throw us a bone. This is getting ridiculous.

Thank you Brett for deleting my previous well thought out and carefully written post about being a loyal Apple customer. Oh as well as the few posts prior to mine. Apparently urging other users on this forum to hit Apple in the pockets since it seems that is the only way Apple will listen to us is a "big no no".

I would just like to add an update since it's been a while..

After my first machine BSOD constantly (Purchased on release week so the very first run) I finally brought it in for repairs Mid-December. The geniuses there had no idea about the problem, but I managed to convince them to do a logic board replacement anyway..

The new logic board has been in since then and has not BSOD once.. Maybe I got lucky, or maybe it will creep up in the future, but I can confirm even the new logic board hits temperatures up to 109C very frequently.

After fans finally rev temps average to about 90C->85C during a heavy gaming session.


Overall I'm happy that everything seems to have worked out. The new 9600 seems flawless so far with the exception of getting (what I consider) unsafely hot.

I'm not sure what version or date my replacement logic board was from since they flash the chips with the same information as my previous board, but I do know they had to order the part so it was at least fresh from apple and not sitting around in stock for a while.


Hope this helps anyone.

Here is some more information on all three of the MPB's that I have gone through. I have done some stress testing on my latest one. I would not say I have done enough to give it the all clear but it looks good so far. Note that my two busted MPB's came from the same factory during the same manufacturing week. Can anyone else post similar data so that we can compare and try to figure out if maybe week 46 produced the duds? If you are not sure of how to find this information check out this site:

http://www.chipmunk.nl/cgi-fast/applemodel.cgi


NEW MPB



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serial number: W88486XXXXX
Name: MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Model: Mxxxx MacBook Pro 2.53GHz
Screen size: 15 inch
Memory - number of slots: 2
Factory: W8 (Shanghai China)
URL: Technical specifications by apple-history.com code tonumber: 6MP - CK144KFSL4Y

Model introduced: 2008
Production year: 2008
Production week: 48 (December)
Production number: 7673 (within this week)

BUSTED MBP #2

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serial number: W88461XXXXX
Name: MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Model: Mxxxx MacBook Pro 2.53GHz
Screen size: 15 inch
Memory - number of slots: 2
Factory: W8 (Shanghai China)
URL: Technical specifications by apple-history.com code tonumber: 1MZ - CK043H49K5C

Model introduced: 2008
Production year: 2008
Production week: 46 (November)
Production number: 1903 (within this week)
Uitbreidingen: Uitbreidingsmogelijkheden van dit apparaat

BUSTED MBP #1

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Serial number: W88463XXXXX
Name: MacBook Pro (Late 2008)
Model: Mxxxx MacBook Pro 2.53GHz
Screen size: 15 inch
Memory - number of slots: 2
Factory: W8 (Shanghai China)
URL: Technical specifications by apple-history.com code tonumber: 3DA -

Model introduced: 2008
Production year: 2008
Production week: 46 (November)
Production number: 3920 (within this week)

My Logicboard will be changed tomorrow, feedback will follow...

Using FanControll and setting the max. fan speed to kick in at 75°C, I have not had a black screen again. Haven't tried any other games, but still, seems to work MUCH BETTER, than before.

BUT - It's still not acceptable for a 2500 € Notebook.

My logicboard was changed within 24h hours. 🙂 The Service Provider ordered a new one! In my first test it was not possible to get the "Black Screen of Death". 😉

I will make more tests in the evening.

Now my MacBook Pro has the old firmware again in the flash, but it seems the 9600M GT is no more faulty. I hope I can make all firmware updates and it will run again without a problem.

Everyone who ever got a "Black Screen of Death" should change the Logicboard!
Only with a faulty 9600M GT you will get this BSoD, it has nothing todo with cooling...

Hi everyone,

After following this thread for a while now I decided to share my experience with my new macbook pro that is unfortunately pretty the same than all of you.

In november 2008 I bought the 2.53Ghz version of the macbook pro for something like 2800$. As I am a quite enthusiast gamer I quickly decided to install a windows XP on a native (?) bootcamp partition. Then I decided to start a 3dmark benchmark from windows in order to see what will be the performance indice of this laptop. The first time I ran the test, the laptop went very hot but it could reach the end of the test (for you information the result was quite bad 4950). I decided to change some settings in the test and launched it again. This time the test crashed in the middle and I saw my first BSOD !

At this stage I said well the behavior of the laptop is quite strange but I thought it was maybe an incompatibility with 3dmark and windows ... Its amazing how we can be stupid when we still have some hope. So I started some windows game to test the laptop like planetside, warhammer online and got everytime a BSOD in less than 10 minutes.

Before the crash the laptop is so hot that you can easily cook an egg on it !!! After a few googling on the web I finally arrived on this forum and unfortunately found that they were no solution for this issue and that Apple preferred remaining quiet.

