2011 MacBook Pro Freezing under load

lithast · Mar 19, 2011

Hi guys, long time reader.

Received a new 15" 2.2/6750M MBP last week and have been having some issues with the machine locking up under load.

For example if I boot up a VM using Fusion the temperature will spike up above 90 degrees and the machine will lock up most of the time. The machine appears locked (cannot move the mouse at all and keyboard is unresponsive). I can SSH into the machine still and it still is running however. This is one example but it will freeze under a number of circumstances where the CPU/GPU load is very high (rendering, DJ Software, compiling so far in my travels).

The following post on the Apple support forums seems to be able to reproduce a freeze on all 2011 MBP's with discreet graphics chipsets:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13219904#13219904

Several people in that support thread have reported that they have returned their MBP with these issues only to receive a new one that also freezes in the same manner. I am reluctant to return this one if I am going to just get another one with the same issue, as I suspect this may be a flaw in all of them that is caused by a driver / firmware issue.

This issue has been reported on a number of other forums that I have seen and I was wondering if anybody here with a new MBP has experienced similar issues.

YsoSerious · Mar 19, 2011

Nice link. I think I'm gonna try some of the suggestions posted on there. I haven't had it lock up on me yet, but the biggest app I use is adobe cs4. Thanks for the heads up.

iMacDragon · Mar 19, 2011

Most speculation is this is a graphics driver or power management issue under current OS X release, as under windows it seems table under same circumstances, for me at least. So hopefully it will be fixed..

lithast · Mar 19, 2011

iMacDragon said:
Most speculation is this is a graphics driver or power management issue under current OS X release, as under windows it seems table under same circumstances, for me at least. So hopefully it will be fixed..

Some more info from the support forum:

"I spoke twice with Apple, on the 3rd day (this Tue) and yesterday. The first conversation got me on a list with "that kind of issue", the man asked me to describe what i'm experiencing and told me to wait for some further info or an update. Yesterday they told me that the issue is known as it's been stated in some internal article of them. He told me there are lots of machines affected and they consider this a priority issue, on which they have an engineering team working. The other interesting thing he said is that they are sure that this IS an firmware/driver related problem, not a hardware one, which raised my hope up a bit."

Guess I'll wait it out for a driver update.

sammcj · Mar 19, 2011

Also happening to me on 2011 MBP 15'' 2.2

Also happening to me.
FFS this is REALLY annoying, I can't convert any video or play any graphics intensive games...

I've tried disabling card switching and it doesn't make a difference.

cmaier · Mar 19, 2011

Happening to me on my 17" 2011 too.

Looking forward to a fix. I'll call Apple tomorrow just in case.

Whitelightning · Mar 19, 2011

lithast said:
Hi guys, long time reader.

Received a new 15" 2.2/6750M MBP last week and have been having some issues with the machine locking up under load.

For example if I boot up a VM using Fusion the temperature will spike up above 90 degrees and the machine will lock up most of the time. The machine appears locked (cannot move the mouse at all and keyboard is unresponsive). I can SSH into the machine still and it still is running however. This is one example but it will freeze under a number of circumstances where the CPU/GPU load is very high (rendering, DJ Software, compiling so far in my travels).

The following post on the Apple support forums seems to be able to reproduce a freeze on all 2011 MBP's with discreet graphics chipsets:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=13219904#13219904

Several people in that support thread have reported that they have returned their MBP with these issues only to receive a new one that also freezes in the same manner. I am reluctant to return this one if I am going to just get another one with the same issue, as I suspect this may be a flaw in all of them that is caused by a driver / firmware issue.

This issue has been reported on a number of other forums that I have seen and I was wondering if anybody here with a new MBP has experienced similar issues.

Has the freezing required you to force shutdown before?

shelhed217 · Mar 19, 2011

I've now been through 3 15 inch mbp's and all 3 had this issue. Today was the first time someone in the retail store acknowledged this was a known issue. Apple phone support has been working with me for about a week, they have not stated what the issue is to me and when asked directly yesterday if this was driver or firmware related would neither confirm nor deny. I returned the last one for good. My 2010 is just fine for now.

nebulos · Mar 20, 2011

nihilisticmonk · Mar 20, 2011

Some people are saying it's istat menu pro & the fan control stuff.

I had one screen lockup on mine. It seems like it's definitely drivers, because as others have stated, you can still SSH into the machine, so it's not dead/kernel panic.

Also note when it happens and you re-boot, you don't get a "your mac crashed" message like you would with a kernel panic or a system freeze.

I'm guessing most people savvy enough to use this/apples discussion forum are exactly the type of geek (like me) that'd have istat installed as well.

I've just ditched it, had one crash today converting some video into AIC with iMovie, will see how it goes.

Windows, no issues, played mafia 2 for hours last night.

Had the MBP for around a week.

Zeus86 · Mar 20, 2011

My 13" i5 freezes when I wake it from sleep. The beach ball will spin for 10-20 seconds. Hopefully a firmware update is on the way. Calling Apple seems to do nothing and exchanging it just seems like a hassle so I just wait for the update. This does not happen all the time but when it does happen it's extremely annoying.

binary10 · Mar 20, 2011

I've had at least 4 freezes since getting my i7 2.3 15" AG-2011 last weekend.

First type: seems like a graphics freeze, I could still ssh in to the unit and a remote file transfer in from another laptop was still processing.

Second type: has been a complete hardware freeze - was running two VM's (VMware and VirtualBox).

