Frequent Panic NVRM[0/1:0:0]: Read Error 0x00000100

to keep you in the loop: after beeing able to show it to my local reseller they had it sent to their technician and I got a call today. They are replacing the logic board. Apple will not pay for it (16 months old MacBook Pro Mid 2010 i7). Luckily I got an extended warranty from my reseller - let's see if they find a working logic board.

Agreed - I did everything Apple Care told me to do on the phone. After 5 days of phone support I aggreed to bring it to Apple.

They are replacing my logicboard for free.

I am out of waranty by almost three months by the way. They are still fixing it for free though - Yah Apple - so they should.

I first reported a similar problem after doing one of the Snow Leopard upgrades. I took it to Apple back then while it was still in warranty but they 'couldn't find anything wrong'. I ended up finding on the internet a fix by switching off automatic graphics swithching. Any way it was mostly fine from then on until my upgrade to Lion.

Boom - problem back again with avengance. Frequent black screens. Occuring at all differnet times and during different task - intensive or not, hot or cold. There was no picking it. Mainly during using Final Cut Pro though!

I reported it Apple by phone and went through the motions as stated at the begining of this thread.

If this has started happening to you after you Lion upgrade and your computer is now out of warranty. You still have three months phone support from the time of your Lion purchase. Use it, report it to Apple. Stay polite with Apple and maybe suggest to them this appears be a hardware issue by all accounts of what you 'have read on the internet'.

I hope you have as much success as getting Apple to take ownership.

A solution that worked for me. I make no guarantees that doing what I did will fix your problem I'm just reporting what worked for me.

I've had the same problem with my MBP, the screen would just go black and the system would be unresponsive. Following a restart I'd be presented with the panic/NVRM error message like the one posted by francois-vda. This would usually but not exclusively happen when watching videos or doing other GPU intensive tasks. Based on posts in this thread I expected that the logic board was damaged, however when ran the Apple Service Diagnostic reported no hardware problems.

I checked the temps and fan speeds while doing some benchmarks/stress testing and although they were on the high side they did not exceed the allowed maximums. Having previous experience with Apple computers and heat issues I had a strong suspicion of what the problem might be but could not confirm it without opening the computer and taking out the logic board. After disassembly and removal of the heat sink my suspicions were confirmed the heat sink paste/grease/compound has been improperly applied to the heat sink and the CPU/GPU underneath, an absolutely insane amount of paste has been used completely encasing both cores in a dried up mess.

I cleaned up the old heat sink paste and applied a thin layer of a new compound to the top of the CPU and the GPU. I've been using the computer for the past 4 days(including about 12 hours of continues stress testing) and the panic/nvrm problem has not reoccurred.

I found another working solution (until lion): I got a usb-to-dvi graphiccard-adapter from DisplayLink (it work OK on the external display, Samsung syncmaster T260, not as fast and cristalsharp as the NVIDIA but its OK) and with gfxCardstatus I force the Mac to use integrated only. Not a crash in two days so I thought Lion.......boom, boom, boom, 8 panics before I even got to the loginscreen. It seems that the Mac use NVIDIA during bootsequence and gfxCardstatus kicks in after you login, but then it's been stable for some hours.

Here are some useful links for the MBookProUser-fix:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Mid-2010-Logic-Board-Rep lacement/3097/1

and

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Applying-Thermal-Paste/744/1

I'll try that now!

So back again, they change the logic board twice.
the first one got an bad Nvidia Chip, the second one was also crapy and brocken out of the box, now i got a working on installed and for now it works fine...
They told me that it is a heat - bad Chip - bad logic bord problem ...

So let´s wait until the next VJ Show ... Hope the new chip can stand it ...

Been battling with this problem for more then 5 weeks now. Logic board has been replaced by Apple twice, problem resurfaces within about 2hrs of use. Tested with known working memory and OS, no external hardware... just about everything that myself and the techs at the Apple store can think of. The guys i've been dealing with clearly havent seen this problem before and are as stumped as I am when it comes to putting a finger on the exact cause. Taking it back to Apple tomorrow after speaking to the store manager - I'm hoping they have some process they can pursue for escalating problems like this, getting these kernal panic reports in front of sombody who has the knowlage/resorces to interpret them beyond what is obvious would be a start.

I replaced the heat sink paste (it was an adequate amount, se http://www.anst.uu.se/gustmoge/mbp-logic.jpg), but with no luck, still crashes in boot-sequence(lion). So I'm back on 10.6.8 now and will stay there until this hardware issue is fixed.

