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problems with the NVIDIA GEFORCE 9600M GT!

M

macluke

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2008
7
0
Hi,
I've a new MBP 15". The laptop is very cool but in these day I've noticed some problem with the graphic card. When I use the 9400M everything is well. But, when I switch to the 9600M GT a lots of problem occured:
1) when I try to catch a screenshoot (using cmd + Shift + 3) my system freeze for 1 minute (I can move the mouse, but I cannot do anything else); with the 9400M the screenshoot appear in 1-2 seconds!

Sometimes also these problems occurs:

2) the system freeze for 20 second after using mail I'm trying to open from the dock the icon of documents folder
3) the system freeze for 20 second after using mozilla I'm trying to switch to others application in the dock
4) the system freeze for 20-30 seconds before go to sleep during the standy-by mode (closing the display and not turning off the system)

But these kinds of problems occurs rarely, at most twice during the entire day (and I cannot reproduce the situation). The screenshoot problem occurs ever.

I've tried to do the test with the DVD-ROM (using d at boot) but no problem was found! I've update the system and used the utility disk (I also used Main Menu to cleanup the trouble).

Anyone has the problems? As I said the problems are only with the 9600M GT. Could be a driver problem or hardware failure?

Thanks
 
M

Macbook noob

macrumors newbie
Sep 24, 2008
29
0
i just took a screen shot with my macbook pro(late 2008) with the 9600m GT 512 internal memory card and it worked perfect. It sounds like a hardware defect, i would take it to the apple store and get it fixed under warranty.
 
M

macluke

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2008
7
0
Macbook noob said:
i just took a screen shot with my macbook pro(late 2008) with the 9600m GT 512 internal memory card and it worked perfect. It sounds like a hardware defect, i would take it to the apple store and get it fixed under warranty.
Click to expand...

just a question: did you take the screenshot using the battery or the powerline? cause my system freeze just when I took the screenshot using the battery.
 
M

macluke

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2008
7
0
This morning I called the Apple technical support and they confirmed to me that Apple knows the problem with the new MBP 15". In particular the problem is using the NVIDIA GEFORCE 9600M GT and the battery. The performances of the system suddenly decreases. They said that the most of the new mbp 15" has this problem (if you want to try simply take a screenshot using the 9600 and the battery). I hope that apply will fix soon the problem.
 
J

JayKay321

macrumors member
Nov 7, 2008
34
0
macluke said:
This morning I called the Apple technical support and they confirmed to me that Apple knows the problem with the new MBP 15". In particular the problem is using the NVIDIA GEFORCE 9600M GT and the battery. The performances of the system suddenly decreases. They said that the most of the new mbp 15" has this problem (if you want to try simply take a screenshot using the 9600 and the battery). I hope that apply will fix soon the problem.
Click to expand...

Yup, I can confirm that my system freezes as well. Tried taking a screen shot on 9600 using battery power.

Did they say they would be issuing a firmware fix in the future?

Not knowing much about macs, is this more likely to be a hardware or software issue????
 
M

macluke

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 15, 2008
7
0
JayKay321 said:
Yup, I can confirm that my system freezes as well. Tried taking a screen shot on 9600 using battery power.

Did they say they would be issuing a firmware fix in the future?

Not knowing much about macs, is this more likely to be a hardware or software issue????
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I don't know. I hope in a firmware fix. Someone has more info or a solution?

Please, everyone that has this problem, contact the Apple technical support (by e-mai or better by phone). They must known that everyone has this problem.
 
supremedesigner

supremedesigner

macrumors 65816
Dec 9, 2005
1,071
907
macluke said:
Hi,
I've a new MBP 15". The laptop is very cool but in these day I've noticed some problem with the graphic card. When I use the 9400M everything is well. But, when I switch to the 9600M GT a lots of problem occured:
1) when I try to catch a screenshoot (using cmd + Shift + 3) my system freeze for 1 minute (I can move the mouse, but I cannot do anything else); with the 9400M the screenshoot appear in 1-2 seconds!

Sometimes also these problems occurs:

2) the system freeze for 20 second after using mail I'm trying to open from the dock the icon of documents folder
3) the system freeze for 20 second after using mozilla I'm trying to switch to others application in the dock
4) the system freeze for 20-30 seconds before go to sleep during the standy-by mode (closing the display and not turning off the system)

But these kinds of problems occurs rarely, at most twice during the entire day (and I cannot reproduce the situation). The screenshoot problem occurs ever.

I've tried to do the test with the DVD-ROM (using d at boot) but no problem was found! I've update the system and used the utility disk (I also used Main Menu to cleanup the trouble).

Anyone has the problems? As I said the problems are only with the 9600M GT. Could be a driver problem or hardware failure?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I am having exactly the same problem on my 15" MBP (with 2.8 GHz and 250GB of HD @ 7,200RPM)

macluke said:
just a question: did you take the screenshot using the battery or the powerline? cause my system freeze just when I took the screenshot using the battery.
Click to expand...

9600
Battery: It freeze when you take a snapshot
Powerline: Does not freeze when you take a snapshot

9400
Battery: Does not freeze when you take a snapshot
Powerline: Does not freeze when you take a snapshot

I think it might be software issues, hopefully. It better not be hardware issue! How can you inform to Apple?
 
kastenbrust

kastenbrust

macrumors 68030
Dec 26, 2008
2,890
0
North Korea
You need to get your graphics card replaced. This requires a whole logic board replacement which costs $600 but is free if you have Applecare or Warranty.
 