Both need me to hold the power button down.

Watching the thread on the apple support forum closely.

psound · Mar 20, 2011

Starting to wonder if there are any new Macbook Pros that aren't dysfunctional.

daneoni · Mar 20, 2011

I have none of these issues. Except the LED cinema display one. Running yes > dev null, VMWare, Handbrake...fully maxing out the CPU and my computer has never blinked.

*shrug*

Kanthony · Mar 20, 2011

I'm having the same issues. Anytime I open some large graphics files 500mb+ in PS or AI and start to edit using various filters and plugins, I hear the fans kick on, and then I get beachballs when I try to save. When I have a large project in Maya or C4d that is pretty intensive, it won't allow me to save and the app usually ends with it freezing. I'm pretty upset as I bought this machine as a workhorse, and everytime I use it for a project at work or for personal use, it freezes, or I get beachballs when I try to save whatever I'm working on. I can work on small files fine, but as soon as I'm working with large files that are more intensive on the cpu, the machine starts to act up. I was about to reinstall osx and cs5 and all my apps a moment ago, but I saw this thread, and seeing that other people have had this issue makes me think it might be a firmware issue. For the longest time I thought it was an issue with my apps (since I used Migration Assistant to install all of them from my older MBP) and maybe if I started clean by installing each one individually on a fresh osx install, that the problems would be fixed, but now I think this is a problem with Apple.

VTMac · Mar 20, 2011

daneoni said:
I have none of these issues. Except the LED cinema display one. Running yes > dev null, VMWare, Handbrake...fully maxing out the CPU and my computer has never blinked.

*shrug*

I doubt you can compile boost via macports while phitobooth is open. Everyone like yourself who claims not to have this problem has replicated it doing this. Anyway if your typical workload doesn't trigger it it's the same as not having it for you. Which is very fortunate. I have no doubt it's some combination of firmware and drivers. Apple will have a patch out soon I'm sure. Might even be why 10.6.7 still hasn't been released.

randomrazr · Mar 20, 2011

shelhed217 said:
I've now been through 3 15 inch mbp's and all 3 had this issue. Today was the first time someone in the retail store acknowledged this was a known issue. Apple phone support has been working with me for about a week, they have not stated what the issue is to me and when asked directly yesterday if this was driver or firmware related would neither confirm nor deny. I returned the last one for good. My 2010 is just fine for now.

the pple store replaced your macbook 3 times?!?! lol

i bought my 15 macbook pro and there were a few scuff marks ont he far right side of the lid. u can only see it in bright light. would u bother taking it back for a replacment because of tat?

my concern was the replacement might have another stupid issue, cause other than that, my current one is flawless lol

lithast · Mar 20, 2011

Whitelightning said:
Has the freezing required you to force shutdown before?

Yep, every time. Unless you have another box handy to ssh and shut it down with.

Mix · Mar 20, 2011

Ive had around 15 freezes in the last week. around 6 of them happened in an hour when working with protools and an external drive removed it and it seemed to solve the problem. Just had one now when I was on chatroulette. The mouse still works but the computer is unresponsive. I dont want to go down to the apple store as for some reason they always think that people just want a new computer and I had so much hassle with them when I asked for my enter key to be replaced as it came with a massive scratch on. I also need it for uni so not sure whats going on with it.

Kanthony · Mar 20, 2011

http://mbp-freeze.wikispaces.com/

That site was just created to help the frustrated community of owners with these problems by documenting and detailing the freezing problems, and hopefully by apple creating a fix.

Mix · Mar 20, 2011

Kanthony said:
http://mbp-freeze.wikispaces.com/

That site was just created to help the frustrated community of owners with these problems by documenting and detailing the freezing problems, and hopefully by apple creating a fix.

Thanks

axu539 · Mar 20, 2011

This is very interesting. Someone I know told me about this issue earlier today, and I found the Apple discussion thread. The only intensive thing I do is Handbrake (lots of it), hitting temps as high as 95 C, but never have I experienced a freeze/crash yet. Handbrake does switch into the discrete graphics too. I also have iStat Menus installed.

cmaier · Mar 20, 2011

axu539 said:
This is very interesting. Someone I know told me about this issue earlier today, and I found the Apple discussion thread. The only intensive thing I do is Handbrake (lots of it), hitting temps as high as 95 C, but never have I experienced a freeze/crash yet. Handbrake does switch into the discrete graphics too. I also have iStat Menus installed.

I've had a couple lock-ups doing handbrake. One think I've noticed is they seem to happen around or during times I switch Spaces. A couple of times it froze up in mid-switch.

mike2732 · Mar 20, 2011

lithast said:
Some more info from the support forum:

"I spoke twice with Apple, on the 3rd day (this Tue) and yesterday. The first conversation got me on a list with "that kind of issue", the man asked me to describe what i'm experiencing and told me to wait for some further info or an update. Yesterday they told me that the issue is known as it's been stated in some internal article of them. He told me there are lots of machines affected and they consider this a priority issue, on which they have an engineering team working. The other interesting thing he said is that they are sure that this IS an firmware/driver related problem, not a hardware one, which raised my hope up a bit."

Guess I'll wait it out for a driver update.

w00000000t

is all i have to say. Go Apple GO!

ryanmcv · Mar 20, 2011

My MBP has locked up twice while using Handbrake. It has also happened while I've been encoding in iMovie and while using Parallels. I have the 2011 15" 2.0GHz i7 MBP. I really hope Apple discovers a fix soon.

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