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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

Reply
97 replies

Jun 6, 2012 3:19 PM in response to Templeton Peck

Still there is NO REASON for Windows 8 to freeze (it can, due to drivers) it has NEVER frozen on my Mac.


Unsupported - my Mac 2006 is also "Not supported" for Windows 7; for 64-bit.


Windows on Mac you could say doesn't work anyway 100% (runs hotter, fans run slower) one person (Level 10) said Windows on MacBook Air doesn't support power management under Windows (sleep etc).


Really.

Jun 6, 2012 3:32 PM in response to JayMelBE

You are partially right on Chrome, there is an issue I only recently came upon but I think it was one of the extensions.


FireFox 13 seems good as gold.


Windows 8 RP has had a lot more changes. More complete.


But watch for drivers. I thought after a week of testing and on two different systems I had narrowed down to Intel RST 11.5.x beta - but others said it was fine on theirs.


I would depending on what you use it for:


make a system restore image

make WinClone 3.x ($20) image

Windows Easy Transfer - get all your settings for when you restore

Install the RP. When you do you are left with 20GB prior system (in case it doesn't work) and 2GB temp installer file you can delete later also (Disk Cleanup).


Clean the Registry. Found some of the freezes and lockups.


Graphic drivers from AMD (5/31) while still waiting for an WHQL Nvidia.


A couple things like BT and keyboard I think (there are a couple threads just on 8) do not work and most people learn to live with minor inconvenience, and find suitable drivers.


Remember Windows 7 RC. It was rock solid and being used on 10s of millions of desktops - all before RTM.


Funny about that, you "needed" BC 3.1 but you had to install old pre-release 3.04 first that was buggy and BSOD'd on many systems and there was no direct 3.1 installer. Same with Lion and BC 4.0 before 4.01 came out and failure to partittion properly on systems with prior Boot Camp present.


If you do a Windows only, you should have a 350MB system reserved now that you didn't. I don't think a Mac can use the UEFI option (but can if your PC mobo does) which then means just like OS X you use GPT instead of MBR for system drive initialization.


Windows 8 DP was not stable if I didn't do a full clean install. After that it was fine. It was better when I avoided Apple iTunes and other programs (but not drivers).


I am use to "unsupported" or shrink wrap or whatever but I do avoid the "dot zero" releases until they have had three updates to clean up and tested and even optimized.

Jun 6, 2012 3:42 PM in response to JayMelBE

Kaspersky won't have support until after RTM and their beta of KIS 2013 froze out installing on 8 now. There is a lot that changed. Anything beside Windows Defender for AV/IS protection seems like support is an issue.


Drivers - the fewer the better.


I had to dig around harder with RP to get Paragon's Clone OS to work (HDM 12 program) which was also not supported but worked before - now the pre-install scan says it is not and really doesn't want to let me launch (it did install just fine).


People have run 8 w/o any Apple support or BC drivers. Fine and an option, and so what.


But it runs better, smoother, than 7 has, and recovers quickly; even go through and repair itself (esp now with RP) - quite amazing. And can return to initial state and wipe any changes you made.


It also works with VirtualBox pretty well.. I would not expect to be able use VHD (someone tried on their PC that wanted to test VM. I think VMware will eventually offer a nice means. Parallels pushed an update today to make it easy to load and setup and make it more automated.

Jun 6, 2012 3:48 PM in response to The hatter

Interesting... finally someone smart in this world !


I am thinking exactly the same than you... I almost never use Mac OS, because Windows is far better.

I am also used with Beta and unspported things... I started with Windows Vista Beta 1 and I have installed any beta version of Vista, 7 and 8 so far. I am not afraid of running into problems....

I used to have a tri-boot MacBook (Linux, Mac, Windows) but I am now only using Windows because it has all the power of Mac and Linux.. and brings so much more.

I am wondering if the problem could come for the Bootcamp 3 drivers? I have tried with Bootcamp 3, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3... but the same problem happens with all.

I have noticed that when using external monitor.. it was (almost?) never freezing... maybe it is simply related to nVidia drivers. I am not sure about that.


To sum up what you said, you have Windows 8 running on your Mac and never had any freeze? What is(are) the mac(s) that you have?


Thank you for the really constructive answer by the way!

Jun 6, 2012 3:52 PM in response to The hatter

"I would not expect to be able use VHD" ? What do you mean about that?

I have tried VirtualBox with a VHD, and installing Windows 8 "natively" on a VHD.. and both works just fine.

I don't know if it gives better performances with their VBI format... but I have experience no issue with a VHD.


