Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

One thing is evident, wathever peoples will say... 90 degrees is very hot for a notebook gpu and even more for a recent cpu. I would never buy a laptop getting that hot. This remind me all those HP and DELL pc's recalled 3 years ago beacause of the nvidia chipset problem. They just released an update spinning the fans faster for those that the laptop had not burnt yet. The heat is the first culprit in premature failure of equipment. Having a nice computer is one thing but having a durable and stable computer is even more important.

Now, is the machine getting really at 95 degrees or is there a sensor problem... if it is getting really hot, there is nothing to do about it with a software patch else than spinning the fans faster, or downclocking things... and in both cases, this is bad.

may be i'm wrong but this is how i see that with my many years of computer repair experience and with what i've read about that problem.

GPU never reaches 90°C, you are confusing everything. The CPU does and its within specs (see http://ark.intel.com), and it's not limited to MacBook Pro, a lot of Core i5/i7 laptop out there reach 90-95°C at full load. There is nothing wrong with that, it's perfectly within specs.

We are talking about a 4 cores and 8 threads beast that can overclock itself up to 3.3GHz (3.4GHz for the optional 2820QM model)!

To clarify my own situation, as few people here try to use as an argument on BOTH sides of the ..argument

as John Harrold posted few up here, I do have a kind of different problem, which also joined our shared issue all together. Most likely my graphics card is seriously broken. Those glitches in my link happen in windows in MacOS and in the setup of MacOS.. and so on

*It isn't the same issue!* It has the same symptoms crashing and freezing, but few more any one of you guys experience

@ John Harrold
I hope you will find your new one all perfect and you use it for long long years.
and paranoid ? yeah.. i guess it's gonna stay with us for a bit now.. trauma ; )

@XenoRising

I've been running Second LIfe for at least 4 years now, on at least 3 generations of MacBook Pro. I am a developer of over 20 years (most on NeXT and Mac OS X/iOS) and, in my humble opinion, Second Life is one of the worst software I ever used.

I'm currently using a 2008 MBP 17" and although it runs fine with no crash, performance is not where it should be. I've been running games that are way more demanding than Second Life and they were much more responsive and stable.

So, to me, Second Life (which is a cross port, built for Windows then poorly ported to OS X) is crap software and I would certainly not use it to benchmark a machine.

I understand your pain, though. I've been through this with a few versions that came out over the year, where it would completely freeze the machine within 5 minutes. No other application I used on OS X has ever been able to do this. It's frustrating when you're interacting inworld and your machine crashes, I understand, but, in this case, you're using a very crappy application built by morons who don't know anything about OS X.

What i said is... cpu reaching 90 is a LOT, it is more common for a gpu to reach temperatures as high. I don't like seeing a cpu reaching more than 80 degrees and i'm still very permissive.

Just to reinforce what Scott Hurd has said, I am genuinely trying to get to the truth here.
I really want to get one of these great (spec) machines even though I do already have a 2nd gen MacBook Pro.

BUT I want to be 100% sure the problems (plural) have gone away

I would really appreciate it if anyone who has a 2.3 MacBookPro 17 and has upgraded to 10.6.7 and runs Final Cut Studio/CS5/Archicad could confirm they no longer have ANY problems.

I don't care about games - it is purely a workhorse.

you will probably never have a reliable machine in those new macbooks, it seem's core i7 generate too much heat for that cute tiny aluminium macbook body...

and for ifrodo... please go out there and try any pc with core i7 and run prime95 with 8 threads and confirm me that you reach 90 degrees in 1 minute. And yes, I will be very surprised. The rpm counter on a car become red at some point, but don't try to run your car always in the red even if it is in the specs or you will burn your engine, it is the same principle that you have to apply for your "specs" argument.

Message was edited by: Dcrocker
Just search 172791 macbook in google and you will find an interesting article saying about the same thing i've just said.

Don't you believe I already done it? Cause I did, and I've been able to reach 85-92°C (depending of the unit) on 3 different Core i7 laptops (ASUS, SONY and Dell), when CPU fully loaded (8 thread full (800%)) but as with the MBP, it doesn't stay at this temp very long, the action of the fans reduce the temp quickly to 70-85°C depending of the unit (hte MBP stabilize to 80-85°C in that case generally).

laptops that can reach 80 to 95°C temperatures temporarily (but not stay) are not new, they are (sadly?) common since Core 2 Duo and even more common since quad core mobile processors (Core 2 Quad and Core i7 QM). You may be frightened by that, but there are now been a few generation of laptop that stabilized 80-85°C temperatures on full load after action of the fans (like the MBP 2011 do), and none of them have had major failures because of that. And some are already 3-4 years old and have been heavily used by their owner during that time without any single failure, I've some friend that have such laptops for 3-4 years and have yet to encounter a failure, while they are working on scientific fields that demands to do heavy work loading the CPU at full for maybe 4-7 hours every day.

