MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

Yeah I'm downloading it too....... tell you if it works in "about an hour".

You realise the chrome test is a different thing entirely? It even states that it can crash systems.

Ignore that test please...

Message was edited by: Luke Row

Just updated to 10.6.7 and am still having crashing. Was loading up StarCraft II with iTunes playing in the background and within seconds of logging in the graphics did their usual hard freezing act. Perplexed and annoyed.

I wish people would shut up about the fish already....webgl isn't stable PERIOD.

It tells you on the chrome page that it can cause lockups....if this is happening to you then it's NOT the same issue and should be targeted at the webgl/chrome forums.

I may have actually found a way around the GPU crashing (as I have issues where it does this every night so when I first get to the computer in the morning... FAIL!!

I digress, I have figured out a bit of a work around when the GPU crashes which I have only tested twice but I would love to hear feedback (please leave a comment here) on if this has worked for you as well.

When the GPU Crashes, ensure you can still turn your caps lock on and off (this will confirm it is a GPU crash and not a full system crash)
If you can turn the caps lock on and off, press the power button once on your Mac Book Pro (do not hold it down, just press it once).
Wait for the system to hibernate/sleep etc
Once the system has powered off, press the power button again
Wait for the system to start back up again
Disconnect an external display if you have one now, or reconnect it if you do not, then the graphics should come back on

(original linky http://www.technicalnotebook.com/how-tos/macbook-pro-2011-graphics-gpu-crashing- possible-workaround/ )

Never crashed with Starcraft II on my MBP 2011, and I played for several hours with settings set at Ultra + additional shadows (the maximum).

Are you sure you don't have any fan control program? (iStat Menu does activate its own fan control settings by default!).

I had posted earlier about how I was able to crash my machine consistently by running iMovie playback, Handbrake transcode, and open Photo Booth and/or FaceTime for realtime isight video. Never tested to see what the minimum it'd take to freeze the machine, but running a handful of these at the same time would do it, every time.

I just ran the 10.6.7 update for MacBook Pros (or whatever they called it) and I am currently running a queue of Handbrake transcodes, playback in iMovie, watching a HD trailer in Quicktime player and another in iTunes, Photo Booth and FaceTime are open, a movie on Vimeo playing in Safari... (think that's it)... and...

NO CRASH! Been running these for about 6-8 minutes now. Before I would get a freeze in a minute or two of the fans blowing, consistently.

So far so good... Will try the Terminal "yes" test which I had never done before. Not sure what else to check for, but I think I feel confident now in installing my aftermarket HD and RAM when that shows up today, and installing my software. Previously I was planning on taking it back to Apple later today or tomorrow.

Still going, no freeze... 🙂

My 2.3 15" MBP keeps locking up whenever I open up Fusion. I also tried converting a movie file from .dvdmedia to .mp4 using Handbrake and it also lead to VERY hot temperatures....the fans kicked on full throttle after 10 seconds or so of starting the file conversion. My 2010 MBP was a better machine than this $2,450 failure.

Just tried loading SC2 again with iTunes and automatic switching set to OFF. System again locked up within a few seconds of logging onto battle.net. Furthermore, upon trying to return to this forum to report these findings, the computer spontaneously locked up without warning. So that makes 3 hard resets and counting since updating to 10.6.7, and 20 if I count the total since I have bought this machine. That's more crashes on one machine than I have had with all my previous Mac machines combined.

Note that iStat Menu is not a software that is dedicated to fan control, its first purpose is to add menu items to show free memory, CPU usage, Temperatures & co. It just happens to have a fan control feature option that is sadly activated by default. So if you have iStat Menu installed, check that you have the Fan Speed Control option deactivated on the "Sensors" preferences.

Also I see that you have 8GB of RAM. If it's 3rd party RAM (not one provided by Apple), it may be a possible cause. In that case, try putting by stock RAM provided by Apple.

You can get the update simply with the autoupdate app !

What I didn't know is that there are several 10.6.7 updates, since a friend of mine (who has a 13" 2010 mbp) doesn't have the same changelog description for this update...

THERE'S A SOFTWARE UPDATE OUT NOW! :D:D:D

everyone update their machines and run the tests again to see if it fixed the freezing issue.



"The Mac OS X 10.6.7 Update for MacBook Pro is recommended for all early 2011 MacBook Pro models. It includes general operating system fixes for Mac OS X Snow Leopard that enhance the stability, compatibility, performance, and security of your Mac, including fixes that:

• Improve the reliability of Back to My Mac

• Resolve an issue when transferring files to certain SMB servers

• Address various minor Mac App Store bugs

• Address minor FaceTime performance issues

• Improve graphics stability and external display compatibility"

@skyfoxxp

Yes, the update for the 2011 macbook pros are special, not the usual one the other macs receive. It is about 50MB larger (which I assume to be the new graphics driver), and it even says specifically "for 2011 macbook pros".

I'm aware of what iStat Menu does so when I told you that I did not have it installed, that was and still remains the case. You may be onto something regarding the memory since I distinctly recall having no major issues with the machine with the stock 4GB, the issues definitely manifested after adding some Corsair memory I bought off of Newegg... Will replace the stock memory and report back.

I felt i needed to update the forum as to my experience on this topic. I just got my replacement machine from apple & it is still on 10.6.6 but i no longer have any issues with it hanging up. I ran my usual smallluxgpu test @ full settings (which would lock up my old machine in about 10s) for a significant amount of time and i can say that any heating issue that was there before or combination of heating and graphics drivers is no longer present on this one. I hope apple's fix in 10.6.7 isn't to underclock the machines....so i guess i'll wait on other people's experiences with it before updating.

Lol, hey John. I'm not sure either, but definitely something that was exacerbated by heat. I can say for a fact that my new machine doesnt get into the 90s on that smallluxgpu maxed out anymore. stops @ 90 and when the fans goes up to 6200, it drops to 80s. So my new machine probably has the same driver issue as my old one, but temps arent going anywhere near as high. I'm glad the scores are coming in the same, so i'll probably update this one as well to avoid the driver related problems.

very nice page you setup too btw.

Message was edited by: Chullo