I will try coming back before bootcamp drivers to see if the Mac ever freeze again.

Jun 6, 2012 4:20 PM in response to JayMelBE

End of day but just one follow up:


Windows 7 can boot from .VHD


Windows 8 for now I thought would not.. And does this work on Mac or only PC (with BIOS and other differences).


One Mac Pro tower, two PCs.


How to Create and Configure a VHD in Windows 7

http://www.everything-microsoft.com/2009/08/25/how-to-create-and-configure-a-vhd -in-windows-7/


http://blogs.technet.com/b/aviraj/archive/2009/01/17/windows-7-boot-from-vhd-fir st-impression-part-1.aspx


http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/dual-boot-from-vhd-with-windows-7-and-w indows-sever-2008-r2.aspx


Native VHD Boot


Native VHD boot enables the seamless transition to virtualization using a single image format that boots on both physical and virtual machines. Native VHD boot means that the Windows image in a VHD file can boot on a physical machine without starting a Hyper-V virtual machine.


http://blogs.technet.com/b/virtualization/archive/2009/05/14/native-vhd-support- in-windows-7.aspx


Windows 7 Boot from VHD

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/video/Windows-7-Boot-from-VHD.aspx

Jun 6, 2012 4:29 PM in response to JayMelBE

JayMelBE wrote:


Great answer ! Very constructive.... 51 080 points just answering "I won't try to help you".

My expectations on this community were really low... but I couldn't think it could be even lower than this... Thank you Templeton Peck which is staying quite in his Sweet hom in Chicago... very helpful !


You are quite welcome!!!!! My pleasure!!!! 😉

Jun 6, 2012 7:54 PM in response to JayMelBE

I am having these issues as well. I couldn't figure out what exactly is the problem, but I am certain that the nVidia graphics driver is part of the problem. I often get a random system freeze, but sometimes the system crashes with a BSOD "VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE".


I have read, that nVidia is going to release a new graphics card driver version very soon. Maybe that'll help.


I think that Apple should really release new Bootcamp drivers, Windows 8 is already in Release Preview state!! I mean, nVidia, ATI, Intel, and all other companies have updated drivers since the Consumer Preview, but I bet that Apple still needs 4- 6 months after the release of Windows 8 to come up with new Bootcamp drivers.


Does anyone know if Apple has already announced the new drivers?

Jun 7, 2012 3:35 AM in response to ehssand

Glad this helped but no Intel and others are still beta testing and won't have drivers until later, and we know Apple won't given past history.


Programs I use that are low level driver and system level can probably now begin to test. RP made a lot of changes.


Many Apple developers have to wait until after Apple ships a new OS to really begin testing, given that what you see is not what gets shipped and can end up wasting time and development on code and features that will change. .


How else to explain changes in Lion 10.7.4 that caught SoftRAID and others off guard on what happens in Macs using 32-bit kernel mode using Apple software RAID in Disk Utility.


My ATI graphic card drivers were regularly recovering but it never affected or brought down the system. And the two with GTX cards have not had a hiccup even though I am using what 8 RP provides while waiting on Nvidia.


Windows 7 went RTM in July 2009 and Apple wanted to beat MS to the punch and get 10.6.0 out early and put BC 3.0.4 in there which was before 7 shipped months later, and later in November Windows 7 changes meant Acronis and everyone else had to make changes. Apple eventually came out with an update 3.1 but not a new 3.0.


Given WWDC and all the other events happening, my take away is this is not on top of the list and will mean you have to get 10.8 to get new support (just like you needed 10.6 to get Windows 7, they didn't just provide drivers for 10.5 owners even though there is nothing to stop that).

Jun 13, 2012 7:50 AM in response to JayMelBE

I'm having the exact same freezing issues with Late 2010 iMac 27" (Core Duo 3.33 Ghz) - Fresh install of the release preview.. will randomly freeze - sometimes within 10 minutes, sometimes up to a few hours.


I've tried:


- Not installing the boot camp drivers (4.0)

- Installing the boot camp drivers (4.0)

- Updating the AMD GPU drivers to Windows 8 compatible (from AMD)

- Not installing anything, just a fresh install and just using IE to browse around for a bit

- Disconnected all peripherals except a keyboard and mouse (even tried different keyboards and mice)


It's a hard "freeze" or "lock up" - you have to hold the power button down in order to shut it down.


The only thing that I haven't tried is to do a Windows 7 install, install the boot camp drivers, then upgrade to Windows 8 release preview. Thanks for the advice someone gave about WinClone, that's going to save me a ton of time. I'll report back with my findings.

Windows 8 randomly freezes on MB and MBP

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