Rensoom

Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

Overheat? The fans revved and suddenly I could use nothing but the cursor. Had to hold down the power switch to kill all and then re-power & startup. I wasn't doing anything unusual, but I had 7 apps open and was amid an auto-backup to TimeMachine.

Just a little disillusioned and concerned, wondering if anyone else there has experienced a hard freeze like this.

macbook pro 17" 2011, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 1, 2011 11:15 AM

Close

Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 126 of 153 last Next
  • by hnrk,

    hnrk hnrk Jul 17, 2013 9:18 AM in response to saramwrap
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 17, 2013 9:18 AM in response to saramwrap

    Are all dedicated graphic cards for the MBP 15"/17" early 2011 concerned?

     

    choice for the 15" was

    AMD Radeon HD 6750 M with 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM

    AMD Radeon HD 6490 M with 256 MB GDDR5 SDRAM

     

    for the 17"

    AMD Radeon HD 6770 M with 1 GB GDDR5 SDRAM

     

    @saramwrap: as you write you are already on your third logic board, would be interesting which one you use

     

    My 15" MBP has the HD 6750 M and I do not know if the problem also occures (that often) with the HD 6490 M.

     

    Changing the board would still be economic, but I am wondering if it would be better to take one with the smaller graphic card if it is not fraught with problems. I am really worrying about making a repair and having the same problems again after a few month when the warranty for the repair is over...

     

    What do you think? It might also be a lower price!? It's not the best deal since it has lower power, but I need a working machine.

  • by saramwrap,

    saramwrap saramwrap Jul 17, 2013 1:09 PM in response to hnrk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 17, 2013 1:09 PM in response to hnrk

    As far as I know, all three logic boards have had the 6490M (with 256 MB   GDDR5 SDRAM) - I have the 15" i7 2.0GHz and I think that's all they've ever come with (the faster 15" models had the 6750M and additional SDRAM).  I don't recall there being an upgrade option?  I'm not at home with the machine to double-check.

  • by hnrk,

    hnrk hnrk Jul 17, 2013 1:25 PM in response to saramwrap
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 17, 2013 1:25 PM in response to saramwrap

    6490M was standard, 6750M upgrade option, I have got the 6750M with i7 2,2 GHz.

    So it seems to me that all are concerned.

    Thought about getting a safer result when downgroading to 6490M
    (if possible), but that's obvisouly not better

  • by saramwrap,

    saramwrap saramwrap Jul 17, 2013 8:20 PM in response to hnrk
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 17, 2013 8:20 PM in response to hnrk

    I double-checked - my 2.0 GHz 15" i7 is the 6490M, and all three logic boards (ostensibly all of them had the 6490M) have had issues. 

     

    Doesn't seem to be better with either chip, which makes me even more curious to know what's wrong with two GPUs they used in this MBP line.  It makes it harder for me to suspect the chips themselves, but rather the way they're interacting with the board or the firmware/OS. 

     

    It is interesting to note that while the 6490M (and 6750M) has had many driver updates since its release, they haven't released any of these updates for OS X.  My partner and I have debated compiling an updated driver, to see if that helps anything. 

     

    I figured out that my FaceTime HD camera is working with the 6490M disabled in my extensions... but the playback in Photo Booth is not.  That's the only thing that I haven't been able to use with this setup (I don't typically use an external display or projector with this computer, so that hasn't come up).  I'm still looking towards obtaining logic board #4, but I keep hoping that we (or Apple, which seems less likely) will figure out something better than infinite replacements with the same faulty setup.

  • by Karl Ihrig,

    Karl Ihrig Karl Ihrig Jul 18, 2013 1:46 PM in response to Rensoom
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 18, 2013 1:46 PM in response to Rensoom

    Has anyone had this problem before installing Mountain Lion?  The machine originally came with Snow Leopard.

     

    Just got my 2011 15" i7 back from Apple a couple days ago.  This is the third replacement logic board!  The Apple store manager offered and refunded the repair costs before this third repair, and suggested I could use it for another computer to become productive again.  (I did not ask, just brought the computer in for 90 day repair warranty.)  This time the logic board, top case, and keyboard were replaced.  I also bought a new power supply to eliminate the old one as a possible cause.  It has frozen a couple times in a few hours of use, but not yet with graphic distortion (black, grey, graphical artifacts, snow, or striped screen).

  • by saramwrap,

    saramwrap saramwrap Jul 18, 2013 8:14 PM in response to Karl Ihrig
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 18, 2013 8:14 PM in response to Karl Ihrig

    My laptop is current running Snow Leopard and having display issues - I wiped the HD and restored with the discs, so it's running 10.6.7 like it would've in early 2011.  It seems like the issues are independent of the OS version, which makes it less likely to be a driver/software/firmware issue.

  • by Macuser0,

    Macuser0 Macuser0 Jul 19, 2013 4:53 AM in response to Rensoom
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 4:53 AM in response to Rensoom

    Can someone please explain to me how to totally (and properly) disable the 6750m? When i delete the ATI/AMD kexts, eveything becomes blueish and laggy, the screen isn't reconized, and i can't even change the brightness..

