The "20-25 sec. spinning beachball and continue as if nothing happened afterwards" issue.
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2010 MacBook Pros i5/i7 Having Freeze issues
- Thread starter Photios
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Five weeks on, absolutely no problems - except for one Firefox crash. No freezing.
Best laptop I've ever had.
Best laptop I've ever had.
I had freezes when using iPhoto, which steadily got worse. I thought it was just from plugging my well worn iPhone in. However looking in Console and the kernel log showed disk i/o errors.
I was able to web surf and look at mails, but itunes was out. Might not be the same errors as everyone is having, but it's worth a look in the log to see if you can see any instances of your HD trashing itself
Trip back to the Apple store and they swapped the whole machine.
HD in the old one was a Hitachi, now I'm on a Seagate, so fingers crossed.
I was able to web surf and look at mails, but itunes was out. Might not be the same errors as everyone is having, but it's worth a look in the log to see if you can see any instances of your HD trashing itself
Trip back to the Apple store and they swapped the whole machine.
HD in the old one was a Hitachi, now I'm on a Seagate, so fingers crossed.
Today I received a message from my Apple Reseller about my MBP's status:
"...it appears to be a defect SATA controller in the Northbridge...".
So, it actually IS a hardware problem.
In your case, it would appear so. But they'll replace the logic board and that should be that. Even if it turns out NOT to be the SATA card, a logic board replacement should fix whatever's ailing your mac as long as it's not the hard drive causing the freezes.
Again, not all MBPs are doing this, so there's a good chance a logic board replacement will solve your problem.
Still going strong with mine, no freezes or issues. I've been traveling for the past week and so this has been my only computer. On-battery and off-battery it's been working reliably.
Hey guys, I just registered on here to hop on this thread, I think I'm having a similar issue. I have a 15" i7 CTO (7200 RPM Seagate and Hi res glossy display), ordered May 7. The thing was working flawlessly until last night. My girlfriend was playing Fallout 3 via Bootcamp Windows 7, but when I rebooted into OS X, Finder began to hang, spinning beach ball of death. So I relaunch finder. Not 2 seconds later, hangs again. And this keeps going and going until I get frustrated and power the computer down manually. When I power it on again, I get the grey screen with the Apple logo and spinning wheel, but with an additional loading bar on the bottom. I let it finish, and it just randomly shut down. That's no good, so I popped in my Snow Leopard disc and ran disk utility and repaired the disk (it couldn't recognize how much free space I had on it or anything, it showed up grey). After that, the computer was able to boot. Seems that something had trashed my filesystem. Now it's working fine, I'm not having issues. BUT, running a memtest indicates that both sticks of RAM are bad. That just doesn't seem right... Anyone else run a memtest and get something different?
Today I received a message from my Apple Reseller about my MBP's status:
"...it appears to be a defect[ive] SATA controller in the Northbridge...".
So, it actually IS a hardware problem
Hey StEvEnGtR, thanks for that report. It's the first one I've seen with such specific info from a source close to Apple. The problem description you gave is exactly the same issue which many others (including myself) are having.
So I guess you'll be getting a replacement machine at no cost, or are they going to do free surgery on the one you have? Either way, I think I'll wait a month or so before heading to the Genius Bar... to be sure all bad parts are flushed from the supply chain, and all assembly technicians get more experience installing (and testing) the item properly.
Yeah, it's going to be a fix and it should cost me nothing (still under warranty).
However, they told me the replacement is going to take some more time
for they don't have the part (they need) in stock. This means I'll be waiting
even longer for my MBP to return AND I still don't know IF it'll be fixed when
I get it.
However, they told me the replacement is going to take some more time
for they don't have the part (they need) in stock. This means I'll be waiting
even longer for my MBP to return AND I still don't know IF it'll be fixed when
I get it.
I have a question for experienced Mac Users. I am a first time Mac User and switched from my PC to Mac. So I experienced some freezes in iphoto and yesterday some while transfering Videos. But all those freezes happend while my external PC Harddisk was plugged in during I transfered files to the Mac. So far when I used my Macbook Pro i7 without the PC Harddisk plugged in I had absolutely no freezes. As I am not going to use my external PC Harddisk anymore after I transfered all files I think my macbook pro should be fine. Or do you think my macbook pro has a problem? Can it happen that you experience freezes with PC stuff? I am not using Bootcamp but maybe once I want to. So could under Windows happen the same thing with the freezes? So should I return my mac or just let it be?
I have the same problems on my MBP Core I7, it freezes at least 10 times a day, especially watching movies or using messenger. I reinstalled OS because it was worse before:
- freezed every 10 minutes
- Itunes never worked, I opened it and as soon as I clicked anywhere it quits
- Messenger didnt work properly (couldnt see emotions, display pictures and status)
- Quicktime didnt work at all
After reinstalling OS all these problems were fixed except for the freezing part, I also get the beachball during freezing and it lasts for like 30 sec on random applications and I can never watch movies because it freezes every 3 min...
And the harddisk is spinning really loud, I can hear it all the time, sometimes I even hear a kind of scratchy sound. It is slower than my last MBP (Core2duo, 2.66 GHz), adobe apps start up really slow and the MPB itself starts up quite slow. And it gets really really hot (I cant even touch it because Ill burn my fingers) even in light use. Do more people have these problems?
Should I just go back to the store and replace it? I bought it 29th of april in Tokyo because it was a lot cheaper but now Im back in the Netherlands...The warranty is worldwide isnt it?
Or just wait for the update??
