Windows 7 x64 Freezing on Macbook Pro

[itisme1760]

I have a Macbook Pro as indicated in my sig and also have it running via Boot Camp Windows 7 RC1 x64. Now, every few minutes, when I am surfing on Firefox, the thing seems to just freeze without a BSOD or anything, and requires me to hold the power button down to restart it. It does this every 5 - 10 minutes, and it is very fustrating. Anyone know why this happens? It only seems to happen in Firefox, but it has happened much less frequently while doing other things on Windows 7.

[mustangfan18]

I don't know about your problem, but I do have one of my own that I can't find an answer to... How do you put the windows 7 .iso download on a DVD to install it in boot camp? I know, it'll probably be something really dumbly easy...

[Grothdmal]

Hey,

I have an issue very similar to what you are describing.
The only difference is that mine only goes lockup-sans BSOD whenever I play Oblivion.
Of course my system is also more powerful than yours, so maybe it needs a more demanding program to bring about the crash?
Mine also does it between 5-15 minutes.

I have no idea what it could be, I'm also awaiting a solution.

[Grothdmal]

I don't know about your problem, but I do have one of my own that I can't find an answer to... How do you put the windows 7 .iso download on a DVD to install it in boot camp? I know, it'll probably be something really dumbly easy...

Use disk utility. Insert the blank DVD, open Disk Utility (just search it in spotlight, top right corner), select the drive where the disk is, click "Burn" at the top, and find the iso on your hard drive.
When prompted, select the slowest possible burn speed (usually 4x or 2x) because this gives a more stable burn.
And yes, disk utility works with dmg's, iso's and pretty much every disk image format out there.

[mustangfan18]

Use disk utility. Insert the blank DVD, open Disk Utility (just search it in spotlight, top right corner), select the drive where the disk is, click "Burn" at the top, and find the iso on your hard drive.
When prompted, select the slowest possible burn speed (usually 4x or 2x) because this gives a more stable burn.
And yes, disk utility works with dmg's, iso's and pretty much every disk image format out there.

Thanks! I had been thinking that that would be it, but I wasn't quite sure. Thanks again!

[itisme1760]

Other people have this problem.

http://www.windowsbbs.com/windows-7/80425-windows-7-freezes-unknown-reason.html

and

http://www.w7forums.com/windows-7-freezes-t114.html

[tastychicken]

i am also having the same issue as you but with 32bit when i'm browsing the web on firefox on my 2.53 15.4" Unibody MBP. It happens randomly and it's been pretty inconsistent. In my action center, it tells me i need to update my nvidia chipset which i did but it still shows up. Anybody else found a fix?

[tastychicken]

i just found this article.

http://blog.animosity.co.za/?p=27

Hopefully this helps someone.

[cokedrinker]

i just found this article.

http://blog.animosity.co.za/?p=27

Hopefully this helps someone.

Nice find tasty chicken!! I had a thread on here 7 months ago and none of us found a solution http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=602126

I have therefore been using the MBP without the display drivers :/

HOPEFULLY this works!!!

[tastychicken]

Nice find tasty chicken!! I had a thread on here 7 months ago and none of us found a solution http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=602126

I have therefore been using the MBP without the display drivers :/

HOPEFULLY this works!!!

I just reformated my machine and installed windows 7 x64 and followed the steps in the link and my machine is pretty stable so far. I haven't had any freezes. Good luck to you!

[coolbreeze]

I have the exact same issue with freezing (Windws 7 64).

I'm just going to put Vista 64 on and wait on a real solution.

Very frustrating...

[toebs]

I just reformated my machine and installed windows 7 x64 and followed the steps in the link and my machine is pretty stable so far. I haven't had any freezes. Good luck to you!

So still stabel?

[peskaa]

Just had this happen with Safari on an MBP running Windows 7 64bit RC.

[Dexter v House]

i just found this article.

http://blog.animosity.co.za/?p=27

Hopefully this helps someone.

I'm also getting this issue now, on Windows7 (RC).
Had been ultra stable for the last 6 months but suddenly 2 freeze-ups within 20 mins.
Funny thing is it happened both times when I was using Firefox.

