MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

I'm reposting the link for gfxCardStatus since it has helped me immensely until Apple releases whatever update or patch is required. This software allows you to pick between integrated and discrete graphics and prevents the switching that seems to be at the heart of this problem.

http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus

I got a new 15" 2.2 Macbook Pro a few days ago and have the same issue and have a few points to add.

My machine will lock up when transitioning from periods of low CPU temps to high CPU temps. If I boot up a VM with some other processing running on OSX then its 50/50 that the system will lock up (no mouse / keyboard response). I have noticed that this seems to happen whenever the CPU hits over 90 degrees and the fans are below 6000rpm.

For example I just had a freeze with a CPU temp of 92 while the fans were still spooling up (they were around 4700 rpm on their way to 6200). Once the fans hit 6200 rpm the CPU can go over 90 degrees without any issues, I've had it running there for hours with the fans at max RPM without any freezing.

The issue seems to be isolated on my machine to rapid temperature spikes while the fans are still catching up. Once the machine has locked up I am able to see still updates coming through from iStat server on the machine (it locked up before I installed this - not the cause) so the kernel is still running, I bet I can still terminal to it if I had another box.

This sounds like a software / firmware issue so I'm reluctant to return the laptop as I've spent alot of time setting it up and it is a custom build. I've had some success preventing the issues by raising the min fan speed to 3000 using smcFanControl.

I'm going to do some further testing by getting rid of smcFanControl and resetting the SMC to see if that makes a difference.

Bit more testing;

Gor rid of smcFanControl and reset my SMC and PRAM. This seemed to help with the issues, I ran a couple of tests to see if I could still get it to hard lock. This involved booting a VM up, 4 terminal windows with yes > /dev/null, running SC2 in a window and loading up a bunch of apps.

The first couple of tests ran fine much to my surprise, was able to handle the load with the CPU spiking to oveo 90 and no issues. Keeping in mind that before doing this I was having issues just booting up a VM.

Upped the number of terminal windows to 6 and was able to reproduce the hard lock and also a couple of soft locks (could still move the mouse). So all in all getting rid of smcFanControl and doing the SMC/PRAM reset seemed to help alot. The issue was still there but I had to push the machine much, much harder to see it (well outside my typical usage scenario). Still the issue remains, anytime the CPU goes over 90 degrees, you've got a chance of it freezing up.

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.

Hi there,

I'm also having this issue.
If I do the following I always get a lockup.

1. Encode something in handbrake to get the cpu's all hot and maxed out.
2. Play a HD video in Quicktime X fullscreen (to kick in the ATI gfx card).
3. Exit out of the Video.
4. Bam- macbook pro is locked up.

Give it a go, this frezzes mine everytime. If you get the same please ring Apple. The more people report this the sooner they will fix it.

Regards,
Simon

SimonPickard wrote:
Hi there,

I'm also having this issue.
If I do the following I always get a lockup.

1. Encode something in handbrake to get the cpu's all hot and maxed out.
2. Play a HD video in Quicktime X fullscreen (to kick in the ATI gfx card).
3. Exit out of the Video.
4. Bam- macbook pro is locked up.

Give it a go, this frezzes mine everytime. If you get the same please ring Apple. The more people report this the sooner they will fix it.

Regards,
Simon

For some reason doing what you suggested doesn't freeze my computer, and I even ran the Handbrake encode while watching a 1080p movie fullscreen. However, I don't know how the HD video you watched was encoded, so that could be the difference. Regardless, mine freezes up consistently if I run the boost compilation (as John linked to above) -- but that's the only type of freeze I've run into.

Still, I think there's a firmware/driver problem with the ATI video card, so we'll just have to wait until Apple releases a firmware/driver update before this gets fixed.

I also get a freeze up if I'm running handbreak and then play C&V Zero Hour for a while. Only when I exit out of the game.

Seems to be a problem when the Mac tries to go from the ATI back to the Intel gfx card to me.
I rang Applecare here in Sydney and explained this. Went through all the normal tests / reinstall, scm reboot, etc. The guy I spoke to advised that I should return it before the 14days are up and wait to hear about a fix before buying again. He said that I was the first person he'd spoken to with this issue and as far as he knew no fix was being worked on. 😟

So for me.. I'm going to wait a few days. If I don't hear of a fix coming I'm returning. The last thing I want is a $3000 laptop that "hopefully" will get a firmware fix. 😟

Regards,
Simon

Well.. gfxCardStatus seemed to temporarily resolve the problem to stave off the baseball bat to the screen until a fix. It lasted for days even. Finally choked.. again.

Running: WoW, QT movie, Parallels - Win7, Safari, iTunes, Transmission (1 file) and maybe some other things.

It just doesn't work.