IMHO I think that apple made a major design fault, there are large air outlets but incoming air inlet is very small is placed next to the outlet. OK the air expands somewhat when the temperature rises but that much? And the warm air goes back into the mashine. You should drill some holes in the front (or right under the fans) of the unibody!

It would be nice to have a comment from apple-tech or ndivia!

Woah - it's been years since I mounted a CPU heatsink, but that looks like way too much thermal paste. As I understood it, that can be a very bad thing - potentially interfering with the heatsink's ability to properly conduct heat.

Admittedly, I'm unfamiliar with actual physics involved and the actual type of thermal compound used here - anyone with more knowledge in this area, please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Gustav - If you're willing to disassemble the unit once more, you might consider removing the excess.

Some possibly relevant info:

iFixit's Guide to Applying Thermal Paste:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Applying-Thermal-Paste/744/1

Arctic Silver's Surface Spread technique for mobile i7 chips

http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appmeth/int/ss/intel_app_method_surface_spread_v 1.1.pdf

Oh and thanks for posting the pic - I've been having similar issues & was curious to see what might be the cause.

@gustav.mogensen That is not an adequate amount, that's way too much thermal paste.

Update: I'm sad to report that I experienced another crash, a first one since re-applying the paste around 10 days ago. In conclusion it seams that removing and re-applying the thermal paste has "helped" the situation as the crashes aren't as frequent but it has not fixed it.

It would be nice to see someone from Apple respond to this thread and let us know if this issue is at least being investigated.

Just to let you guys know that my exact same mid 2010 6,2 i7 2.66GHz MacBook Pro (with the nVidia 330M 512MB chip) is having the exact same problems.

I'm still running 10.6.8 - I didn't have any issues until recently. I've had 4 panics in the last 2 days all with references to the graphics chip - googling snippets of the report brought me here.

Same here.

15" mid 2010, 2.8GHz i7
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB

Running 10.7.1 (11B26)

Every few days since the Lion upgrade on August 15

panic(cpu 3 caller 0xffffff7f809522bf): NVRM[0/1:0:0]: Read Error 0x0061022c:

This has been happening to me for like a week now, and has only gotten worse as days go by. Right now i was trying to have a skype conversation, it would work for the first 3-4 min then, black screen. This happened 3 or 4 times till i decided to just keep talking on my iPhone. But its not only skype, it can be anything.

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro6,2

Processor Name: Intel Core i7

Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 4 MB

Memory: 8 GB

Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s

Boot ROM Version: MBP61.0057.B0C

SMC Version (system): 1.58f16

Interval Since Last Panic Report: 7698 sec

Panics Since Last Report: 3

Anonymous UUID: 29ACEE4E-60C2-4F94-8D4B-9B7B04AC975E

Thu Sep 8 15:28:09 2011

panic(cpu 2 caller 0x9d4c97): NVRM[0/1:0:0]: Read Error 0x00000100: CFG 0xffffffff 0xffffffff 0xffffffff, BAR0 0xc0000000 0xa7ced000 0x0a5480a2, D0, P2/4

Backtrace (CPU 2), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)

0x83cc3888 : 0x21b837 (0x5dd7fc 0x83cc38bc 0x223ce1 0x0)

0x83cc38d8 : 0x9d4c97 (0xbea22c 0xc5a840 0xbf8f88 0x0)

0x83cc3978 : 0xaef5db (0xdddcc04 0xd53c004 0x100 0x2345f4)

0x83cc39c8 : 0xae65d4 (0xd53c004 0x100 0x83cc39f8 0x9c4774)

0x83cc39f8 : 0x16c8965 (0xd53c004 0x100 0x438004ee 0x535ce9)

0x83cc3b38 : 0xb0e258 (0xd53c004 0xe88d004 0x0 0x0)

0x83cc3b78 : 0x9dde2b (0xd53c004 0xe88d004 0x0 0x0)

0x83cc3c18 : 0x9da50a (0x0 0x9 0x0 0x0)

0x83cc3dc8 : 0x9dc3d9 (0x0 0x600d600d 0x702a 0x83cc3df8)

0x83cc3e98 : 0x970582 (0xc1d00011 0xaa910001 0x20802040 0x83cc3ee0)

0x83cc3ef8 : 0xd3257d (0xde0a800 0x83cc3f4c 0x0 0x7)

