Q: Lion randomly crashes - black screen

Hello guys.

would like to report i have same issue on same hardware configuration (mid 2010 macbook pro 15", i7 266Ghz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330 M @ 512 MB, 4 GB ram)

I run Mac OS X 10.6.8 , and im having this issue since april 2011.

I get black screen of death everytime the machine starts making an intense use of GPU, it does overheats and the whole system crash. basically such a powerful machine like this macbook pro is supposed to be, simply doesnt work.

around april my warranty was still valid and apple phone support told me to wait for a software update, wich didnt solve the problem and now warranty is over. So i took the macbook pro to assitance and paid money to have my fans cleaned up and obviouslòy it didnt solve the issue, still experiencing it.

assistance told me could be an Nvidia chip's flaw like it happened with the 8600 chipsets some time ago, and they said i should replace my logic board payng for it.

if you guys check the forums around on the net theres plenty of issues with exact same hardware configuration and black screen of death on both systems, snow leopard and lion.

i wont pay for a new logic board since this seems to be an hardware "built in - flaw" affecting NVIDIA cards on mac os x.

this is very frustrating expecially because i did save money for 2 years to buy the best of apple's notebooks and now it doesnt work and i have no money to buy another one or have it fixed. this is something apple should really look into, so many people with same machine having the same issue.

Isnt just a Lion thing.

Peace.

p.s.: i think im getting an idea on why the new macbooks come with ati graphics...

soundrmx wrote:

around april my warranty was still valid and apple phone support told me to wait for a software update, wich didnt solve the problem and now warranty is over.

...

they said i should replace my logic board payng for it.

If you called before your warranty expired, then your problem is covered by the warranty, even if the warranty is now expired. Just call Apple Care and ask to speak to a senior representative. Tell the person the story and ask them to cover it under warranty since you called to report the problem before the warranty expired.

soundrmx wrote:

 

Isnt just a Lion thing.

 

If you read previous posts you will see that most of us agree with this statement. One of the most prominent theories is that - for most users who are experiencing the problem - Lion merely awakened a pre-existing hardware flaw by sending calls/instructions to the GPU that it could not handle (because of the flaw).

Since the flaw was there before Lion ... then it is certainly possible that some users with the same hardward flaw will experience BSOD without Lion.

It is also possible that you have a different problem.

Good luck!

Hi @soundrmx

You're amongst friends

Sadly, as you say, there are many reports of people experiencing the same problem. Whilst Apple have not officially acknowledged that the problem exists, there are many cases of Apple agreeing to replace logic boards on out-of-warranty MacBook Pros with this issue.

Currently, to the best of my knowledge, there is no software solution and 10.7.2 does not carry a driver fix for the problems with some of the NVIDIA GT 330M graphics cards.

Apple have set a precedent in replacing logic boards for free - even on machines where the warranty has expired. My advice is that you should return to your Authorised Apple Store and insist that they replace your logic board for free. Apple staff don't seem to want to pay much attention to Apple forums and can, understandably, be quite dismissive of the comments left here. Nevertheless, I would quote this forum and also the comments, links and experiences of other users recorded at http://on.fb.me/nH7730.

You may need to push to make it happen - it took me three months - but, eventually, a replacement logic board seems to have resolved the issue and I'm enjoying the novelty of having a fully-working computer again.

Until a recall or software fix is announced, I think that this is your only option. In the meantime, installing the gfxCard Status software will allow you to run your Mac without using the NVIDIA card.

Good luck!

Add me to the list of mid-2010 MacBook Pro users affected by this bug!

Processor  2.53 GHz Intel Core i5

Memory  4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Graphics  Intel HD Graphics 288 MB

Serial Number  W8104012GQL

Software  Mac OS X Lion 10.7.1 (11B26)

NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M:

  Chipset Model:          NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M

  Type:          GPU

  Bus:          PCIe

  PCIe Lane Width:          x16

  VRAM (Total):          256 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

Greg, Please keep us all posted on word from Apple.  This is the only post I've seen that indicates Apple is aware of the issue.  I'm eagerly awaiting their response.  Running gfxStatus in the meantime to keep the system alive.  Refusing to pay for a logic board replacement until I hear Apple respond.  I understand many say a logic board replacement fixes the issue.  It just doesn't make sense however that everyone started to notice this problem around the same time (mid-time this year).  Really, did everyone have a hardware failures at the same time?  Could these new logic boards replaced have different levels of firmware?  Can someone who've had their logic board replaced and has fixed the issue post their OS, NVidia driver and firmware versions?

It could be possible that OS X Lion uses the hardware in such a way that triggers the crash *much* more often, and Snow Leopard just never accessed the graphics hardware in a vulnerable pattern.

