Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

Janette,

My gosh I am so sorry to hear that. I am so sorry to hear of all the horror stories on this thread. I have been following it for a long time. I found this thread a long time ago when I was researching buying my 17" MBP. It scared the crap out of me...but I need a new machine...NOW. I figured I would take the chance and work with Applecare to troubleshoot any issues I ran into. Anyway...I got the machine 4 days ago and have been hammering it with large video files / Cinema 4D renders / Cinebench tests / multi-apps running at once / cranking up the heat and the fans / etc...and I have not had a single issue (knocking on wood). I have had good luck in these few days I have had it...I sure hope it continues.

When did you buy your machine? Maybe a bad batch went out from the factory? I got mine this last week. I remember when Seagate sent out a bad batch of hard drives...almost killed us...always crashing...drives locking up...etc. Seagate made good on all returns. Apple will do the same thing but in order to do that they must admit they are at fault and that does not sound like Apple's character. It's always the "End User / Software Installation Conflict / etc".

Again...so sorry to hear about your troubles...especially from a fellow editor

Hey grafixjoe, why don't you go play in traffic? You're not having problems? Good for you. We already know that this problem doesn't exist for everyone. Tell us something we don't know.

Hey ricky_tang, what we don't know is why you are such an a-hole. That's your own person problem though and I will leave you to it.

Hey mister potty mouth, does your mom know you use naughty words? I hope your Mac freezes so you know what other people are going through.

Here you go hypocrite ricky_tang...looks like YOU haven't frozen either so you haven't got a clue what these people are going through, troll

(from your own post one week ago in this thread):

" Re: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze                       

Posted by ricky_tang

Apr 23, 2011 1:25 AM

(in response to alphanomega4ever)                                                               

I got just my hi-res/anti-glare 2.2 15in Macbook pro with high end graphics. I tested Intel Turbo Boost in Win7 and my max speed is 3.2GHz. So far I have not been able to reproduce the crashes people have reported. However, it runs pretty hot. This mimics what Anandtech reported.

Can someone tell me why changing the fan speeds in OS X affects the fan speeds in Win7? I was suprised by this. Sorry to hear about everyone's problems."

You hope MY Mac freezes? Right back atcha. I am testing my butt off trying to reproduce the freeze issue and JUST LIKE YOU I can't.

Get a life troll.

I just want to reiterate that one of the first things I installed on my machine after taking it out of the box was gfxCardStatus v2.0.1 because I read on this thread and others that a few people had reduced freezes and in some cases eliminated them altogether. I run my machine on Discrete Only (the AMD Radeon HD 6750M card) and have had not one issue. I am even running my 27" Cinema Screen simultaneously. Maybe some of you might want to try it:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/33905/gfxcardstatus/

Good Luck

Haha... is that the best you can do? Yes, my system has frozen also. I suspect it's due to heat. The fans don't start working until it's much too late. By the time they start going it's usually at max RPM and by then it's too late. I've frozen during Windows boot and hiccup'd when installing OS X and Windows updates. Using CoreTemp64 I've seen 2 cores hit 100C while the other 2 were at 98C and this wasn't during gaming.

Most Mac users don't care about performance under Windows. Neither does Apple. It's just a matter of time before I make my Mac freeze under OS X. I hope your computer freezes soon.

Hi There!

Yes it was a horrible experience! At least I have my money back. New Zealand is very tough when it comes to 'fit for purpose'. If it doesn'tt work as stated in advertising the manufacturer hasn't a leg to stand on. We have small courts that deal with this sort of problem which cost about $50 to go to. The Magistrates are very fair but the onus is on the manufacturer. The fact that it might be a software problem would cut no ice with 84 pages of discussion on the manufacturer's own site and they knew of the problem on 1 March and yet still sold the item on 30th March would not be looked on kindly.

In fact here in NZ the manufacturers of all kinds of equipment don't even bother they just replace, repair or refund without question. The computer has to last at least five years too. Warentees mean nothing here. An oven has to last 20 years and a TV at least five. Kettles 5 years as well. A friend had her iMac replaced after two yearsa and she did not even have Applecare.

