Q: Lion randomly crashes - black screen

Unfortunately, my machine was bought mid-2010 (as were many others here) and thus for me personally, the 1 Year AppleCare has expired. The problem started when still under AppleCare, however I thought it was just a software glitch and would go away with the next update.

I'm now kicking myself for not paying the few hundred extra dollars and getting the extended warranty. If it comes down to replacing the logic board if its a hardware fault, I'm not looking forward to the bill.

al_varus wrote:

 

So, after replacing the logic board didn't change anything. I'm here again in the Apple Store. The only option they offer me is going back to SL or wait until the issue is fixed by Apple and run gfxcardstatus in the meantime.

 

Decided to go back to SL. Will try to see if I can reproduce the issue in front of them in SL. Then go home and cry

OK, so after trying to reproduce the crash in all possible ways in SL, it's impossible to replicate it (when in Lion I could just follow the iphoto steps or the quick view steps and crash 100% of times).

My mac is working perfectly in SL, no matter how much I stress it.

I did mention the "getting a new computer" thing to the Genius, but he said that as apparently there are so many people with this issue and seeing that the crash does not happen in SL, it is very clear (for him) that it's a software issue related to Lion and that he doesn't think they'd replace computers (specially with so many people affected). He said that the best thing to do is either survive with gfxcard and wait for an update (which is a pain for me, because it's not the system I paid for) or roll back to SL.

I will update my support ticket tomorrow and ask for a refund for the purchase of Lion. And will also ask for some kind of compensation for all the time wasted (had to format the hd twice, go to the store 4 times, be on the phone with support, lost time of work, was without a computer for 4 days, got my logic board replaced for nothing, etc.).

Did you ever originally have the issue occur in SL before you upgraded to Lion?

Just for the record, still no crash and working smoothly.

I did have the issue a few times months ago in SL, but they were very isolated events and I could not find a consistent pattern, so I did not give much importance to it. It happened a couple of times with heavy use of Final Cut, once while playing Civilization V... but it was very isolated. During that time, I did extensive heavy use of Final Cut and After Effects for long work sessions and maybe it happened just two or three times. I was not bored or worried about it.

But with Lion, I could make it crash whenever I wanted, just simply using Quick View (space bar on top of a text file), or just downloading a random file on Chrome, or using iPhoto. It would actually crash, just right after a clean erase/install with just Chess and Apple Store open, or with the introduction video of Safari, which is ridicolous.

Now I'm back to SL and at least I feel like I have a computer again. It's impossible to work with Lion and gfxcardstatus worked for me, but it's not a satisfactory solution (unless you use your mac as you'd use a computer that's worth $1,000 less).

I  have a 27" iMac running Lion (about a year old with 16GB RAM), I have a black screen of death almost every time I am running Photoshop CS5.5 - when resizing an image using the scale tool (clicking and dragging from a corner) a black screen appears and the computer shuts down. Was running fine until I installed Lion - anyone else having this problem?

I had the problem in Snow Leapard but it got worse in Lion. I also have the problem when I use Windows 7 via bootcamp. So it seems as if there is a serie of Logic Boards that is broken, and a series that is ok.

I have been running 10.7.2 for about a week and get crashes everyday on Macbook pro i7 Nvidia GT330M. Finding it really frustrating, hope Apple fix this soon or I am back to snow leopard

Just to add before LIon I had no issues and I can't remember the last time the system crashed,

This is ultimately the ''right answer'' to this entire discussion. Apple owners, especially those who invest in the ''pro'' line of equipment lay out a lot of money when much much cheaper alternatives are available. We pay a premium for ''something that just works'' and this kind of thing really should not be a part of being a MacBook Pro owner kind of experience.

Unlike the experience owners of Microsoft Windows-based equipment face, which are hundreds if not thousands of customized ''boxes'', Apple knows what it has. It curates all of its equipment. There is no mystery to what is out there. That said, and without reiterating my previous paragraph, there's really no excuse for the experience we MacBook Pro owners are going through right now.

Lion may or may ultimately turn out to be Apple's ''Vista'' and only time will tell on that one. Let's only hope it's a one-time mis-step.

So it has been almost 24 hours of testing my laptop since Apple replaced my logic board (and some connector) and no black screens of death. It seems my issue was hardware.

Have tried everything I can think of to make it crash. I have left it running full screen video from Hulu. Have plugged an unplugged from Cinema Display. Used Chrome (which for some reason always causes a switch to Nvidia on load).

My laptop is a

MacBook Pro mid 2010

Processor  2.66 GHz Intel Core i7

Memory  4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

Graphics  NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M 512 MB

Software  Mac OS X Lion 10.7 (11A511)

If anybody has a repeatable sure fire way to cause the black screen o ntheir computer - please let me know, would like to try the test.

Seems like the problem occurs the most with the 2.66 GHz Core i7, NVIDIA GT330M 521 MB

I'm having this problem at LEAST once per day. I'm still covered under Apple Care since I bought the extended warranty, but I would hate to bring it in. I already had both the top and bottom casing swapped several times because it kept coming back with scratches and other defects. The NVIDIA drivers are (apparently?) what's wrong, and this should be something they can fix with a firmware update. Apple needs to get the ball rolling and fix this fast.

I have a MBP 2010 mid and have this problem since 10.6.7!!

first i thougt its a Hardware problem, but 10.6.3 has no Problems.

The Problem is the Nvidia 330m graphic card, that *****, i can't work with it!

i don't want to wait longer time ...!

SOLUTION:

You have to use the gfxCardStatus and activate only the Intel card, so it works, but thats not satisfying ...

Same issues, Mid 2010 15" MBP, i5. Problems started after installing Lion. I just started forcing the integrated graphics chip with gfxCardStatus, hope it helps.

I'm also seeing this on my 2008 15" MBP.   It was completely stable in SL, then after upgrading to Lion it has become unstable.

In my case, it seems to be related to system load.  This is my old/spare MBP, which I mostly use as an iTunes media server.   I use handbrake to convert my DVDs into H.264 to view with my AppleTV.   It worked great in SL, but as soon as I moved to Lion, it got unstable when doing this.  It locks up with a black screen, requiring a reboot to recover.

I'm not sure if it could be some old software conflicting with Lion, or just Lion itself causing the problems.

Update:

General:

Currently still having issues but spent over an hour with a nice Apple tech named Matt in Canada.

Process:

Logged I needed help via Express Lane online, and I received a call back within a few seconds and was on with a tech within a minute overall probably.

After hearing my issue he escalated the case and that's when I started working with Matt.

We tried several things.

The one thing for me that causes a crash almost immediately is 1password, so it is my litmus test app.

1. Create a new user and login and see if can replicate issue.  Result - Black Screen
2. Remove all items from "HD > Library > StartupItems" & "HD > Library > LoginItems" and another folder in Library I can't remember. Then login as my original user and test.  Result - Black Screen
3. Create a new partition and install Lion.  Currently doing this and will report on result.  This is the last test and should really say if it's a software or hardware issue.

It's interesting that this tech and the first one had not heard of the issue.

It seems an issue such as this one would get put on the company portal so all parties are at least informed this is happening to a decent amount of their customers.

Regardless, the results will be posted here shortly, although it says 4 hours to go on the install.

Fingers Crossed