I actually had my logic board replaced, but the Apple Geniuses said it didn't fix my issue so they put the old one back in (d'oh!). I wish I'd known about this thread then.

I'm also waiting on Apple to acknowledge this issue, otherwise I'll keep bringing it in to the Apple Store until I get a working MacBook Pro with Lion. :-)

It's a little frustrating since I've made 3 trips to the Apple Store already for this issue:

First time they claimed it was my third-party OWC RAM

Second time they (correctly) diagnosed as logic board, but when the new logic board happened to have the same issue (unbeknownst to the Geniuses), they

Installed a fresh copy of OS X Lion and called the problem solved.

At which point I launched Photo Booth and crashed the machine on demand. I think the Genius gave up at this point, and so did I because I just needed a working machine to get my work done.

Ball is in Apple's court!

Hi Captkdawg here is all the details on my replaced MB

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:

Color LCD:

  Resolution:          1440 x 900

  Pixel Depth:          32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)

  Mirror:          Off

  Online:          Yes

  Built-In:          Yes

DELL2407WFPHC:

  Resolution:          1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz

  Pixel Depth:          32-Bit Color (ARGB8888)

  Display Serial Number:          YY24677Q07TS

  Main Display:          Yes

  Mirror:          Off

  Online:          Yes

  Rotation:          Supported

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:          0x0018

  gMux Version:          1.9.21

  Displays:

Display Connector:

Hardware Overview:

  Model Name:          MacBook Pro

  Model Identifier:          MacBookPro6,2

  Processor Name:          Intel Core i7

  Processor Speed:          2.66 GHz

Mac OSX Build 11B26 Version 10.7.1

I don't have an official apple retail store in my area and it's really expensive and time-consuming to replace logic-board here.

I lost a lot of time last 2 weeks, no one couldn't help me here, I've failed all the time-limit on my work.

Finaly I've downgraded to Snow Leopard.

I'm really dissapointed in Apple. I'll never trust them.

Add me to the list, too.

Same sepcs as soundrmx, mid 2010 macbook pro 15", i7 266Ghz, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330 M @ 512 MB, 4 GB ram under Mac OS X 10.6.8. The issue started showing about 2 weeks ago, and since then my computer crashes about once a day on average.

Black screen of death, report says issues w/ graphics card. Happens even if I don't use the GPU heavily at all. Thorough memtest did not reveal any problems with the RAM.

After I upgraded from leopard,  machine was hiper slow to the point of crashing apps., even let it index for 2 days, reinstall the Lion at booting time , with no success until I put more memory , to 4g in ram Kingston (50bucks), and now my Mac is flying again

guerrafa, I would assume this behavior is due to Lion's increased memory requirements and not the kind of bug some of us are experiencing.

Exact same probleme here.  15'' MPB mid 2010, i7, 8G ram. I even did a complete re-install (wiping previous SL installation). Crashing at least once per day.   Fixed with GFXCardstatus keeping it in Integrated Mode.  But annoying because I cannot use and external monitor while in integrated mode.

C-mon Apple, can you put someone to fix this problem?

Just an update on my mid 2010 MacBook Pro...

The technicians have now replaced the motherboard, the screen, the RAM, and the hard drive and it still crashes with a completely fresh install of Snow Leopard and Lion. They will try a new top case tomorrow and if it still crashes then another new motherboard.

I've been having a dialogue with an Apple senior Adviser over the past month or so regarding this problem, and he has suggested that I stress test my mid 2010 15" mbp with no third party software running.

I went through the process of a partition wipe, Snow Leopard re-install, firmware update, software update, Lion install and software update.

Knowing that my machine crashed when running on the nVidia card, I installed and ran gfxCardStatus as the on the system.

The machine was running (doing next to nothing) this morning for an hour, when, accessing Safari, I got a BSOD crash as we've all seen.

So, I sent the crash log in an email to the Apple guy, who said....

Unfortunately using third party software like gfxCardStatus is not supported, and there are reports of gfxCardStatus itself causing kernel panics…This can happen when dynamically changing to the discrete graphics card to reproduce an issue in this way.

I think the mac should be checked in a completely clean install state and identify whether this issue occurs without use of third party applications.

OK. I was not allowing any kind of graphics card switching.

So...

Removing gfxCardStatus, I've been trying hard to get the **** thing to fall over. The gpu temps are both over 64 degrees.

Is this a 3rd party software issue OR, is 3rd party software showing up a hardware defect.

I'll let you know if it crashes.

I've had the same type of crashes like everyone else here with no third party software installed, and nothing at all else plugged in than the charger.

Still haven't received any solution from Apple. Meanwhile I switched my work computer to a PC with windows, doubt I'll be back anytime soon with this kind of service.