Next step was to send my laptop back to the horrible technical staff where I bought my computer. After three weeks testing my computer by playing a DIVX (!!!), one genius there called me to say that my laptop was running fine and not over heating at all. I told him to launch a game and BAM he discovered the BSOD. After a few minutes of discussion he more or less admitted that this behavior wasn't normal and he changed my motherboard.

One more week later I finally received by computer back with two new issues: my F10 key was not working anymore and the computer was not able to get information on the system like the serial number anymore. Something probably went wrong when changing the motherboard. Now I really have no more doubt about how bad these technicians are ...

Before sending the laptop back to my shop to repair their mistake, I tested it with 3dmark once but noticed no BSOD. Today I am in a situation where I feel cheated by paying so much for a "high end" computer that most probably has a hardware conception issue. Even if Apple decide to be responsible by speaking with their customers about this issue, I am afraid that nothing will be really possible to correct as the fans seems to be clearly not adapted to really cool down such a powerful graphic card.

I just hope I am wrong

Hi ourawomba,

The fans are actually perfectly fine for the graphics card, they are simply not working in a large amount of MBP's (in fact, every one I have tested - over 20...)

I've mentioned before there is an issue with the SMC unit which controls the fans in that, once you power off or sleep the computer the fans will not rise above the default 2000rpm until the unit gets dangerously hot (over 110 degrees C), by which time the MBP will most likely BSOD.

Simply performing an SMC reset (hold the power button in for 10 seconds whilst unplugged and with the battery out) will make the unit work correctly again until the next shut down.

Running software called 'Fan Control', or alternatively 'SMC Fan Control', will eliminate this issue, although I agree it is a temporary workaround - my own data on this issue is being scrutinized by Apple as we speak.

For those who don't know - Fan control works well in OSX, as it speeds up the fan in response to a rise in temperature (which is what the MBP should do anyway). This won't work in Bootcamp though, so you will have to enter Activity monitor, kill the Fan Control Daemon process and run SMC Fan control. Any setting you create in SMC Fan control will remain through a restart, so it is best to set your fans high (5-6000rpm), reboot into Xp or Vista and game away. No more BSOD.

Fan Control is here: http://www.lobotomo.com/products/FanControl/
SMC Fan Control is here: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/31029

Hope that helps - I believe this is not a case of dodgy NVIDIA chips this time around as some are wondering, but simply a thermal control issue. Having your logic board replaced may not solve it - as I said above, I have tested this on a large number of machines with identical results.

Oh, and I forgot to mention - my last replacement worked fine for a few days, and I thought the issue was fixed, but suddenly the fans stopped functioning with no warning, which is why when you get a logic board change or replacement everything may seem ok, but keep an eye on your temperatures until you are sure!

Message was edited by: david waddington

THANK YOU APPLE! 🙂 LogicBoard was changed and now the MacBook Pro is running perfectly. Just played 5 hours Fallout 3 without the "Black Screen of Death".

Fans are working fine. Now I am happy! 😉

I'll give it a week 😉
Although I'd really love to be wrong and hoppe your system is truly fixed - keep an eye on your temps, and good luck.

Fourth update here. Been having the black screen consistently now in TF2 in XP. Previously thought turning off antialiasing did the trick, but no go, problem came back. What I have found is that if I let the machine 'warm up,' to the point where the fans kick in but not hot enough to cause the black screen, then I can play for hours straight, no problems. The way I do this is run Speedfan to track the temps, launch TF2, then toggle out of TF2 to Speedfan and back until the fans spin up. This takes a good 3-5 minutes usually, sometimes longer. Pretty lame, but works for me. If I don't toggle out of TF2, temps will hit 95-105c and poof, black screen.

Tonight I tried the SMC reset trick suggested above, and lo and behold, fans IMMEDIATELY spun up after launching TF2 and no black screen. Tracked the temps, never got hotter than 82c. Haven't had a chance yet to restart and see if the problem comes back as has been suggested.

So fingers still crossed that a firmware upgrade can solve this.. for now, I'm still playing the waiting game until Apple actually acknowledges the issue and comes up with a fix.

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing this very interesting information. I will try it as soon as I get my computer back from reparation.

What tool do you use to monitor the graphic card temperature under windows and mac OSX ?

++

Pascal

"Black Screen of Death" is no software or heat or fan problem!!!

"Black Screen of Death" only appears with a faulty 9600M GT chip!!!

In the past I was unable to play FALLOUT 3 under XP SP3. With the same drivers (181.22) and no changes on the system it is now working perfectly.

A please to everyone, do not spread any rumors about firmware or so, if you have the "Black Screen of Death" just swap the LogicBoard and hope that you will get one with a working 9600M GT.

It is a shame for NVIDIA delivering such bad quality and it is a shame for Apple that they do not play highend games for quality check. 🙂