Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

Just a rapid question: has anyone of you noted any drop in performances (CPU or graphic card) after installing the 1.4 s/w and EFI update? I have had no freezes up to date and I ma just wondering whether or not to update to 1.4, as I am scared of some underclocking of either CPU or graphic card after 1.4 s/w and EFI update.

Thank you

Hi, Oogie,

Many, many pages, no see!  :-)

I had dropped off reading this thread some weeks back since my new machine arrived and all the problems went away.

I wonder if it would be helpful for those indicating they still see this problem to identify when and where they purchased their (problematic) machines...

It seems to me through this whole discussion that several factors are at play:

1) The new models had a clear, "hard freeze" issue that seems to have been related to graphics switching and/or heat and/or general driver-related issues.  The machine would lock up, requiring a hard reset, either when doing a lot of intensive work, or sometimes when doing next to nothing (I experienced both scenarios).

2) 10.6.7 seems to have addressed a lot of the concerns here, and additional software updates have presumably improved things further.

3) I still experienced a lock-up after installing 10.6.7 on my original machine, but have seen no lock-ups at all since the new machine arrived.

4) There are numerous other problems (graphics corruption, other software-related issues) that seem to be separate from the "hard freeze" issue, but sometimes these have become confused with this particular thread.

It's entirely possible that people that purchased early machines (the ones with problems) have subsequently done the update to 10.6.7, but are still seeing issues.  I wonder, though, if any NEWER machines (ordered and delivered, say, after the middle of April) are seeing any problems...

There's always the possibility for third-party RAM, software applications or other Hardware add-ons to cause instability or problems, so it's important to recognize that there may be other factors at play.

Based on my experience, having received a replacement for what I considered to be a completely unacceptable machine (unpredictably crashing, and basically untrustworthy), I have no further reluctance to recommend the new models.  That isn't to say you won't get a lemon -- that can happen any time.  But I'm no longer concerned about a systemic production flaw...

Hope you eventually get the machine you need!

Cheers,

Scott Hurd

Hi there Scott,

Thanks for your comments.

It seems to me Apple have tried to surrepticiously fix the problem without admitting one even existed.

I am glad you have an updated one without problems.

I have checked a few stores here in Australia and they still have a bunch of the older 2011 models on their benches so I am waiting a bit longer. Lucky I can afford to be patient since I have one of the older MacBook Pros (gen 2) that is very reliable although I would like the speed of the new ones.

I find it really annoying that people who haven't got the problem have to stick their noses into a forum where others obviously have a genuine problem and are genuinely seeking a solution.

Anyway enough of that I just hope for everone's sake the sneeky upgrade has fixed the later release models.

Cheers

I've learned not to be first in line to any product launch. I hate silent fixes.

Maybe if enough of you band together and can prove a silent fix took place then action can be taken..  Otherwise you will fall into the shadows with faulty machines..

They get away with it because no one takes point and leads.

The only way to sound the alarm is to go to an Apple store and prove to them that your system is crashing under normal use. The genius will run through the same tired steps, (reinstall OS, run diagnostic tests, blah, blah, blah). If you have to make a scene to get a replacement, make a scene. These are still under warranty and people deserve a fix.

Well, my MBP is being replaced. I'll let you know how that works out. From my experience I'd say the ease with which Apple are agreeing to replace these faulty machines implies they are well aware there is an endemic  problem, even if they have decided it's politically expedient to pretend it's 'not an issue'.

The idea that 10.67 fixed the issue is not universally true btw. My machine shipped in late March with 10.67 on it, and it had all the classic hard freeze problems right there from the get go.

Hey Eveeta,

I hope you get a good one.

The only way for Apple to get the picture is for everyone with a problem to take it back and demand a new one.

After all my reading on this (and I have been following every thread since the first) my gut feeling is it is caused by a video conflict but we will never know because Apple will never tell us.

Good luck

Just a quick update. Following Authorized Service Center’s advise, I’ve not reinstalled Mac OS X, but created a new bootable partition on the same disk, and installed Mac OS X from original DVD. I’ve performed a software update (no firmware update or 10.6.7 for early 2011 Mac Book Pro were suggested). No software installed, except what shipped with Mac. Then installed Fusion - nothing else.

Guess what? When iTunes is running, Mac becomes unresponsive, until you close iTunes (and I’m sure it will freeze after a while). The only way to let this hardware work is to DISABLE THE DISCRETE GRAPHIC CARD. As I told before on post: I have an early-early 2011 MBP, the one with 1.5 GB link speed.

Going to support center to ask for replacement, as now I can prove with NOTHING INSTALLED THIS MAC DOESN’T WORK.

I love Apple, but this way of managing a KNOWN problem is really a bad way to treat users. Probably we should starting twitting and facebooking, let’s other people know what the reality is!

I got a 13' MacBook Pro from 2010 and it does the exact same thing. But it is even more problematic because it does this everytime I am about to watch video on Youtube (2 or 3 videos opened)! I think this can't be that kind of a problem for a normal mac. And like many people said before, I didn't buy a mac to reboot it all the time because it gets stuck! This reminds me of a PC...

Let's see whether appropriate bug fixes are about to come out.

-friedrich

I'm unsure if any developers in the Apple Community are able to shed any light on this issue, but after purchasing a 2011 MBP I'm at least going to ask before I take mine back to the store and demand a new build.

I note the 10.6.8 update was seeded to developers a week or two ago; for those on a MBP, can any of you let us know if there was any improvement or fix to this issue in the update? I'm willing to hold out a few weeks if I know this will be fixed when the update is released.

Apologies if this has been already brought up.

I thought it's only me. Since I am a newbie, 15" MBP Quad-core i7 2.2 is the first ever mac computer that i own, I bought it for rendering videos. Even though I have great Core i5 Hp dv6 Windows 7 Laptop but still I was a great fan of iMovie the only reason why shelled out $2300.

Today I had to hard-restart my MBP twice. The screen was frozen. Only mouse cursor was moving. It happened during once rendering a video in iMovie and Once in ScreenFlow. I have the same problem as most of the users have reported here. Just before the freeze Fans start spinning violently. And I am left with no option but to press and hold power button to restart it. In my case I only had couple of apps open. and wasn't running anything else. It's really disappointing. since Rendering Videos was the sole reason why I invested so much money in buying the Laptop. Pretty Disappointed.

15" MBP Quad-core i7 2.2 ghz (early model)

alright just upgraded to 10.6.7 update and it seems to have fixed the issue, as i ran the two opertions which earlier froze the screen. I will try to report in this thread if i can re-create this issue after the 10.6.7 update.

great to hear the 10.6.7 update fixed the issue for you, loyals. can you please keep us updated with whether you experience any crashes in say a week?

some people claim the 10.6.7 fixes the issue, but others vehemently deny it. I'm just curious to see whether the fix is reliable or not.

I have same problem with my MBP15" 2011. I think it must be hardware problem.

Because it seems like CPU is over heated in some stages and gone.

I'm pretty sure this new design MBP has failed to cool down the CPU.