Q: Lion randomly crashes - black screen

Here is a post from another forum about the BSOD when coming out ot sleep...In the Lion early days, I experienced this myself...my computer has been stable for over 2 1/2 months now and was stable without the video update...it's a long shot, but perhaps it will help you too...

I was going mad with this sleep issue but it did turn out to be both the printer and the fact that I had documents in print queue. Deleted the printer from System Preferences, re-added it and now everything works well. Thanks everyone.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/16779134#16779134

rapid10 wrote:

 

The video update did not fixed the problem. Now – after waking up my MacBook Pro (mid 2010) – I got the black screen. But now the Computer did not reboot automatically ... I had to force a reboot.

 

I also brought my MacBook Pro to a service provider, but they ran the Apple tests and said that my hardware is fine. So I had paid 70 Euro for nothing – thanks for the repairing Apple! A logicboard replacement would be cost 700 Euro. oO

 

So Apple can you fix the problem?! It's not ridiculous to get a black screen! -.-

 

To the community: Do you think a HDD replacement and a fresh Lion installation would be help to fix the problem? Thanks!

I have phoned Apple again. First I had to wait around 20 minutes, then the adviser wanted to connect me with a senior adviser, but this takes about 1 hour. After this one hour I've resigned. Even Samsung Support is faster than Apple's! Sorry, but I'm *really* dissatisfied with Apple right now.

Can I buy Apple Care for an 1 year old MacBook Pro and then Apple will take the 600 Euro for replacement?

You have to get AppleCare within the first year after your purchase.

I wiped the hard disk (erase) and re-installed Lion 10.7.2 using a USB stick made from the installer package.

Immediately after installation, I got the Video update for the Macbook 2010. Nearly two weeks passed without any issue, but one day, i again got a video issue (grey screen) and the machine was frozen (even from network POV). I had to shutdown the machine hard using the power button. I havent (and usually never do) used the nvidia 330M extensively.

I also had at least three times an issue with the initial login screen when booting up Lion. If i did not quickly enough enter my password into the password box, a beachball would appear and the machine would sit there indefinitely, without logging in. After researching the internet for this behavior, i stumbled across a description that proposes to disable the automatic change of graphic cards under the energy system preference. After i made the change, i did not see the spinning beachball on the login screen again.

Once in Lion, i reactivate the "switch gfx feature" again by using gfxCardStatus in the current version. Due to library constraints of my most commonly used programs (Pathfinder, Skype, 1password, firefox, VLC), most of the time the nvidia gfx will be active.

I recall times on 10.7.0 when using the login screen feature from the quick login menu (to change to another active login) would cause immediate kernel panic. Maybe there still something wrong on software side?

But i can also recall that under Snow Leopard, the laptop was not as stable as i am used to when using Windows XP HP-based Omnibooks. :-( I even had spinning beachballs and grey/black screens back then which now appear to have been caused by gfx switching.

I dont want to have a software fix for a hardware issue. I want a fix that is removing the root problem.

The impression that something must be really, really wrong manifested again when i booted to a Lucid-based Clonezilla Live DVD. In half of the attempts, when switching the terminal, i will get a grey background with a blinking cursor, and when the system starts the framebuffer, i will get a black screen, too. The behavior then is the same as under Lion, the machine is dead. I do not know how to reproduce the black screen under Lion on purpose, but using the Linux Live DVD, the odds of provocing it are at least 50%. Unfortunately, I doubt that anyone at Apple will support Linux and/or accept this as valid test case (even i dont).

So I finally got my MBP back after getting it fitting with a new logic board here in Germany.   Now it works perfectly.  Very interesting and annoying was the fight with Apple to get it done...

My MBP had accute BSOD that was very easily reproducable at will.  It was manufactured April 2010.  In the three or so months of waiting for Apple to resolve the issue I did a clean SL installation to get some work done. 

This was after trying to do a complete virgin installation of Lion without any success.

