Lion randomly crashes - black screen

This is most definitely a hardware problem. I have had my logic board replaced and Apple is well aware of this problem with mid 2010 MacBook pros and extended the period of replacement of this at no cost to owners. I have never seen a product recall from apple, but they do replace faulty equipment. If this was a software, firmware or driver issue they would no be replacing logic boards at their cost!

Well that's my opinion !

But the logicboard was dead then, so how could they know what happened? Changing Resolution in Bootcamp/Windows7 with the NVIDIA driver was the last thing I did. Twice!

I am sure I could reproduce it again with this logicboard :-( but I will not as it is working fine so far.

Same issue. But Apple Spain refuses to replace my logic board at their cost or even give me an explanation. In my humble opinion, this is fraud. Do you guys know what to do to make them take responsibility?

Ok, I've just found this:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4088?viewlocale=en_US

Anyone know if Apple is going to extend the replacement policy again? Or do I have to pay 700 dollars just because my logic board took a bit too long to die?

The worst thing about this is that Apple Spain didn't tell me anything about this WELL KNOWN issue. They just told me it's out of warranty. Nothing else. Like there's no problem at all with these computers. Just bad luck mine crashed. This is a simple and plain fraud.

Warning! Apple may be trying to bury this issue, and force customers to pay for a known manufacturing defect!

My mid-2010 MBP was experiencing all the symptoms (including the exact NVDA panic everyone's reporting), but when I took it to the Genius Bar, they claimed the 'diagnostic' didn't show the problem. Result: I'm out US$322 for a new logic board. I figured I had no choice, but after getting the unit back and doing more research, I'm convinced it was a 'my word against theirs' situation.

Moral of the story: don't agree for a costly logic board repair if you are convinced you're having this problem. Once you've signed the repair authorization, there's no going back.

Representatives from Apple Customer relations, as well as the local Apple Store (Grand Rapids, MI) all towed the 'party line', and claimed it was a logic board failure.

Bad form, Apple.

Warning! Apple may be trying to bury this issue, and force customers to pay for a known manufacturing defect!

My mid-2010 MBP was experiencing all the symptoms (including the exact NVDA panic everyone's reporting), but when I took it to the Genius Bar, they claimed the 'diagnostic' didn't show the problem. Result: I'm out US$322 for a new logic board. I figured I had no choice, but after getting the unit back and doing more research, I'm convinced it was a 'my word against theirs' situation.

Moral of the story: don't agree for a costly logic board repair if you are convinced you're having this problem. Once you've signed the repair authorization, there's no going back.

Representatives from Apple Customer relations, as well as the local Apple Store (Grand Rapids, MI) all towed the 'party line', and claimed it was a logic board failure.

Poorly played, Apple.

They're trying to do the same to me.

The Technical Support guys claimed my mid-2010 MBP doesn't have the problem everyone is reporting despite all the evidences and, worst of all, as I said before, they and also Apple Spain hid this WELL KNOWN issue from me (during four different phone calls with the Customer Support guys) and I had to figure it out myself. Plus, they didn't give me an alternative explanation for a logic board failure after only three years of careful and responsible use.

I haven't agreed for the logic board repair yet and I'm not planning to do that. Finally I've got to talk to a superior advisor and he is studying my case. I will report further details here to help other customers suffering the same issue.

Sorry for my english, I do what I can 🙂

Tell me about it. My mid-2010 MBP has exactly this problem.

I went to Apple's Genius Bar (in North Cal) 3 times in the last couple of years for this same problem.

First time they asked me if I can reproduced the problem at the scene, and I failed. Since they said their diagnostic can't detect anything, they suggested me just wait for a software update. That was 10.6.8.

After couple of months, Lion was out, and an acknowledgement from Apple website acknowledged this problem and was said to extend the warranty to fix (the first of TS4088). So this time around I was more prepared, I knew I probably couldn't reproduce the crash at the scene (it was so random anyway, happened 1-2X a day during normal use), so I copy all the crash report, and also showed them the Apple's acknowledgement page regarding this problem and free repair. Also "luckily" I reproduced the problem on site this time! The guy seems confused and still asked me to deposit the computer for a couple days for some extended test. I was hopeful but after couple of days they called me and told me the computer passed their stupid test and they couldn't find any problem. Even though I can reproduced the problem and all those crash reports, they said it might because my computer is "old" and can't match the new Lion system well. Since it was pre-installed with snow-leopard, so it was out of warranty and no guaranteed it would match the new syste. I was of course totally ****** off but they refused to do any repair even though I showed them the piece of expensive crap was faulty.