Thnx
- freezed every 10 minutes
- Itunes never worked, I opened it and as soon as I clicked anywhere it quits
- Messenger didnt work properly (couldnt see emotions, display pictures and status)
- Quicktime didnt work at all
After reinstalling OS all these problems were fixed except for the freezing part, I also get the beachball during freezing and it lasts for like 30 sec on random applications and I can never watch movies because it freezes every 3 min...
And the harddisk is spinning really loud, I can hear it all the time, sometimes I even hear a kind of scratchy sound. It is slower than my last MBP (Core2duo, 2.66 GHz), adobe apps start up really slow and the MPB itself starts up quite slow. And it gets really really hot (I cant even touch it because Ill burn my fingers) even in light use. Do more people have these problems?
Should I just go back to the store and replace it? I bought it 29th of april in Tokyo because it was a lot cheaper but now Im back in the Netherlands...The warranty is worldwide isnt it?
Or just wait for the update??
Thnx
You should definitely take it to an Apple Store at some point (i.e., within the warranty period). It doesn't sound as if a firmware update will be enough to fix this particular condition. I found frequent freezes (as in more than 10 a day) way too annoying however. So —between disabling the Sudden Motion Sensor and turning off the Automatic Graphic Switching —my ("30-second") freezes have gone down to 1 or 2 per day. I can tolerate that for a few more weeks (maybe).
Frankly, given the noises you mentioned (plus being slower than your previous C2D), i probably would take it in sooner if i were you. Also: my Core i7 MBP runs cool as a cucumber, and you're feeling heat??? Take it back. [edit: call first and make an appointment.]
I can confirm after weeks of testing that turning off the automatic graphic switching fixed the freezing issues. (At least for me)
Yes, I have Windows 7 64-bit installed via Bootcamp, but I don't think it's got anything to do with the freezes. In my case (and some others) I really think it's a hardware issue.
I did have pretty much the same issues with mine (15' i5). After installing Win 7 over Bootcamp, it constantly froze and had Kernel Panics. I took it to an Apple Store to confirm the problems, then had a new one shipped to me (it was BTO). None of the problems on the new one.
And yes, the warranty is world wide.
I was going to open a new thread just right now for this exactly problem!
I was programming just few minutes ago with xCode, and suddenly everthing freezed.
I just could move the mouse and seems that energy save worked too, cause screen was turrning off when passed a minute. Bluetooth worked too, cause I switched off the magic mouse and when I turned on again, after a few seconds started to work again.
But nothing more was responding. No keyboard, no clicks, no window moving...
so no terminal to kill or no cmd+opt+esc to force close...
After nearly 10 minutes, everything happend in a eye blink! Everithing on the same time, everithing I've done while freezed. PIM PAAAM PUM!
And then, started to work normally...
So what the **** is this?
11th of this month, it's the last day to return (14 magic days).
This machine gives me no more trust. One time = more times for shure.
So, what we do?
HOLY ****!
I've had this happen, but nobody replied to my thread so I thought it was an isolated incident:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/903119/
Not for me.
At first I thought it was limited to just me doing stuff in Parallels, but it happened after a fresh reinstall of OSX when I wasn't doing anything more heavy duty than writing an email.
I didn't have Windows installed, no Boot Camp partition, just the one OSX one.
In my case, it has nothing to do with the trackpad or mouse freezing. Those aren't frozen at all, and it's just the screen that's stuck.
13 inch affected too?
I was looking forward to buying my first MacBook Pro until I found this thread. It seems though that the problem is pretty much the graphics card on i5/i7 machines?
I did see someone complaining that the 13" MBP freezes as well, but most of the problems seem to be with the 15 & 17" machines judging from this thread.
Is it correct to assume that the 13" (Core2Duo) is largely not affected by this major flaw in the graphics card? Or is it just the case that the majority of people here have 15/17" machines and thus fewer people are complaining about the 13"?
I wanted to buy the 15" but will settle for 13" if it is more reliable.
I was looking forward to buying my first MacBook Pro until I found this thread. It seems though that the problem is pretty much the graphics card on i5/i7 machines?
I did see someone complaining that the 13" MBP freezes as well, but most of the problems seem to be with the 15 & 17" machines judging from this thread.
Is it correct to assume that the 13" (Core2Duo) is largely not affected by this major flaw in the graphics card? Or is it just the case that the majority of people here have 15/17" machines and thus fewer people are complaining about the 13"?
I wanted to buy the 15" but will settle for 13" if it is more reliable.
From what I have seen it's mainly the i7 that's effected. I posted a thread on gearslutz.com and no one has said they've been experiencing it there at all.
http://www.gearspace.com/board/music-computers/492545-your-2010-mbp-freezing.html
I was also told by someone that a fix should be possible through a software / firmware update... whenever that may be. Anyway, I went ahead an order an i5... I'll see how it goes and report if I experience anything bad. I can't sell my 2007 MBP until I'm sure the new one is running 100% anyway.
http://www.gearspace.com/board/music-computers/492545-your-2010-mbp-freezing.html
I was also told by someone that a fix should be possible through a software / firmware update... whenever that may be. Anyway, I went ahead an order an i5... I'll see how it goes and report if I experience anything bad. I can't sell my 2007 MBP until I'm sure the new one is running 100% anyway.
I don't know for sure it's the GPU.
At any rate I would hardly call my experience debilitating. It's annoying for sure, but I've had it happen maybe five or six times in the month I've had the laptop. (At least, that I've seen. It could be happening while I'm asleep and don't notice it, I guess.)
It only locks up for ten minutes, then it's back to normal again.
If you prefer the 15'', I'd get the 15''. The machine's great in my opinion.