Vista Audio crackling and hard freeze issue with MacBook Pro Late 2008

[imtriggerhappy]

Okay, I just bought a new MBP and install Vista on it.

It's horrible, the trackpad is simply not usable, this problem can be solved by using wireless mouse.

The audio pops noise every 30 secs, turnning wireless off or use Vista Anti Lag will solve it.

Now the most annoying part, the computer hard freezes about twice day, this is unacceptable, I have not seen a computer hard freeze for many years. I meant blue screen of death is kinda okay, but my compputer just freeze Ctrl Alt Fn Del won't work, tried re installing, no help. Anyone had their computer crash with the new MBP?

I am going to try few more days, if this problem is still there, I am going to return it :-(:mad::mad::mad::(:(:(

[tracy657]

Hi, imtriggerhappy:

I have the same problem, it just freezes there instead of BSOD on the previous Macbook pro. I really loved the laptop, but it's really annoying. I hope I can figure out a way to fix it.

[TBi]

Funnily enough most of my problems with windows have been down to third party (nVidia/VIA) chipsets. I'm not surprised you are seeing issues yourselves.

nVidia could never get their drivers right while i had their motherboards. One thing that you might do is try and get the newest GeForce(nForce) drivers for your motherboard from nVidia website. This might solve your issue.

Right now i think i'll stay away from the new MBP's until they return to tried and trusted intel :)

[The Flashing Fi]

nVidia could never get their drivers right while i had their motherboards. One thing that you might do is try and get the newest GeForce(nForce) drivers for your motherboard from nVidia website. This might solve your issue.


You're right about that. I have an nForce 570 SLi chipset in my desktop and their ethernet drivers are just horrible. I've had the driver fail to start a few times, and sometimes one port on start-up won't work, so I switch. Then when I restart, the ports switch. Oddly enough, the chipset drivers that shipped with Vista worked flawlessly for about a year and a half, until one day I had a BSOD (my first and only BSOD since moving to SP1, which I started using when it was in beta stage). The diagnostic tool told me to update, which I did, and it was just one hassle after another.

I'm considering uninstalling and using Vista's default driver. One BSOD in once a year and a half isn't too bad. :p

I think part of the problem on the new MBPs with the chipset is that it's so new, that Nvidia hasn't worked out the bugs on. I guess its part of the trade off of being a guinea pig for a new product.;)

[MVApple]

I have the same problem! I don't know if this is Apple's problem or what but I just someone would step up to the plate and get this solved. The trackpad is definately Apple's problem.

Turning off my wireless isn't a very elegant solution. I'll have to try vista anti lag, thanks for th heads up.

Ok so I installed vista anti-lag and that solved the problem. What a headache, I wish these things just worked "out of the box" though.

[ryannazaretian]

I'm having the same issue with everyone else. The freezing is the one that bothers me the most. I'm a college student going into Electrial Engineering, and I have to learn programming. I use OSX a lot, but also use Windows. I've only had my computer for two days and it has frozen twice.

The sound is horrible too. This is a problem the old MBP's had as well, and Apple still hasn't fixed it. This is Apple's responsibility to provide good, working drivers. All my other computers I have had are provided with drivers that will work fine out of the box. Whats up with Apple's drivers? Also, no one can point the blame with the sound at Vista. This is the only machine (and my previous MBP) that has had sound issues like this. Even with wireless off it crackles and pops. (By the way, where can I get Vista Anti Lag? I searched it up on google and didn't find any good links.)

The trackpad also annoys me. But, I'm still in the learning phase.

EDIT: After some good searching I found it. Here's a link to the website you can download it from:
http://www.codecase.de/en/downloads/folder/2-vista-anti-lag

[ryannazaretian]

I think the problem may be heat related.
Start Rant...
Remember the bad fan control in the previous generation Macbook Pro's or Macbook that would make the computer run really hot in Windows? I think that is catching up with Apple with this more powerful laptop.
Well... my computer froze again today, and I immediately tried restarting and it would not start. I started in OSX, and as soon as the login window came up, the fans started whining bad and iStat was showing 171 degrees Fahrenheit for the CPU (This was after starting Windows again for it to freeze again, and then starting OSX up... Who knows that the temperature was when it actually froze... Possibly 190?). While this shouldn't be hot enough to freeze the computer, it is still pretty hot for my laptop (I use Fan Control with the sliders all the way to the left and my temps usually range from 100F to 115F).

Apple... you cannot be serious with this right? I have been in the middle of some homework that I had to use Windows on twice and it has frozen. When I say freeze, I mean, audio repeats, keyboard and trackpad don't respond, screen and time remain the same. A hard freeze... No BSOD or anything.