After mount lion was out, it was still no fix. Now 10.9 is out, I tried and it crashed the same day I installed 10.9. So an year has passed I went to Genius Bar again. They basically behaved the same, refused to acknowledge the Apple's support page and wanted to do a test again. It passed the initial test and now they are doing the extensive test for a couple of days now. I have a feeling the result will be the same. Maybe I should send Tim Cook an email telling him how suck Apple service is and see if I got better luck this way? The "genius" lady basically told me she understands there is problem with my computer, she is not denying that, but if their test cannot reproduce the problem, they can't do anything about it.... =.= I guess that's their SOP, though it was totally against what their support website suggested.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4088?viewlocale=en_US

Very disappointed service.

This is most definitely a hardware problem. I have had my logic board replaced and Apple is well aware of this problem with mid 2010 MacBook pros and extended the period of replacement of this at no cost to owners. I have never seen a product recall from apple, but they do replace faulty equipment. If this was a software, firmware or driver issue they would no be replacing logic boards at their cost!

Well that's my opinion !

This is a software issue that causes hardware failure. It's not a hardware issue. That is fact.

The difference is like the difference between your engine having a fault and failing, and you having a spasm in your leg that floors the pedal till the engine overheats and fails. Whatever is talking to the Nvidia GPU from OS X is doing something that is causing the chip to burn out its interface with OS X. This can be easily identified becasue Bootcamp still works without faults even on intesive games, and the same GPU in other non-Apple products (like PCs and laptops) works without issue.

Don't forget that Macs are just pretty PCs with security chips and different software nowadays.

I have it even more exact it is not Mavericks. Our beloved OSX is acquitted. This goes to the account of Adobe and Flash. It came with one of the Flash Updates. But with the latest update it seems to be then corrected again.

And it is not Hardware I first also thought this. But I was able to force this Screen Black Out Crash with some embedded Youtube Movies.

Have the same problem for some time, using 10.6.8 on a MBP 2010 i7

I recently called Apple support and my warranty is unfort. expired also I've been told that this 1 year warranty extension program for graphic caused black screen error is over.

While I was doing my routine searches for this problem I came accross this thread

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2721563837?page=1

Now magically it works

let's see It will be a permanent solution.

I do more Research and it seems this is denfintily Adobe and embeddet Flash. But the Adobe update dont fix it at all. This Apple Discussion Site also uses Adobe Flash I see this cause I have blocked Flash with the Browser now. I found also another Discussion about this. The sugesstion there is to turn off 64 Bit Mode in the Browser. I will also a Test this.

Here is the Link:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2759631?answerId=17619471022#17619471022

I had the same problem, i had kernel panics almost every 10 minutes. i tried getting my macbook repaired by apple but my macbook was too old for the 3-years replacemend program.

As a last resort before ordering a new macbook pro i tried reflowing the GPU on my 2010 i5 macbook pro... And it worked like a charm! Since reflowing the gpu, i experienced zero kernel panics(3 days). So, before sending in your macbook to replace your GPU, try reflowing. Just dissassemble your macbook and take your motherboard. Remove the cooling paste, heat your GPU to the right temperature (see nvidia reflow profile(http://www.ifixit.com/Answers/View/131448/Nvidia+320m+reflow+profile)) and assemble your MBP.

Good luck!

Thanks, Avdbroek, please let us know if that will still work after the 1st week, 3 days seems too little time... And that seems to be quite a risky procedure...

In the meanwhile, since Apple is unable to give us an explanation of what really happens and don't provide us with any workaround, I'm tweeting #MyMacbookJustCrashed (and #MyAppleJustCrashed) everytime I face that issue. Last time it happened 8 times in a row, I got very annoyed (and ashamed) about that. This is my 3rd Mac and I think it will be my last.