Q: Lion randomly crashes - black screen

regarding that ars tech modification. how does that explain the issue many are having with completely fresh lion installs on external HDD et al as requested by apple support? wouldn't the files be fresh anyways?

Edit: regardless i'm trying right now on my fresh lion install on ext HDD see if it helps...

I didn`t claim that it is mine, Because I didn`t make this app!!!! LOL !

I searched through internet when I found this app I was really amused..! So I posted it here to help people like me who are really annoyed from 10 times crash a day!!

If you use high performance graphic and it isn`t useful for you, just forget it, and let others get on this way dude...

Wish you luck.

Sorry if I offended you though, just going through major frustration. Client barking like a mad dog. I had to drive 65km back and forth just to get stable backup machines running Snow Leopard to finish his work within the deadline. Have to be awake all night.

Thank you Apple ! 

more on slashdot http://apple.slashdot.org/story/11/08/04/2118220/OS-X-Lion-Ships-With-Faulty-NVi dia-Drivers#comments

well that windowserver file delete routine can't possibly work, atleast in my case. from a fresh install there is not a single file containing "windowserver" within "~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/" i tried via terminal and finder > Go > Go To Folder... > "~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/"

Edit: this is a fresh lion install on external HDD

com.apple.AddressBook.sync.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.AddressBook.sync.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.Bluetooth.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.Bluetooth.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.CrashReporter.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.CrashReporter.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.FaceTime.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.FaceTime.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.QuickLookDaemon.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.QuickLookDaemon.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.SubmitDiagInfo.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.SubmitDiagInfo.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.airport.agent.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.airport.agent.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.coreservices.appleidauthenticationinfo.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA 800EA.plist

com.apple.coreservices.appleidauthenticationinfo.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA 800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.dock.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.dock.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.iCal.helper.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.iCal.helper.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.iChat.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.iChat.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.iChat.AIM.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.iChat.AIM.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.iChat.Jabber.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.iChat.Jabber.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.iChat.SubNet.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.iChat.SubNet.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.iChat.Yahoo.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.iChat.Yahoo.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.iTunes.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.iTunes.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.imservice.FaceTime.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.imservice.FaceTime.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.loginwindow.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.loginwindow.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.mail.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.mail.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.scheduler.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist

com.apple.scheduler.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

com.apple.syncservices.7D274F21-D5F5-5FC3-99FA-5B54CAA800EA.plist.lockfile

I too have this problem, I thought it was just me.

I hardly ever had Snow Leapord crash on me, ever since Lion it crashes on me now and then while I'm browsing Safari (because that's what I usually am doing), sometimes I can get away with force quitting an application, things don't seem "quite right" after that until I restart, or everything crashes (including the Finder) and I can only move my pinwheel mouse but nothing responds.

Side note: my laptop seems to run hotter than it used to -- for example when browsing safari when I curiously touched the bottom of the laptop I literally could not keep my finger on it for more than a second.  It was just as hot when I was installing the OS, where i assume it was really hammering on its processing power.

I have a 2010 stock (low-end) Macbook Pro 15".

Sadly, I can confirm that.

I had 2 files containing the name 'windowserver'. Deleted them, emptied my trash, shut down, restarted, went into Mail, toggled Mission Control on/off a couple of times, crashed and burned.

I just tried it and unfortunately it made no difference. It's posted at http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2011/08/buggy-nvidia-drivers-giving-2010-macbo ok-pro-owners-lion-upgrade-headaches.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campa ign=rss so it certainly seemed reasonable to try.

My system is better than most, as long as I don't let it sleep it's pretty stable, it gets the spinning beachball on occasion but usually recovers. After it sleeps switching graphic cards, opening Mail or iTunes will either hang it, kernel panic it or less often black screen it. If I wake it and sleep it a few times it will 100% black screen.

There is an LED that pulsates when the MBP is really asleap. When I put it to sleep and it itn's going to wake up the LED never pulsates - so it's like it never fully went to sleep. I wonder if it's a waking up problem or a problem completing whatever it does to go to sleep.

Come to think of it the most recent Snow Leopard update caused an occasional hang or kernel panic. I was hopeful that a new OS install would fix whatever gremlin the latest update introduced.

