Q: Lion randomly crashes - black screen

Download "gfxcardstatus" from here:

http://codykrieger.com/gfxCardStatus

Once installed, you can switch between Discrete, Integrated or Dynamic. I have set mine to Discrete and haven't had a freeze in almost 24 hours. I think the freezing is caused when it's set at Dynamic, and is switching between the two.

Thanks Ian for helping  a fellow victim of Apple's irresponsible actions. Hopefully and I can Download and install it before my MBP crashes.

Thats interesting I have been trying on "imtegrated" only and working all weekend. Integrated only force the intel chip. Im back to work today so will try discrete which is nvidia. Init works then yes it might indeed point to the problem being in switching rather than te chip but I won't hold my breath...!

Am getting blank screens too - on a MBP 15" mid-2010.  Really annoying bug - can't imagine this would have got through testing un-noticed, or else testing wasn't thorough enough.  I really like Lion, but this is souring the experience.

Need a fix, Apple.

I was having this issue, then I upgraded the driver to my external audio interface and haven't had a single crash in several days. Not sure how applicable this is to everyone else, but maybe check the drivers for any devices you have attached (or even not attached... my interface didnt have to be connected for the computer to go blank, but after upgrading the interface driver, instantly solved the problem)

It seems obvious to me that there was a problem either with this issue being rushed through or not enough testing to identify it properly.

I hope that once this *is* fixed it will raise to apple the glairing issue that alpha, beta and pre releases of the OS should be available to more than just developers (or those paying $100) and reports should be better followed up.

I had the same problem. Kernal Panic immediately upon start-up. I could start up in safe mode.

Spent three hours on the phone with Apple support without resolving the problem.

Solved the problem...restored Snow Leopard from Time Machine back-up. I will give Lion another shot in a few months

@Robert Tompkins what did apple say on the phone did they have any clue about this? was anything in their voice prompts etc?

The frustrating thing for me is i took my machine to apple in Sydney when still had snow leopard (i've been crashing for months now but its become far worse with LION), they had it a week and gave it back saying there's nothing wrong with it and that it *might* be "steermouse" which was very aggravating because it was installed but clearly not being run and wasn't in my user startup items!

Its like trying to have issues fixed by car dealers who refuse to accept there is anything wrong!

I'm sorry to advise that leaving on 'Discrete' hasn't worked for me. Looks like I'm going to have to restore Snow Leopard as an external monitor is essential for my working life.

@black_rider: the problem is you need the opposite setting from the one that we think works. Discrete means you're using the discrete video card (meaning the nVidia GPU). That's the video driver that we believe is faulty. You need to use "Integrated" to force the Intel onboard GPU to avoid the crashing. Is the Integrated card unable to run your external monitor?

thanks to the card status poster --

-- "discrete only" and no crashing yet -- !!

Changing the graphics processor settings didn't work for me. There are apparently other things broken, although I don't deny that the NVIDIA drivers may have problems.

Hard to believe this escaped internal test, n'est-ce pas? But honestly, it's not often that a major OS release from any vendor, Apple included, is free of serious bugs in the first days/weeks. Just go back and look at some of the horrendous things that happened to people in previous major releases of Mac OS X!

Use backup, folks! At least Time Machine takes all of the pain out of backup/restore. Good luck on a PC!

I'm going to try it.

Edit: I have been on it for 9 minutes so far no problems, but the GPU˚ is at 140˚ F so I don't know if it will crash soon.

Edit 2: Up too 150˚ F

@rennsport -

thats strange, a poster earlier in this thread mentioned the same thing. What tool are you using to see the temp? I'm using iStat and all temps seem fine. But I think its worth apple looking into. Maybe there's a bug with the GPU temp and the OS panics and shuts down to prevent damage when its not actually that hot... of course it might also be a bug in the temp reporting tool your using...?

Edit: just on that, i'd have thought ~150F isn't very hot for a GPU anyway is it? i think a card should be fine upto atleast 80+C ~175F.

Just FYI, I had been running all weekend without a crash using "integrated" and no crash. But I'm now back at work so was forced to use discrete mode (nvidia card) again because i have an external monitor. Now I've also not crashed all day.

As Ian Kelleigh speculated above, its possible the issue is switching between cards as i'm locked on nvidia card and no crashes today... could be coincidence, but before using gfxCardStatus and allowing GPU switching i was crashing 15+ in a day.

I'm using iStat Menus as well. It is 142˚ F now. Using Discrete only.