Acknowledge this freezing problem or you can take this laptop back.

As for the audio, I found something on this forum where you can disable the A band for the wireless card. I did this and the popping happens must less frequently. But still, this is an issue that I know has been an issue since June... Apple cannot expect us to be happy with a $2600 laptop that cannot run Windows well at all, right? OSX runs good, but there's a reason I bought this laptop. To run OSX and Windows. They enable the function too... it's called bootcamp... They supply the drivers on their OSX reinstallation disk... It's their branded laptop... They should support their products!

End of my rant.


EDIT: I can almost say that it has to be heat. I let it cool down for a while in OSX, and then restarted into Vista with no problem at all. I'm thinking it may be the fan driver freezing the computer? When it gets so hot that it needs to kick the fans it, it is instead freezing the computer. I think Apple got the type of freezing wrong that we all want...

[Stridder44]

Holy crap Boot Camp must have some serious problems with the late 2008 MBPs; I've seen so many Boot Camp problems with people with the new MBPs.

[ryannazaretian]

I can confirm that the system is running pretty warm.
GPU is running 78C
CPU is running 78C
Chipset is running 77C

These temperatures were taken in Windows using NVIDIA System Monitor, which apparently works with the new Macbooks (Pros).

Also, I cannot hear the fans making any noise, and the system is just sitting idle right now at 78C!

I've installed the Bootcamp drivers twice now as well...

EDIT:
Now the fans seem to be kicking in... Now that I installed NVIDIA System Monitor... I was running Spybot and the fans weren't running fast at all (their default speed). Now they are audible.

[Demigod Mac]

The drivers Apple provides with Boot Camp are garbage. Install these nVidia drivers:

for Vista 64-bit
http://laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21839

for Vista 32-bit
http://laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21838

Download the driver and the modded INF file.
Extract the driver into a folder.
Copy and replace the existing INF file with the modded INF.
Install these drivers using the "Have Disk" method. (http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11997) You will get a few warnings about digital signatures and compatibility. Install Anyway. It may take several minutes and your screen will go blank for a few seconds, but this is normal. Restart.

Next, go to http://www.realtek.com.tw/
Click on HD Audio Codec Driver. Accept. Download the Vista Driver (ZIP file). Extract and install with the Have Disk method. Restart.

[SnowLeopard2008]

Quit whining, Apple is not the one causing the trouble. It's nVidia and their crappy drivers.

[ryannazaretian]

Quit whining, Apple is not the one causing the trouble. It's nVidia and their crappy drivers.

Oh yea... I forgot that nVidia made Apple products...
Like the fans... the trackpad... the internal sensors... the drivers to run all of that... it is not just graphics... and the sound issue is with Broadcom and Realtek not playing nice and had problems with the previous generation Macs as well.

All nVidia has in the Macbooks now are the graphics, chipset, and the ethernet.

I'm not disagreeing with you that nVidia's drivers suck, because they do, but that is not all that is wrong, and some things need the magic touch from Apple to fix.

Oops... my fault, Apple is perfect...


As for Demigod Mac, thanks for the links. I installed the latest drivers from nVidia earlier (version 180.60) which I believe are beta, but they seem to be as stable as the one provided with the Bootcamp disk.

I am also downloading the audio driver, but man... is the download slow (13kB/s) and I'm on very fast internet speeds:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/360094806.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

EDIT:
Just got done downloading the new audio driver, installed, restarted, and the driver didn't install right using the normal install method. I was able to get it working using the "Have Disk" method. I've only heard one pop so far, which is much better than before. Thanks!

EDIT AGAIN:
Okay... sound drivers didn't fix it. I'm messing with some of my wireless networking stuff and it's popping just as bad.

[Demigod Mac]

Disable the Broadcom Wireless in the Device Manager. Should solve the audio pops. An updated driver is around somewhere but I'm not sure which it is.

[ryannazaretian]

Disable the Broadcom Wireless in the Device Manager. Should solve the audio pops. An updated driver is around somewhere but I'm not sure which it is.

Yea, I know shutting down the wireless card fixes the issue, but it is still not a fix. I'll look for a driver.

By the way, is 195F idling pretty hot in Vista? The fan wasn't even spinning up... I really think this is why I keep on freezing.

[The Flashing Fi]

Yea, I know shutting down the wireless card fixes the issue, but it is still not a fix. I'll look for a driver.

By the way, is 195F idling pretty hot in Vista? The fan wasn't even spinning up... I really think this is why I keep on freezing.

195F is pretty hot. That's 90 C, so I would say that's a reason why its overheating.