I had added iStat Menus 3 around the same time and sort of blamed that. It happened so rarely that at worst it was a mild annoyance. Now I'm just glad mine seems more stable than some (as long as I don't let it sleep) and that I am not depending on my MBP to make a living.

How many people with Lion problems have iStat Menus 3 installed? That's the only recent addition to my system that I can think of. I know Apple is trying to blame 3rd party apps, could there be any possibility that they are correct?

@Mark Marin no possibliity they are correct. myself and many others at instruction from apple have installed Lion fresh on external drives or internel partitions. It still crashes exactly the same as before with not a single program installed

Edit: also those few people who tried the windowserver hack make sure to post your findings on the ars forum so they remove that "update" as it doesn't work

I've posted this before, but I ran into the most-common problem (freezes and trouble waking from sleep with a mid-2010 Core i7 MacBook Pro) even though I was already running gfxCardStatus and set to integrated graphics only. So it is not purely a problem with graphic switching, unless my machine was trying to switch even when set not to.

Problems are still continuing with the Lion install when allowing the use of discrete graphics.

As I mentioned previously, for me personally the fault was generally frequent in Snow Leopard as well, but more so in Lion.

What I also noticed was that when I booted from my Windows partion using BootCamp, the crashes happened to an unbelievable extent - sometimes I wouldn't even be able to get past the login screen, and opening a low-intensity application/game was impossible.

Not sure if this has any effect on the problem (I am getting the same error reports as everyone else here while using Lion) but wouldn't that make it an extremely low lying problem - something even outside the OS?

Crash is not causes @MS PowerPoint as mentiones. Lioan crashes as well without running PPT.

Report:

Interval Since Last Panic Report:  93626 sec

Panics Since Last Report:          6

Anonymous UUID:                    DFF938F7-A645-4CC0-B5D6-61808ACB25AD

Sat Aug  6 08:40:12 2011

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff7f809122bf): NVRM[0/1:0:0]: Read Error 0x00000100: CFG 0xffffffff 0xffffffff 0xffffffff, BAR0 0xc0000000 0xffffff8115385000 0x0a5480a2, D0, P3/4

Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address

0xffffff8114d2b800 : 0xffffff8000220702

0xffffff8114d2b880 : 0xffffff7f809122bf

0xffffff8114d2b910 : 0xffffff7f80a023fc

0xffffff8114d2b960 : 0xffffff7f80a024bc

0xffffff8114d2b9c0 : 0xffffff7f80cac749

0xffffff8114d2bb00 : 0xffffff7f80a21519

0xffffff8114d2bb30 : 0xffffff7f8091bc4a

0xffffff8114d2bbe0 : 0xffffff7f8091754c

0xffffff8114d2bdd0 : 0xffffff7f80919001

0xffffff8114d2beb0 : 0xffffff7f808b42a4

0xffffff8114d2bf00 : 0xffffff7f820427de

0xffffff8114d2bf50 : 0xffffff7f82042f32

0xffffff8114d2bf70 : 0xffffff800023dafc

0xffffff8114d2bfb0 : 0xffffff8000820057

      Kernel Extensions in backtrace:

         com.apple.NVDAResman(7.0.2)[7E65ECA2-D3A1-35F8-B845-C975FB531E7E]@0xffffff7f808 b2000->0xffffff7f80b88fff

            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6.5)[95ABB490-3AB5-3D5E-9C21-67089A9AE6A1]@0xffff ff7f8083e000

            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.3)[E99C8907-946D-3F1A-A261-4C0F2D5D0451]@0xffff ff7f808a0000

            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.3)[897EB322-FD55-36D7-A68E-9E9C34A74A84]@0xf fffff7f80868000

         com.apple.nvidia.nv50hal(7.0.2)[2E84958C-1EEC-316B-9F7A-68C368F83476]@0xffffff7 f80b89000->0xffffff7f80eaafff

            dependency: com.apple.NVDAResman(7.0.2)[7E65ECA2-D3A1-35F8-B845-C975FB531E7E]@0xffffff7f808 b2000

         com.apple.driver.AGPM(100.12.40)[0F9DB3F1-BE6E-3C13-A7D5-86385AE82AB1]@0xffffff 7f82041000->0xffffff7f8204bfff

