Q: MacBook Pro (2010) Freeze

It just died again!!! Just 2 mins after turning the discret graphics on... wow

I set up a vist last weekend for today. I told them about the crash reports in lion an snow. The guy looked up the ts4088 page and viewed my crash reports in the os logs. I also emailed him the old snow lep reports I had saved off. He did a video test, and of course it passed now since the lion patch. At first he said the could not do anything, but dug around on their old tech system on the Mac (not the iPad) and found a problem reporting number he could use for it. I checked it in for a Logic board replacement! I really hope it works.

I have had the same issue for the last few months with my 2010 MBP 15" i7 2.6 HR glossy (purchased in june2010).  Comouter would freeze often When GPU was taxed.  Any extended photoshop use would cause the blank screen freezing issue, as would doing many tasks when running windows 7 in bootcamp.  But it would also happen randomly in many other tasks.  Resetting nvram, running hardware tests all were useless.  Even replaced ram and hard drive with no luck. I originally thought I was stuck with a lemon and was going to be out of luck.

After finding this forum and the link to Apple finally owning up to the problem...

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4086

... I scheduled a genius bar appointment.  I had crash logs saved off and a copy of the above article printed out.  The genius was unaware of the issue, but luckily for me the computer failed the video test.  They are replacing the logic board free of charge.  (note I do not have apple care.... Coverage for this issue is covered for at least 2 years from date of purchase according to the article. )

Hopefully this takes care of the issue.  (I have heard some people stating they've had to replace it twice before they had their issue resolved.)Thanks to everyone for raising this issue up to Apple!

It is worthwhile to note that there may be multiple issues being expressed in this thread.

If your Mac freezes and/or flashes strange patterns, then you should find within Console a specific kernel panic:

NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0x2 = Fifo: SW Method Error

If you don't see this, then it seems to me you are experiencing a different issue.

It is also worthwhile to note that the above problem (NVDA kernel panic) will very likely not be solved by replacing the logicboard. I myself had my logicboad (MBP 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM mid-2009) replaced for free by Apple, but still experience the kernel as often as before the replacement.

The issue is related (obviously) to graphics card. If anyone can speak to this kernel panic specifically, then please post. Otherwise, consider carefully whether you are experiencing a kernel panic related to NVDA or something else entirely (that simply displays similar symptoms). If it is something else, then perhaps a seperate thread is in order.

I got my Mid 2010 15 back yesterday from the Apple Store.  The Logic board was replaced (under the TS extended warranty)  So far, no black screens with kernel panics. I have noticed the new board runs cooler and quieter during a 3d load and in general. I hope my troubles are over now.

BTW Jay, the 2010's never got the OpenGL error (not in any of my logs anyway) It was always a read error.

The freezing came back as soon as I had to take it into the service centre for the logic board replacement.

I was glad to have it replaced for free and it only took about an hour.

When I got it back it worked fine. It took less than a week (rarely used it during those days) to slow down and started to freeze randomly again. It is now worse than before. I can't even check my email.

My machine is also mid 2010 macbook pro 15", i7, 2.66 GHz. Running on Snow Leopard.

Thinking of ringing up Apple Support again tomorrow and figure out what to do.

This is beyond ridiculous. I've never had so much trouble with a machine before.

Well, I have had two whole days of no black screen. The logic board replacement just might have worked for me.

ScubaTodd

Hello

I wonder if you had to show the receipt of your Macbook before you had your computer fixed.

thanks for your answer in advance.

evrenSK wrote:

 

ScubaTodd

 

Hello

 

I wonder if you had to show the receipt of your Macbook before you had your computer fixed.

 

thanks for your answer in advance.

It helps to have it - but they should have your laptop's serial number on their system.

which means I dont need my receipt at all? because I think I lost it.

evrenSK wrote:

 

which means I dont need my receipt at all? because I think I lost it.

probably not - but you won't know unless you go to an apple store to check?

My laptop they picked up from their system. I just showed them it's broken - they checked the serial number against their system and they repaired it.

I brought my receipt but they never checked it.   If you bought the computer through Apple, it's a non-issue for sure.   However, they shouldn't require it anyway.  They should only have to verify that the serial number matches the type of mac that is covered under this warranty to perform the repair.   There are plenty of people that get computers as gifts, through re-sale, etc, where receipts aren't necessarily available. 

Good luck... hope they don't give you any trouble.

Hello

Thank you guys for answering my question attentively. The problem is that I live in Turkey and here there are just the resellers and their customer services which means having no receipt may cause a problem. But tomorrow I will take my mac to a maintenance service and see what happens.

After months of ice cold freezing I finally took my MBP to an authorized customer service... two times, cause at the first they just cleaned my notebook and told me it was okay. at the second time, they noticed the freezes and changed the logic board... it took one week, but now, after 24h of work with the nvidia (discrete) card plugged in an external monitor, i hope it has been fixed...

I recomend everyone to take your MBPs to make this change. If it s necessary two, three times. If the problem keep ocurring apple will probably make an official and big recall and change our equipment.