unexpected hibernation?

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Level 1

27 points

unexpected hibernation?

Occasionally, usually just after the fans spin up, and the top of the palm rest gets hot, I get a black screen and the MacbookPro goes unresponsive. Sometimes it clears up within a few seconds without doing anything; sometimes tapping the power button gets the screen to light up again; but when that doesn't work, I have to sometimes hold the power button down until it powers off, and restart it.

The Console, consistently, shows mention of "hibernation" when this happens.

Is this something the Apple Store Geniuses will recognize if I take it in? It's still under AppleCare, for a few more months, and this seems to be getting worse -- although I can avoid the problem if I install the Fan Control 3rd party app and run the fans at a fairly high speed.

MacBook Pro (17-inch Late 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), Build 12F45

Posted on Jan 22, 2014 8:00 AM

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Answer 1

BobRz

Level 5

6,138 points

Jan 22, 2014 8:04 AM in response to ankhank

Take it in while you can. At the very least the problem will be documented in the Apple system should it continue. Show them the console report.

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Answer 2

ankhank Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 22, 2014 8:19 AM in response to BobRz

They've seen that before, I took it in within the first year to ask why things kept crashing so much. They just said I was using third party software (VirtualBox). Same basic pattern and symptoms. They kept it overnight, "stress tested" it and said no problem found.

What I'm trying to ask is -- has anything been learned so they'll say anything other than 'don't use third party software, that's your problem' if I go in again?

Hoping to hear if this rings any bells - if this sounds like some pattern that has been recognized in the past few years, that the Genius ought to also recognize.

I've just found the Genius visits discouraging. I'd rather have some idea what's going on before going in.

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Answer 3

BobRz

Level 5

6,138 points

Jan 22, 2014 8:21 AM in response to ankhank

I understand. One way to do this would be to temporarily uninstall virtualbox and see if the problem goes away. If not, at least you've taken their argument away as well.

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Answer 4

ankhank Author

Level 1

27 points

Jan 25, 2014 9:07 AM in response to BobRz

I did that, and had confirmed that it's not a VirtualBox problem.

I told them that -- the genius said I was still using other third party software so it was probably that.

I had them keep it overnight and he said they ran a "stress test" and proved there was nothing wrong with the hardware, so it had to be some third party software to blame.

There's no point in owning an Apple computer, if I can't run anything except Apple software on it.

I'm guessing -- seeing the problem come back worse than ever now -- that it's the graphics card problem several thousand people are complaining about: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4766577?answerId=24553884022#24553884022 --- using the methods there, I can avoid or display the problem consistently.

If so there's some hope it might be fixed eventually.

I bought the last 17" MBP because it was the last Mac on which components could be easily replaced -- the new ones are so tightly put together they're pretty much throwaway-rather-than-repair.

So I"m hoping eventually to be able to get this one fixed.

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