2010 MacBook Pros i5/i7 Having Freeze issues

[mixvio]

Some vids on YouTube:

Apple MacBook Pro (late 2009) Freezing Issue PART 1

Apple MacBook Pro (late 2009) Freezing Issue PART 2​

Despite the "2009" in those examples, that is the exact freeze (20 — 30 seconds) which many users are having.

Those are my videos.

Just to clarify a couple things I showed on there, transferring a large file is not necessary to cause the freeze, but it simply an easy way to cause it. The freeze has happened to me numerous times while not touching the MBP with no applications running.

Also, there seems to be a consensus of the owners with problem 2010 models relating it to the video card switch. I cannot vouch for that, but it may be the case. On the 2009 models, the issue has 100% been pinpointed to the EFI 1.7 firmware update. If the firmware is actually the issue on the 2010 models, then simply downgrading to the previous firmware is not an option since no firmware updates have been released for that model yet. If it turns out to be the video switch between the two video chips, then it is a different issue than what I demonstrated in the videos. The reason for that is my system only has the 9400 Nvidia chip.

So far, I have not been able to get Apple to fix my system. My attempts have resulted in some of the worst customer service experiences of my lifetime though. All bad experiences took place in an Apple Store. All good experiences took place on the phone with Apple.

This freeze is not the same as mine.

While I initially thought that it was related to HD activity (the first freeze happened the day I got the MacBook Pro, while I was copying files from my old machine to the new one, then the second and third freezes happened while I was running a virtual machine in Parallels) I've had it happen since then simply browsing on Firefox and using Adium.

When the freeze happens to me, the only thing that is responsive is the mouse cursor. I can move it around, but nothing else happens-- I have iStat, which shows various graphs related to CPU/disk activity/network activity, and these all freeze in place. A literal freeze, like the computer has crashed. The Dock doesn't show or hide, none of the icons react by mousing over, there isn't even a beachball, just a normal mouse cursor. The computer itself seemingly continues to run, because file transfers continue while the screen is locked up and I'm not disconnected from Adium, but for exactly (exactly, I've timed it every time save the first freeze) ten minutes, the graphics lock up and the computer is unresponsive. After ten minutes everything clicks back to normal as if nothing went wrong.

I also haven't been able to reproduce the issue on command ever, whether copying large files back and forth or anything else. It happens at random as far as I can tell, but there's no crash files or console reports to narrow the problem down.

That said, about a week or so ago I reinstalled OS X because I wanted to add a Boot Camp partition, and I haven't had a lock up since then. I'm thinking it's probably dumb luck rather than any fix, but so far the system has been fine.

Has anyone had this lockup on MacBook Pros in Windows? If it's a hardware issue, I would expect that sort of glitch to happen in Windows as well. If it's simply a driver issue in OS X then it might not.

 

[Tom71]

So I finally called Apple Support. They were quite helpful. Of course only after I told them I'm not formatting my system and wait for the error to come back and similar solutions.

I spoke to a senior called Matthew and he had a look at the crash logs and he said most likely something wrong with the graphics card. He asked me to run that Apple Hardware Test but that one simply, err, froze on me So I'm trying to run it again when I have time and report back. If it freezes again then at least we know there's really a hardware fault here.

He said they'd be happily replacing whatever is broken. It's just of course a pita to go thru this.

Don't wanna jump to conclusions here or start a hill fire but doesn't look like my problems are driver (=software) based. To say the least.

 

[mixvio]

Apple Hardware Test

How does one run this?

 

[dr4g0n]

But I don't think this is related to the problem others are reporting. I would get your GPU checked out.

Well the end result is the same, I have pixel corruption on screen, everything locks, but my mouse is still responsive. Maybe the glitch is a bonus I don't want to go through service with my mbp. Im waiting for a supposed solution from apple. If this doesn't help, Im gonna go for exchange and not repair. The saddest part is, if this was hardware, then I should see the same symptoms on Bootcamp Windows. But I can play for hours in GTA/AC II/Just Cause and it didn't crash even one single time. Although playing full screen Flash was another story, but it happened only 2 times so far. So WTF is wrong?!

 

[Blue Sun]

This is really interesting.

I have experienced 1 freeze, and that was well over a month ago (a few days after the new MBP's launched).

For me however, everything was locked, but the mouse cursor was not moving at all.

