Q: Lion randomly crashes - black screen

At this point, Apple's reputation is starting to suffer...Lion was released into the wild too soon, and in effect we are all Beta testers. I just found an 81 page forum about the "Lion Bug" in Germany...  Der Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Bug Thread

I find it impossible to believe that so many of the "Geniuses" and the tech support at Apple Care know nothing about this issue ...

Looks like this discussion has generated more confusion than finding a solution to the problem.

My last update: just downgraded to Snow Leopard, I've executed the (tried) method with Lion to generate the problem (launching a couple of applications at the same time) and the result is: with Snow Leopard no problems at all.

After seeing lot of people changing their motherboards without fixing the problem I'm more convinced it is a Lion's software issue.

I haven't upgraded to Lion yet, but random black screen panics *exactly* like those reported here (mid 2010 MBP 330M graphics - completely stock, no RAM upgrades etc) are what brought me to discover there is a running problem.

I don't get them any where near as much as other people. Photo booth works fine etc... but they do occur. I had 6 random panics last week.

I can play 3d game, I can do heavy graphics stuff, but every so often the graphics chip will hold it's white flag and bring the the system down.

It worked fine for over a year, the last update to 10.6.8 seems to have brought these issues to light.

I wouldn't rule out driver issues, I wouldn't rule out hardware. But there definitely seems to be *an* issue particularly effecting these mid 2010 MacBook Pros with the nVidia 330m chip.

It would be nice to have a definitive answer.

I'm another Macbook Pro i7 2,66 Mid 2010 owner that experienced the black screen errors, easily demonstrated using Photo Booth effects page 2. It was bought in january 2011 so it was less than 6 months old when errors started, first in Snow Leopard, then in Lion at a much greater rate.

I delivered it to my local store in Norway together with 10+ error logs I had collected.

They switched the logic board (which took 20 days) and I have been running Lion for a few weeks now without any trouble.

This Macbook was my first experience with Apple products. I'm not impressed.

Yes, exactly! I can also play 3D games and also Photo Booth has no problems. But sometimes a BSOD came, when I am in Skype oder Mail - no graphic-intensive apps.

I think it's a driver problem.

I have the same problem (i7 MacBook Pro). Oddly, the problem seems to happen on my machine when I move my mouse on the right-side of my screen. Spotlight, specifically, has been a problem. Like poster above, I'm glad I'm not alone. But I really need Apple to fix this quickly.

Happened to me a few more times in the last couple of days. Usually specific instances cause it: Photobooth Effects and Minecraft InvEdit were the two I previously new about in my case, but I just learned that submitting assignments via BlackBoard Vista (College Web Tool) also causes it to crash! Now that's really something that I can't wait around to use until a fix is made avaliable. I apparently have one of the better logic boards as my crashes aren't random and can't risk getting it replaced with one that will be worse. I'll try to get a replacement sometime within the week (lost my voice at the moment, can't really talk on the phone). On another note, copying the Japenese character for "Red" also made it crash.

strange, i can't get the BSOD to appear in anything but iPhoto (regularly, sometimes even upon launch) and occasionally Safari (only if something javscripty or Flash-related is holding it up).

Mid 2010 i7, and can run Photobooth all day long.

Yeah interestingly enough, I can spend all day in Photoshop, Flash, Illustrator and Dreamweaver while listening to iTunes and not have one problem. But as soon as I try to download an image from Chrome to my desktop... BSOD.

Don't think that's heat or hardware related.

Yes, Ian Kelleigh, I also think it isn't a hardware issue. If I read an email, I get a BSOD – always in not graphic-intensive apps.

I'm curious, is anyone else using bluetooth peripherals when these crashes occur?  In my case I feel it is 100% when I am using my apple magic mouse.

Ah … yes, could be. But one time, I had no Magic Mouse and I have a BSOD – but Bluetooth was activated.

Around the last eight crashes I have used my Magic Mouse, and when I have clicked there was the Black Screen.

Yes, Bluetooth could be also the problem.

I think it's not. My bluetooth is always disabled and I had many BSOD. Gfxcardstatus is running since 3 weeks and i didn't have any BSOD with it.

Once more, if I paid 2200€ it's not to have a 3/4 of my Mac working. I'm very angry at Apple. After 2 months, no solution !? Do you think it's normal ? I don't !

@ Greg Schueler: I have had several BSOD's with bluetooth turned off. So at least in my case this does not seem to matter anything.

ah interesting, thanks. my theory out the window