            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.3)[897EB322-FD55-36D7-A68E-9E9C34A74A84]@0xf fffff7f80868000

            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.3)[E99C8907-946D-3F1A-A261-4C0F2D5D0451]@0xffff ff7f808a0000

            dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.6.5)[95ABB490-3AB5-3D5E-9C21-67089A9AE6A1]@0xffff ff7f8083e000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: kernel_task

Mac OS version:

11A511

Kernel version:

Darwin Kernel Version 11.0.0: Sat Jun 18 12:56:35 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1699.22.73~1/RELEASE_X86_64

Kernel UUID: 24CC17EB-30B0-3F6C-907F-1A9B2057AF78

System model name: MacBookPro6,2 (Mac-F22586C8)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 29875411950646

last loaded kext at 29828431854014: com.apple.iokit.IOAVBFamily          1.0.0d22 (addr 0xffffff7f807ad000, size 36864)

last unloaded kext at 29792254204261: com.apple.iokit.IOAVBFamily          1.0.0d22 (addr 0xffffff7f807ad000, size 36864)

loaded kexts:

com.vmware.kext.vmnet          3.1.3

com.vmware.kext.vmioplug          3.1.3

com.vmware.kext.vmci          3.1.3

com.vmware.kext.vmx86          3.1.3

com.globaldelight.driver.BoomDevice          1.1

com.apple.filesystems.afpfs          9.8

com.apple.nke.asp_tcp          6.0.1

com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor          1.9.4d0

com.apple.filesystems.autofs          3.0

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyHIDDriver          122

com.apple.driver.AppleUpstreamUserClient          3.5.9

com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl          1.0.24

com.apple.driver.AppleHDA          2.1.1f11

com.apple.driver.AppleMikeyDriver          2.1.1f11

com.apple.driver.AGPM          100.12.40

com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC          1.59

com.apple.driver.SMCMotionSensor          3.0.1d2

com.apple.iokit.IOUserEthernet          1.0.0d1

com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X          7.0.0

com.apple.driver.AudioIPCDriver          1.2.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSMCLMU          2.0.1d2

com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin          4.7.0b2

com.apple.driver.AppleMuxControl          3.0.8

com.apple.GeForce          7.0.2

com.apple.driver.AppleLPC          1.5.1

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHDGraphics          7.0.2

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHDGraphicsFB          7.0.2

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTCButtons          220.8

com.apple.driver.AppleIRController          309

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCardReader          3.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBTCKeyboard          220.8

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless          1.0.0d1

com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib          1.0.0d1

com.apple.BootCache          32

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage          2.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub          4.4.0

com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI          4.8.6

com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4331          500.20.6

com.apple.iokit.AppleBCM5701Ethernet          3.0.6b9

com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM          1.5.0

com.apple.driver.AppleSmartBatteryManager          161.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort          2.1.8

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI          4.4.0

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons          1.4

com.apple.driver.AppleRTC          1.4

com.apple.driver.AppleHPET          1.6

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS          1.7

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC          1.4

com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC          1.5

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient          166.0.0

com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall          3.0.30

com.apple.security.quarantine          1

com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement          166.0.0

com.apple.iokit.IOAVBFamily          1.0.0d22

com.apple.security.SecureRemotePassword          1.0

com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver          2.5f17

com.apple.kext.triggers          1.0

com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib          2.1.1f11

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusController          1.0.10d0

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP          2.2.3

com.apple.iokit.IOSurface          80.0

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager          2.5f17

com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily          10.0.5

com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily          1.8.3fc11

com.apple.kext.OSvKernDSPLib          1.3

com.apple.driver.AppleSMC          3.1.1d2

com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily          4.7.0b2

com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl          3.0.8

com.apple.driver.AppleSMBusPCI          1.0.10d0

com.apple.nvidia.nv50hal          7.0.2

com.apple.NVDAResman          7.0.2

com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert          1.0.3

com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport          2.3

com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController          2.1.1f11

com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily          2.3

com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily          2.1.1f11

com.apple.driver.BroadcomUSBBluetoothHCIController          2.5f17

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBBluetoothHCIController          2.5f17

com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily          2.5f17

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIBlockCommandsDevice          3.0.0

