Level 1

17 points

MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

Overheat? The fans revved and suddenly I could use nothing but the cursor. Had to hold down the power switch to kill all and then re-power & startup. I wasn't doing anything unusual, but I had 7 apps open and was amid an auto-backup to TimeMachine.

Just a little disillusioned and concerned, wondering if anyone else there has experienced a hard freeze like this.

macbook pro 17" 2011, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 1, 2011 11:15 AM

2,292 replies

ppxb

Level 1

0 points

Mar 18, 2014 1:36 PM in response to Rensoom

Maybe a few words on this topic from my side, too: I reballed the GPU, reflowed it, changed it against a completely *new* AMD Radeon chipset - nothing helped. But there is some kind of hope for you (even if it's not with the OS we all love). Do it like me and install Ubuntu on it. This way you have a fully working laptop (without the possibility to connect external monitors of course). But my intention only was not to feel *that* bad throwing away 2,5k euro hardware after 1,5 years. This way you would at least have some kind of consolation and application for your (dead) MBPs...

Here is mine (only for those who believe it's not possible):

Everything (except for external monitors) works extremely well with the newest Ubuntu 13.10. If somebody is interested in doing this, I could post a little how to.

REMARK: Please let me get this straight. This guide would be only for those of us who completely gave up on hoping for Apple accepting the AMD issue and providing exchange. I love OS X, too, and would like to use it on my MBP as well. But this way you could have at least a bit more than expensive rubbish on your desk. This was the only intention behind my Ubuntu installation approach. Don't read my post as linux recommendation, rather read it as the words of somebody who is completely disappointed of Apple and their after sales support...

rdbrwn

Level 1

14 points

May 16, 2014 9:16 AM in response to Rensoom

So, finally I got my MBP e2011 from pro repair shop (not Apple). They replaced faulty GPU chip with a new one and now it seems, that computer works again. GPU was reballed with lead solder in October 2013, but after one month symptoms came back. I was advised (from repair shop, that made me reballing) to replace GPU chip, just for the price of a new AMD Radeon 6750m, that was 30€ and shipping back from Germany to Slovenia.

I am still figuring out under which OS (SL or Mav.) my MBP will last longer with a new chip. There are some differences between those two OS, how they are switching between integrated and discrete graphics. Any your experiences are welcome to share with me 😉

I also use Macs Fan Control app to control fans when to kick in.

I will still follow this thread and inform you if I will have graphic crashes again, but so far so good (two days now from repair).

This picture is a render from ACAD (1600x1200p). Before the GPU replacement, I was not able to produce this task without a graphic crash, white, gray, blue stripes, shifted screen picture etc. It looks now that i am able to do these tasks again.

*************

saxas

Level 1

25 points

Mar 9, 2011 4:26 PM in response to matthewadams

It would not hurt you to have it looked at if you are experiencing random crashes, lockups, or even complete shut downs of the system.

I was experiencing similar type issues with my brand new 2.2 GHz 15" Macbook Pro that I received just 2 days ago; after some troubleshooting over the phone and taking quite a few suggestions from users here on the discussions, I decided to take a trip over to my local Apple store's Genius Bar.

They determined there that my Macbook Pro has a Logic Board failure. (Higher numbered unexpected shutdown codes in the Console Logs and Diagnostics that state hardware failure(s), to be specific.)

source: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2775930&tstart=0

Mar 10, 2011 4:05 PM in response to Rensoom

Here is a collection of the mess. Apple threads, MacNN forums, WoW, EVE, Steam....

I mean really apple, really???

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2764570&tstart=0

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2768351&tstart=0

http://forums.macnn.com/69/mac-notebooks/435033/macbook-pro-thunderbolt-new-vide o-driver/

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2140185519

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1774543

http://www.eveonline.com/ingameboard.asp?a=topic&threadID=1480044

Mar 10, 2011 7:17 PM in response to Rensoom

Just a reminder: any time you have to do a hard shutdown (holding the power button down to power off), you need to repair the hard drive by starting up from the Mac OS DVD and running Repair Disk or by starting up in Safe Mode. (This will take quite awhile longer than a normal startup because it does a file check and repair of the hard disk, the same as though you had used the Install disc.)

You will see your normal desktop. Once the hard drive has been repair via the OS Install disc's Disk Utility or Safe Mode, restart normally, and go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Select the named boot volume in the left sidebar ("Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it). Repair permissions on it.

There is a chance that at least some of you will not experience repeated system freezes if you do hard disk repair after the first one.