When the Video Update was launched I upgraded to Lion, did the video update just to have the BSOD reappear 2 minutes later.

Armed with a printout of some of the pages of this discussion board and the TS4088 KB article I was off to a Apple Service Representative in Erlangen, the closest Apple store is in Munich.

As I reached the store I reproduced the BSOD within 1 minute of switching on my MBP by launching iPhoto and opening a photobook project.

After a week of testing I got called with a suggested bill of more than 600 Euro for a new logic board.  I called Apple Care to complain about the fact that I obviously had a case qualifying for TS4088 and that they need to fix it free of charge.  After escalating through several layers I was called by a senior service representative.  He informed me that they have tested my MBP with their testing software more than ten times and that it passed and therefor did not qualify for the free fix.

I responded that my MBP was perfect before the upgrade to Lion and that a clean installation of SL was also working perfectly...

Here is his interesting response:  they found a problem with my processor on the logic board and not the TS4088 issue.  I needed a new logic board but not due to the graphics issues highlighted in this KB article.

The discussion then went to that fact that this must have been a latent defect that was present in the system that was finally revealed by Lion's demands on the processor which lead to my free logic board.

Here is the interesting question after reading from a couple of people which had been told by Apple that their MBP is fine and that they needed to pay for the logic board.

Are we dealing with?

A - an incomplete graphics test used by Apple to diagnose this problem

or

B- two seperate issues.  One being a graphics issue fixed by the video update and tested for by Apple and another issue with the processor on the logic board.

Just checking back in with an update:

Received my MPB back from apple with a new (free) logicboard.

My macbook pro PASSED the video test for this specific issue that the genius ran in-store, but because of a conversation I had with an apple technician over the phone, as well as sending him data from my computer using a data capture application that he sent me, he assured me that my computer would be covered.

Basically, this confirms that the video test they run to diagnose this issue is indeed faulty as mine passed, but a new logicboard has solved the issue for me.

Been using the computer for a about a week now, with not a single BSOD (gfxcardstatus not running).

So, those of you who PASS the video test: be persistent, talk to as many people as you can on the phone (POLITELY) until you reach the one who is willing to help.

It honestly is important to be persistent yet polite, they keep notes on all interactions (obviously) and so getting frustrated does no good at all.

It truly is a shame that there is such inconsistent support being offered by Apple, this sort of thing should not be left to the discretion of employees, nor should Apple be trusting an obviously faulty diagnostic test.

I have the same issue bro. 2010 i5 330m Macbook Pro. Had the logic board replaced. Still crashes. Downgraded to SL. Still Crashes. Re-upgraded to Lion in hopes of an update brought fix. Still crashes lol. Running Windows 7 in Bootcamp. Still crashes. For me this started happening literally like a few days after my warranty was over. Started in Snow Leopard. Upgraded to Lion initially cause I believed apple fixed the problem. And the patch given in the kb page doesn't do anything but fix the photo booth bug. Gives us no way to instantly force the panic. You know how painful it is to raid in Warcraft using the Intel HD card? It's like why couldn't I just listen to my friends and buy an Asus for cheaper, with better performance. Because I didn't want to believe the hype about Apple's support sucking and how dis-functional their computers were. I guess that's what I get for paying 2000$ for an overpriced underpowered brand of laptop. Crappy support, and a dis-functional laptop. I bought this Macbook Pro very specifically for the dedicated card. Should've just gotten the standard Macbook cause the only functional gchip on both of them was the same. My brothers headed to college in only a few months, and I know for sure which brand i'm not getting him lol.

Hey guys!

Just got my MBP back from the AASP. They told me, that they weren't able to find something. Apple Care just said, that it is a software issue, even though we made sure it isn't. I'm really ****** at the moment. I'll sell my MBP with great loss and I'll never buy Apple Crap-Computers again. The support really ***** and I'm so very disappointed about this. They told me, that they would do everything to ensure me to have a working computer again. In fact they did nothing. Even the check-up I had to pay...

