Q: Lion randomly crashes - black screen

I cannot stress enough that this was NOT my experience with the phone tech support in the knowledgebase. After referencing the KB number and talking to Tier 1 at length about the experiences I've had since the beginning of updating to Lion, I was escalated to Tier 2 who asked me to do NONE of those things. Of course I had told both T1 and T2 reps that I had done clean separate partitions with only Lion installed (no other software at all) from builds 10.7.0, .1 and .2 and could reproduce the BSOD on demand. I then informed the T2 rep that after I updated with the Macbook Pro Video 1 update that the BSOD still happened (though less frequently) and emailed him my latest kernel panic, and he immediately set up an Apple Store visit with the authorized logic board replacement. I would highly recommend calling the number referenced in that kb article and speaking with a tech (assuming of course your machine is the one covered by the kb and the things you are experiencing match it).

Entropywins wrote:

 

Don't call all they will have you do is clear your caches from ~ and / remove log in items and remove the login items plist and login windows plist from both ~ and / then just reboot trash the plists, repair disk permissions, and if it is not fixed reinstall the os if that doesn't work then you need to do a complete erase and install....thats all those tier 2 folks can do for you two when regarding this issue....one advisor told me it was their biggest call driver lately....

I think my mid 2010 MacBook Pro is now fixed!  After AppleCare Service has replaced the older logic board of my machine to a newer one, assuming a newer type of logic board, my machine now works faster and has not experienced any Black Screen of Death.  I notice sometimes, there is a slow down in the video clips that I stream at a very high resolution such as 1080p, but the slow down results in merely a second or less and no Black Screen of Death has yet to occur.

Before, I had experienced BSOD with full screen (i.e., going into full screen mode), but after the replacement of logic board, nothing of such has yet to happen.  I notice though sometimes quitting my browser without getting off full screen mode first, a black flicker on screen occurs, but the norm resumes soon afterward which makes me happy. 

The system runs incredibly cooler now even though I've FileVault 2 in the process of encrypting the whole hard drive while I'm scanning the whole system for trojans and watching videos and listening to music without getting my lap too warm.  Before the replacement of logic board, I could have swore it felt as if my lap was on fire.  With newer logic board, things are fine now.  You should talk to AppleCare Service about changing to a newer logic board so you won't have to experience BSOD any longer.

Just about a week ago I once again upgraded from SL to Lion (10.7.2) and installed the new MacBook Pro Video Update 1.0. So far, touch wood, my 2010 Macbook Prol has been stable. It's too soon, really, to say whether the problem is gone for good - and I no longer trust my Macbook the way I used to - but hopefuly it's good now.

Clearly this issue has quite a range. Some machines crashed every few hours; and others every few days or weeks. So maybe all it's really done is slow down the rate of crashes.

Well in my case, Apple thinks that by not having an extended AppleCare warranty and my black screen issue occuring momentarly at log in, the best thing that they can do for me is just send me to the Apple Genius Bar and have the "genius" delete some caches that doesn't help at all with the issue. I got an email from Apple Engineering requesting more information on my issue and I am placing my last bet on them.

Let's see what the software engineers can do for me. The Apple Genius Bar diagnostic says that my hardware is clean so for now that gives me a little bit of confort.

UCLAMacConvert wrote:

 

I cannot stress enough that this was NOT my experience with the phone tech support in the knowledgebase. After referencing the KB number and talking to Tier 1 at length about the experiences I've had since the beginning of updating to Lion, I was escalated to Tier 2 who asked me to do NONE of those things. Of course I had told both T1 and T2 reps that I had done clean separate partitions with only Lion installed (no other software at all) from builds 10.7.0, .1 and .2 and could reproduce the BSOD on demand. I then informed the T2 rep that after I updated with the Macbook Pro Video 1 update that the BSOD still happened (though less frequently) and emailed him my latest kernel panic, and he immediately set up an Apple Store visit with the authorized logic board replacement. I would highly recommend calling the number referenced in that kb article and speaking with a tech (assuming of course your machine is the one covered by the kb and the things you are experiencing match it).

Did you reinstalled from the recovery HD?

nevillev wrote:

 

Just about a week ago I once again upgraded from SL to Lion (10.7.2) and installed the new MacBook Pro Video Update 1.0. So far, touch wood, my 2010 Macbook Prol has been stable. It's too soon, really, to say whether the problem is gone for good - and I no longer trust my Macbook the way I used to - but hopefuly it's good now.

 

Clearly this issue has quite a range. Some machines crashed every few hours; and others every few days or weeks. So maybe all it's really done is slow down the rate of crashes.

No - I had previously downgraded back to SL; so I upgraded to 10.7.2 by using the App Store.

vea1083 wrote:

 

Did you reinstalled from the recovery HD?

nevillev wrote:

 

Just about a week ago I once again upgraded from SL to Lion (10.7.2) and installed the new MacBook Pro Video Update 1.0. So far, touch wood, my 2010 Macbook Prol has been stable. It's too soon, really, to say whether the problem is gone for good - and I no longer trust my Macbook the way I used to - but hopefuly it's good now.

 

Clearly this issue has quite a range. Some machines crashed every few hours; and others every few days or weeks. So maybe all it's really done is slow down the rate of crashes.

Here's the follow up of my case:

Have seen a genius who has been very friendly. He didn't know about the issue and I pointed to the KB article. He spoke a minute to his colleague and came back to me. He told me, they will run a further test additional to the diagnostics he has run at the genius bar. If my MBP qualifies for the programme related to the KB article (which means, it is not a different fault with similar symptoms), my logic board would be replaced without charge otherwise they would get in touch with me and I would have to pay the new logic board.

