Lion randomly crashes - black screen

After a black screen crash, go here:

/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/

and print out the most recent report. For the black screen you should see a line at the beginning that reads

panic(cpu ...): NVRM

and probably later this

Kernel Extensions in backtrace (with dependencies)

com.apple.GeForce...

This will tell them this isn't a regular kernel panic and is an example of the famous mid-2010 black screen. I just had that and also had the projector symptom mentioned by Doxnam. The logic board is being replaced now.

But, don't rejoice if you manage to get yours replaced. This is my second replacement with about a year between this and the last.

My Machine is MacBook pro i5, 2.4 , 15", mid 2010.

I used to have wakeup from sleep problem, and solved by the Apple video update.

I used to have crash at login screen , and solved by deleting the power management file.

Now I have sudden black screen of death and the machine restarts on its own, and I never had this problem before.

two days ago, I decided to do a clean install for 10.7.4 , I restored a clean install from an old hard drive image .dmg. that had 10.6.8 and lion in the task bar which I made long time ago. Then installed lion and made the combo update.

I did install aperture and it is the only software there now, even I don't have iLife.

What is driving me crazy, the machine with working like charm, so smooth, and very responsive.

So really is it a software or a hardware issue, I don't know.

And even the log in screen problem went away, and no problem to wake up from sleep, or even the sudden black screen or the restart...

And I am using aperture extensivly.

I didn't restore any data from timemachine, I just created a new account and I am testing the system since then and all is working,,, !!!????

Should I go for logic board exchange, ? Is it Hardware in my case, Is it software, ?

Or is it hardware, and because I didn't install much software there, the problem didn't show up yet. ?

You need to distinguish between an ordinary kernel panic and the sudden panic that the video hardware causes. An ordinary kernel panic wipes the screen down from the top to a gray and tells you it's a kernel panic, from which you can conveniently restart. The sudden panic turns your screen black and (in my case) does not restart on its own but requires a power button press. But I run 10.6.8.

The sudden black screen is a very well known hardware problem. If you live near an Apple Store you should take it in with a printout of the panic report I talked about in my post on July 21, 2012, and tell them you need them to run the VST test (the video test).

Many problems with the Mac stem from software; fewer but a lot stem from memory (RAM) hardware; but this one stems from the NVidia 330m card and logic board, and it is very well known to Apple.

probably worth saying I upgraded to 8GB ram. I did not take this as a factor, because the crashes appeared before the upgrade. but it is true that while it used to be twice a week, after the upgrade the rate of incidents gradually increased to as most as 20 a day. but this did not happen overnight, it was gradual.

I will change back to original memory and see. Will report

I go to the Apple store to pick up my MacBook Pro, which they have had for almost 2 weeks (11 days), and the keyboard doesn't work and a screw was missing from the bottom. They say they need to keep it for the night to see what is and I should expect a call within 24 hours with an up date. I get a call and they said that the keyboard now works and they put the screw back, but due to "technical difficulties" they needed to put a whole new top assembly on the MacBook Pro (the speaker grills, track pad, etc.). So now my MacBook Pro seems to be working once again (after the the logicboard replacement).

TL;DR: Went to the Apple store to get a logicboard replacement and they broke the keyboard and the metal casing that the keys sit in.

I reply to myself just to tell everyone that the issue on my MBP was hardware.

They replaced the motherboad, and as they were seeing weird lines on the LCD, they changed the screen too.

Almost new MBP, 2 months after I got it. I hope this will be an isolated incident...

This thread has been incredibly helpful in helping me realize I'm not crazy and not the only one with this issue. I have had a horrible time with the Apple store and trying to get this resolved. They keep giving me back my computer after running diagnostic tests and telling me everything seems to be fine because they can't replicate the issue. Last time it was there for four days. I'm on my second clean install, they said they think it's software related and they wanted me to back up through migration assistant as opposed to everything from time machine at once. I'm not convinced this will work but I'm giving it a try to make them happy. I went there with a printed panic report and the ts4088 and they didn't pay any attention to either one. I have the mid 2010 MBP, and the screen has been blacking out for months, keyboard lit. It's at the point now that it happens a couple times a night. Very frustrating, I didn't expect this bad of an experience at the store either. If anyne has any other suggestions I'm open. We'll see if the latest reinstall is at all helpful in the meantime :/

Net-wolf wrote:

I'm on my second clean install, they said they think it's software related and they wanted me to back up through migration assistant as opposed to everything from time machine at once. I'm not convinced this will work but I'm giving it a try to make them happy. I went there with a printed panic report and the ts4088 and they didn't pay any attention to either one. I have the mid 2010 MBP, and the screen has been blacking out for months, keyboard lit. It's at the point now that it happens a couple times a night. Very frustrating, I didn't expect this bad of an experience at the store either. If anyne has any other suggestions I'm open. We'll see if the latest reinstall is at all helpful in the meantime :/

Just out of curiosity, are you in the US?