Sadly mine is BTO so I'll be stuck with it for quite a while longer. People have posted that their "new" machines are doing it as well... so... I'ma just go chill and not type something to get banned by :P

Calling support as soon as they open.

Yes many problem is in the mc723 15", today i use imovie for make some clips to be one clip... But 5x tes freeze and mouse cant move... I kill with press power button!!!! Wow!! This must be amazing work of steve jobs!!! AMAZING JOBS!!! YOU DONE IT!!! YOU BUILD NEW MACBOOK PRO WIT VERY SLOW AMD RADEON 6750 AND CAN FREEZE ALL OF THE TIME!!! GOOD JOB!

I WANT TO SELL MY MC723 (I BOUGHT 3 DAYS AGO) WITH MONEY IDR 21.950.000 ( US$ 2.200 ) AND I MUST SELL IT WITH LOW PRICE!!! GOOD JOB

I too am having this problem, though I can ssh into my box. Since it kicked in when I ran KeyShot2 (opengl), my hunch is that it is graphics card related. In fact, I'm tempted to believe that its switched rendering to the other graphics card, but continues to display the first.

So honestly guys, what do you think the chances are of getting this issue fixed with a firmware / drive update are?

I love the machine- very powerful. A great update. I just want it to be stable.

Regards,
Simon

Definitely not a switching prob at this point because a lot of us are forcing one or the other. Mine locks-up with AMD forced. Haven't tried running integrated forced as I'd like to not poke my eyes out with a fork.

As for a firmware/driver fix.... one can only hope at this point. Just have to wait for Apple to finally say. May be a month or more. I just can't understand how media blogs/outlets are not running with it.

jbriant wrote:
I too am having this problem, though I can ssh into my box. Since it kicked in when I ran KeyShot2 (opengl), my hunch is that it is graphics card related. In fact, I'm tempted to believe that its switched rendering to the other graphics card, but continues to display the first.

This is an interesting theory.
I've read about excessive thermal paste found by ifixit. They said, +"Holy thermal paste! Time will tell if the gobs of thermal paste applied to the CPU and GPU will cause overheating issues down the road".+
I've experienced several lockups, some with racing fans and some without. Most of them happened upon waking from sleeping overnight or connecting/disconnecting a display. Some have happened when connecting or disconnecting USB keyboard/keypad though.
If this is as you suggest, I am even more concerned because I have automatic graphics switching turned off. It was one of the first things I did even before transferring apps. So maybe it's the AMD graphics chipset/driver that is the problem.
I've stopped Mac Scan's nightly scanning. Since then the MBP has been responsive in the morning. I have also stopped using my Logitech G-13. I disconnected this yesterday and have not seen a lockup since. I run VMware daily (even some lightweight compiling) and have been watching video (iTunes, Hulu & Netflix) and playing dragon age 2 with no problems...

I'm going to run some CPU-intensive ops to see what happens. I'm planning to boot in single-user mode to do this. That should exclude graphics switching and all but the basic driver. I'll post details if I can repro in single-user mode.

yes Rensoom I experience the same freeze situation. I noticed that in the most cases it happens starting heavy activities like rendering some huge 3d scenes in vue 9 xstream or cinema 4d. IMHO this is not a real freeze because the mouse pointer is fully responsive. It seems more an OS related issue. 😟

My problems begun on day three,
and this was kind of weird to suddenly go all the way down
I just closed the lid, packed it to my bag and opened at uni, tried to connect for the first time with uni's WiFi and boom.. first some few second freeze, then some horizontal white lines
stopped being responsive - I had to power-button it

I have a Windows 7 set up as a secondary OS - when I've booted into that a minute later, the graphics there have gone wild. Many different lines across the screen, all dynamic and pretty scary
the display driver crashed few times, as windows informed and it kept restarting,
when I got back to generic vga driver it all stopped - not really using the gpu

In MacOS I can't work with either dynamic switch or forced AMD - it's just an instant freeze, no CPU load, no power demand no overheat no fans spinning - it just kicks in and freezes, with some 0,5s windows once every 30s for the mouse to move

I spoke twice with Apple, on the 3rd day (this Tue) and yesterday. The first conversation got me on a list with "that kind of issue", the man asked me to describe what i'm experiencing and told me to wait for some further info or an update. Yesterday they told me that the issue is known as it's been stated in some internal article of them. He told me there are lots of machines affected and they consider this a priority issue, on which they have an engineering team working. The other interesting thing he said is that they are sure that this IS an firmware/driver related problem, not a hardware one, which raised my hope up a bit.

It is just really weird reading that all over the world, inside the same company, every support staff tells you something else, with many of them not knowing anything about that case and even making you believe that they don't really get a *t cause there's not enough customers to complain for them to start worrying