I closed the lid, waited for it to sleep, then opened it again and everything was back to normal. I'm thinking my problem might be completely different.

I have the 15" 2.4GHz i5 MBP.

 

[mixvio]

Well the end result is the same, I have pixel corruption on screen, everything locks, but my mouse is still responsive. Maybe the glitch is a bonus I don't want to go through service with my mbp. Im waiting for a supposed solution from apple. If this doesn't help, Im gonna go for exchange and not repair. The saddest part is, if this was hardware, then I should see the same symptoms on Bootcamp Windows. But I can play for hours in GTA/AC II/Just Cause and it didn't crash even one single time. Although playing full screen Flash was another story, but it happened only 2 times so far. So WTF is wrong?!

Well, like I said, there is no pixel corruption related to the freeze that 99% of people are reporting in this thread or the discussion on the official forums.

Pixel corruption however is a common indicator of a bad GPU. It can still be "freezing" without you having the same issue that everyone else is. If your GPU is dying, Apple's not going to fix it with software updates.

 

[deadwulfe]

How does one run this?

I think you just hold the D key when booting up.

 

[lightworker]

This freeze is not the same as mine.

While I initially thought that it was related to HD activity (the first freeze happened the day I got the MacBook Pro, while I was copying files from my old machine to the new one, then the second and third freezes happened while I was running a virtual machine in Parallels) I've had it happen since then simply browsing on Firefox and using Adium.

When the freeze happens to me, the only thing that is responsive is the mouse cursor. I can move it around, but nothing else happens-- I have iStat, which shows various graphs related to CPU/disk activity/network activity, and these all freeze in place. A literal freeze, like the computer has crashed. The Dock doesn't show or hide, none of the icons react by mousing over, there isn't even a beachball, just a normal mouse cursor. The computer itself seemingly continues to run, because file transfers continue while the screen is locked up and I'm not disconnected from Adium, but for exactly (exactly, I've timed it every time save the first freeze) ten minutes, the graphics lock up and the computer is unresponsive. After ten minutes everything clicks back to normal as if nothing went wrong.

I also haven't been able to reproduce the issue on command ever, whether copying large files back and forth or anything else. It happens at random as far as I can tell, but there's no crash files or console reports to narrow the problem down.

That said, about a week or so ago I reinstalled OS X because I wanted to add a Boot Camp partition, and I haven't had a lock up since then. I'm thinking it's probably dumb luck rather than any fix, but so far the system has been fine.

Has anyone had this lockup on MacBook Pros in Windows? If it's a hardware issue, I would expect that sort of glitch to happen in Windows as well. If it's simply a driver issue in OS X then it might not.

That's exactly the same kind I got too.
I hope that my new 17" have no problems...

So, let's start to say "all MBP problem" now? Or not yet? I'm pattient, I can wait... lol.

Oh and, why not to think about an incredible "wait(600000);" in the very middle of the code in some kernel threads? Don't know why, but I think that maybe on BIOS or maybe on OSX there's a "magical newbie programmer debugging code line" with somethin' like the one posted... :\
Sad thing it's that seems to be more like BIOS, cause problems reported on Windows too. And sad thing too, it's that in case of newbie programmer error, we will never know it... hahaha.
Just wait for the fix, and if it's like "Fixed and patched some core buffer to prevail memory overflowing on graphics auto-switching", be sure that it's somethin' like "wait(600000);" in the middle of the code! Never forget! Muahahahaha.
When somethin' goes brong, and the error time it's always the same in portion 10, 15, 30 minutes, and always the same time, and there's no error log or somethin' that indicates clear error motive, then it becomes always the same thing: source code stupidity! ALWAYS! If anytime gets fixed, and fix description it's like the one said, we will always remember this generation as the "wait(600000); 2010 MBPs". hahahahahahaha!
Just think about it! The auto-switching GPU it's a "new technology", somethin' writted from "0". It was not present on the 09 gen. So it's pretty possible to be a debug line on some routines, like the "printf("HI I'M IN!");" cheaters that we programmers use as philosofal stones! And the only way to control a thread, it's to make it sleep! So you can see it on internal process cue!
It really sounds to me like a "sleep(600000);" on the new auto-switching GPU routines. And of course, sleeping without any reason some threads could cause kernel panics, in a "random mode".

600000 miliseconds = 10 minutes.

