At least one of my lockups did not occur under heavy load, but during a basic real-world situation that happened to slightly tax the dedicated GPU and send the fans spinning (surfing the web, using Word 2011, playing a 3D game at the same time). This is alarming, because I don't want to have to walk on egg shells when I'm using this computer.
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2011 MacBook Pro Freezing under load
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At least one of my lockups did not occur under heavy load, but during a basic real-world situation that happened to slightly tax the dedicated GPU and send the fans spinning (surfing the web, using Word 2011, playing a 3D game at the same time). This is alarming, because I don't want to have to walk on egg shells when I'm using this computer.
Could you guys try to reproduce this?
If you have gfxCardStatus, Set it to Intel graphics.
Using google chrome (extend the window to take up the whole screen), go to their webGL demo at
http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/webgl-aquarium/?f=webgl
Set the fish count to 1000, wait for 1 min.
Please Note: Your Macbook could freeze completely, so save any opened documents!
On my macbook Pro 2011 2.2Ghz hiRes the issue is reproducible every time after about 30 sec using Intel GPU. I have not tried ATI graphics yet.
If you have gfxCardStatus, Set it to Intel graphics.
Using google chrome (extend the window to take up the whole screen), go to their webGL demo at
http://www.chromeexperiments.com/detail/webgl-aquarium/?f=webgl
Set the fish count to 1000, wait for 1 min.
Please Note: Your Macbook could freeze completely, so save any opened documents!
On my macbook Pro 2011 2.2Ghz hiRes the issue is reproducible every time after about 30 sec using Intel GPU. I have not tried ATI graphics yet.
Thats new. Have not heard of a report that involves the Intel GPU up to this point.
I'd be real interested if somebody using a 13" 2011 MBP could give this a shot.
chiming in with a 2011 17" 2.3 with 8g and a 512SSD. no crashes as all, running Eve Online and CAD production applications in bootcamp, sketchup, pshop, and illustrator in osx. Have not done any video work yet, but will try handbrake to see if that will cause it to crash.
I HAVE had the issue where win7 is shutting down, but will all of a sudden spike up the fan speed to max and freeze. This happened on occasion on my older 2006 mbp with a 2.33 C2D (ATI card in that too). Thought the computer was shutting down and walked away for a few hours, only to come back to a Joe Foreman Grill made by Apple.
I HAVE had the issue where win7 is shutting down, but will all of a sudden spike up the fan speed to max and freeze. This happened on occasion on my older 2006 mbp with a 2.33 C2D (ATI card in that too). Thought the computer was shutting down and walked away for a few hours, only to come back to a Joe Foreman Grill made by Apple.
I have the same problem with my new 13". Don't actually see the beachball though. Just mouse won't move, nothing at all happens for about 30 seconds, and then it's normal. Seems random. Actually exchanged my first one after multiple reloads and other attempts to fix it. New one does the same thing though, so I know it wasn't unique to the first one or any software I transfered. Thought it might be network related, but happens with airport turned off. Definitely frustrates.
I just did a test with my Mac Pro (early 2009) and Macbook Pro (2011).
I started a RAW to JPEG batch conversion with Lightroom and played
a 1080p .MOV file with the VLC player.
The Mac Pro didn't have any problems with it.
The Macbook Pro (2,2Ghz, 8GB RAM) couldn't handle it...during playback the
video froze every couple of seconds.
That can't be right, can it?
I started a RAW to JPEG batch conversion with Lightroom and played
a 1080p .MOV file with the VLC player.
The Mac Pro didn't have any problems with it.
The Macbook Pro (2,2Ghz, 8GB RAM) couldn't handle it...during playback the
video froze every couple of seconds.
That can't be right, can it?
Yes, First it crashed on D after a few minutes. Then I tried it on Intel and it crashed in 15 seconds. Sound and background stuff was still working. The temps were never high and the CPU was only about 50% on that crash. So now we have both GPU's crashing with the same exact symptoms. No kernel attack, just a frozen out GPU. That changes the ballgame as the power drawn was much lower. Hopefully it is a software firmware issue.
I also have a 17" 2009 Macbook Pro and that one has never had any issues. My 15" 2007? Had the dead video problem and Apple gave me a 100% refund after 2 years.
It's my 2011 that is giving me problems. Only after you guys pointed them out to me!!! Now I have a lemon. Mine has 8gigs and a 256GB SSD in it. Soon to be Vertex 3 SSD.
I have tried this test on firefox RC 4 and found that my macbook did not freeze when running the demo. Both browsers support hardware acceleration. I hope it freezes due to the way Chrome addresses the CPU/GPU and that it can be fixed with a firmware update. However, it cannot be ruled out that this issue will occur with FF at some point.
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How the heck did Apple miss the GPU crashing? Any Apps that tax the system seem to do it. Just running the cpu up on the terminal does it. I haven't even tried a 3d Game yet. Will that crash it to?
I can make it lock up about once every 3rd or 4th time I try the yes>/dev/null test, and the one time I tried the boost compile test. I may have played WoW for 2-2.5 hours at a time 4x since I got my new MBP. The first time, it locked up on me twice. Since then it has not locked up.
Gaming yes, rendering no
I'm running a 17" 2.3GHz MBP
I've experienced crashing on several occasions in Left 4 Dead 2 (maybe 6 total) and only once with Starcraft 2 but never with handbrake, FCP or After Effects CS5.
I now make sure I have SMC Fan Control turned to max before I start a game or render and it keeps the internals from rising above 150º-170º which seem to be well within its standard operating ranges. The fans are loud as all get out but the machine hasn't been locking up since.
