Q: MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze

Add me to this list...been having all these same problems for about 6 weeks...totally disgusted!

MacBook Model : Late 2011, 15”

Serial Number : C02GY4X2DV7M

Country or Region: Hong Kong

Graphic card: AMD Radeon HD 6770M

I bought my mbp in early 2012, therefore it’s not even two years old yet.

Details: In Nov. 12,2013 when I turn on my mbp, I got problem with gray lines over the whole screen.So I turned off the mbp and tried to press command+option+r but I got a blue screen with some gray lines.  Sometimes I was able to successfully boot, but sometime I was unable to boot.  Even if sometimes I was able to successfully boot the mbp, but if I visit a video website or open a video file, the computer will screen blurring or freeze.I bought my mbp in early 2012, therefore it’s not even two years old yet.

Same problem, and some of the other problems described here also.

Maybe  you allready did, if not, check it out:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?start=0&tstart=0

Most problems are caused by:

"It's the mechanical stress caused by heating/cooling cycles, making it expand and contract.

Breaking the "glued"  connection, like the head-in-pillow photo posted."

Wrote that here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?start=1995&tstart=0

Same happens to gameconsoles like xbox 360, PS3, laptops (pc/windonws).

Even the new Xbox One and PS4 fail on it.

Guys, please accept my post as is. I am not a technical person, just a faithful Mac user. My 2011 Macbook Pro 17" was going down the alley that you guys have superbly described. Unfortunately it had been exposed to humidity. Today I opened it up and cleaned the inside with 95% alcohol from the lab, then used a hair dryer at room temperature+a vacuum cleaner to get rid of gunk and dust, respectively. I know, mine is a low-tech approach, but the thing has been working flawlessly for 7 hours now on graphic card dynamic switching, which it hadn't done in several days. Admittedly, thanks to this thread I tackled the problem at very early stages of the catastrophe. Please forgive my simple-minded contribution. I'll keep you guys posted, whether things keep going well or not.

Giacomo, from Milan, Lombardy

What if You and other "single minded" just roll to the start of this thread and read my response for the MBP-malfunctioning because of the too much of the thermal paste on to the CPU & GPU?

And just do what I did.

2-3 years old MBP's are far far away from the Apple care (and other) program. Youre just alone with the problem.

Just do what I did. That's the solution.

FYI, Kristian's response to be found at "the start of this thread" is really on pages 115-120 .

Just an update, I got mine reballed and its been working perfectly and boots a lot faster than before it went total failure. It has been 2 weeks and counting. Hopefully this last for the rest of this machines life. It costs $56 to get reballed here in philippines, good thing I'm visiting here if anyone is here I recommend Lesters Shop, it's located in Mandaluyong City Hall circle one of the shops on that circle road.

Adding fuel to the fire here. Early 2011, AMD Radeon HD 6750M, problem "fixed" by keeping it on integrated graphics. Intend to go to an apple store tomorrow. Seeing as this is page 142, this seems like a pretty clearly widespread problem... so screw you just a little bit, Apple.

hankthewes wrote:

 

Adding fuel to the fire here. Early 2011, AMD Radeon HD 6750M, problem "fixed" by keeping it on integrated graphics. Intend to go to an apple store tomorrow. Seeing as this is page 142, this seems like a pretty clearly widespread problem... so screw you just a little bit, Apple.

This one is 146 pages allready.

The 142 page thread is there:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?start=2115&tstart=0

Another 15 here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4637833?start=210&tstart=0

Makes a total of 303 pages of problem reports.

Probably more to find.

Experienced similar problems with my MacBook Pro, 15" 2.3 GHz, early 2011 model.

Sporadic hard freezes when running under high load, especially when using certain applications including Illustrator, Photoshop, Powerpoint, and an application that runs under Rosetta. Screen often turned into grey stripes or shifted with a black vertical parting bar; sometimes machine would not boot any more and fan started spinning. Issues started around year 2.5.

Since this was a sporadic problem, all Apple diagnostics came back as 'ok', and 'Geniuses' insisted this could be just a software problem, and the next step would be to manually(!!) restore my computer. However, I eventually convinced them to replace the logic board. (What finally seemed to convince them was the fact that the problem also occurred under an independent user account.)

Since then- everything is PERFECT! Not a single freeze or problem booting. I suspect the logic board is the issue in many of the cases described.

I am surprised Apple does not take this apparently widespread problem a little more seriously. It's not a recommendation for Apple to make customers jump through so many hoops, especially when a machine is still under Apple Care and a problem is widespread that it may even warrant a recall. I have been a heavy Apple user and avid fan since more than a decade and never had problems like this before.

Just another in the long list of unhappy users...

My early 2011 MBP 2.3 gig machine running 10.6.8 has recently decided to hard freeze at random times. It could happen even when running one non CPU intensive app. All functions will stop, no mouse, no ability to force quit..only holding the power button down will get me out and have to reboot.

So far the fixes I've tried include, replaced 8 gig RAM, had AppleCare run tests online, had authorized apple repair store run hours of tests, removed older unused files, ran mackeeper app,reset pram,repaired disk permissions,opened a 2nd admin account, reinstalled Digital Performer, trashed VST files ( DP uses audio units) ..trashed apps I started using around the time this issue started....other fixes I can't even recall.

Fortunately I bought an extended AppleCare so I have till August of 2014....what should I insist that Apple replace ?

I've owned at least 9 Macs over the years and have never had an issue like this...very tough to write and produce music when you have to reboot over and over while mixing a track...very upset...help !

Your problems sound all so familiar! Also the fact that the diagnostics (even stress testing) came back negative. Just like in my case they seem to make you jump through all kinds of hoops...

Chances are it's the logic board that is defective- my machine still runs flawlessly ever since the logic board was replaced.

  Can someone explain in a simple way what "pointer being freed was not allocated" means ? I`m getting that error message in my logs.

Sign me up too.  I think mine is starting to show some of the same problems, though its in the early stages.  Was in the process of converting everything to apple, in my home and business.  But now I'm not so sure!

I just turned on my Macbook Pro and it gave me a message of "there is a problem" and now it's frozen.  The wheel just keeps turning.