Anyway I think it sounds like a hw prob... And I prefer it! Cause if it's a line code forgetting... well, better to not to speak.


Starting to pray for a non-lemon one this time!

 

[Q-Q]

So I finally called Apple Support. They were quite helpful. Of course only after I told them I'm not formatting my system and wait for the error to come back and similar solutions.

I spoke to a senior called Matthew and he had a look at the crash logs and he said most likely something wrong with the graphics card. He asked me to run that Apple Hardware Test but that one simply, err, froze on me So I'm trying to run it again when I have time and report back. If it freezes again then at least we know there's really a hardware fault here.

He said they'd be happily replacing whatever is broken. It's just of course a pita to go thru this.

Don't wanna jump to conclusions here or start a hill fire but doesn't look like my problems are driver (=software) based. To say the least.

I read these forums, and many others across the internet, and I can add to the list by saying that I am having this exact same lockup issue.

Question: Has anyone reported this as a bug?

https://bugreport.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/RadarWeb.woa/wa/signIn

Login with your Apple ID and then report the problem, be sure to mention this thread in this forum.

I ask this of you to do it now before you forget.

I called Apple on this problem, told the escalation engineer of this problem and this forum thread, and he told me:

1. Tech Support *NEVER* reads these forums.

2. I should report this as a bug at the link I provided above, if I wanted an actual programmer to look into the issue.

3. Worldwide problems with Apple products are considered secret until a fix is available, and so he had no information on this problem.

4. That even senior Apple tech support do not have any knowledge of any beta patches, etc.

5. That this Core i7 lockup problem was NOT in his database because not enough people had reported it.

That means, please report this issue to the bug reporting tool link in my message so Apple programmer actually find out about this bug and fix it!!!!

Thanks...

 

[leburton]

Yep - hardware problems

Hey! Another user here with exactly the same experience!

My MBP i5 2.4GHz has frozen 5-6 times during the initial 2 weeks. Today after taking it to Genius Bar, they couldn't boot it on their drive using Firewire OR usb. They even removed the regular hard drive but got the same results.

I'm leaning toward logic board problem.

I don't think that there is a test that they can run. I took mine to the Genius Bar and they couldn't even get it to boot from their "known good" OS drive, so they immediately tagged it as needing replacement. Given that both machines were the same config and both were migrated from the same old MBP, I have to believe this is a hardware issue.

 

[dr4g0n]

If your GPU is dying, Apple's not going to fix it with software updates.

Yeah, I know. But then why it isn't dying while using Windows (playing games for hours sure does stress the GPU more than running Parallels or Safari or Google Earth). I've had also the VLC audio goes on, but video doesn't problem, freezing without gfx glitches, freeze with screen corruption AFTER quitting Portal (played it for 3 hours - no glitch during gameplay). So for now I just don't know wtf is wrong with my mbp. And I don't know if getting a new one would eliminate those problems.

 

[fighterfire]

Hey! Another user here with exactly the same experience!

My MBP i5 2.4GHz has frozen 5-6 times during the initial 2 weeks. Today after taking it to Genius Bar, they couldn't boot it on their drive using Firewire OR usb. They even removed the regular hard drive but got the same results.

I'm leaning toward logic board problem.

If they were trying to boot any version earlier than 10.6.3 then it won't boot. When I was at the Genius bar for another problem they did not yet have 10.6.3 on their Lacie Drives yet and had to find a 10.6.3 DVD.

 

[Tom71]

Last night I let the hardware test run but it ran for straight 7:42 hours (press L for looping) without dying on me. I then figured it didn't die on me the first time but it was just responding slowly.

So back to #1. I'll call support again today.

PS: Everytime I looked at the hardware test it said "testing memory". Granted memory tests take their time but I've never seen it saying testing anything else than memory.

 

[Tom71]

Yeah, I know. But then why it isn't dying while using Windows (playing games for hours sure does stress the GPU more than running Parallels or Safari or Google Earth). I've had also the VLC audio goes on, but video doesn't problem, freezing without gfx glitches, freeze with screen corruption AFTER quitting Portal (played it for 3 hours - no glitch during gameplay). So for now I just don't know wtf is wrong with my mbp. And I don't know if getting a new one would eliminate those problems.

Heaven knows It can be anything. Under windows it might not come up because windows doesn't know about the Intel gfx chipset. Even I do have the lockups in clamshell mode, it can still be related to Apple's graphics switching solution.

