MacBook Pro (2010) Freeze

I recently got a Macbook Pro 15" i7 with the standard display. Over the last couple of weeks i have encountered the following issues when running OS X 10.6.6 downloaded via Software Update from either 10.6.3 or 10.6.4 provided with DVD.

1. MBP freezes with loss of mouse pointer and no keyboard functionality. Required forced shutdown to resolve. Though i only experienced this once.
2. Random clicking noise coming from HD. Every 10 to 30 minutes between clicks.
3. Beach ball when moving when moving between application, web browsing, and some moderateky processor intensive tasks.

The three symptoms have been described in multiple threads i have read during this time. Based on this, i experimented with turning off Automatic Graphic Switching and putting HD to sleep where possible. These did not make a significant difference.

Tonight however i tried the following:

1. Backed up MBP via time machine
2. Repaired permissions via Onyx
3. installed OS X 10.6.6 Combo update downloaded from the Apple website.
4. Restart.
5. Verified file structure, verified permissions, and ran daily/weekly/monthly maintenance.
6. Restart.

Though almost too early to say whether this actually did anything an hour in, at this point in time it has resolved the issues described above.

Just wanted to put my 2c out there.

cvf2011 wrote:
2. Random clicking noise coming from HD. Every 10 to 30 minutes between clicks.

This may be normal, depending on the nature of the click noise and the make of the drive (some drives make quite noticable clicking sounds when going to sleep or waking up).

3. Beach ball when moving when moving between application, web browsing, and some moderateky processor intensive tasks.

This may simply be due to insufficient RAM. For instance, Safari is an incredible memory hog, and if you don't restart it every now and then, it will eventually allocate too much RAM and your machine will start swapping, which typically will give you "beach ball behaviour" when switching between applications. My current Safari process has run for 7 days, and has already allocated 2.3GB RAM - and I'm even avoiding most flash sites (through ClickToFlash).

jtweezy wrote:
10.6.6 (software update AND combo update from 10.6.4) - freezing/crashing
10.6.6 (installed by Apple techs @ Apple Store) - no freezing/crashing

That's really interesting. Maybe the latter is a more recent build? 10.6.7 may have changes in the graphics drivers, according to http://www.macrumors.com/2011/02/02/mac-os-x-10-6-7-build-10j850-seeded-to-devel opers/

Which build number does your AppleStore-installed 10.6.6 have? Mine (updated via SU) has 10J567. To find yours, choose About this Mac from the Apple menu, and click once on the version number (i.e. on 10.6.6).

Espen Vestre wrote:
Which build number does your AppleStore-installed 10.6.6 have? Mine (updated via SU) has 10J567. To find yours, choose About this Mac from the Apple menu, and click once on the version number (i.e. on 10.6.6).

My build is the same as yours.

I recently have had the same issues that have been posted. I contacted phone support and they have sent me the link to reset my NVRAM or PRAM. Maybe try this first and see how it goes. You can't lose information other than resetting your resolution, clock and possibly your speakers. I did it and it helped and i didn't have to reset anything.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1895

I think it's because of the nVidia graphics card. I have a tool ; gfxCardStatus where I can switch on or off the graphics card i'm using. And it only happens randomly when I'm using the nVidia card .. it has néver happened when I was using the Intel card ....... ?

I used to use gfxCardStatus but stopped because I was able to reproduce the bug fairly reliably when it was in use. Didn't seem to matter how gfxCardStatus was setup, it would always eventually produce the freeze. I have seen it happen when using gfxCardStatus to force the machine to always use the integrated intel card.

I have not seen the freeze occur after discontinuing use of gfxCardStatus and removing it. Of course your mileage my vary but this fix works for me.

When I was experiencing the freezing I was using gfxCardStatus and had my card locked in Intel mode...it still froze on me. I'm running it now and I'm not experiencing any freezing...it's been almost a month since Apple wiped and installed 10.6.6 for me.

Obviously differing experiences, but just wanted to throw it out there that I was able to use gfxCardStatus without freezing and also had it locked in Intel mode and still got freezes.

I really think it's software related...like 3rd-party software related. It's just hard to narrow down among the hundreds of people here what software is causing it.

I reported my problems some pages ago. just wanted to ask if anyone else experienced the freezing coming with a black screen? I wiped my system 2 days ago. Then I started Photoshop and after 5 minutes I get the same problem: black screen, no response but macbook is still running. These hard reboots can´t be good.

datoff wrote:
I reported my problems some pages ago. just wanted to ask if anyone else experienced the freezing coming with a black screen? I wiped my system 2 days ago. Then I started Photoshop and after 5 minutes I get the same problem: black screen, no response but macbook is still running. These hard reboots can´t be good.

I experienced it a few times. The majority of the time the screen was still on, but on a few occasions the screen would go black. Then there were other times when it happened after the laptop went to sleep so it just never woke back up.

Yet another person chiming in. Mine goes blank about once every 2 to 3 weeks. KP showing:

Backtrace continues...
Kernel Extensions in backtrace (with dependencies):
com.apple.GeForce(6.2.6)@0x81fd5000->0x8208afff
dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(6.2.6)@0x82adf000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.2)@0x82613000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x7a63e000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.2)@0x8265a000
com.apple.nvidia.nv50hal(6.2.6)@0x83244000->0x83658fff
dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(6.2.6)@0x82adf000
com.apple.NVDAResman(6.2.6)@0x82adf000->0x82dccfff
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6)@0x7a63e000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.2)@0x82613000
dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.2)@0x8265a000

You know for $2500 plus another $350 for AppleCare you think they could offer slightly better customer service then "Take it to an AppleStore". Sorry but I don't have hours (or weeks if sent in) to waste because you sold me a faulty product.

Next time I'll build a Hackintosh.

I have had the same issues too. Though I do not have an external monitor. I've had my MBP for 2 days and several programs have crashed including Software Update and Firefox. I'm never running more than one or two simple programs like Firefox and Adium when it crashes.

Is the problem with the update? Or is the problem with something internally?

Hi I had the same issue:

I have a MBP i7 15"
The system would freeze whenever I used a program that switch to the advanced graphics card or whenever I turned off the auto graphic switching in the preferences pane. It was a 100% reproducible, so I took it to the Genius Bar. The tech said it was the first time he saw this issue. I guess it's not so frequent as it seems in the forum. The solution was basically to replace the logic board, which contains the graphics card. It was just a hardware fix which was covered on my applecare plan. Now my system runs perfectly.

A fairly reliable way for me to reproduce this freeze was to use gfxcardstatus (or be plugged into an ac adapter while automatic graphic switching was enabled) to force the nvidia chip to be used, and then use parallels with windows 7, windows 2008 r2 server trial, or ubuntu. I mostly tested this using the resume feature, not a fresh boot into the guest os. Also acceptable would be the occasional 3d game like minecraft while matching the above conditions. Starting minecraft would produce the freeze, nothing special required.

It's most certainly an issue with the nvidia 330m, doing any of the above with the intel onboard used will NOT produce any error. I'm looking forward to a day when this gets fixed so I can stop having to purposely cripple my macbook pro with gfxcardstatus so I won't have to deal with random freezes from 3d acceleration.

Hope this helps others reproduce the problem.

I can reproduce the error every time running a Windows Experience Index test from Windows 7 (Ultimate 64bit). I am bringing mine to the genius bar tonight...A virtual solution like parallels doesn't get it done for me...is there no workaround using bootcamp?