There's not a chance reinstalling will work.

The problem could appear to be gone for a while, but eventually it'll be back. Because this is 100% hardware related. Don't waste your time reinstalling again. Can you take it to another store?

Show them the problem happening in the store. Ask them to run the test while you're watching. Tell them you want to see the test. There was someone here who saw the test running, so i don't think it's impossible to do that. And make it clear you're talking about the TS4088 test. There is a specific test for that article, and they have to contact Apple to get that test (i suppose).

Also make it clear your kernel panics are not ordinary kernel panics. The ordinary system kernel panic doesn't black out the screen forcing a hard reboot. This is the buggy-NVidia kernel panic, the one mentioned on TS4088.

If I were you, I would go to a different Apple Store or try to get in touch with someone at the corporate. Have all the documentation ready and you should be golden. Apple is a wonderful company though some geniouses think they can change that around!

Get your panic reports, Apple visits in writing and hit the store first, talk to a manager directly. If they don't oblige, note down their name, EmpID and fire an email to corporate or even better call them.

I think this might help most if not all and I am in the US. Not sure if this works in other countries.

I saw the test being run infront of my own eyes and a big red notification popped up saying video issues or something similar.

Here's a tip for everyone on how to simulate the problem:

First, make sure that on the Settings -> Energy Saver app you have checked that option which lets the system auto-switch the graphics card, for better energy saving (this comes checked by default on the system).

Finish all applications running on the system. Don't just close their window, finish (cmd+Q) them.

Then:

1. Open iPhoto

2. Close iPhoto

3. Repeat till the system crashes.

I'm not sure this will work for everyone, but i think so.

The thing is that the crash happens when the system switches graphic cards (onboard/nvidia). It doesn't matter how heavy the software you're running is. It could be as simple as opening a PDF file.

So when you open iPhoto, the system tries to switch the graphics, and that may or may not crash. Sometimes it doesn't crash and that's how you're able, sometimes, to use the system for several hours without a crash.

But when you repeat that operation, eventually the switching will crash.

jvjv: The only problem with that is that you cant open iphoto 20 times when youre at the apple store, they just wont wait for that, and youre not even sure that it will crash. my laptop has never crashed when opening iphoto, but has crashed when just going into a newpaper site which has a lot of flash for example.

We need a way to show people at the apple store that you can trigger the crash but i think that might need to be an extensive test or some sort which is running while you are in os x which is probing the video card making it crash, but i havent found any such tools yet, maybe someone needs to write it but im not too familiar with apple apis or even if they are available

If this might help someone :

I never experienced the black screen with a specific app. Everytime I had a KP, it was when I was doing an expose operation : boom, black screen! It did not randomly black screen due to an app but the infamous 4/5 finger swipe up!

exceed450 wrote:

jvjv: The only problem with that is that you cant open iphoto 20 times when youre at the apple store, they just wont wait for that, and youre not even sure that it will crash. my laptop has never crashed when opening iphoto, but has crashed when just going into a newpaper site which has a lot of flash for example.

We need a way to show people at the apple store that you can trigger the crash but i think that might need to be an extensive test or some sort which is running while you are in os x which is probing the video card making it crash, but i havent found any such tools yet, maybe someone needs to write it but im not too familiar with apple apis or even if they are available

Of course, you need to try that at home and see how often it crashes before trying it in the store. Are you sure iPhoto doesn't crash for you in those conditions (all apps finished, energy save enabled)? Give it a try.

kkiran wrote:

If this might help someone :

I never experienced the black screen with a specific app. Everytime I had a KP, it was when I was doing an expose operation : boom, black screen! It did not randomly black screen due to an app but the infamous 4/5 finger swipe up!

The swipe gives me a crash too. To simulate the problem i basically open iPhoto, swipe spaces, close iPhoto, swipe spaces, open iPhoto, swipe...

i get a crash in a minute doing that.