C

CaffeMacchiato

macrumors member
Nov 10, 2008
66
3
macluke said:
Hi,
I've a new MBP 15". The laptop is very cool but in these day I've noticed some problem with the graphic card. When I use the 9400M everything is well. But, when I switch to the 9600M GT a lots of problem occured:
1) when I try to catch a screenshoot (using cmd + Shift + 3) my system freeze for 1 minute (I can move the mouse, but I cannot do anything else); with the 9400M the screenshoot appear in 1-2 seconds!

Sometimes also these problems occurs:

2) the system freeze for 20 second after using mail I'm trying to open from the dock the icon of documents folder
3) the system freeze for 20 second after using mozilla I'm trying to switch to others application in the dock
4) the system freeze for 20-30 seconds before go to sleep during the standy-by mode (closing the display and not turning off the system)

But these kinds of problems occurs rarely, at most twice during the entire day (and I cannot reproduce the situation). The screenshoot problem occurs ever.

I've tried to do the test with the DVD-ROM (using d at boot) but no problem was found! I've update the system and used the utility disk (I also used Main Menu to cleanup the trouble).

Anyone has the problems? As I said the problems are only with the 9600M GT. Could be a driver problem or hardware failure?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I have the MenuMeters installed on my mbp.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17713
You could monitor the cpu usage, hard disk read/write activity, memory, network etc.

One could easily tell if the machine is in trouble or operating nicely.
 
J

jaxn

macrumors newbie
Jun 16, 2008
7
0
kastenbrust said:
You need to get your graphics card replaced. This requires a whole logic board replacement which costs $600 but is free if you have Applecare or Warranty.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about this? On the Unibody MBP the 9600M GT is a secondary graphics card and not the integrated card. I would assume this means the 9600M GT is mini PCI (or something) and not connected to the logic board.
 
L

lordthistle

macrumors 6502
Feb 29, 2008
420
9
Italy
kastenbrust said:
You need to get your graphics card replaced. This requires a whole logic board replacement which costs $600 but is free if you have Applecare or Warranty.
Click to expand...

Why do you think it is hardware?

Also my 2.4GHz Unibody MBP has this problem: it freezes when I take screenshot using 9600 on battery power.

I can add this. While it was frozen, I plugged the power cord and the MBP became responsive. The screenshot was saved on the desktop and everything worked fine...

Everything BUT the Dock. The Dock was completely frozen. I was not even able to restart: the Dock prevented that from happening. I had to shutdown via a hard reset.

I think it is software. The graphics driver for the unibody are quite lousy.

thistle
 
supremedesigner

supremedesigner

macrumors 65816
Dec 9, 2005
1,071
907
I hope they improved the graphic driver especially between Apple and Nvidia. I'm sure and I hope they will send the newest update via Apple Software update!
 
M

MVApple

macrumors 6502a
Jul 18, 2008
527
1
I can confirm that I have this problem as well. I don't plan on using the MBP with the 9600gt on battery power though so it's not a big deal to me. I've been playing games under windows with the 9600gt and I've had no problem so I imagine the hardware itself is fine.

Personally, I don't have any need for the 9600gt except for games which I do under windows anyways.
 
R

RKpro

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2008
467
1
I dont have problems with the 9400, except then I use my eternal monitor. It Flicks on/off a few times an hour, as if it looses signal for a second. When I'm on the 9600m, it works perfectly, but it doesn't want to go to sleep, turns off the monitor, and freezes/crashes.
 
MacFever

MacFever

macrumors 6502
Feb 1, 2007
250
35
why am I not surprised to read about these Nvidia problems.

anyway, it sounds to me that it's a voltage issue. If the video card works fine with the power cord and fails on the battery then...it points to voltage drain issue. It's drawing too much power and starving the other components, processor etc.



I've seen this before on windows laptops and it usually requires replacment of the motherboard if the video card is soldered which it is in most cases.
 
D

duykur

macrumors regular
Jan 20, 2008
101
0
applgeek said:
Some of the 9600's are faulty, and it sounds like yours is one of them. You should probably have that looked at by apple.
Click to expand...

this is a lie

it has not been confirmed by any official source that there is a fault in the 9600m gt's.
 
G

garyd9

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2008
59
0
Pittsburgh, PA area
duykur said:
this is a lie
Click to expand...
I wouldn't go so far as to say that its a "lie." I'm 100% confident that there are faulty 9600's out there - even if its not a fault in the chip design, just the volume of chips produced is going to have a rare fault...

Regardless of that, I'm having the same issues with my MBP when using the 9600 on battery. After speaking with Applecare, resetting the pram/smc, running a permissions and disk verify - the problem still exists.

The latest instructions where to reinstall the OS with "archive and install" option - and if that didn't work to try and completely clean install of the OS.

I skipped the 'archive and install', as I happen to have multiple HDD's around, so put a fresh one in and did a clean install of 10.5.5... and the problem still exists. This is with all the latest firmware updates, but only the base OS.

Next step is to install all the OS updates and try again...
 
G

garyd9

macrumors member
Jul 30, 2008
59
0
Pittsburgh, PA area
More info on this... After calling back and getting disconnected (x3), I finally got through to someone with a clue who ended up having to forward me to someone else with more of a clue. ;) At this point, they were at a loss as I had performed all the troubleshooting steps...

He asked me to go into system profiler, and send a report from there to apple... he then emailed a "capture" program to me and had me run the program while I repeated the problem. This generated a disk image which he asked me to send back to him...

Apparently, this is being forwarded to the engineers that actually get to deal with the confirmed issues, and I should be hearing something back in "3-5 business days."

Oh, and I don't get a T-Shirt that says "I found an iBug". :mad:
 
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