Q: Lion randomly crashes - black screen

So, I finally got a resolution I could live with.

After several "repairs" and immense difficulties with said repairs, no one was able to figure out what was wrong with my laptop. I was able to replicate my problems in the store. Because of these issues and because I still had applecare, I was given a replacement Macbook Pro.

However, the whole process was terrible, and I have a considerable amount of empathy for my fellow mid 2010 MBP usesrs. So, here is what I would do if I was unhappy with Apple's treatment.

Call apple support and ask for "Customer Relations."  Describe your situation fully including mention of this thread, the CNET post about it, and your experiences up to that time. Describe how most believe this to be hardware defect. I would also describe, in your own words, why you believe your computer should run lion without a problem. See what the customer relations representative has to say. If they provide you with information or a resolution to your satisfaction, more power to you.

If you are unhappy with what they say, I would suggest telling them that the information/resolution is unreasonable, and that you will be contacting your State's and the Federal consumer protection agency. If this doesn't create movement, I would then file a formal complaint with said organizations. Again, I would be as clear as possible in describing this situation, including mentioning this thread and any other information that could corroborate your view. I would describe why you believe that your Macbook Pro should work (advertisements, etc). I might also mention that given the uneven treatment and reports that apple is "aware of the problem" suggests that Apple is being 'willfully blind' on this matter (ie they have not released a fix to problem because it would cause them harm as a organization). 

You could also explore other legal options.

I hope you are all able to get working laptops soon.

Best regards,

J

Same here, spring 2010 MBP ( model 6,2 ), but I'm still on Snow Leopard 10.6.8, and have been experiencing this for like 4 months now.

Just about time Lion was introduced, come to think of it. Might the problem come from one of the security udpates ?

It happens mostly on Firefox, iMovie, Safari. Sometimes on Photoshop, never happened on Illustrator. Never on Ableton Live where I spend a great deal of time. So my guess is it's rather graphic card than RAM related, because Live requires a lot of CPU, as all the others are rather GPU related.

I too made all check ups, updates, cleanings, hardware tests, fresh install, fan control, PRAM resetting, SMC resetting you could think of. Same ol'samo.

So I too use gfxCardStatus to force use the Intel HD Graphics instead of the great NVIDIA card. This is like paying for first and travelling economy.

For information I found a facebook page Apple Black Screen Of Death, that seems to gather users encountering this issue.

As for Apple, I know it's complicated and not quite the policy of the house (I've been on mac for about 20 years now), but just a nod, like "yeah, we heard y'all, we're working on it" would make things easier.

The annoying thing is that if I switched to the intel onboard graphics I would not be able to use my Apple 27" LED Cinema display...

Yeh it does.

Turn off Automatic Graphics Switching from the Energy Saver prefs.

Check in About This Mac - More Info that we're running on the nVidia

Go into app store - crash - 3 times in a row

Ok, so I have also been having issues with random crashes and the dreaded BSOD. It has been happening on both Snow Leopard and Lion, with Lion being more frequent. The machine was a Mid 2010 Macbook Pro with the NVidia Discreet graphics card.

• early September Genius apointment - Hardware diagnostics run, nothing wrong, went home to more crashes
• mid September call to Apple, told that I would need to pay for diagnostic services
• mid September sent email to <edited by host> explaining the issues
• mid September received a call back from executive services regarding the machine, scheduled another genius appointment to replace logic board.
• Dropped off on September 20, received call to pick up on September 26
• Picked up September 26, powered up machine, crashed right off. Restarted and repeated crash.
• Genius replaced with 2011 MBP of like specifications.

Similar behaviour here on a 2011 iMac. Not waking up from sleep mode / crashing, requiring a hard reboot, and hanging frequency increasing over time. Went back to Snow Leopard three weeks ago and not a single crash since. So seems to me not an issue solely limited to MBPs.... but mine worked normal again after downgrading while this does not seem to work for all MBPs.

Lion was my first OS upgrade as a first-time Mac user and it was far from a great experience (e.g. still Wifi issues with 10.7.1).

Like many others, BSOD several times a day in Lion on mid-2010 MBP with 8GB RAM Core i7. Installing gfxCardStatus keeps the machine alive most of the time, but still get the odd BSOD. Downgraded (on separate HD) to SL 10.6.8 and experienced BSOD within first day of use. 2nd one didn't come for several days, but it did come. Finally switched back to Lion w/gfxCS as the difference in BSOD frequency was minor.

Just doing my part to enrich the data pool while hoping for a formal response from Apple. Dreading the whole process of migrating to a backup machine while this one gets fixed. 

On a possibly related note, I have iStat Menus installed to monitor a variety of things including the temps on all the various sensors in this thing; I've noticed that in Lion, the "GPU" temp will frequently be replaced by a dash while the "GPU Die - Analog" shows crazy high numbers of 105-120C which I suspect is simply the sum of the 2 temps and a possible Lion/iStat interaction bug, but perhaps not? In SL, these temps are both usually within a degree C of each other and not usually above 65C. If anyone else is running this utility, I'd be curious to know if similarly odd behavior was noticed.

As per my update on page 94 of this thread, after taking my MBP in for diagnosis I was told that it appeared that the logic board was faulty and it would cost me $310 to send it in for repair as it is out of warranty. 

