MacBook Pro (2010) Freeze

I scheduled a genius bar appointment. I gave them the issue number that Apple released for it (ts4088). They looked it up and at first said that Apple Care would have to fix it, but after looking again, said they could.

Hi everyone,

I thought I would share my experience with Apple and this whole scenario. Like all of you I had the same issue with my MBP mid-2010 15" i5, the usual, failed login, bsod, random crashing, the lot. I put up with it for ages thinking Apple would release a update and it would solve it (it all started after I upgraded to Lion), that didnt happen so last week I decided to take it to Apple store Reading (UK).

After Apple having my laptop for a week, some terrible customer service from their staff, resolved once I got a manager involved, I have had the logic board and a "Bracket, Front Hard Drive, with IR / Sleep / HD cable" replaced. Once home the EFI update popped up so installed that, and I (fingers crossed) haven't had any issues since!!

Luckily I bought my laptop with a 3 year warranty, if I didnt have that it would of cost £336! Less than a year ago the screen went yellow, that would of cost £331, so currently at a rate of two major components needing replacement a year!! This is my first major Apple product and I am not impressed, after the warranty expires I dont think I can validate buying a product in the future, if it needs nearly nearly £700 in repairs a year!!

Perhaps im just not having much luck but so far not impressed with it at all.

@creat: Thanks for the response. My computer dies without kernel panic logs, it just freezes and there is nothing but holding the power button that will bring it back to life.

I did install all the Apple updates and am running Lion. I didn't try gfxCardStatus, but I did try disabling the video card switching in System Preferences. I could try gfxCardStatus, but that would mean that I wouldn't be able to use my dedicated video, which is the reason why I have a MacBook Pro.

What's really upsetting is that my computer worked fine until Apple put the new logic board in, and it had started happening as soon as they did. When I first went back to the store, but they said there is nothing wrong with the computer. Now that the 90 days warranty is over, the store told me call Apple Care, and Apple Care told me that the 90 days are over and there's nothing they can do for me. Nice, eh? 😟

I'm not sure if I should get another logic board for $700 (again), or just give up and save up for a new computer. Thoughts?

I installed Lion and, coincidentally, my hard drive died around that timeframe. AppleCare replaced the drive and put in a new logic board too - the work order says it was due to failure of the laptop's audio system, but I suspect that's just because audio starts with "A" and was the first item in the dropdown list for reasons for replacement and the tech working on my machine didn't bother scrolling down to "G" for graphics card. Anyway, as soon as I got my machine back I started getting the black screen crashes. I don't know if it is because I would have had it anyway, having just updated to Lion but not long enough to really experience any problems, or because of the new logic board. Anyway, I implemented the gfxCardStatus trick and waited for a firmware update. The update came, I applied it, and the problem went away. But then, after some months with no problem, bam, the black screen freezes came back. I don't recall if there was a system update at the time - maybe I went to 10.7.2 or 10.7.3 and the problem started back. I'm at 10.7.4 now and the problem persists. What stinks is that the gfxCardStatus trick doesn't work any more. I set it to integrated or discrete - but either way, bam, machine randomly goes to black screen. I get the same entries in the panic log file pointing back to the NVIDIA card. I know I should take the machine in to have it looked at, but a) it stinks to be without my MBP for a week, because it is my primary work machine, and b) I question whether or not a new logic board will actually fix the problem - replacing a defective graphics card with a graphics card that is known to have defects doesn't inspire my confidence, and while I don't know for sure that that is what they'll do (perhaps NVIDIA revved the card on later S/N logic boards to resolve the problem), I also don't know that they won't do that (and reading other posts here, and given my own experience with having the logic board replaced once, it sounds like there is a good chance of the latter happening).

Sorry been a while since I've checked this post, I HOPE by now your problem is resolved. The problem I was originally referring too was for my specific model Macbook Pro which is the Macbook Pro 6,2 (i7 2.66) - It has 2 video cards; On-Board Intel Video and NVidia 512MB Video. From what I understand this problem is specific to these MacBook Pro's. If it makes you feel any better as of today completely UPDATED Lion to 10.7.4 and if I try to use the graphics switching I STILL GET the pinwheel! Hope your issue is resolved!

I don't think I posted this correctly - but new updates have come out since I first posted the issue I was having with my MacBook Pro i7 2.66 (15-inch). Since I was told by another Certified Apple repair shop to not use the Graphics Switching until the problem is resolved I have not had any issue's. My Graphic Switching Options has not been checked and I've been using nothing but the NVidia since I've owned the laptop. Since there have been a few updates in Lion and I even found on the apple site a video update for my model Macbook Pro I decided to Check Graphic Switching and give it a shot.

-Current Config: Mac OS X 10.7.4 - i7 2.66Ghz 8GiG Ram - 240gb Intel SSD

-Checked Graphic Switching

-Unplugged Magsafe - so laptop is on just battery

-Restarted the MBP

-Booted up to the Login Screen - I clicked on my user account and typed in my password and DID NOT PRESS ENTER YET...

-After I entered the PW I waited about 5 seconds because this is when it use to either Panic or endless pinwheel on me.

