fequent mid 2012 macbook pro retina kernel panic reboots possibly GPU related

Scott - don't forget to check if you have a warranty extension through a credit card used to purchase your computer. I was out of Apple warranty but was covered by a one year extension on my visa.

Peter

Just following up on my earlier post and adding some technical info. The GPU Panic-related reboots were getting more frequent, pretty much every day in fact. I had a thought that if the GPU was panicking and the screen dying, but the machine was still making sounds when hitting "Option-CTRL-Shift-Escape" (or whatever the force eject keystroke is), then it must still be running. So I enabled remote login in the sharing settings which allowed me to login to the machine via an SSH terminal.

The next time the GPU panic happened the screen went dark, so I found the IP address of the Macbook Pro using an app called "Ping Lite" on my iPhone (in the "Netbios lookup" section it shows you the IP address of all machines on the local network - make sure your Macbook is on the same Wifi network as your iPhone first). Then I SSH-ed into the Macbook Pro (I use iSSH on the iPhone to do this, but it works with any terminal/SSH client). Once there, I ran the "sysdiagnose" command to dump system info to my local directory on the Macbook Pro:

> sudo sysdiagnose -t

This will dump the system diagnosis info into a file in the /var/tmp directory:

sysdiagnose results written to /var/tmp/sysdiagnose_Mar.13.2014_09-58-57.tar.gz

Make a note of the location on your iPhone. Then reboot your Macbook Pro, go to Finder, then in the "Go" menu hit "Go to Folder" and go to /var/tmp and copy the file to your home dir. You can then unzip it (double click on it) and see the system info.

As I'm a member of the Apple Developer network I opened a bug report with Apple and added the sysdiagnose file to the report. They came back saying the GPU was powered down and it's due to a hardware error.

On Saturday I took the MBP to the Apple Store and showed the the bug report, all the logs (in the Console app on the MBP). Whilst showing the MBP to the guy in the store it crashed right in front of him and he wasn't able to get it restarted. So it's gone off for repair or replacement. If they replace the logic board this will be the second time. Personally I think there's something wrong with the GT650M GPU on this device so I won't be happy if it comes back and starts crashing again - I will request a replacement with a newer device with the GT750M.

Same problem here.

MBP Retina, 15-ich, Early 2012

Has this issue been resolved?

MBP Retina, 15-ich, Early 2012

Has this issue been resolved?

At this writing, Apple has not acknowledged that any sort of Systemic problem exists with these Macs.

To solve your problem, you should pursue repair of your Mac as if it were the only one that had failed.

I have the same problem on mid 2012 15 inch retina MBP. Clearly due to the NVIDIA gpu. It happens every single time the discrete GPU runs (gfxCardStatus currently is forcing integrated graphics so that I can write this). The crash never happens on integrated graphics. This happened a few times over the last year but I never thought anything of it. It really started to happen regularly 1 week ago and now the discrete GPU is unusable. The machine has been out of warranty for 9 months. This is cearly a hardware defect and I'm not excited to replace an expensive logic board on this well-cared-for machine.

Here's hoping that Apple will recognize a systematic problem.

We have no way to escalate any issues from here on the forums.

Your appointment at the genius bar for an evaluation is FREE, in warranty or out.

And that is where you should make contact with Apple Inc and start to get your problem resolved. Do not assume that this is a prevalent problem that Apple will spontaneously resolve. Despite several reports, only careful diagnosis at the genius bar will get Apple to provide a fix.

You should assume the fix they provide applies only to your problem. Other users will also need to contact Apple and get their Macs evaluated. If a trend is discovered after careful analysis, Apple may start a special program to address the problem. Do not wait for that to happen -- it may turn out that two reports of the same symptoms are caused by completely different issues.

I just had my logic board replaced on my mid-2012 MBP 15" Retina for the second time. I'm 10 days in and so far, so good with the new logic board (although I haven't tried setting the main in-computer monitor to scaled mode yet). Apple also replaced the screen as it had some dots/pixels missing.

Does anyone have any procedure which can reliably be used to reproduce the problem when required? Someone said something about running a Youtube video on one screen and a HD Vimeo video on a second screen?

I reliably reproduce the problem by running a graphics intensive application like a game and making sure that the discrete GPU is being used by forcing it with gfxCardStatus.

I don't think there is a reliable way that works for different machines yet. The failure seems to happen when switching modes, either when under load or after a high load ends. Some have been able to force the fault by pressing on the bottom near the display which may impede the cooling. I could never do this. The only consistent observation was that infrequent crashes grew in frequency up until only a few minutes of uptime.

It is a nuisance but that is what it is without a generic fix. To reliably demonstrate a fault to the Apple techs, you will likely need to wait until the crashes occur every few minutes, which will be maddening to live with.

In my case, the repair tech took my word for what was happening, concluded it was the logic board and charged me, and Visa approved the repair under the extended warranty and sent me a check.

Peter

Thanks Peter. I was lucky enough that my machine crashed in the hands of the Apple Store Genius, and he was unable to restart it (which hadn't actually been a problem before then). So then there was no hesitation and he ordered the logic board be replaced (and the screen).

