Q: Lion randomly crashes - black screen

Mondo: I'm guessing you are under NDA, but I hope you are right.

Maybe a MBP with Lion can be replaced with a Linux PC?

lol. A Linux one is very hard to use, but at least it is stable.

After contacting applecare and telling them the whole story; this is the answer, so they obviously know by now the issue and have no solution or date on when it will be fixed.

Thank you for your email. We understand you have a concern about  Mac OS Lion causing issues on your MacBook Pro. We apologize for any frustration this matter has caused.

Our records indicate that you have reverted your system to Snow Leopard to resolve these issues, as no hardware defect with your computer was found.

We regret we do not have a specific date when the issue will be resolved.....

I think the information provided by your "Genius" is correct...There are computers however, who really do have hardware issues, so this is a tough one to navigate. Right now I have the Apple "box" sitting by my my desk, and I don't think I'm going to use it.  When I first installed Lion, I had the BSOD when coming out of sleep...after re-installing Lion, this no longer happened. When working in Aperture, however, I've had heat issues and in general was finding it a pain, so I decided to have my computer checked out by Apple  ....I have a rather large photo editing job wating, so I downloaded my flash media photos all fresh and new onto my husbands brand new MBP i7, which came with Lion and has no other software on it it. I then downloaded a fresh install of Aperture and started to get to work...

Guess what happened? My husbands MBP started to overheat on multiple file imports even worse than mine, and he has a totally different and new configuration. Workaround: I import no more than 2 folders as projects and then shut down Aperture. Then I work on other things, and after the memory is purged of Aperture, I can then go in there and edit with PS and Perfect Resize plug-ins and get some work done. BTW, I asked my sister to try this out on her new i7, 17" MBP with AMD graphics (1 week old) and the same thing happened to her. Apple is going to have to address this issue because it it more widespread than just the 15" 2010 NVidia models...

Houston (Apple) we have a software / firmware problem that you need to fix. Lion handles files differently than SL and all the kinks are not worked out yet with how these files interact with software. Unfortunately, if I send my computer in, I think it will just take a long trip to nowhere and come back with the same message that you were given....wait for an update...maybe. My Inspector Clouseau days are over, and I was fortunate enough to know two people with brand new MBPs to experiment on...         

I can live with this, but at least I know what the heck is going on now. In view of the events of this week regarding Apple, I can be more understanding as to why the OS was released a little early...this is IMO.

gatesbuster wrote:

 

It is the answer I got during my last trip at the apple store:

 

Your MBP has a software issue (they would not call it a driver issue). Your MBP has been sent to Apple Repair center and they decided not to replace the logic board as they could not find anything wrong with it. (the genius before sending it had: Replace logic board on the worksheet).  Wait for a patch to come and run Snow Leopard if you can't leave with BSOB. As your MBP is still under warranty, if there is no fix within the next few months !!! come back to see us....

Ubuntu's got usability, better price and stability.

So there are options

I don't think ubuntu can compare to Mac Os X yet. maybe never since it doesn't seem they make any progress in the usibility. it is more and more like Windows.

Sure, it cannot compare: Lion is not usable Linux is

Well I can confirm  10.7.2 (Build 11C43) does not fix for me, photobooth go to effects BSOD, come on apple we expect better from you

For everyone using photo booth as the go-to stability check- are other programs BSOD'ing your System too?  Maybe there's something wrong with photo booth?  I can crash mine with it, but not much else.  Who uses photo booth anyway?

Lion = Windows Vista

Strong work here Apple.

Hunter Dendy wrote:

 

For everyone using photo booth as the go-to stability check- are other programs BSOD'ing your System too?  Maybe there's something wrong with photo booth?  I can crash mine with it, but not much else.  Who uses photo booth anyway?

Hi Hunter, the other way some people could produce the crash was going to a folder with a bunch of documents, images etc click space bar which opens quick view, then press the up or down arrows to quickly flick through the files. After flicking through a few files I'd crash before the MB replacement.

To do this reliably though I'd have to completely quit gfxCardStatus. It would also work right away from a fresh install of Lion i had on an external HDD. This didn't have any extra software installed, obviously no gfxCardStatus

Photobooth works each time and is very convenient to show the genius the problem. In my case it did crash the first time importing pictures in iPhoto, another time playing a video and anther time working with iMovie. Every type of work using the graphic card will make it crash.

Well, I'm relieved to have found this post, I really thought there was something wrong with the hardware and that I was going to have to use my Apple Care.

Sorry but I think there is definately something wrong with your hardware. I had my main board replaced and it still crashes. Btw I managed to get the black screen under sn as well but only once. Anyway a friend of mine has a 2010 mbp and I could not crash his (even with the photo booth trick). I went to the apple store where I bought my computer and they had two 2010 models running lion on display. Guess what - I could not crash those either. So here's what I will demand: They either replace every single component of my mb until the issue is fixed or they give me a 2011 model.