0x83cc3f58 : 0xd3271a (0xde02400 0xd39e54 0x83cc3f78 0x2a45c9)

0x83cc3f78 : 0x230235 (0xde02400 0x0 0x83cc3fc8 0x552f8c)

0x83cc3fc8 : 0x2a179c (0x863ea0 0x0 0x10 0xdfa4640)

Kernel Extensions in backtrace (with dependencies):

com.apple.driver.AGPM(100.12.31)@0xd2f000->0xd39fff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.2)@0x93f000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.2)@0x961000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6.5)@0x928000

com.apple.nvidia.nv50hal(6.3.6)@0x1592000->0x19a6fff

dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(6.3.6)@0x96e000

com.apple.NVDAResman(6.3.6)@0x96e000->0xc5bfff

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6.5)@0x928000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.2)@0x961000

dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.2)@0x93f000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:

10K549

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 10.8.0: Tue Jun 7 16:33:36 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1504.15.3~1/RELEASE_I386

System model name: MacBookPro6,2 (Mac-F22586C8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 442131852625

unloaded kexts:

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBUHCI 4.2.0 (addr 0x142d000, size 0x65536) - last unloaded 349980557382

loaded kexts:

com.parallels.kext.prl_vnic 6.0 11828.615184

com.parallels.kext.prl_netbridge 6.0 11828.615184

com.parallels.kext.prl_usb_connect 6.0 11828.615184

com.parallels.kext.prl_hid_hook 6.0 11828.615184

com.paceap.kext.pacesupport.snowleopard 5.7.2

com.parallels.kext.prl_hypervisor 6.0 11828.615184

com.vara.driver.VaraAudio 1.0.3

com.waves.driver.soundgrid 2.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor 1.9.3d0 - last loaded 41403899502

com.apple.filesystems.autofs 2.1.0

com.apple.driver.AGPM 100.12.31

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver 1.2.0

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver 2.0.5f14

com.apple.driver.AppleHDA 2.0.5f14

com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.57

com.apple.driver.SMCMotionSensor 3.0.1d2

com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient 3.5.7

com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl 1.0.20

com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X 7.0.0

com.apple.driver.AudioIPCDriver 1.1.6

com.apple.GeForce 6.3.6

com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin 4.7.0a1

com.apple.driver.AppleLPC 1.5.1

com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl 2.10.6

com.apple.kext.AppleSMCLMU 1.5.2d10

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHDGraphics 6.3.6

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHDGraphicsFB 6.3.6

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTCButtons 201.6

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCardReader 2.6.1

com.apple.driver.AppleIRController 303.8

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTCKeyboard 201.6

com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient 2.6.8

com.apple.BootCache 31.1

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib 1.0.0d1

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage 1.6.4

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub 4.2.4

com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI 4.7.3

com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43224 428.42.4

com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM 1.4.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSmartBatteryManager 160.0.0

com.apple.iokit.AppleBCM5701Ethernet 3.0.5b8

com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort 2.1.7

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI 4.2.4

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons 1.3.6

com.apple.driver.AppleRTC 1.3.1

com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.5

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS 1.7

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC 1.3.6

com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC 1.4

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient 142.6.0

com.apple.security.sandbox 1

com.apple.security.quarantine 0

com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall 2.1.12

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement 142.6.0

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileReadCounterAction 17

com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 2.0.5f14

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileTimestampAction 10

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileThreadInfoAction 14

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileRegisterStateAction 10

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileKEventAction 10

com.apple.driver.AppleProfileCallstackAction 20

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController 1.0.10d0

com.apple.iokit.IOSurface 74.2

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController 2.0.5f14

com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily 2.0.5f14

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP 2.0.3

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager 2.4.5f3

com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily 10.0.3

com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily 1.8.3fc2

com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib 1.3

com.apple.iokit.AppleProfileFamily 41

com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily 4.7.0a1

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI 1.0.10d0

com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert 1.0.1

com.apple.driver.AppleSMC 3.1.0d5

com.apple.nvidia.nv50hal 6.3.6

com.apple.NVDAResman 6.3.6

com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport 2.2

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily 2.2

com.apple.driver.BroadcomUSBBluetoothHCIController 2.4.5f3

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBBluetoothHCIController 2.4.5f3