-After 5-10seconds it went into the pinwheel and that was that. 😟

-I rebooted again and logged in right away and then I got a Panic Error that was sent to apple and so on.

-Plugged it back in and rebooted and I was back using the NVidia card and it's no longer locking up.

-I never used this on Snow Leopard so I don't know how it ran on that...but I'm thinking it might be a hardware issue at this point.

--Is anyone else who has had this same issue with the same model Macbook Pro (6,2) resolved???

--Final Note- I did purchase the extended Apple Care, so I may end up finally making an appointment with them so that if it is hardware it gets repaired or replaced before my AC runs out.

i had some sluggish work and some beach balls for few seconds before, i thought its a software problem (e.g like windows that when you use for several moths it become slower) i used apps like iboostup and cc cleaner and it become better, and i did the clean installation on lion. after they roled out the mountain lion beta, i installed it to see how it is, but unfortunately i installed it on my lion and since the recovery updated to 10.8 i cant go back to 10.7 anymore.

since i installed mountain lion the problem become worse, and by using more the problem become worse again.

first it was just sluggish working and slow oppening and closing apps. but now it become like freezing 4-5 times a day (which everything freezez the mouse moves but can not click on anything, after 10-20 second my screen become chaotic and all the windows has several borders, etc. so i have to hold the power button to shutdown and start it again), my mbp become very hot, my fan is working most of the time. first i thought its because of the beta version but now after searching on google i found out that my previous problems and this new problem was all related to hardware 😟 because the problems ive read here was the same as mine 😟

by the way the problem become worse by using Google chrome, and for example playing a youtube video and using yahoo msngr at the same time.
if anyone found a software solution plz plz plz inform others.

regards

macbook pro 15" mid 2010 2.4Ghz core i5

Not sure if this has anything to do with the problems your having, but since the whole ViRii scare with MACS now I decided to install Avast just for a little extra added protection. I was working fine for a while, never had any problems and didn't notice any performance change until a couple of weeks ago. So out of the blue meaning no new updates or installs, my MBP started taking forever to boot! I installed a SSD drive so my boot time is like 8seconds now and then all of a sudden it took about minute 38seconds! After checking the usual suspects I decided to completely uninstall AVAST and then rebooted. Booted in 8seconds and it was back to running like a champ! I still can't run my MBP using the intel video vs. the Nvidia video without it freezing on me 😟. If i still have this problem once Mountain Lion is released I'll then take it in to Apple and have them check it out. I've been a PC Tech for 15 years and even though I'm not a MAC Expect, there are still certain troubleshooting guidelines that you follow no matter what your working on. I've done it all and it's either Hardware or software (obviously it's always one or the other) I did a CLEAN install of Lion, installed ALL NEW RAM, and it will still randomly freeze when I attempt to run it using the intel video. The only thing I have NOT tried, was installing Snow Leopard fresh to see how it runs on that, I don't plan on it either. I'm just going to wait for Mountain Lion and see what happens then. Good luck!

i think my problem is to some extent the same.

because the symptoms are the same as others.

but really my mac has problem with google chrome.

e.g. im working with safari it shows i have 1:20 battery life, when i start chrome, macbook become warmer, switches to NVIDIA, battery life goes down to 00:50, and newly freezes. google chrome shouldnt make the graphic card switch to NVIDIA.

anyway, i hope they give out mountain lion in wwdc. so i install the original version, and hope my problems go back to only a little sluggish.

good luck

Hi Guys! My first time on one of these forums.

Bought my Macbook Pro 17in MC024x/A product in 2010. Have had most of my Freezing problems mainly when I try to upload a photo file on Deviant Art which is a website similar to Flickr. It has major trouble uploading even one small file under 2mb in size. I have an old Toshiba notebook as well which is over 7 years old and on its last leg and it can upload faster and more than half dozen in a row than this so called "super" computer that cannot even manage one file. I have paid extra money for the Apple care Pro Protection extended warranty plan but am not quite sure my rights as to a replacement unit as the Mac is now nearly two years old. It is still under extended warranty but would they replace it now that I have had it for that long?

I have to say I am very unhappy with so much money I have spent. I have had two Toshiba Satelites before my Mac and have never had any issues with either. Will never go back to Mac's again. Very unacceptable for the money they cost. Had to take my one back 1 week after purchase as well because one of the keys on the board was stuck.

Regards, Grace.

Why did I let my college talk me into buying a mac?

Using a Macbook Pro with NVIDIA GeForce 9400M/9600M, i got some video artefacts under 10.7 but few crashes.

Using 10.8 this evening, it crashes very (very) often.

With the 9600, the Mac is frozen almost immediatly. With the 9400, I hope to write you this message completely.

So there's probably a hardware problem but I will have to go back to the previous OS to "solve" it as there's no true solution given by Apple.

Well, to me (MBP i5 2.4GHz Mid 2010) 10.8 solved every crash i had with 10.7 that was more than once a day with Lion, been using 10.8 since DP3, not once my mac froze or crashed since then.

Yeah, exactly what happened to me, since 10.8 my problem has gone 🙂

Taking back incompatible drivers for Geforce from 10.7 to 10.8 and it doesn't seem to crash anymore, but it's like having no optimized video driver… ********.