That link no longer seems to work though. Can anyone tell me what the jist of the solution was ? Would be most grateful.

[ryannazaretian]

I'm actually glad that people are starting to have this problem...

Let me first make assumptions that everyone with this problem has a Unibody MacBook Pro running the 9600MGT.

Let me also make the assumption that everyone with this problem either ran XP in Bootcamp before, or never ran Windows at all.

Here's the story as I can fully understand it. To let everyone know, this problem has been around for about a year now, and Apple hasn't done jack squat about it. Trust me, it pisses me off to no end.

Basically, there is either a bug in the Nvidia driver, or a problem with the chipset in the Unibody MacBook Pro's. I'm leaning more towards the chipset since it's not widespread for all laptops with the 9600M GT in them.

The driver will reduce the clock rate while in Vista or 7 to save power, and allow the computer to stay cooler. Why waste energy anyway? Well, when it does this, it puts the GPU in an unstable state, meaning that basically anything can disrupt it and cause the computer to freeze. Most people with the issue have noticed this while in Firefox when they try to scroll. Usually this happens when the laptop is in an idle, or near idle state (aka on Firefox, Word, etc...) Anything that is not really taxing the CPU and GPU that much.
Play games? The laptop will last all day long. Read email on Firefox? Yea, it will randomly freeze.

So, there is no real fix for the issue. A member here on MR has found a way to keep this from happening though.

Download Rivatuner (http://downloads.guru3d.com/) and follow these instructions (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7379947&postcount=12).

The reason why I'm glad this is happening is so it might get a little more attention. Apple has known about this issue since December I know. I called them nearly every day because I could not use my brand new $2500 (At the time) to program with for one of my classes because it would randomly freeze. I really hope to see more and more people complain about this as they get off the XP wagon and move on with Windows 7.

Also, the reason why XP doesn't have this issue is that the Nvidia driver for XP has a bug that keeps the GPU in High Performance 3D mode.

Read this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=704274) for more, very useful, information.

[Dexter v House]

I'm actually glad that people are starting to have this problem...

Let me first make assumptions that everyone with this problem has a Unibody MacBook Pro running the 9600MGT.

Let me also make the assumption that everyone with this problem either ran XP in Bootcamp before, or never ran Windows at all.

Here's the story as I can fully understand it. To let everyone know, this problem has been around for about a year now, and Apple hasn't done jack squat about it. Trust me, it pisses me off to no end.

Basically, there is either a bug in the Nvidia driver, or a problem with the chipset in the Unibody MacBook Pro's. I'm leaning more towards the chipset since it's not widespread for all laptops with the 9600M GT in them.

The driver will reduce the clock rate while in Vista or 7 to save power, and allow the computer to stay cooler. Why waste energy anyway? Well, when it does this, it puts the GPU in an unstable state, meaning that basically anything can disrupt it and cause the computer to freeze. Most people with the issue have noticed this while in Firefox when they try to scroll. Usually this happens when the laptop is in an idle, or near idle state (aka on Firefox, Word, etc...) Anything that is not really taxing the CPU and GPU that much.
Play games? The laptop will last all day long. Read email on Firefox? Yea, it will randomly freeze.

So, there is no real fix for the issue. A member here on MR has found a way to keep this from happening though.

Download Rivatuner (http://downloads.guru3d.com/) and follow these instructions (http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7379947&postcount=12).

The reason why I'm glad this is happening is so it might get a little more attention. Apple has known about this issue since December I know. I called them nearly every day because I could not use my brand new $2500 (At the time) to program with for one of my classes because it would randomly freeze. I really hope to see more and more people complain about this as they get off the XP wagon and move on with Windows 7.

Also, the reason why XP doesn't have this issue is that the Nvidia driver for XP has a bug that keeps the GPU in High Performance 3D mode.

Read this thread (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=704274) for more, very useful, information.

Thanks for all the info. Very useful to know.
It's strange why I'm experiencing the lock-up with Firefox only, after many months of trouble free use (was using Safari on Windows7 with no problems). And if I understood, the combination of using Firefox AND trackpad scrolling increases the likelyhood of freezing? Have I got that straight? It corresponds to my experience, anyway.