  • by hnrk,

    hnrk hnrk Jul 19, 2013 7:25 AM in response to Macuser0
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 7:25 AM in response to Macuser0

    As far as I know you can only disable the dedicated graphics when you are in Mac OS using the free tool gfxCardStatus. In my case I sometimes have to boot several times until I arrive in Mac OS and can start the program before the machine crashes.

     

    I've been to an Apple Store here in Cologne, Germany today, they only offered a repair for 410 Euro + 19% VAT = 487,90 Euro (the Premium Reseller offered the same for 650 Euro, reason for that might be that the repair cost at Apple is always "only" 29 Euro and the Reseller charges depending on the repair time)

     

    I think I am going to do that while hoping for a replacement program to arrive, in this case they will refund the repair costs.

  • by saramwrap,

    saramwrap saramwrap Jul 19, 2013 6:44 PM in response to Macuser0
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 6:44 PM in response to Macuser0

    I've disabled the discrete GPU in my MBP by moving the kernel extension that controls it.  Here's how:

     

    Open the Terminal:

    > mkdir DisabledExtensions

    > cd /System/Library/Extensions

    > sudo mv ATIRadeonX3000.kext ~/DisabledExtensions

    > sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

     

    ATIRadeonX3000.kext appears to be the only extension that I  needed to move to disable the 6490M GPU.  There are a bunch of other extensions that seem to affect other graphics functions (and many of them aren't actually being used).  Disabling some of the others caused a kernel panic.  Unlike with gfxCardStatus, this means that my discrete GPU is disabled at startup, so I'm no longer having boot problems. 

     

    I have the 6490M GPU, but the process of disabling it via a kernel extension should hypothetically be the same with either GPU - please let me know if it isn't! 

  • by Heidarson,

    Heidarson Heidarson Jul 19, 2013 11:34 PM in response to saramwrap
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 19, 2013 11:34 PM in response to saramwrap

    saramwrap: fixing the boot issue would be a big win over gfxCardStatus. I haven't been able to bring my computer to client meetings for this very reason.

     

    But do I understand that this is the approach that will cause issues with some programs such as Photo Booth? If there is one program making the assumption that the extension is there, i'd be worried there are more.

  • by hnrk,

    hnrk hnrk Jul 20, 2013 3:17 AM in response to saramwrap
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2013 3:17 AM in response to saramwrap

    That's great saramwrap! I will try that, how can I get back to original if it does not work?

  • by saramwrap,

    saramwrap saramwrap Jul 20, 2013 5:31 AM in response to Heidarson
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2013 5:31 AM in response to Heidarson

    Photo Booth is the only thing I've found totally broken under this arrangement - I'd love to compile a list of any others.  (At first I thought the camera was non-functional, but it works with other programs like FaceTime.)  For me, this is a stop-gap until I can find something that solves the problem permanently - I certainly don't want to run the computer long-term without both graphics cards operational.  But solving the boot issue has been worth it, because previously I was only able to boot about 50% of the time.

     

    And as for how to reverse - this should do it:

     

    > cd ~/DisabledExtensions

    > sudo mv ATIRadeonX3000.kext /System/Library/Extensions

    > sudo touch /System/Library/Extensions

     

    I'm about to switch back so I can document the issues I'm having in preparation for a Genius Bar trip.  Ahoy, logic board #4 is on the horizon!

  • by DPCPhoto,

    DPCPhoto DPCPhoto Jul 20, 2013 6:41 AM in response to hnrk
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Jul 20, 2013 6:41 AM in response to hnrk

    Instead of a smaller graphics card, hnrk, why not an upgrade discount from Apple for a new model (50% or so)?  This is a repeatable problem, happening to MANY.  Definitely seems to be a design flaw, which should not exist for a $2500 laptop, especially when the marketing discusses build quality, holding value, and other aspects...

  • by Ezan,

    Ezan Ezan Jul 20, 2013 2:52 PM in response to Rensoom
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2013 2:52 PM in response to Rensoom

    Thanks a lot Saramwrap for the command.

    However for macbook pro 17" early 2011, please use ATIRadeonX2000.kext instead of ATIRadeonX3000.kext.. 

  • by saramwrap,

    saramwrap saramwrap Jul 20, 2013 2:58 PM in response to Ezan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2013 2:58 PM in response to Ezan

    Thanks, Ezan!  I only have the one 2011 MBP to try this out with. 

     

    Since I think the 17" uses the 6750M, I assume this means that the 15" models that use that GPU may also use the 2000 instead of the 3000.

     

    If you're wondering which kernel extensions your computer is using, you can type kextstat at the command line and it'll spit out a big long list of the active drivers.  Before you disable anything, you can look in there for anything with the format ATIRadeonX****.kext (asterisks are whatever numbers you're looking for) to see which one you're using. 

first Previous Page 126 of 153 last Next