Random hard freezing issues, Windows 8 64-bit on Macbook Pro (Late 2008)

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Random hard freezing issues, Windows 8 64-bit on Macbook Pro (Late 2008)

Hi,

I recently upgraded to OS X 10.8.3 and got a hold on copy of Windows 8 64-bit. As I'm running on my old trustworthy 15 inch Macbook Pro (Late 2008), my hardware is officially unsupported. Over the years I've had XP, Vista, Win7 32-bit and 64-bit running running on the same machine, and thought I'd give Win8 a chance.

To be able to install Win8 on my unsupported hardware, I tricked the Bootcamp assistant that I was going to install Win7, and after the reboot and start of the Win7 installation, I exited the installer, rebooted, switched DVD to Win8 and did the installation from there. So far so good. For installing the Bootcamp drivers, I followed the instructions in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4894920?tstart=90.

Now, the machine runs just fine with Windows 8, and I've installed some basic third party applications (Firefox, Spotify, Steam). However, I get completely random hard freezes on the machine (sound looping, no other activity whatsoever) during normal use. These can occur 20 minutes after start, or 3-4 hours in. The freezing behavior is very much similar to how my model can behave under overheating conditions (which mostly have occured in past Windows versions while gaming), however overheating doesn't seem to be the issue here (based on simple palpation 🙂).

Have anyone experienced a similar problem, or know something about it? My current idea is that some weird things are going on with the Bootcamp drivers, so unless anyone comes up with a suggestion I might try doing a rollback to the point before I installed the drivers to see what I can make of it.

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, Windows 8

Posted on Mar 24, 2013 6:45 PM

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Answer 1

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Aidar

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Mar 26, 2013 11:47 AM in response to jdura

Had a few similar short system freezes, after installing Windows 8 x64 on 13” MacBook Pro Mid-2010 with BootCamp 5.0.5033.

There is a suggestion that DisableDynamicTick may fix the problem: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4894920?answerId=21565295022#21565295022. There were similar topics at Microsoft forums: 1, 2, 3. It was said “that this will likely reduce system battery life, so it should be undone when you update your Windows build or if it doesn't resolve your issue”, and that “this problem is resolved in the release versions of Windows 8”.

Another possibility is that there is indeed a buggy driver, within BootCamp 5.0.5033, or a 3^rd party, like a wireless network driver in the following case http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/system-fr eeze-randomly-after-installing-windows-8/49488183-26cf-4389-af21-a85dc366c99a?pa ge=2#LastReply.

The problem has been noticeable on my MacBook, but not annoying enough yet to spend time troubleshooting. If you find a robust solution, using the links above or other method, it would be interesting to know.

HTH

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Answer 2

jdura Author

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Mar 26, 2013 5:38 PM in response to Aidar

Thank you for your insightful comment! Someone pointed out to me the DisableDynamicTick issue, and since you're bringing it up as well I sense that the solution might be there.

As of now, I've done the DisableDynamicTick trick. Shortly after that, the machine froze again. However, after a reboot I've now been up and running for a good couple of hours without any issues, so it is possible that the problem is solved. I'll be doing some more tests tomorrow after work, and hopefully we can then put the issue to rest.

/J

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Answer 3

Aidar

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31 points

Apr 2, 2013 8:00 AM in response to jdura

Glad that the information was useful. A couple of days ago I updated the NVIDIA graphics driver for GeForce 320M card to the latest version 314.22 (http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/59645). There have been no random freezes on my 13” Mid-2010 MacBook Pro so far after the update. I am inclined to think that pre-314.22 driver was somehow involved in the problem.

HTH

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Answer 4

jdura Author

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Apr 8, 2013 12:50 PM in response to Aidar

Thanks for the tip, I have not yet updated my NVIDIA drivers, but so far I've been experiencing no random freezes since using your last tip, although my Windows installation haven't seen much hard use the last couple of weeks. Will update drivers and see how that affects my situation!

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Answer 5

harenc

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Apr 20, 2013 8:43 PM in response to jdura

I am suffering with freezing issue when I install VS 2012. It seems DisableDynamicTick is the proper way to solve this problem. I tried other solutions. But all failed...

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