I agree thing is its all i could test it atm lol since my steam wasnt installing. I however agree sl it self is the worst software created... however only software created that my girl friend plays... saddly.. so i have no choice.. :P

Tryed many other games she love sl... not sure why.. lol


ON A NOTE

after redoing my pc and just installing wow/sl/skype it has not locked once on any game or anything...

I now am gonna go with it is fixed.. thing is you must redo the mac os or uninstall somthing thats making it unstable..

I say its fixed.... and i hear by am uninstalling windows in bootcamp

@ oogie
I can truely say I use all 3 programs fine had no issues at all since the update

i really don't agree to your normalisation of high temperatures in notebooks, i monitored some core i7 many times with full load for troubleshouting freezing notebooks issues and never saw some temperatures as high and if i see it i then know the cause of the freezings for shure.

On the tests in this article i linked you to, the cpu topped 81 degrees on the fujitsu notebook not 100 then stabilised to 81.

By the way, i just wanted to point out some facts for peoples to know and i think they are true, that being said i'm done with this thread.

Your all throwing numbers around like it matters and like you understand it.. A little like idiot photographers who follow histograms instead of going out and taking good photos.

I have a 15" 2011 quadcore and i can put my hands all over it even with load, it's a little toasty in one small area but i can leave my hand there no problem... The other 95% area runs cool compared with old 2008 model.

If you really are into the numbers more than actually using it then most of you should go and buy PCs. I feel you would be happier with the half a pound of stickers plastered all over thing telling you how great it is.

same here my pc maybe a little warm in one spot but not always and it cools down quick once the fans kick in...

I don't think there is a overheating issue truely my last dell was hotter then this a studio 1555 and it burned my hand on touch... head even a cooling pad didn't help that much the macbook pro i don't even us a cooling pad yes it can get warm but it never stays warm for long times..

I must say if you go by numbers then the old geforce 2 gfx and the old 486 would be youe cup of tea you must relize they ran almost cold they had basicly no heat... sooo in saying this times change heat adds up heat becomes bigger and worst however.. if done right the chips in side the pc can handle it the fact is the case isnt glowing red or burning your hand if it was then there issues... like most dells do... lol

oogie wrote:
Just to reinforce what Scott Hurd has said, I am genuinely trying to get to the truth here.
I really want to get one of these great (spec) machines even though I do already have a 2nd gen MacBook Pro.

BUT I want to be 100% sure the problems (plural) have gone away

I would really appreciate it if anyone who has a 2.3 MacBookPro 17 and has upgraded to 10.6.7 and runs Final Cut Studio/CS5/Archicad could confirm they no longer have ANY problems.

I don't care about games - it is purely a workhorse.

oogie, please believe me. I wouldn't intentionally lie to you.

When i went to the apple store before the update, i could trigger this crash on EVERY machine. Every person i talked to on the irc could trigger this crash. Every machine i have had the issue.

After the update it's a completely different story. The crash is no longer possible. I can't make it happen on any machine i own, any floor model at the apple store. I have a friend who lives in california who went to HIS apple store and he can't trigger it on any of the floor models.

Do you live near an apple store? if so do this:

Go to the apple store, test the machines. Talk to someone there and explain your concerns, they are one of the most helpful retail outlets i've ever dealt with. Buy one and test it BEFORE leaving the store. They will have NO ISSUE with you doing that. If it fails, then come in here and make me look stupid =)

I assure you, the problem is fixed.....but don't take my word for it, do your own testing.

Dcrocker wrote:
you will probably never have a reliable machine in those new macbooks, it seem's core i7 generate too much heat for that cute tiny aluminium macbook body...

and for ifrodo... please go out there and try any pc with core i7 and run prime95 with 8 threads and confirm me that you reach 90 degrees in 1 minute. And yes, I will be very surprised. The rpm counter on a car become red at some point, but don't try to run your car always in the red even if it is in the specs or you will burn your engine, it is the same principle that you have to apply for your "specs" argument.

Message was edited by: Dcrocker
Just search 172791 macbook in google and you will find an interesting article saying about the same thing i've just said.

These macbooks stay within temperature ranges which are normal. Also, I've owned 3 other pc based i7 laptops before this, and all got to the same temps. The only difference is i can hold the macbook pro without burning myself. If i put my hand near the vent of my asus laptop it would literally give me second degree burns. 90 degrees is hot....but it's still under the max temp these cpus are rated for. (mine has never reached over 85 that i remember but i wouldn't be worried if it did go to 90)