I think this was the last time you heard from me in an Apple Discussion. Wish you well!

I left my MBP today at the Apple Store in Barcelona so they replace the mother board. The ordered part number is 661-6361. The genius that attended me didn't actually run the video test, just the default MRI (which reported no problems) but in their system they already had some mention for this models, as she told me that they will need to try replacing the mother board. When I left she was starting to run the video test, but I didn't actually wait to see if it failed or not.

I hope to get their call in one or two days and see if I can finally use my machine again after installing Lion. I think I'll need to wipe the disk and do a fresh install (as in the old Windows times) as it's been quite messy since I updated to Lion. Takes ages to start, turn off, go to sleep, and in general, I don't feel the speed I had before. Let's see if the change of logic board and the clean install solves this.

I was always able to reproduce the issue trying to install XCode, for those of you who want to try.

Hey guys,

the same issue with my MBP 2010 i5 Had several phone calls with apple support (with a lot of waiting time...). At the moment my Mac is at a Service Provider here in Germany (Paderborn) and I really need your help. They told me, the Apple Software test found nothing and they are not able to reproduce the BSOD. Even though there are severel Kernel Panics they will not acknowlege these logs. Today I was there and could not reproduce the BSOD in front of them, even though it crashed at home after just a few minutes...

Tomorrow I will go there and try to force a BSOD using their HDD with their own "Apple" system. It is a fresh OSX Lion with no further software (only some test software from apple or so). If it crashes in there, they will change the LB for free.

I read a lot things of how to force the BSOD. Please, can you give some hints how to force the BSOD? I will try everything just to show them it is not a software issue and get a LB swap.

Many thanks in advance!

After the latest video update I was only able to reproduce the crash constantly trying installing XCode. I also had it, for instance, changing spaces from the Desktop to Mail, but that was much less frequent now. XCode never failed me.

I posted a while back, but have an update. Still covered under AppleCare for a good 2 years, my MacBook Pro has been in the shop approx 4 times since I upgraded to Lion. I've had 3 different logic boards put in my machine - the faulty one with black screen, a second that worked but had an issue where the "P" key did not work, and a third that I've been using since. All has been fine for about 2 months until I attempted to use ichat video chat - my microphone does not work.

I have absolutely lost my patience with Apple. I really feel for the Genius employee that deals with me if I'm forced to take this thing back in yet again. I've had it exactly a year, and this constant process of swapping out logic boards from another one in the same faulty batch that they HOPE works is unacceptable.

I'm hoping this is a software glitch that can be fixed, but if it requires further hardware replacement, I'm demanding an entirely new MacBook Pro. Worst $2200+ I've ever spent. "It just works" huh...

Is anyone else with these Mid 2010 MacBooks or Lion encountering internal mic issues?

This is it. After 2 monhts of suffering, I just got my macbook pro back today.

Apple Authorized Service Provider (iDigital) in Israel was EXCELLENT. I sent my laptop in with a note saying "Occassional black screen, symptoms as of article TS4088". I just got a call from them 20 days later saying they replaced my Logic Board and Display (Dunno why they replaced my display). My laptop has 2 months of warranty left.

The replaced Logic Board was the new revision (661-6362). Ive been using it ALL day on 10.7.2 without the video update, openning LOTS of things, using mission control, photobooth, reinstalled Xcode and its all good.

Problem solved. Apple took time to fix this problem, but fixed it in a professional manner. Get your logicboard now, demand for it.

Thank you all for this thread, I have no doubt that this is the #1 reason apple solved this problem, this community.

To all german speaking users: I wrote down all my bad experiences  of the last few months with Apple in one Blog post. Maybe it is a help for you: http://palavria.blogspot.com/

regards

I've decided i'm going to take it in to apple and demand they replace the logic board again until it's fixed. Still got 7 months till http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4088 support ends. Anyone know how I can prove this Macbook Pro is affected. Waiting for the random crashes is a pain, and they patched the photobooth bug.