Good luck.

Mar 15, 2011 5:47 AM in response to invasiveIrenics

There appear to be several issues with these 2011 machines.

My earlier posts in this thread detailed complete freezes and partial freezes (mouse movement but OS UI not responding to anything),

twice when switching out of a running game, Bio Shock
3 times when running handbrake to encode video,

and now several kernel panics (5 last night within 30 minutes of each other - including once, immediately after OS boot/login - no applications running).

The culprit in this instance was iPhone 4 tethering via USB because after disconnecting the tethered iPhone the kernal panics stopped.

See here:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=13221341#13221341

Mar 18, 2011 9:02 PM in response to loganyc

loganyc

I don't believe there is a resolution to this issue yet. I've got a new replacement computer on the way. The first thing I'm going to do with it is run this test:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13219904#13219904

It's quick, easy, and consistently froze my last computer. I know this thread is long but take the time to read through it. Afterward, I doubt you'll say it's about After Effects. If I had to summarize what's here I'd say it's about: Freezing that results from automated switching to the AMD GPU by the OS followed most times by running CPU intensive applications.

Sorry but unless a firmware or driver has been released in the last 8 hours, there is no quick fix for this.

Mar 19, 2011 8:04 PM in response to Chullo

All the new machines at the store? I was under the impression that there were folks whose computers were actually working. I thought it was much more systemic, but I had no idea it was this bad. Since they took my machine to "learn" about the problem, I sent the representative dealing with my case the email below today. Now I think I should have worded it more strongly.

---

Hey Liz,

Don't worry, I'm not emailing you to harass you folks about the
replacement. It's on the way, and I'm sure everyone is struggling with
this.

I should tell you that I ordered my original computer the day (or the
day after) the new machines were announced back in February. I mention
this because I'm thinking this issue may not be isolated, and I may be
at the front of a much larger group. The folks on the forum may
represent a statistically irrelevant subset of the customers (as was
intimated by one of the support folks over the phone), but the
experiences of people like fellow who currently has three different
laptops that are freezing (among other issues):

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13248189#13248189

others who are reporting similar issues with their replacements, and
the increase in people reporting problems these last few days would
suggest this problem is a little more widespread.

Mar 20, 2011 6:18 AM in response to sammcj2000

Hey Madhat,

The issue appears to be freezing of the interface only. If you go back through the thread you'll see many folks have reported audio continuing to play as well as being able to ssh into the frozen machines. If you are having trouble reproducing the problem, reenable graphics switching and look at the following posting:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13219904#13219904

Using the steps outlined there I was able to recreate the problem consistently and rather quickly (within at least 20 minutes).

Mar 20, 2011 7:36 AM in response to jezzy514

Jezzy,

Here's my best distillation of this thread:

To reproduce the error, this seems to work for most folks, and it's what I told the support folks to do when they got my computer at the support place:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13219904#13219904

You need to call Apple. They will make you go through some standard stuff. If you want, you can do this before you call so you can jump through those hoops faster. Here is a list of what they will ask you to do:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13214356#13214356

Try to be polite to the support guy on the other end, because he's got no control over this. Describe your problem as follows:

The interface freezes but things seem to work in the background.

Lastly, this post will tell you how to get a system that is stable enough to get work done. Try doing what it says and see if that helps for now.

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13251758#13251758

Good luck
John

Mar 20, 2011 7:39 AM in response to operaman1

operaman,

This worked consistently for me, and the longest it took was about 20 minutes. I think you'll agree that this isn't really pushing this system that hard:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13219904#13219904

Mar 20, 2011 8:39 AM in response to Ghostwheel

Chris,

Don't take this the wrong way, but you sir are recreating the wheel here. This is a temporary fix that others have reported success with:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13251758#13251758

John

Mar 20, 2011 9:56 AM in response to chughster

Hey Chughster,

Here is someone with a 13" one that seems to be experiencing the problem:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2788946&tstart=30

Most folks here think it has something to do with switching between the integrated video and the AMD chipset, but I don't think the 13" ones have that option though.

Mar 20, 2011 10:26 AM in response to ruckc

ruckc

Try this:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13219904#13219904

You don't have to reinstall, just boot it up fresh and run the photobooth and debian ports boost install.

Mar 20, 2011 12:24 PM in response to ruckc

Have you tried to explicitly disable the discrete mode as detailed here?

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13251758#13251758

And then tried to lock it up with VMWare and what not?

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze