MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

kirkins wrote:

wonslung wrote:
I've had it happen randomly.


I've also been able to make it happen by doing the "yes" test but not every single time.

Also, i just tried the fish test with integrated only, didn't crash me....been running the fish at 1000 fish for 10 minutes now....even running 8 "yes" doesn't seem to crash it on integrated but like i said before, it's not something whch happens EVERY time.

Did you make sure to restart Chrome after switching to integrated? My'n crashes when I switch to integrated during animation, and when I switch and restart but not if I switch before launching without restart.

Yes. It doesn't crash.

If i don't restart chrome, the page doesn't even work.

Adrian,

OK, I did as you said and after a minute, the integrated graphics card did freeze, but I had mouse control (nothing else).

I don't think this is a fair test though for the integrated graphics card. It's not meant to push heavy loads. This one http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/fractal-lab/?f= warns you that if you push it, it will lock up your GPU.

After this test, I can't run any of the Chrome Experiements.

--Mark

I think we're missing the point here if we "force" it to use integrated when rendering 1000 fish - of course it's going to muck up.

For the record I downloaded google chrome (wasn't using it anyway seeing as it usually forces discrete) to test it and was able to render the 1000 fish a few times but it was on discrete.

@ digimania and Luke

actually no. the graphics card may struggle (low fps), but it's not supposed to *freeze the computer* when "under load". that's just not supposed to happen. Trust me, they're meant to take a load of weight. No other computer ever made is designed to freeze a computer if it's not working. I could run Photoshop CS5 on a 15 year old computer. It will be dog slow, but it will get it done, if given enough time. That should be the case here too.

Either there computer is flawed, the drivers are flawed, or Chrome/Chrome Experiments is flawed.

But to be sure, the machine is by design supposed to be able to handle whatever is thrown at it without crashing. Period. It's not a handicapped GPU that needs to be coddled. Ask anyone with a computer that has IntelGMA integrated graphics from over the last several years if their machine crashes because they're working it "hard". Heck, even the 2010's (which had a significantly underwhelming version of Intel HD graphics than the 2011's do) if they have these issues. I know I didn't last year.

Don't make any excuses for the hardware. Either its fine and the software/driver is problematic, or it's problematic and the software/driver is fine.

Message was edited by: Adrian J.

One last thing - apart from this horrible, horrible crash issue, which I deeply regret - this is, hands down, the best machine I've ever owned (note the Mac Pro, iMac and others in my profile...).

Awesome machine, let down only by this... 😟

Adrian,

I think it's the Chrome Experiments that are. The Fractal Lab tells you this:

"WARNING: it is possible to create GLSL fractal shaders that will lock up your GPU requiring a hard reboot if pushed too hard. Use at your own risk!"

http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/fractal-lab/?f=

And this applies to not only Macbook Pros but others laptops as well.

Like I said in previous posts, I've put a lot of stress on this machine over the weekend, and I do not have any of the lockups or overheating issues (aside from the Aquarium in Integration mode only).


--Mark

Message was edited by: digimania

I can confirm that I've just reproduced the problem with photobooth running (effect ON) while 7 "yes > /dev/null" were active.
It took only about 10 seconds to freeze.

It seems that tomorrow I'll call apple for a refund !

@Milk:

That's exactly the behavior I've been seeing. Flash Videos and viewing iTunes movies in full screen pretty consistently caused a crash. But I've seen it a number of other times as well -- when not doing anything particularly video intensive...

I can get the crash to happen with the first 2 of the 3 tests described on the wikispaces article.

Message was edited by: jeffles

Your 3 year old MBP with the 8600M GT may be covered still, take it in to the Apple Store - they have a specific test for these particular Nvidia cards. I just took my 3,1 in for this issue and it's being repaired for free.

This is, however, a separate issue from this thread.

@digimania

good find with that warning. I'll presume that's the case, then. It's the only experiment that has caused any lockups for me since Saturday. Though I must also again say that from last Monday - Saturday, I was getting infrequent lockups without any load being put on the machine whatsoever.

Glad that we can, however, scratch the Chrome "test" off the list.

$0.02

Just putting in my 2c here... Been trying to replicate this problem and crash my laptop all morning.

I have finally been relatively successful but I think I've boiled it down to one main issue. Now remember this is going off my own experience with my laptop:

2.3 i7, 17" matte, 8GB RAM, 750GB HD.

I've had 2 unknown random crashes since working with this laptop. Not sure what caused this. Graphics on screen freeze but mouse still remains responsive.

interestingly enough, I've had varying success in trying to replicate this crash. However, I think it is due to the actual event of switching from integrated to discreet graphics. I can only seem to get my laptop to crash when switching from the intel chipset to the ATI card while under gfx load. I've downloaded the gfxCardStatus app (great job to Cody Kreiger btw) to have more control to over what causes these crashes.

So far, after using gfxCardStatus to force my laptop to run only in DISCRETE mode (yes discrete not iterated) while plugged in to a power source has solved these problems for me. I've also set gfxCardStatus to only run in INTEGRATED mode while on battery. Basically I've disabled the switching functionality of the laptop. Yet I've maintained the full functionality of the computer while plugged in.

I don't see why you would want to use the discrete card while on battery power anyway. If you are running heavy duty GFX apps, then you would really wanna be plugged in anyway right?

STILL, Apple needs to get on top of the ball with this one. I don't like having to "duck-tape-up" my shiny new MBP just to avoid crashes... AND if this really is a Hardware issue, then I am **** WELL EXPECTING a FREE replacement...

Message was edited by: Dievo

Message was edited by: Dievo

I played around with that test on my Macbook Pro Mid 2009 with Nvidia 9400M, and it went nuts after a while, screen flickering black. I could move my mouse and hear the music on background but couldn't click on anything.

Managed to take a screenshot: http://img843.imageshack.us/i/freezeb.png/


And a lot of these in system logs in Console:

21.3.2011 22:09:27 kernel NVDA(OpenGL): Channel exception! exception type = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error
21.3.2011 22:09:27 kernel 0000006e
21.3.2011 22:09:27 kernel 00200000 00008397 00000474 00000010
21.3.2011 22:09:27 kernel 0000047e 00001458 00083401 00000009
21.3.2011 22:09:27 kernel 00000000 00000000 00000002
21.3.2011 22:09:27 kernel 00000010 00000000

Message was edited by: shimatta

To add information to the topic in hopes of a speedy resolution.
Purchased a 15inch MBP new on Saturday.
Loaded Lightroom 3 and began to edit some files. Exported a single file from DNG to JPEG and the fans went crazy. All I heard was fans seemingly running at full strength. Mind you this was the exporting of one file from DNG to small 2000x2000 jpeg. As soon as the export finished the fans calmed down.
The laptop didnt lockup but I can imagine if I had itunes open playing music or some other load like photoshop open.
This is an issue that needs to be fixed.
Specs:
OS 10.6.6
2.3 GHZ Intel Core I5
4gb 1333 DDr3

ideazinfinite wrote:
I just updated. Issue still persists for me on 1000 fish problem.

I don't believe this is the same issue. The chrome webgl page says it can cause hard freezes.

What about the other methods?

Thats great. If possible could you also run Method 2/3 and post results. I'm afraid I dont have access to xcode right now and can't test it.

On a side note, Method 1 never caused the crash to me, both before and after the 10.6.7 update.