Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

Take them back and get a refund
Only way to make Apple take notice!

"99c is slightly high....it's rated at 100c from intel"

Just a little heads up for those who don't think heat is an issue. The i7 is rated for 100C, MAX. BUT, anyone who thinks they can operate ANYTHING at MAX temp for a prolonged time is bonkers. Also, it has been illustrated that the heat from the i7 CPU is being transported directly over the AMD GPU on it's way out of the case. So, if the CPU is at 100C then the GPU is also at 100C. NO GPU lasts long at 100C, especially not a mid-range mobile GPU. 80's and low 90's will probably be okay. If you're seeing lower temps after the update, then they did something to alleviate the heat. HOWEVER, if you still have issues after the update, the GPU could have suffered permanent damage. Have it looked at ASAP.

I'm through with this.

Why on earth would you think that trying to shame Apple on those sites is at all a productive way to handle this? Especially with a company that has been, in my experience, absolutely top drawer about customer support.

We all early adopted (day one in my case)and there are growing pangs. I'm not getting the 'soft' freezes or the hard ones. But I am getting mass fan noise and the battery begins to discharge even though the machine is plugged in when I use it under heavy CPU/GPU load. It's as if the 85W power adapter isn't enough to power the the machine under those conditions. Apple escalated it to Engineering after my first call, so I can't fault their responsiveness.

Overall, I love the machine. They'll sort it or they'll replace it. Either way I'm not out any money, meanwhile I just play less Minecraft and DragonAge II (though CIDER seems to be a mess on this machine too).

cll

Hi all,

I just got my Macbook pro 17" and installed OWC 8Gb ram and SSD drive. The laptop looks great, boots very quickly and feels snappy. I read alot of these forums and other forums about the hard freeze issues. I don't seem to get cpu intensive crashes or graphic issues, but there is one situation where I can always get my laptop to freeze even after the 10.6.7 patch.

Basically what I do is put my laptop to sleep via 'hot corner' then wait until the light on the front of the laptop starts fading in and out. Then i wake the laptop and using the touchpad or keyboard, i scrub through the dock left and right and scrub through the options on the top bar. After a few seconds of this I get the system to freeze, this is sometimes followed with the ball spinning for my mouse.

This is the only way I can get my system to freeze, I haven't heard of anyone one else experiencing this sort of freeze. Is this a unique situation? or has anyone else had this happen to them.

Should I ask for a replacement model or is there a fix? Any help will be appreciated.

Hmm, I spoke to soon. Or rather conflated an issue.

I presumed my black screens were entirely CIDERs fault. Running the tests show it is hard freezing. (It's still cider's fault it doesn't start the game up correctly, it was just a coincidence that I only ever got the black screen of death when playing Dragon Age II).

So, hard freezes + battery drain while plugged in.
I'll take power issues for $500.00, please Alex. Not enough power and something has to give, I'm guessing its the display.

cll

How can you set a hot corner to put the computer to sleep? There is no such option, the only option available is ti put the monitor only to sleep, which is not the name...

I suppose that you use a 3rd party software to have you hot corner sleep function, as it's not an option available by default in Mac OS X. In that case, this software is probably the issue.

Your reasoning is wrong, 99°C is the temperature of the CPU core, measured by an internal sensor, it's not the temperature of the heatsink, which by design diffuse the temperature. You can verify that by monitoring the temperature of the heatsink and of the GPU that also have sensors, using a temperature monitor software like iStat Menu. You'll see that even though the CPU is at 99°C, you GPU is a lot below then that.

Also the Core i7 CPU core temp does not stay at 99°C for more than 1 or 2 sec at full load (all the 8 virtual cores loaded at 100%), and cool down below to 90-95°C very quickly at full load, thanks to the fans

General comment
Some people are getting off the topic.
What we need to know is - "Did 10.6.7 totally fix the problem?"

Could those who have had the problem advise succinctly whether:

10.6.7 100% fixed the problem
or
10.6.7 helped the problem but did not fix it completely
or
10.6.7 did not fix the problem at all

@Scott @ Bitjazz
3rd party RAM I suppose? If that's the case, that's a well known and different issue (that indeed have similar symptoms, excepts that it can happen even when CPU/GPU are cool and system load low/medium).

Solution: Send back your 3rd party RAM, and use the stock one or try to find RAM that is really compatible with the new Sandy Bridge platform.

Is apple for real?

I just dropped 4Gs on the most expensive Apple Laptop money can buy for peace of mind.

I'm on film sets almost non stop.

Good thing I have external HDDs ready to boot off of.

Out of nowhere it kicks into take off mode with it's fans and just peaces out.

This is ridiculous, did they release this without testing? I've had it for 5 days and it just peaced.

WHAATTTTT?

I'm a huge apple fan (maybe was), but with how poorly Apple's handling things recently, ipad 2 release, with no organization just for a publicity stunt, I just don't know any more.

I feel when Steve leaves us so will our hopes of computer company that is not just after money, but to deliver a quality high end product... sad

What i've found first off the update did nothing to fix the Mac OS related issue...

I say this due to the fact it never happens when I run windows 7 in bootcamp.. not once has it locked up
or do the I can still hear and move my mouse but can do nothing else..

I have played around with a few things... strange under vmware fusion it do not lock up if I play a game using it however if I play a game directly on the mac os it do lock up.

I'm not sure whats making this happen other then its a driver based issue that AMD/ATI need to fix on the mac os.. since it is 100% FOR SURE the reason behide the issues everything in bootcamp runs flawless for me and reading others seem to have the same thing... it is not the mac it self but the drivers, this much im sure of yes the pc do run hot they did put to much paste but thats not whats behide the lockup issue.. its the new gfx they have put in.. aka before this it was geforce not ati/amd right? well its new and seems it has a massive bug..

I just hope they fix this soon or I'll among many others im sure well just say... $%#^#$ and return it.

10.6.7 helped the problem but did not fix it completely - Grafics and speed keep testing...

Had this issue too. Kind similar, the display have gone into "sleep" when wake up all the display setting have gone crazy and I couldn't change the settings any more in the panel... During some "fast window change" like open a tab at safari the display makes a rainbow of colorful mini dots for like a second, but this issue i have fixed turning auto video card switching off (is this a FIX?). No more hard freeze yet after the up-grade but keep **** smell some how... The performance of this MBP 2011 is pretty like my Old 2008 (old frame) any boost at all... I'm gonna make a video comparing the too and post in a few days...

Hi,Please can we clarify does the update cure the problem?I am looking to buy 2 macbook pros but dont want to spend that sort of money before knowing it wont crash with a dance floor full of people.

10.6.7 fixed the problem on every single macbook 2011 15/17 i've checked. It fixed mine, and 5 other people i know who own one. I've talked to plenty of people online who it worked for, and out of all the people i've talked to on the irc and gtalk who own this laptop, i've yet to meet one who can force the crash after updating to 10.6.7

From the comments on the other threads and this one, it seems it fixed it for most people. Theres still a few who say it didn't fix it but i believe they have a different issue. Some are using 3rd party ram. Some are using virtualbox (which is known to crash on 64 bit kernels) Some are obvious trolls. There are likely a few who have genuinely ****** up machines. It happens....but all in all, i think 10.6.7 is a success.