The repair itself wasn't without problems. It was scheduled to take 3-5 days ("we'll call you"), but when nothing had happened after 8 I called the Apple Store. According to the guy I spoke to the repair was on pause because they wanted to make sure I had a backup of my data. When I asked why, they said it was because they were going to do a fresh reinstall of my operating system to see if that fixed the problem.

I'd already been advised to reinstall the OS from scratch after the previous appointment at the Genius Bar (when I was already on my second logic board), so I'd reluctantly agreed to try it, spent hours reloading my data from Time Machine etc etc, but it hadn't helped and the crashes were still coming thick and fast. So I told that to the guy on the phone and he advised me to come into the Apple Store and sort it out, which I did, and then it was agreed they'd replace the logic board and screen immediately. They did the repair overnight and called me the next morning.

So now I'm on my 3rd logic board and my main worry is that there's some kind of systemic issue going on here and the crashes are going to start happening again soon. Sure, the machine reboots pretty fast once you've deciced to kill it, but I work a lot in terminal sessions on remote machines, plus it even died once in the middle of a Skype call and once whilst showing a company demo video to someone.

Sam, is there anything unusual about your work environment that might be blocking or limiting the cooling?

My understanding from the repair tech who did my computer was that mine was the first MBPretina that he had seen with this problem - hopefully it is rare and you've won the lottery twice and won't a third time.

I have no idea whether the display replacement is somehow connected with your logic board problems.

Peter

Re: reproducing the problem

In my experience, showing the apple techs the Kernel Panic related to GPU is enough for them to start the repair process. Mine was not under warentee so they did not consider whether it was an in, or out of, warentee repair.

After the first motherboard replacement, what reproduced reliably for me was being in Netflix with video showing, and attempting to type. Rendering a font glyph (like going to Searchlight) would immediately freeze the machine with no hope of return. This was not a kernel panic, just a freeze (which leaves no logs). The symptom was different on the old motherboard, with kernel panics happening randomly every day (although always on the nvidia GPU).

Although I am distressed that Apple is not taking responsibility for what seems like a defect in either the cooling system or the parts, and I am distressed that apple is still learning about the failure (a simple motherboard replacement did not fix the problem in my case - the "sensor" system (temp sensor? fan?), and a reformat of the hard drive) did solve the problem, which implies this is not _just_ a GPU problem.

But fix it they did, and at least I have now a well working machine - after $550 and 2 weeks of repair time (and a lot of apologies from the genius. Those are inexpensive, apple has trained them well.)

This is manufacturing fault and you are not alone juct check this post https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?answerId=25418402022#25418402022

Apple even do not want us to raise our voices just check replies there.

This fault for all macbook pro, imac etc from 2010 to 2013 and still Apple not fixing and replacing.

Hi folks,

add me to the list.

-I have a retina MBP 15-inch Mid 2012

-suffering GPU problems which lead to black screen and computer crashing.

-graphics intensive stuff seems to provoke a meltdown--for example, scrolling through hundred page PDF's, looking at large architectural plans, etc..

haven't taken this in for evaluation at the genius bar yet but should do when work permits.

I have tried some things and they seem to have helped avoid the GPU panics so that I can at least get some work done. Curious to hear from those more knowledgeable about these band-aid measures.

First, as mentioned in earlier threads, I installed 'gfx card status' to keep the laptop in 'integrated only' mode when using it unplugged from my external monitor. That seems to avoid GPU crashes when operating the macbook as a laptop without external display.

Here's what I've tried with some success to keep the macbook running while plugged into the external display. These measures were based on my guess from the info I gleaned here that the GPU crash occurs during periods of intensive graphics usage and may be related to the heat generated during high-graphics-usage:

(1) I downloaded 'Display Menu' from the App store (it was free). This creates an icon on the screen's menu bar where you can downscale the resolution output from the laptop to the external or internal display. When my macbook is plugged into the external monitor, I use 'Display Menu' to keep the output resolution dialed-down from the 2560x1440 optimal setting (for example, I've used either the second or third most optimized resolutions in the 16x9 format shown under the 'Display Menu' options: either 2048x1152 which is reasonably sharp or 1600x900 which is fuzzier but has larger icons/text).

(2) I downloaded 'Macs Fan Control'. This creates an icon on the screen's menu bar where you can manually ramp-up or ramp-down the two fans in the macbook case (each from 2151 rpms to 5917 rpms). When plugging into the external display, just for good measures, I ramp the fans up a little--say to 3100 rpms each. Because the laptop sits aside from and slightly behind the thunderbolt display, I don't notice the increase in noise when cranking the fans up over 3000 rpms.

So far, knock on wood, I have been able to resume my use of the thunderbolt external display and appear to once again be able to unplug the laptop and plug it back in to the external display as business requires without provoking a GPU crash. Not ideal. Really need a permanent fix. But this seems to work as a limp-home method. What's next? Duct tape?

Do those here more knowledgeable want to comment on the steps I outlined? Are these steps likely to help others? Is it just coincidence that I'm able to use the external monitor again for now?

thanks

ed

This is helpful Ed, I'm in the same situation. I'll give that a try!