I'm running a 17" 2.3GHz MBP
I've experienced crashing on several occasions in Left 4 Dead 2 (maybe 6 total) and only once with Starcraft 2 but never with handbrake, FCP or After Effects CS5.
I now make sure I have SMC Fan Control turned to max before I start a game or render and it keeps the internals from rising above 150º-170º which seem to be well within its standard operating ranges. The fans are loud as all get out but the machine hasn't been locking up since.
Okay, built boost with PhotoBooth running. Was also doing some browsing, playing music, and downloading Xcode 4. Anyway, no issues here yet.
(The ^C is from when I moved to a better network.)
The boost issue is only happening on 2.2 and 2.3 from what I've seen.
Two things:
1.) You did not run the test under integrated graphics. Attempting to do so results in the following message:
...because Intel 3000 graphics do not support WebGL. So no, all of your experiments were run under the discrete graphics, whether you realized it or not.
2.) I was able to reproduce a crash using this fish experiment. Soft freeze (mouse movement) followed by a hard freeze (with music still running in the background) But only once. I restarted and tried again. Left it and all the same apps that were open when it crashed on and let it go on for 10 minutes. No crash. Not even a flinch.
The worst part about issues like these is that sometimes they're just not consistently reproducible. I have every single app that was open during the crash open right now. It won't crash.
These lockups/freezes don't happen only during a heavy load.
My 15" 2.2 i7 freezes whenever it uses AMD gpu, no other conditions needed. Just like that.
I use the gfxCardStatus tool and work with Integrated Only option and it works 100% right 100% of the time, no issues here.
When I use Dynamic Switching or Discrete only - it is an instant freeze and nothing can help it then but a hard reset
In my case also Windows 7 installed via boot camp assistant is affected, leaving the gpu driver not usable and crashing the video all the time
I bet on firmware/driver issue and hope for a working fix
My 15" 2.2 i7 freezes whenever it uses AMD gpu, no other conditions needed. Just like that.
I use the gfxCardStatus tool and work with Integrated Only option and it works 100% right 100% of the time, no issues here.
When I use Dynamic Switching or Discrete only - it is an instant freeze and nothing can help it then but a hard reset
In my case also Windows 7 installed via boot camp assistant is affected, leaving the gpu driver not usable and crashing the video all the time
I bet on firmware/driver issue and hope for a working fix
Two things:
1.) You did not run the test under integrated graphics. Attempting to do so results in the following message:
...because Intel 3000 graphics do not support WebGL. So no, all of your experiments were run under the discrete graphics, whether you realized it or not.
2.) I was able to reproduce a crash using this fish experiment. Soft freeze (mouse movement) followed by a hard freeze (with music still running in the background) But only once. I restarted and tried again. Left it and all the same apps that were open when it crashed on and let it go on for 10 minutes. No crash. Not even a flinch.
The worst part about issues like these is that sometimes they're just not consistently reproducible. I have every single app that was open during the crash open right now. It won't crash.
Sorry but you're incorrect. I ran my 2011 Macbook Pro 17" in both Graphics modes and I used google Chrome with WebGL support, I and D. Surprisingly the Intel was twice as fast in the Frame rate but Crashes in just a few seconds. The Discrete 6750 runs half as fast but took longer to crash. Both GPU's crashed the same way with audio in the background and the CPU not really locked up. Had to reboot.
Two things:
1.) You did not run the test under integrated graphics. Attempting to do so results in the following message:
...because Intel 3000 graphics do not support WebGL. So no, all of your experiments were run under the discrete graphics, whether you realized it or not.
2.) I was able to reproduce a crash using this fish experiment. Soft freeze (mouse movement) followed by a hard freeze (with music still running in the background) But only once. I restarted and tried again. Left it and all the same apps that were open when it crashed on and let it go on for 10 minutes. No crash. Not even a flinch.
The worst part about issues like these is that sometimes they're just not consistently reproducible. I have every single app that was open during the crash open right now. It won't crash.
I did not see the error you are referring to. I also saw the drop in framerate when switching from i to d (shouldn't the framerate increase?) which is a strong indication for switching. Please note that Safari does not currently support WebGL which might explain the error.
I had all apps closed, I hope this helps to localise the issue
edit: it's possible that I'm not seeing the test under the Intel graphics because I'm using a developer build of Chrome. Not sure, but it's possible.
edit2: indeed, the issue was my developer copy of Chrome. Regular Chrome runs the test properly. apologies for the confusion.
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Way to panic. There is no reason to assume that.
I'm holding off on buying a 2011 until this problem is solved.
I bought a MBP 15" i7 2011 2 weeks ago and am disappointed with the performance.
Sorry no technical details as I am a fairly light user but I often get the spinning beach ball while using Finder and iTunes. Time machine is sometimes the only process I can see running backing up to a time capsule using WiFi.
I have had 1 experience of screen corruption waking from sleep and have had to reboot on a couple of occasions to reset an app from not functioning correctly. Handbrake 64 is much quicker than on my old macbook and has not crashed .
The overall performance is nothing like the reviews have said and, so far, I was happier with my 4 year old white macbook.
Sorry no technical details as I am a fairly light user but I often get the spinning beach ball while using Finder and iTunes. Time machine is sometimes the only process I can see running backing up to a time capsule using WiFi.
I have had 1 experience of screen corruption waking from sleep and have had to reboot on a couple of occasions to reset an app from not functioning correctly. Handbrake 64 is much quicker than on my old macbook and has not crashed .
The overall performance is nothing like the reviews have said and, so far, I was happier with my 4 year old white macbook.