Before I attempt any of the fixes though, I'm going to see if using a usb/BT mouse changes anything :o It's unlikely I know.

[Laithe]

Hey guys. I know this thread is a bit old but I thought I'd join up and post a reply for anyone else who has this problem (Windows 7 64 freezing on a mac macbook pro). I was having it myself, and I found a solution that worked for me.

I went to http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us to download drivers. The one that comes with bootcamp is old, but Windows 7 says it is the most up-to-date driver and won't find an update. But if you go to nvidia's website, you can manually find one yourself. Search the GeForce 9M series, for Windows 7 64-bit. It comes up with the one driver that works for the GeForce 9600M GT that comes with MacBook Pros as of this post (Jan 2010).

So, download it, install it, and bam. Windows 7 running with no problems. I've had the update for 2 days, and been running Windows 7 constantly. I'm currently writing this in FireFox as well. No freezes, no problems. I hope this works for other people if they have this problem as well!

[tonylinde]

I went to http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us to download drivers. The one that comes with bootcamp is old, but Windows 7 says it is the most up-to-date driver and won't find an update. But if you go to nvidia's website, you can manually find one yourself. Search the GeForce 9M series, for Windows 7 64-bit. It comes up with the one driver that works for the GeForce 9600M GT that comes with MacBook Pros as of this post (Jan 2010).

So, download it, install it, and bam. Windows 7 running with no problems. I've had the update for 2 days, and been running Windows 7 constantly. I'm currently writing this in FireFox as well. No freezes, no problems. I hope this works for other people if they have this problem as well!

I did this when installing Win7 x64 but still got the freeze. Anyone got more recent ideas?

I've just done http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7379947&postcount=12 as well - let's see if that works.

[scubapup]

in my case it was a nagging issue for over a year

i bought my unibody macbook pro 17 in april 2009

started with vista 32 and it would freeze unexpectedly

upgraded to windows 7 64 and still getting unexpected freeze

currently on windows 7 64 with latest bootcamp 3.1, was still freezing

i then changed the start type of windows defender from automatic delayed start to just automatic

no more freezing issues

also bootcamp 3.1 also seemed to make the fan run more reliably

hope this helps others with the same problem

[ryannazaretian]

This isn't going to sound good... but my Airport card died a few months ago and I had to get my MBP sent in for repair. While there, they found a few other problems and replaced the logic board.

No problems since then. Hasn't froze one time. I'm no longer running the hacks. Bootcamp 3.1 update also fixed a few things like the DPC latency problems.

The bad part is that Apple won't take in a machine just because it is freezing in Windows. It's not Apple's problem (but it really is), it's Microsoft's problem (but it really isn't).

[tonylinde]

i then changed the start type of windows defender from automatic delayed start to just automatic

I'll give it a go. Thanks for the suggestion.

T.

[scubapup]

I'll give it a go. Thanks for the suggestion.

T.

hey tony, did it work for you?

[tonylinde]

hey tony, did it work for you?

All *is* working now but I applied so many changes that I'm not sure which worked, nor what they all were - sorry!

t.

[jajohns8]

I have experienced this issue 2 times while using my new i7 15" MBP.

I installed Win 7 64 bit through bootcamp. Used the drivers off the included mac install disk after installing windows.

The first time it froze was during dome development work in a code editor, the second time was while surfing the web in firefox.

Would be nice to at least test fresh nvidia drivers, but the latest ones from nvidia's site will not install. I get an error message when trying to install saying:
"The Nvidia Setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware. Setup will now exit."

Note: I have tried downloading Rivatuner, but I don't have the customize option down in the drivers section.

[elppa]

I had this issue from time to time (it was a while back when I needed to use Windows for something specific). I uninstalled the bootcamp Nvidia drivers and downloaded the latest from the Nvidia website and it's been fine.

I'm on a 15" Unibody with the 9600M as well.

[deckardd]

The new driver didn't solve the problem for me. Any more ideas guys?

[deckardd]

Really happy to have found this post, as the "rivatuner" suggestion fixed it once and for all.