 

[kpn81]

Just finished reading the 12 pages in this thread, because I was thinking of shelling out around 2k for an MBP so I had to do a little bit of research first.

I was thinking of getting a 15 inch i7 MBP but from reading this thread and the one on Apple support that this seems to be a widespread issue, I'm going to have to passed up on it until the issue is addressed or look for another alternative.

 

[jamesmerize]

Just finished reading the 12 pages in this thread, because I was thinking of shelling out around 2k for an MBP so I had to do a little bit of research first.

I was thinking of getting a 15 inch i7 MBP but from reading this thread and the one on Apple support that this seems to be a widespread issue, I'm going to have to passed up on it until the issue is addressed or look for another alternative.

I am having the exact same thoughts and worries over this - it is more than just a "few" people as some have said - everyday I read the support forums on Apple and various sites and daily you can find someone who purchased an i5/i7 MBP within 2 days that has similar freezing issues constantly. Scary thought, I suppose we should just opt for the new 13" C2D model and maybe see what happens when its resolved next year. Yeup, I think they'll fix the issue when they update the CPU again next summer lol.

 

[Jarcrew]

Well I ordered one and even though it says it ships in 3 days, it's not scheduled to arrive for two weeks. Makes me wonder if there's been a hardware shuffle or something.

Meh, if it freezes I'll send it back or get a replacement. No biggie.

 

[jamesmerize]

Well I ordered one and even though it says it ships in 3 days, it's not scheduled to arrive for two weeks. Makes me wonder if there's been a hardware shuffle or something.

Meh, if it freezes I'll send it back or get a replacement. No biggie.

Hmm, you make me want to get the 15" again. . .when is your scheduled delivery date? I think the latest I can order is June 07 unless I buy one in store...Also, do you think you can post back in this thread to make sure it's runnin smooth?
Thanks.

 

[shadygrove]

My computer is still running like a champ :knock on wood: My computer has froze just a single time since I got it about a month ago. I think mine was due to software. (Nothing like described in this thread with minimum 8 hours of hard work for 6 days week plus all the personal use.)

I hope everyone gets their machine's worked out. But to those that are considering by a MBP, there is a warranty and a 14 day grace period. But I and along with many others have perfectly working machines. I don't think is even close to the majority of the machines, so there is still hope to receive a good machine.

 

[Tom71]

My hunch is that it's a price that early adopters paid. I've got one of the very first ones, have seen these revision updates from others that were a few versions up mine. So I think (knocking on wood) that the problem will unlikely affect people who buy now.

 

[Pavia]

My MacBook Pro just froze again, for the second time.

This time it was in windows, when I ran Call of Duty MW2 (for the first time).
The only difference was, when I turned down and up the volume, it would "lag" out the sound, or it would be delayed.

What are you guys doing about this problem?

 

[pamppa]

I'v had 4 freezes now, I cant do anything when it happens, cant move the mouse and all the keys are unresponsive. I can only reboot the machine or wait about 10 - 30 minutes for it to wake up. Also if i trye to close the lid and the machine wont go to sleep. I dont think its CPU / GPU related sence when it has happend. i have been just doing light stuff like surfing with firefox.

I also noticed that the everything I type or do while it's in the coma state gets "buffered" to the memory (or atleast some of it) so when the machine decides to wake up from coma i can see stuff happening on the screen. I also ran the apple hardware test (the long one) few days ago and i got an error code:

4SNS/1/400000000:Tm0P-60.875

But when tryed to run the hardware test agen the error code was gone.
so maby it was just some wierd hiccup. Oh yea.. and iv also got the "loose backets" issue making irritating sounds... So thats my two cents

Otherwise I'm satisfied with my fist mac.
Specs: 17" / i5 / Matte / 4gb / HD 5400rpm

 

[jrlcopy]

No issues on my macbook pro i7, have had it for a couple weeks now, moving 1TB of footage everyday with no problem.

 

[Jdh2425]

I received my i5 2.53 15" 2 days ago and have experienced one lock up so far.

Everything froze, keyboard, mouse and I had to turn it off using the power button.

I'm crossing my fingers that it won't be a regular occurrence.

edit, i have the 500gb 7,200 HDD

 

[ankst]

I've had my 15" 2.4GHz i5 Hi-Res/Antiglare MBP for about 2 weeks. So far, no problems at all.