So far, I didn't receive an email telling me I had to pay and the repair status you can request online says "repair in progress" - looks pretty good, altough I don't know whether running a test also belongs to "repair in progress".

Anyway, the part number seems to be the old one...

That is similar to my situation: they said that since my MBP passed the diagnostic for this it isn't eligible for the service repair. Of course, since I was able to demonstrate the problem for them, they were a bit unprepared with a response and could only suggest sending it off to get repaired at cost to me. Since I didn't feel I had a choice (I need a working computer!) I reluctantly agreed even after expressing my disappointment and lack of confidence in their diagnostic.

Since then, I've called AppleCare, and told them up front that I am out of warranty and do not have AppleCare--still the I laid out the whole issue to the rep and he put me on to a supervisor, who said all he could do was escalate my service request, have them run additional tests, and would get back to me. If they still don't "find" anything, I'd have to pay for the repair. (Of course, neither they nor anyone else has any idea what that repair would be since they don't seem to know what's wrong with the computer if it passed their diagnostic.)

For the people who have been able to get a logic board replacement from this KB article, was your computer under warranty or Apple Care?  Or is the diagnostic they're running simply a "check" for warranty responsiblity? (smirk)

vea1083 wrote:

 

Well in my case, Apple thinks that by not having an extended AppleCare warranty and my black screen issue occuring momentarly at log in, the best thing that they can do for me is just send me to the Apple Genius Bar and have the "genius" delete some caches that doesn't help at all with the issue. I got an email from Apple Engineering requesting more information on my issue and I am placing my last bet on them.

 

Let's see what the software engineers can do for me. The Apple Genius Bar diagnostic says that my hardware is clean so for now that gives me a little bit of confort.

UCLAMacConvert wrote:

 

I cannot stress enough that this was NOT my experience with the phone tech support in the knowledgebase. After referencing the KB number and talking to Tier 1 at length about the experiences I've had since the beginning of updating to Lion, I was escalated to Tier 2 who asked me to do NONE of those things. Of course I had told both T1 and T2 reps that I had done clean separate partitions with only Lion installed (no other software at all) from builds 10.7.0, .1 and .2 and could reproduce the BSOD on demand. I then informed the T2 rep that after I updated with the Macbook Pro Video 1 update that the BSOD still happened (though less frequently) and emailed him my latest kernel panic, and he immediately set up an Apple Store visit with the authorized logic board replacement. I would highly recommend calling the number referenced in that kb article and speaking with a tech (assuming of course your machine is the one covered by the kb and the things you are experiencing match it).

After long waiting when Lion 10.7.2 update didnt solve the issue of the sudden crash and black screen on startup or on awake form sleep, the release of Video Update 1.0 http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1469  didn't solve the problems. I'm still in need of using GfxCardStatus to keep on "integrated" video card use (intel) instead of Nividia.

Hope that a remedy is avalavle soon from this issue affecting my Macbook Pro 15" (6,2) mid to late 2010.

amer_AN wrote:

Hope that a remedy is avalavle soon from this issue affecting my Macbook Pro 15" (6,2) mid to late 2010.

I would strongly recommend to get in touch with apple support and get your logic board replaced. This is pretty much what the KB article says:

"If the symptoms persist after installing the update, select one of the service options below.

• Apple Retail Store. Set up an appointment with a Genius.
• Apple Authorized Service Provider. Find one here.
• Apple Technical Support. Contact us for local service options.

[...]

Apple will service affected 15-inch MacBook Pro computers free of charge until two years from date of purchase."

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

At this point I really wouldn't rely on Apple comes up with another software update. And I also think, 3 monhts of waiting is more than enough.

It's pretty clear that experiences with the Apple Store and with AppleCare varies widely and I've been through the process where nobody seems to believe that your problem is their hardware fault to they believe whatever you tell them about your machine. All I can say is be persistent even when it feels like you are talking to a brick wall. I've had a total of four logic board replacements on machines out of warranty and two motherboard replacements on a system that was within warranty and some experiences were good right away and some were bad in the short term but Apple fixed their hardware problems without charge in the end.

If it came down to it, I would pay for the swap and then wait for an eventual reimbursement - I wouldn't like it but I think that they would eventually do the right thing for their loyal customer base. One other thing: those four out-of-warranty logic board replacements were paid for by nVidia so it eventually wasn't that big a deal for Apple to fix them.

I tried this, went to the apple store with KB article in hand.  The genius took my MBP in the back and said my MBP did not qualify for logic board replacement, and said I had not installed Software Updates.  Which was a complete lie, because I made sure to do that before going in, knowing that would be something they would ask me. 

Alas my MBP still BSOD's consistently.  I might try going to another Apple Store or something.  In the meantime I will just use Windows on my MBP.

Thank you Tim for the advice but i'm currently in Kuwait and there is no Apple Service Centre here but i have to travel to Dubai and that centre opened just couple of month ago and i'm not sure if they can do it. How i can be certain that this would be solved by replacing the logic board and do you think it is something i can buy on my own and fix it somewhere or better i downgrade to Snow Leopard?

Waiting for an advice.

There is an Apple authorized repair in Dubai that has been there for years and I have used. I may have to go there myself soon as I still get the BSOD after the update.

iStore - Bur Dubai Khalid Bin Waleed Street, Bur Dubai, Dubai. Tel: +971 4 352-5211   Opening Hours: 9am-8pm from Sat-Thu Friday closed

Hey.

Just read your post. Send us your e-mail at administrationatetherealtech.ae

It's in regards to your existing issues, and the the iStore in Bur Dubai

Thanks