[ryannazaretian]

I think Apple wrote the driver for Vista to go off of CPU usage instead of temperature. Can anyone confirm this? Whenever it freezes, it is basically idling and normal web surfing, nothing crazy like playing a game. Now, it has never frozen while playing a game because the fan actually spins up during game play.

It appears this way, but I don't have a way to confirm this.

Any ideas?

[toebs]

I think Apple wrote the driver for Vista to go off of CPU usage instead of temperature. Can anyone confirm this? Whenever it freezes, it is basically idling and normal web surfing, nothing crazy like playing a game. Now, it has never frozen while playing a game because the fan actually spins up during game play.

It appears this way, but I don't have a way to confirm this.

Any ideas?

Mine allso only freezes when the CPU is kinda idling. Never during gaming or anything intense.
But it doesnt freeze because of temperature, nor voltage. I am sure about this

[Stridder44]

Quit whining, Apple is not the one causing the trouble. It's nVidia and their crappy drivers.


Oh yeah, of course, it's NEVER Apple's fault. That's why the keyboard backlight works so well Windows. :rolleyes:

Want some more kool-aid with that smugness?

[ryannazaretian]

If anyone has any useful or helpful tips, I'm very open to them. I've tried everything so far. Sound is still popping, this thing still gets very hot (although the fans seem to be working better and keeping it below 190F), and I'm still experiencing the random freezing, which I have not seen since Windows 98.

EDIT: I'm going to try to research the problem a bit. I need to know what version of Windows Vista everyone is using. I'm using Vista Ultimate 32bit.

[Demigod Mac]

Download SMCFanControl and set both fans on 6000 rpm (maximum). Restart into Vista (they should keep on running).
http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/smcfancontrol2/index.html

Buy a standalone miniature wire shelf at a hardware store and set the computer on top of it. 360 degrees of air flow will help keep it cool. Much cheaper than the $40 most peripheral makers charge for a laptop stand.

Somewhere on this forum people have linked to Dell and HP driver downloads for the Broadcom Wireless that supposedly fix the audio popping while allowing you to use the wireless. I'm not sure which ones to use, though.

[toebs]

If anyone has any useful or helpful tips, I'm very open to them. I've tried everything so far. Sound is still popping, this thing still gets very hot (although the fans seem to be working better and keeping it below 190F), and I'm still experiencing the random freezing, which I have not seen since Windows 98.

EDIT: I'm going to try to research the problem a bit. I need to know what version of Windows Vista everyone is using. I'm using Vista Ultimate 32bit.

Im pretty sure it has nothing to do with the windows version. I tried both XP32bit pro, Vista ultimate 32bit, and Vista Ultimate 64bit

[Demigod Mac]

Just saw this posted over at Laptopvideo2Go

http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14644&st=20

Apparently new Broadcom drivers are out (as of Nov. 21, 2008 - see the post by Guest_Broadcom). I'm not sure if these will work on a Macbook Pro or not.

Might as well try them out tomorrow, since I never use wireless on Windows anyway.

[cg165]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

Download SMCFanControl and set both fans on 6000 rpm (maximum). Restart into Vista (they should keep on running).
http://homepage.mac.com/holtmann/eidac/software/smcfancontrol2/index.html

Buy a standalone miniature wire shelf at a hardware store and set the computer on top of it. 360 degrees of air flow will help keep it cool. Much cheaper than the $40 most peripheral makers charge for a laptop stand.

Somewhere on this forum people have linked to Dell and HP driver downloads for the Broadcom Wireless that supposedly fix the audio popping while allowing you to use the wireless. I'm not sure which ones to use, though.

Does smc fan control work with the new unibody mbp's? I'll try that out if it does. I'm noticing sometimes the fans will rev up when I'm at the opening screen for a game and other times they won't kick in until I'm already in the game. Maybe this is an overheating issue due to the fans not kicking in properly. Hopefully it is because that's generally an easy fix.

[toebs]

SMC does work.
Put it to 2000 in OSX, it will stick in windows.

Install RMClock, i put a guide somewhere here in the forum. And configure it.

Im running idle at 53C* and gaming at 68-70C*

[mcbane999]

If you must run a legacy OS, have you considered XP instead of Vista? XP has far fewer driver issues and far fewer wedges and BSOD experiences.

[toebs]

If you must run a legacy OS, have you considered XP instead of Vista? XP has far fewer driver issues and far fewer wedges and BSOD experiences.

I have tried XP32, vista 32 and vista 64. All with same result. thanks thou.

