2011 MacBook Pro hard freeze - possible fix (man pmset)

I was having a similar problem with my early 2011 MBP (2.2Ghz, OS 10.6.6).

I bought my MBP specifically for music production and live performance of music. So i've only got a handful of applications installed (Ableton Live being the main one).

I'm in Melbourne, Australia. It's currently summer and the last few days have been pretty warm in my un-airconditioned house (35ºC+). It's also in the last two days that I've experienced half a dozen or so hard-freezes (audio continues, cursor can be moved, but everything else is frozen - requires a hard-reset - just like the many others have written about here).

anyway, following advice on this wiki (itself a response to this thread) - http://mbp-freeze.wikispaces.com/ - I installed gfxCardStatus.

The wiki recommends switching to 'Integrated Only' as a fix, but I use my MBP with an external display most of the time (and the integrated card doesn't support a second monitor).

So I've got mine set to 'Discrete Only' and this seems to be working.

I'm currently running an pretty heavy Ableton project (audio and video) as well as CS5's Illustrator and Photoshop plus all 8 logical cores are maxed-out (following the terminal command on the wiki page).

And it's not crashing : )

(previoulsy it crashed this morning, before the house had even had a chance to warm up fully).

So in a nutshell, having gfxCardStatus set to 'Discrete Only' seems to have fixed my problem.

admittedly the fans are running fast and the computer is hot to touch. but that's kind of expected (even my older 2009 dual-core Macbook gets pretty hot & noisy in this weather).

so long as my system isn't crashing, I can live with the noise and the heat. but it has to be reliable and be able to handle hot outside temperatures (ie a sweaty nightclub or bar, or an outdoor festival in summer).

I'll write again if the problem returns (we'll probably have a few more stinking hot days this summer - that'll be the real test).

Oops, I posted this in the wrong thread.

meant for it to go here (MacBook Pro 2011 17" hard freeze):

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2768351?start=1680&tstart=0

also, for the record, my problem has persisted. I've since updated the OS to 10.6.8. Maybe this will help?

I also suspect the problem only occurs while the Macbook is using a second extneral display also...

..fuller details in the other thread.

Hello, I`m experiencing the same problems, is your resolved now?

1/ you tell it was the RAM. Was this dedected by the apple hardware test, or any other test?

2/ my graphic card / logic board was replaced, but the freeze problem remains.

Do you, or anybody else has any suggestions?

Thanks,

kindly,

Steven

Hello Don,

I have the same macbook pro 8,2 15 inch, March 2011, and the same problem

Is your problem fixed by now?

If yes, can please briefly explain how, I would appreciate, thank you

My logic board was replaced, did not help.
I did a fresh install, it did not help.

Repair permissions, harware test - nothing found, memory reset, etc,

all seems working properly according to the tests, but the problem remains.

Kindly,
Steven

Yes mate. It's gone as I said at the 4 message up. It's classical RAM problem. My graphic card(also mainboard) has been changed like yours. And there was a same unsolved problem. And I insisted to check my RAMs and it's appeared.

Just change your RAM with guarantee terms.

Thanks for the reply Esatcetin

Two last questions if I may, to see if our problem is really alike:

1/ the RAM problem was not dedectable by yourself, by for example the Apple Hardware test or any other software like diskwarrior, techtoolpro or drive genius?
2/ when your computer freezed, was it somewhat comparable with this freeze? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR3EBaSuy_Y this youtube only last for 1min.30 seconds

Thank you so much,
kindly,
Steven

You welcome,

Here is your answers;

1- I just red the RAM problem from this pages and Apple Service had done their hardware test. According to result they've changed my only 1 RAM. You know there is a two slot. That RAM was problem. After changing all the problems gone.

2- It's similar with mine. But there only a different that there was three scram sounds at the freezing time.

Dude, it seems that you have to go to Apple Service and just say ¨please check my RAMs¨. I'm sure that your problem will be solved after changing your RAM/s.

Regards