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily 2.4.5f3

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice 2.6.8

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass 2.6.7

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMultitouch 207.7

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver 4.2.0

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub 4.2.4

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite 3.9.0

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIMultimediaCommandsDevice 2.6.8

com.apple.iokit.IOBDStorageFamily 1.6

com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily 1.6

com.apple.iokit.IOCDStorageFamily 1.6.1

com.apple.driver.XsanFilter 402.1

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCISerialATAPI 1.2.6

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily 2.6.8

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient 4.2.4

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily 4.2.6

com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family 320.1

com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily 1.10

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily 2.0.6

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily 4.2.4

com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime 1.4.0

com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.6.6

com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily 1.1

com.apple.kext.AppleMatch 1.0.0d1

com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet 6

com.apple.driver.DiskImages 289

com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily 1.6.3

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform 1.3.6

com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.6.5

com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily 1.3.0

Model: MacBookPro6,2, BootROM MBP61.0057.B0C, 2 processors, Intel Core i7, 2.8 GHz, 8 GB, SMC 1.58f16

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, PCIe, 512 MB

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics, Intel HD Graphics, Built-In, 288 MB

Memory Module: global_name

AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x93), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.131.42.4)

Bluetooth: Version 2.4.5f3, 2 service, 12 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

Network Service: AirPort, AirPort, en1

Serial ATA Device: ST9500420ASG, 465.76 GB

Serial ATA Device: HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS23N

USB Device: Hub, 0x0424 (SMSC), 0x2514, 0xfa100000 / 2

USB Device: Internal Memory Card Reader, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8403, 0xfa130000 / 5

USB Device: BRCM2070 Hub, 0x0a5c (Broadcom Corp.), 0x4500, 0xfa110000 / 4

USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8218, 0xfa113000 / 6

USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x0236, 0xfa120000 / 3

USB Device: Hub, 0x0424 (SMSC), 0x2514, 0xfd100000 / 2

USB Device: IR Receiver, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8242, 0xfd120000 / 4

USB Device: Built-in iSight, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8507, 0xfd110000 / 3

I just got my motherboard replaced after NVRMing all over the place with 10.6.8 and 10.7.*. I demonstrated the error at Genius Bar by going to the second pane of effects in photobooth on a fresh 10.7.0 install. This is a very consistent way to trigger the panic.

I have to give it to Apple, though, at a busy Vancouver downtown store the board was replaced in less than 3 hours.

I'm hoping that the replacement will address the issue. I'll keep people posted.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M

Type: GPU

Bus: PCIe

PCIe Lane Width: x16

VRAM (Total): 512 MB

Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de)

Device ID: 0x0a29

Revision ID: 0x00a2

ROM Revision: 3560

gMux Version: 1.9.21

Displays:

Display Connector:

Display Connector:

Status: No Display Connected

and

Intel HD Graphics:

Chipset Model: Intel HD Graphics

Type: GPU

Bus: Built-In

VRAM (Total): 288 MB

Vendor: Intel (0x8086)

Device ID: 0x0046

Revision ID: 0x0012

gMux Version: 1.9.21

Displays:

Color LCD:

Resolution: 1440 x 900

Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)

Main Display: Yes

Mirror: Off

Online: Yes

Built-In: Yes

Guys,

let's sum things up until now ...

MBP - apparently only the Mid 2010 ones (due to the GeForce nVidia 330 gfx card) - crashes from every other day to multiple times a day: Sudden "black out", hard reset will turn up a Kernel Panic "NVRM[0/1:0:0]: Read Error".

Most likely cause: Defect 330GT graphics card & software driver issue that brings the problem out.

Software Fix: Downgrade to 10.6.3, or use your MBP in Intel gfx only mode (using gfxCardStatus). Apparently, this isn't a real fix, just a workaround.

Real fix: Get your logic board exchanged! This has proven to be the only REAL solution to the problem. Everyone facing the above mentioned problem got it solved by a logic board exchange.

Thoughts: The problem could be caused by huge chunks of thermal paste cloistered all over the graphics cards, kind of hindering the heat sinks from doing their work properly. GFX card overheat is a known issue with the nVidia 330 cards. Some people actually took their fresh logic boards, removing the paste applied by Apple, then applying their own paste properly. Quite obviously, this isn't something you could wholeheartedly recommend, since it'll most likely void your warranty.

Now, the thing that keeps me worried: Will my new logic board work fine from now on, or will I have to face the same Kernel Panics again in a couple of weeks or months? Let's wait and see what others report who've had their boards exchanged ...