The update since then is that I personally spoke to a manager at the store (who was very professional in towing the Apple line while empathizing with my plight) and after discussing this thread and the widespread nature of this problem and likely causes (firmware, hardware, drivers, etc.) he offered to split the cost with me.  Knowing how many people report STILL having the problem after a logic board replacement I wasn't about to kick in any money for what seems to be such a dubious repair attempt.  Upon further conversation with the manager, I learned that none of the techs had yet consulted with Apple engineering about this problem so I left my MBP at the store with the request that they do so.  The manager agreed but warned me that he may not be able to reveal what engineering had to say as this is privileged communication that cannot be shared with the customer unless they specifically allow it. 

That was last week.  Yesterday, I get a call telling me that engineering finally responded to their request and stated that "they are aware of the problem and that the fix DOES NOT involve replacing hardware".  Of course, I just had to speak to the tech in person (another employee who conducted himself with a high-degree of professionalism) and he shared with me that while engineering didn't provide specifics on the fix or when it would be available,however they did state that the problem was related to trouble in switching to the NVIDIA graphics hardware.  The tech's  guess was that the fix would be available soon given the fact that engineering allowed him to relay to me that "they are aware of the problem".  His guess was that the fix would come in the form of a firmware update.  I took my MBP home, restored a SL image, and await the "fix".

It seems that Apple has a policy of not talking about a problem unless the cause has at least been identified and a fix is the works.  Now that the fix is being developed, I'll bet that any further logic board swapping is going to come to a grinding halt.  One of the things that has been so interesting to me with this whole experience is witnessing such a disconnect between Apple engineering and the techs on the front lines.  This lack of information flow has surely wasted many, many hours of Apple employees and customers alike.  I for one would have been satisfied a month ago with a simple acknowledgement that something appears to be going on and the engineers are looking into it.  I wonder what kind of public-relations calculus goes into Apple's conduct in this situation.  It may work out for thier bottom line in the long run, but we all have certainly been caught up in limbo in the meantime . . . 

Sincerely,

Lionless in Seattle

Thanks for the update Feynmanfan...

Here is my update: I sent my machine to Apple last Friday for mail-in repair (arranged at no cost by a senior advisor at Apple, even though I am out of warranty), and I got the machine back today.

The repair notes indicate that they replaced the logic board. Odd thing ... they repaired it and sent it back all in one day (just a few hours, actually, based on the time I got the shipping notice). This tells me that they have done many other machines with this exact problem, that they are aware of the exact nature of the problem, and that the "replace the logic board" is still their method of dealing with machines that are already in the repair process.

I have attempted to get the BSOD using the photobooth method, but have been unable to. However, the graphics still look "glitchy" and obviously not as smooth as on my 2011 MBP. I suspect it is just a matter of time until I get a BSOD on the repaired machine.

I'm glad to hear you got the "We are aware of the problem" message, Feynmanfan ... and I suspect that eventually all techs and service reps will be caught up to speed and be able to relay this same message to other customers.

I said it before and I'll say it again ... I really do feel badly for all the folks at Apple that are on the "front line." It must be terribly frustrating to know there is a problem but not have a solution. All in all, I think Apple has probably done their best on this issue from the very beginning. They can't issue a public statement (as some have suggested) unless they know what the problem is AND how to fix it. Otherwise, they will be getting twice as many complaints for not waiting until they have a fix. Finding solutions to these things takes time.

Thanks for the update RichHolland....graphics switching working fine now, but this weekend I had a couple of kernel panels because of a bluetooth / magic mouse issue. Called Apple care, and before I could even get to the details, the tech suggested that perhaps I needed a logic board replacement.!!!  Perhaps Apple has decided that this is the best option to avoid service and customer aggravation. I thanked the tech and told him that I would wait a while and see how things went...

The bluetooth kernel panic as something I experienced when upgrading to 10.7.1, but I really haven't seen it for about a month. My magic mouse, however, was just not working as smoothly as it used to....all of a sudden, it dawned on me that my MBP is about 2 feet from an AT&T 3G mini cell tower, which is used to enhance cell phone reception. I moved the minicell to a new location, and now my mouse is working the way it used to...also confirmed with AT&T and Apple Care that this could have been a problem....there is a forum about bluetooth and minicells at the following website: http://forums.att.com/t5/3G-MicroCell/Wireless-Mouse-Interference/td-p/2010217

I just thought this entire situation was so strange because of how quickly a new logic board was suggested by Apple...hope they get to the bottom of this whole situation, before everyone goes nuts.

So, does clear reinstallation of Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (wipe da entire disk n reinstall from a scratch) solves the problem completely?

If it is so that might mean that its a low-level software bug.

Yes, absolutely. I did it and I don't have any problems with BSOD.

It didn't work for me. I made a fresh reinstall of 10.6.3, and had the BSOD in the first 20 minutes...

No. full wipe out and just the reinstallation does not solve the problems. I tried both twice!

alright everyone. I don't know if this solution has already been suggested but I thought it won't hurt if I write how I solved this issue. it's been 1 week now with no random black screen of death.

I did everything this forum suggested. talked to apple guys and the help line and  they were all useless. anyway I have the same laptop that mid 2010 15 inch and I had the same problem. now I thought of reducing the resolution of the screen 1 step in the display settings and so far It's been 1 week. I don't beleive this is a hardware problem. apple needs to admit the screwup and release an update. seriously it's been 2 months and my Mac just kept switching to black screen now.

I also don't deny replacing hardware does not solve it. as per this forum it did solve it for many.

I guess thus solution will do for now. try it out guys. let me know what u think.

hope that helps