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBMassStorageClass          3.0.0

com.apple.iokit.IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily          3.0.0

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMultitouch          220.23

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHIDDriver          4.4.0

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub          4.4.0

com.apple.driver.AppleUSBComposite          3.9.0

com.apple.driver.XsanFilter          403

com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily          4.4.3

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient          4.4.0

com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family          400.40

com.apple.iokit.IOEthernetAVBController          1.0.0d5

com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily          2.0

com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily          2.0.6

com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily          4.4.0

com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime          1.5.0

com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily          1.7.0

com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily          1.1

com.apple.security.sandbox          165

com.apple.kext.AppleMatch          1.0.0d1

com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet          7

com.apple.driver.DiskImages          326

com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily          1.7

com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore          28.18

com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform          1.4

com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily          2.6.5

com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily          1.4

Model: MacBookPro6,2, BootROM MBP61.0057.B0C, 2 processors, Intel Core i7, 2.66 GHz, 8 GB, SMC 1.58f16

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, PCIe, 512 MB

Graphics: Intel HD Graphics, Intel HD Graphics, Built-In, 288 MB

Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz, 0x80CE, 0x4D34373142353237334348302D4346382020

Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz, 0x80CE, 0x4D34373142353237334348302D4346382020

AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x93), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.100.98.75.6)

Bluetooth: Version 2.5.0f17, 2 service, 19 devices, 1 incoming serial ports

Network Service: AirPort, AirPort, en1

Serial ATA Device: C300-CTFDDAC128MAG, 128,04 GB

Serial ATA Device: Hitachi HTS545050B9SA02, 500,11 GB

USB Device: hub_device, 0x0424  (SMSC), 0x2514, 0xfa100000 / 2

USB Device: Internal Memory Card Reader, apple_vendor_id, 0x8403, 0xfa130000 / 5

USB Device: BRCM2070 Hub, 0x0a5c  (Broadcom Corp.), 0x4500, 0xfa110000 / 4

USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, apple_vendor_id, 0x8218, 0xfa113000 / 8

USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad, apple_vendor_id, 0x0237, 0xfa120000 / 3

USB Device: hub_device, 0x0424  (SMSC), 0x2514, 0xfd100000 / 2

USB Device: Built-in iSight, apple_vendor_id, 0x8507, 0xfd110000 / 4

USB Device: IR Receiver, apple_vendor_id, 0x8242, 0xfd120000 / 3

ARSTechnica postet a work around that work pretty good. After deleting in System Prefs the "window...." PLISTs, the system doesn't crash further more by using the problematic files like PPT.

Try this work around:

UPDATE: A commenter noted that Apple Care support technicians have offered another solution which appears to have permanently solved the problem on his machine. Navigate to ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/, delete any files that contain "windowserver," and reboot the machine. The procedure may need to be repeated if you regularly connect to an external monitor once it is also connected.

Note that the user Library folder is hidden by default on Lion. You can get to it by holding down the Option key in the Finder's Go menu, use the Go To Folder command and paste in the full path, or use Terminal to make your ~/Library folder permanently visible.

It works if you have a MBP 15" 2010 i5/i7 with NVIDEA and LION.

MacBook Pro 15-inch, Mid-2010

2.53 Ghz Intel Core i5

4GB 1067 MHz DDR 3

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

I'm glad I finally investigated this, because I was having nearly daily kernal panics, and a whole lot painfully slow app launches.  I tried the "windowserver delete" method and immediately went back into kernal panic right after reboot.

I DID see major improvement with gfxCardStatus 2.1 by forcing only use of the integrated graphics card.

So, Houston (Apple)....we have a problem.  I love to brag how amazingly stable MacOS is, but the upgrade to Lion made my MBP titanium box of hurt.  I'm looking forward to a quick and final fix.

If any code writers at Apple are reading these threads, my issues involved MANY apps.  Particularly aggregious were iTunes, iPhoto, and Safari.  Waking from sleep and startup were particularly slow.  Sometimes it required more than one hard restart for my MBP to function at all.

I have not seen "the black screen,"  but despite it being mid to late summer, I get a headaches and cold sweats everytime I see a beach ball.  Lots of beachballs.  Beachballs that won't leave.