Mine crashed when I first used FC Pro and I was only importing from tape and the next time when I was using iCaL & Address book. It could crash at any time and it did in the Hadrware test. I could even crash just using the track pad which I found hard to use. It may be the software but its Apple's software that was freezing the machine. I never even got into to serious editing.

I shall just have to wait.  I must say everyone at Apple seemed very helpful but they really didn't 'help' me. I told them that I had to trust Apple and I asked if there was a 'fix 'as that would have been the answer but I was told that there was no 'fix' at present. The representative said they had not heard of this problem a month after it first occurred. I said well you have now and as you record your calls you have it on record.

Perhaps it would be an idea to keep phoning them up and reporting each freeze.

I also pointed out that as the machine froze and I had to reboot there was no opportunity for me to report the problem and I guess this is the same for everyone else so it was little wonder they were not getting feedback.

For me  Apple has been  the only show in town and I am reluctant to change but I could if I have to. I still love and use iMovie 6.3 which is so superior to the new iMovie which is lke a child's toy. Some things are not getting better.

Very glad to hear you got your money back Janette!! Sounds like I need to move to New Zealand!!! Here in the US we have The Better Business Bureau and the "Lemon Law" that states if you have to put a product in to be fixed for the same issue 3 times and it cannot be repaired (we call that a "Lemon"), you are entitled to a full refund. We have to jump through a lot of hoops though to make that happen. I use the Better Business Bureau. They look after the consumer. I just document everything and contact them at http://www.bbb.org/ and state my case. They contact the manufacturer / seller and try to resolve the issue. In this country, business do not want a BBB Black Mark" on their reputation so when all else fails they usually resolve the issue with a refund (they did in my cases anyway).

I would not be surprised to see Apple wipe out this 84 page thread soon as people are using it as proof to get refunds.

Congrats on your refund and I hope Apple wises up and owns this error so people can get back to work.

That's not Apple's style grafixjoe. If there's ever a problem, and it's on Apple, they have no problems refunding your purchase.

I know, it's hard to believe it, but there are some good companies out there.

That's just it Matt..."if it's on Apple, they have no problems refunding your purchase". Apple is telling everyone here that it's not a "known issue" to them and therefore must be a software conflict that the users must have created. They are assigning blame and not owning it....which is very scary.

I know there are good companies out there and Apple has always been one of them (I have never owned anything but Macs for 16 years). This is a black eye for the company and the word is spreading.

...just fix it Apple.

Hi guys,

I've been peeping around the web to collect informations about this topic and I didn't read all the 84 pages of this thread but it seems to me that all those computers which were bought with a native version of OS X 10.6.7 don't show any of those problems (freezing/heating issues) of which are affected those computers bought with a version of OS X 10.6.6 and which have been patched to OS X 10.6.7. I'm wondering if it isn't because of a loss of data during the updating process.

If my assumption is correct a possible solution may be formatting and installing directly the OS X 10.6.7 (skipping the installation of 10.6.6). If there's anyone who is really really desperate and wants to try this solution, could he/she let us know how it goes?

Bye.

You may have a point.Mine came with 10.6.7 preinstalled and have had no crashes or freezes.

Ive been video editing and a lot of sound editing with the machine flat out no problem what so ever.Might be worth doing that

So did the latest update work for everyone that was having problems?  I've been thinking about making the switch to a macBookPro and maxing it out so I can run xCode and still use 3DS Max/vRay and zBrush via bootCamp under win7.  Wish Apple would give more options when it comes to graphicCards (definately prefer nVidia) and the RAM amount but...  Anyway-- If people are having problems rendering out iMovies I'm pretty sure zBrush and 3DS Max will freeze it up.  Has anyone else tried these apps out with the 2011's and latest OS patch?  I read somewhere that Turbo boost was disabled when switching over to win& via bootCamp too- can anyone confirm this?

Any info would be greatly appreciated- Thanks.

Turbo works on a 15" 2011. I've seen single core turbo hit 3.2GHz. If the 15" can do, so can the 17". Otherwise there would be a mass revolt by the 17" owners.