Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

I think, Apple has a big problem with production. About 10% of Computers (iMac, Laptops etc.) are DOAs or will break down during Warranty (in Switzerland during the first year).

That's a pretty rash statement. Ten percent? Where did you get your data to make that assumption?

Remember, Apple makes millions of computers a year. There will be failures. But nowhere near ten percent of them.

Let's not be silly. I understand you're frustrated with your computer, but making rash statements doesn't help.

Yes you are right this is a rash statement. I have to do about 1000 macs a year of which about 100 to 200 are new (within one year) - and from this new macs there are at least 10% with hardware failures during the first year: imacs with RAM-failures, imacs with logicboard failures, MBPs with HD-failures, MBPs with freezes

I dont't speak about the millions apple is producing in china, I am talking about those I am working with every day.

Well, as a follow up to my post (freezes after sleep running traktor pro and maschine) I got it booked into the genius bar and they are thinking it might a problem with the logic board. they have ordered a bunch of new parts and I am taking it in this weekend so they can stress test it and look at replacing the logic board and anything else or just replace the MBP. I mentioned this thread to them and also to AppleCare direct and got the same answer "we don't take any notice of the forums as nobody on there is an expert and people blame different things". I can understand why they might think that but surely apple need to at least ACKNOWLEDGE the problem. Seems a lot of apple stuff recently has been dogged with problems on early units, iPhone 4 death grip, iPad wifi, iMac screens and now this MBP freeze. Lesson learned I'm never buying an apple product from launch again. I'll let them iron out the problems first before paying out so much money. I love apple stuff and will never go back to PC but I'll wait in future or buy carefully second hand. I'll update with the results of the stress test and repair once it's been done.

LMR UK wrote:

LoL ... That´s disgusting .. seems that HERE are the experts and NOT at Apple ..

"I have to do about 1000 macs a year of which about 100 to 200 are new (within one year) - and from this new macs there are at least 10% with hardware failures during the first year..."

I stand corrected. Unless the Swiss are tough on their computers...

My situation... i just came from the apple store today at 20:00h , and  the very first thing my 2011 MBP 2.2 ghz done was a blank screen even before the wellcome video. it was right after i choose the language, did not show me the video,and after a anoying while it automatically ask me to switch the voice over( a well known problem by me, when the dispaly doesnt work). the only solution press the power button till it shuts down...

since then, it as been freezing every hour or so.  quit garage band, freezes, make updates, freezes, go for a sandwiche and come back, frozen.. dont know what to say, really embarrasing to apple.    1LOVE.

but guys, if you experience all this issues i just described and maybe others, just pop in to your local apple store, the costumers service is great, kudos to them for that, bad Quality Control back in china tough. to be checked.

You are so lucky that Apple give you help, in my case, after 3 visit to Apple care, I have got the same faulty hardware. They can't tell me what's the problem, what's going on. And when I call the support phone number, they told me to the care center, when I go to the care centre, they said they know nothing about the problem, and advice me to call the support for help.

Can we raise the international attention to at the consumer's right regarding this matter since we haven't got any feedback to solve this issue?we don't want to pay for something faulty.

OK so I got my MBP back from the Apple store today..and the repsonse was, "we havent repaired it because we couldnt replicate the problem"..and apparently it passed the "stress test" just fine.  They had ordered new ram and a new logic board to repair it but wont because they themselves cant see the problem.  So now I have had another 2 hr round trip to the nearest apple genius bar and had to pay for car parking yet again to end up exactly where I started. Great.  I have told them I'm really not happy about this and will try and replicate the problem at home, video it and send it to them so they can re-order the parts to fix it.  Oh and again when I mentioned that there were lots of other people having the same problem, I was told "but thats probably only hundreds of people out of millions of units sold", so there you have it.  Apple wont acknowledge the problem and couldnt care less about those of us who are having problems with their products.  This needs to be exposed and escalated to a whole new level or I think we are getting nowhere.

I know this has probably been mentioned a fair few times but the gfxCardStatus app does seem to solve a few of the freezing issues. I have had my Macbook pro for about a month now. When I got it I had the problem of random freezes however, since I have not really got anywhere with Apple I followed some advice and downloaded the gfxCardstatus app which has solved all my issues. The freezes on my machine are clearly caused by the graphics switching from one card to the other. When the machine is left in dynamic switching it will randomly freeze when moving between cards, however if it is locked on one card or the other using the app there has never been a crash. I am not to worried about the graphics switching as I always use this machine in the dedicated graphics card mode, lets face it you dont buy a 17"Macbook Pro to just send emails, it is designed for multimedia and as such needs the more powerful card most of the time. I hope this might help. I know it does not solve the issues with the fact that Apple should recognize this problem and resolve it.

I'm sorry for your situation LMR UK, I've solved mine as I reported here. But if we are not enough people to count something for apple (put in another way: customer support is so bad that they don't care of thousands people having a problem), perhaps when you'll film your problem you could show to the genius bar, and then post on Facebook, here, and youtube. Maybe somebody will wake up and be a little ashamed of customer support managers earning very good money without doing a proper job.

I was very angry when I had the problem. When the shop solved mine (even without reproducing the problem themselves, but understanding the situation), I was so happy that I didn't want a revenge (reported and documented what happened, but didn't move a finger against this poor customer support). As I am writing, there are 423846views of this topic. Maybe somebody has the problem

Good luck, anyway!

An update from me:

Reminder of my problem - 17" MBP 2.3Ghz. Random freezes - three beeps and odd repeating patterns on screen. Original machine replaced by Bristol, UK, Apple Store within a week. New machine exhibited exactly the same problem. Apple Store Aberdeen did a soak test but found no fault. Advised that it could be the RAM.

Needed the machine on and off until now, 2 months later.

I have just sent back my 8GB of RAM from Crucial for replacement. I have told them that with it installed the machine crashes and with the original 4GB of RAM it doesn't.

So - when I get the replacement RAM if the fault persists I can only see one solution for Apple - they give me an 8GB RAM machine. To be honest, if their 8GB model works, I'd probably pay the difference between 4GB and 8GB to them and get a refund on the Crucial 8GB.

A reminder to UK readers of this thread. You have way more consumer legislation in your favour than the US. I've had to explain to an Apple Store before that we get rather a lot more protection that the US 2 weeks that they were trying to force me to accept. The store manager hadn't heard of the Sale of Goods Act or its amendments. UK readers - go to your local citizens advice bureau    or google the act and see what your rights are.

Thanks for

i posted my problems few pages before. I had awful time at the beginning with my new mbp 17' (8gb 2.2ghz 500gb@7200rpm). I was calling at the service care almost every day: they asked my to reset the hardware, reinstall the OS, and then one day i upgraded firmware and turned off filevault. Don't really know which was the solution but solved my horrendous problems.

I was experiencing the freezes in the account i used for checking mails and watching movies, it never happened in the other i use for working.

Hope this post can be useful in some way...BTW i agree that it is a shame for such a big and smart company not to aknowledge the problem.

One last think that might help someone: i also bought a newer (and considerably bigger) cooling system.