MacBook Pro (2010) Freeze

Can you let us know what steps you follow to replicate the issue? My freezes have been pretty much random and I am happy to test to see what happens when I follow your steps.

It has already been stated, that particular update does not fix this issue.

That would be correct in almost all cases. The difference I have observed depends on the last application started. I received my MBP 2010 on Friday and started noticing this as I took a backup after each install and update on my new machine.

At first I noticed the hang (sometimes with no response in the UI, sometimes the cursor switching to the beach ball) when there was a lot of activity on the hard drive. Then my first observation of the "screen freeze" was when I used the remote on my Apple TV and it started Front Row and the screen simply stayed black. The computer did not respond to any form of input and I simply shut it down. At this point I didn't realize the remote had started Front Row, so I thought the computer had frozen up. The second time this happened I realized it was Front Row starting and it the screen was black for about 15 minutes, for then to have navigated into the settings menu (based on me using the remote on the Apple TV) when it came back. The third time it responded to my hits on the escape key after about 10 minutes.

Later in the weekend, while continuing to install/transfer data/backup, I noticed this issue for real as I started programs to work while backup (and iDisk) was running. The symptoms observed on the screen depended on the last program started. I.e. starting Pages or Word gave the spinning beach ball. Sometimes in Safari the cursor seemed to have disappeared, but I observed at some point in text selection and not easily seen. iTunes and Aperture (trial) appeared to freeze the screen with no graphics in the content panels (i.e. albums or photos).

Based on these observations it is hard to say whether the screen freeze is an issue with the graphics card or the hard disk (include SATA interface), but the situational observations leads me to believe the root cause condition is related to congestion on the hard disk.

I am of course far from certain in my conclusion, but the issue has not appeared since I started the backups in the middle of the night. So, is my change in backup routines a workaround, or did something else change at the same time? I don't know, but am open to all avenues for this.

KR,

vonheim

I am aware of that response, but am hoping for more than a single data point.

I am especially eager to find out if the update has fixed the issue for at least some people, as there seems to be different variants and it is possible that the update might have fixed it for some.

For example, some people report having NVidia related errors in the console but I am seeing absolutely no logs pertinent to or that coincide with the freeze.

Is anyone having the freeze issue using a fixed IP address? I was having hangs (not freezes) and general beach ball madness until I changed from DHCP network settings to a fixed IP address. Since making that change I have had few if any hangs and WiFi performance has greatly improved.

That's all I've got. Hope it helps someone.

I posted a few posts back. Let me know if you can't find it.

I had today my third freeze in about 3 weeks. This time I waited to see if the laptop would come back to life. It didn't after waiting for 20 minutes, and so I forced a reboot.

Alex

I have my MBP from the beginning with fixed ip and i have the seam problem

I'm pretty sure that whichever issue you might have with a fixed IP address is not the same issue pertaining to this thread. A computer doesn't freeze for over 10 minutes because of a network connection. I'm also pretty sure people are experiencing the freezing issue with the AirPort turned off as well.

yeah no matter what i try it keeps freezing......i really doubt its an issue with your ip address....

Thinking_Different wrote:
Also, if the problem is fixed by downgrading to EFI 1.6, then the problem could be fixed with a software update.

The problem is not fixed with any Extensible Firmware Interface version change. The user who posted that was having an issue with a completely different revision of a MacBook Pro released last year.
Please note as of now there is no software fix available and Apple has not officially acknowledged the issue.

-SM

I was really looking forward to upgrading my PowerBook to a 17" i7 MBP, but this thread is causing me to delay.

Me as well.

has anyone tried the new update Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 2....did it solve the freezing issue with the i5 and i7 processors....im trying it now and will let everyone know how it goes...

why delay?
so few people out of all the purchasers of the new MBP's have this problem, and if you are one of the few, Apple will replace the HD, you just have to ask them and in some cases push a little.
From what some people have posted, the new HD fixes the issue.