[Wolfpup]

If you must run a legacy OS, have you considered XP instead of Vista? XP has far fewer driver issues and far fewer wedges and BSOD experiences.

Windows is a "Legacy OS"?

Driver issues in Vista were nailed ages ago, and it shouldn't ever BSOD under normal operation. Only time in recent memory I've had a BSOD in an NT OS was when it turned out I had a dying stick of RAM, and about twice a year I got a BSOD-until the RAM totally died. (Memtest showed a handful of errors, but I sort of ignored them.)

[SoybeanStasher]

Disable the Broadcom Wireless in the Device Manager. Should solve the audio pops. An updated driver is around somewhere but I'm not sure which it is.
You don't even have to disable the whole card. Just disable 802.11a in the Advanced Properties tab.

[ryannazaretian]

If you must run a legacy OS, have you considered XP instead of Vista? XP has far fewer driver issues and far fewer wedges and BSOD experiences.

Not with my experience with XP... I find Vista way more stable to run. I tried XP and it seems slower than Vista to me. Vista handles the GUI much better than XP. XP can get bogged down on some senseless frozen program, and Vista handles it quite nicely. No, I'm not switching to XP, besides, my university surprisingly requires Vista.

[luke1708]

has there been any solution tothis problem? my unibody mac also tends to have the sam problems. from time to time it would lag and would make a crckling noise when playing audio...

[valvehead]

has there been any solution tothis problem? my unibody mac also tends to have the sam problems. from time to time it would lag and would make a crckling noise when playing audio...
Sam isn't being very nice, is he? I think it's time for an intervention.:D

Anyway...

Some good information from Timur in these threads:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=614302
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=629209

More info here:
http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=11699#p11699
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/1961838-post3.html
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

Good luck.

[Timur]

Thanks for linking to my threads Valvehead! :D

I put some updates into the original post now including a working link to my batchfile toolkit:

Here's a small toolkit I put together that allows you to conviniently enable/disable Apple's "Boot Camp" tray application (KBDMGR.EXE) via an icon link and/or keyboard shortcut. Optionally it will switch the function of the F-Keys automatically for you depending on whether Boot Camp is loaded or not.

Furthermore it automatically turns Boot Camp's CPU priority to "Idle" and CPU affinity to CPU1 in order to turn down the bug induced DPC Latencies and prevent dropouts with Windows sounds and Media Player playback. Professional Audio users will find that only turning off Boot Camp will allow low audio latency usage. Installation instructions are included in the README.TXT for your convinience. ;)

Boot CampED - Download Page (http://www.screencast.com/t/7HhqtFZLpf)

[luke1708]

thanks for your help friends!!! so i must install the broadcom driver and timur's BootcampEd 1.1 zip? and the problem will go away? does it also clear the slight lagging which accompanied the audio crackling?? thanks again!! i was desperate as i needed windows to do programming at uni.

[Timur]

You may also need to force your graphic-card drivers into 3D mode, but try that only if you encounter more problems.

Read the following post on how to do it:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=6945145&postcount=6

[luke1708]

timur, i installed your bootcampED zip, but i'm still having problems, could you please give the download link of the boradcom drivers and the nvidia drivers? there are so many of them. i have the base unibody macbook pro

[luke1708]

Timur!!!thnks bro!! you are the man!!!! i managed to fix the problem!!!! now i need to install the nvidia software....the crackling noise is minimal!!! i no longer hear it as often and it has disappeared 99%!!! :D:D:D:D

[Timur]

My pleasure! ;)

[luke1708]

timur, now im having another problem, the laptop is freezing randomly...what's the problem?it's running cooler but why is it freezing?what do i need to install?

[Timur]

If you're running XP then you need to force down the 9600M GT into low-power 3D or 2D via Rivatuner. The NVidia driver has a bug that keeps XP from clocking down the GPU (it always runs at maximum clock and voltage).

If you're on Vista then I cannot say why it's freezing. Did you install the latest NVidia graphic and chipset drivers directly from NVidia? (chipset is nforce 730i/9300/9400)

Did you install the fan-control update from Apple (published in december as far as I remember)?

[luke1708]

nope i didnt install these...the freezing has stopped, i don't know whtat caused them. i have the default bootcamp nvidia drivers..i will update them to 185.20 from laptopvideo2go today

[Wolfpup]

You can run either Nvidia's notebook or regular drivers with no third party hacks on that system.

[valvehead]

Thanks for linking to my threads Valvehead! :D

That's least I could do to say thanks for doing all that work. I was excited when it worked for me. Finally I can use my MBP for what I bought it for: mobile recording studio. I use Cubase under OS X, but all of my other audio/video apps are Windows-only.