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JayMelBE Author

Level 1

5 points

Windows 8 randomly freezes on MB and MBP

Dear community,

I have an important issue with all my MacBook and MacBook Pro.

I have installed Windows 8 Developer Preview a long time ago and was experiencing random freezes.

At that time, I have tried any possible solution to fix it... nothing worked and no solution on forums.

I have then got my hands on the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, but the problem was still there.

Now, Windows 8 Release Preview is out and the problem is still there.

I can't find any solution to this issue. It is not a crash but a real freeze.

I have to push the power button for 5 seconds to shut it down and then power it on.

I have tried several possibilites:

- on my MacBook Pro with a SSD

- on my MacBook (1st generation of unibody but not yet renamed in Pro) with a HDD

- in a VHD, in bootcamp partition, even as unique partition (removing any Mac OS system).

Nothing works. The freezes are very random (already happened before the login phase !).

I can stay with the system stable for 2-3 days, but sometimes it crashes after a few seconds.

I identified that Chrome and Dropbox made the system to freeze quicker, but I am not sure why.

I was thinking of 3 possibilites of issue:

- the driver of the graphic card (but it is not exactly the same in both MacBook)

- some special/reserved disk space that Windows would be trying to write

- a memory issue (trying to write in an unsafe or protected memory place)

Do someone experience this kind of freeze ?

Do someone get a fully working and never get any freeze with Windows 8 on a MB or MBP ?

It seems to work fine for people with newest MB and MBP, and MB air. I am not sure it is true.

Best regards,

Jérémie

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2009), Other OS, Windows 8, DP, CP and RP

Posted on Jun 6, 2012 8:25 AM

97 replies

Aug 6, 2012 7:55 AM in response to ju hyung

Wait, what release are you currently using? Release preview? Or Release to manufacturing?

ju hyung

Level 1

0 points

Aug 6, 2012 8:12 AM in response to LupahFiasco

Hehe,, leaked RTM Pro :P

Aug 6, 2012 8:17 AM in response to ju hyung

Just as i do 🙂

How's the running? No freezes? You tried gaming so far on it?

revanmj

Level 1

8 points

Aug 6, 2012 11:00 PM in response to LupahFiasco

I tried RTM version and it still freezes on my MBP 13' mid-2010 :/ (havent't used Dynamic Ticking trick yet)

But at least I can finally change screen brightness after installing NVIDIA drivers (in CP or RP there was no way to do that, screen simply didn't react to any change of settings).

ju hyung

Level 1

0 points

Aug 6, 2012 10:59 PM in response to LupahFiasco

Well, I don't play games :p

But I can tell you, I haven't been experiencing any crashes after that tip.

It seems to help.

I'll update this status if it crashes.

Aug 7, 2012 1:47 AM in response to revanmj

Which driver did you install? I also cant change the screen brightness 😟 Its always 100%

BTW i also have mid 2010 MB 13'. Ytied dynamic ticking, it helps for me, so use it. Just tell me how you managed to cahnge the screen birghtness, please 🙂

revanmj

Level 1

8 points

Aug 7, 2012 1:50 AM in response to LupahFiasco

First the one that came with Boot Camp 4.0, then Windows Update downloaded new one (it had WDDM 1.2 or something like that in its name) and it works on both. But, as I said before, I'm using Windows 8 RTM (build 9200) that leaked recently. It won't work on Release Preview or Customer Preview that were officially available to everyone.

ju hyung

Level 1

0 points

Aug 7, 2012 1:51 AM in response to LupahFiasco

The standard BootCamp 4.0 driver.

Long time ago, I've been able to extract BootCamp4.0 drivers(which is I think no longer available in the web)

And I've installed Audio driver, Trackpad, MagicMouse driver

and then move bootcamp.msi to desktop and set the compatiblity mode to Windows 7 and run it on elevated cmd prompt and installed it.

Tap-click on trackpad, sound, brightness control is working good :D

If you need extracted BootCamp 4.0 driver, reply to this message.

I'll upload to some server :)

Aug 7, 2012 1:58 AM in response to ju hyung

Thank you, thank you very much) I have the dvd with bootcamp drivers that came with MB PRO 🙂 I only need NVidia driver, cause i tried installing the newest one from geforce website, and it breaks the brightness changing option 😉

ju hyung

Level 1

0 points

Aug 7, 2012 2:01 AM in response to LupahFiasco

Well, AFAIK.

You shouldn't use old bootcamp driver(which is bundled CD driver)

You must USE 4.0 Drivers and also, the latest NVIDIA driver 302.80 doesn't breaks the brightness control.

Aug 7, 2012 2:06 AM in response to ju hyung

for me 302.80 breaks the brightness control :/

You're on this drvier now? YOu updated from bootcamp nvidia, or installed a clean one?

ju hyung

Level 1

0 points

Aug 7, 2012 2:13 AM in response to LupahFiasco

I've custom installed Bootcamp driver. The only ones that I need.

Magic mouse, Trackpad ETC but not GraphicsDriver.

And finally, Bootcamp control panel.

And then I went and got 302.80 and It's just fine :D

Aug 7, 2012 2:17 AM in response to ju hyung

Hm well, gonna try it now then. Ill update the bootcamp driver to 302.80

Aug 7, 2012 3:10 AM in response to ju hyung

Well not working for me 😟

Tried everything, clean install, update, and etc. brightness is good only on bootcamp graphic driver 🙂

ju hyung

Level 1

0 points

Aug 7, 2012 8:29 PM in response to JayMelBE

I can confirm that the tip to disable some feature by bcdedit fix the freezing issue.

Past, I can't install Visual Studio because it ALWAYS crashes before completing.

Now, it installs just fine 😀

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Windows 8 randomly freezes on MB and MBP