Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

2011 Macbook Pro Randomly crashing.

F

fantasticbobski

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 5, 2014
18
15
Hi,

Sorry but it's a mid 2010 not a 2011 macbook pro.

My Macbook has started to play up. It is a mid 2010 13 inch Macbook Pro with upgraded (2 years ago) RAM to 8gb.

The machine has started to crash .... allot. Sometimes it just goes black, sometimes white, sometimes red or blue screen.

This happened whilst on a job in Qatar so i rushed out to buy a new one so now I'm trying to fix the broken one so my wife can use it.

So far I have installed a new Crucial 240gb SSD hard drive hoping that that would solve the issue and peformed a clean install of Snow Leopard which came with the laptop. This hasn't cured the problem. the macbook is still crashing in numerous ways frequently although it is soo much faster now when it does work.

Can any experts out there pont me in the right way with a view to solving this mutli crash dilema please?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

FB

EDIT: I've also been experiencing track pad issues for the last month or so. Eratic behaviour, cursor jumping etc. Not sure if this is related.
 
Last edited:
fantasticbobski said:
Hi,

My Macbook has started to play up. It is a 2011 13 inch Macbook Pro with upgraded (2 years ago) RAM to 8gb.

The machine has started to crash .... allot. Sometimes it just goes black, sometimes white, sometimes red or blue screen.

This happened whilst on a job in Qatar so i rushed out to buy a new one so now I'm trying to fix the broken one so my wife can use it.

So far I have installed a new Crucial 240gb SSD hard drive hoping that that would solve the issue and peformed a clean install of Snow Leopard which came with the laptop. This hasn't cured the problem. the macbook is still crashing in numerous ways frequently although it is soo much faster now when it does work.

Can any experts out there pont me in the right way with a view to solving this mutli crash dilema please?

Many thanks in advance for any help.

FB
Click to expand...

Radeongate has hit your MBP.

Radeongate: The infamous GPU failure on 2011 15" and 17" MBPs with Radeon GPUs.

So many users worldwide have reported about this.

Solution: Replace the logic board.

Edit: Oops, I didn't see that it was a 13". So it's not a GPU failure.
 
Random, unexplained crashes are usually the result of faulty RAM. If that doesn't help, then there's probably a deeper underlying problem that might require replacement of the logic board.
 
saturnotaku said:
Random, unexplained crashes are usually the result of faulty RAM. If that doesn't help, then there's probably a deeper underlying problem that might require replacement of the logic board.
Click to expand...

Thanks.. I still have the old RAM that came with the laptop. I'll pop it in and see if it makes a difference.

I've dug out this picture that I forgot I took of one example of what can happen when it crashes. This was the Macbook crashing after a reboot.
 

Attachments

  • crash.JPG
    crash.JPG
    667.6 KB · Views: 2,160
fantasticbobski said:
Thanks.. I still have the old RAM that came with the laptop. I'll pop it in and see if it makes a difference.

I've dug out this picture that I forgot I took of one example of what can happen when it crashes. This was the Macbook crashing after a reboot.
Click to expand...

do you still have applecare?


that looks like logic board failure
 
heisenberg123 said:
do you still have applecare?


that looks like logic board failure
Click to expand...

No AppleCare unfortunately. It's only crashed like this twice. Mostly the screen either goes black, white, red or blue.

The logic board failing was my biggest worry. Is there a chance it could be that my RAM has gone bad?
 
fantasticbobski said:
The logic board failing was my biggest worry. Is there a chance it could be that my RAM has gone bad?
Click to expand...

There's always a chance, though I'd say it's unlikely given the picture you posted. However, replacing RAM is an easy, cheap fix. Just buy it from someplace you can return it for a refund in case that's not the problem.
 
saturnotaku said:
There's always a chance, though I'd say it's unlikely given the picture you posted. However, replacing RAM is an easy, cheap fix. Just buy it from someplace you can return it for a refund in case that's not the problem.
Click to expand...

I have the original RAM . I'll install it and keep my fingers crossed.
 
wnorris said:
I have a 2010 MBP as well and have somewhat similar issues. Take a look at the following links.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4088?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

http://www.macworld.com/article/2062783/cures-for-a-panicking-mid-2010-macbook-pro.html

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4152749?tstart=0

http://www.neowin.net/news/nvidia-driver-problems-with-lion-on-2010-macbook-pros
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for your response. All the links seem to suggest that the problem only affected the 15 & 17 inch Macbook Pros when they upgrade to Lion.

I'm having problems on a 13 inch running Mavericks. I've only run Snow Leopard and Mavericks.

And.. to add to my woes I tried running the RAM that came with the Mac to rule out the upgraded (2 years ago) RAM being faulty. Now the machine has a dead battery and when powered by the charger runs SUPER slow.

It now boots super slow. and everything is SUPER slow. I've reinstalled the upgraded RAM and it's still SUPER slow.

Also, the fan seems to be on full power as soon as I turn the thing on and stays buzzing away. I didn't used to do this?


Any ideas?
 
Barney63 said:
If the battery is dead it runs at a much lower clock speed.
You need to replace it.

Barney
Click to expand...

Is this just a coincidence or do you think it's related to my original problem?

Crashing, freezing etc.

The Macbook was in perfect health apart from the trackpad playing up a bit from time to time until two weeks ago when someone dropped their seat back onto it on a plane. It was on my tray and the seat in front crashed back into it.

The next time I tried to use the mac it was getting hot and the fan was going crazy then it started crashing.

The plane seat incident may well be unrelated and if so could the battery being on the way out be the cause of getting hot and crashing? It's doing this on mains power also?

thanks
 
Barney63 said:
If the battery is dead it still goes into limp mode.
Not sure about earlier problems, pick yourself a battery up from somewhere like ebay and try it again.

Barney
Click to expand...

Thanks again for helping.

The battery seemed to be working fine until an hour ago when I disconnected it to change the RAM. When I reconnected it the battery it seemed to be dead.

Does this sound a bit fishy or is this something which happens with a suspect battery?

Many thanks
 
Mine does the same thing (also Mid 2010), and I temporarily fixed the crashing problem by installing gfxCardstatus and running the machine on "Integrated Only" 24/7.

I'm curious though, if you go to to 'about this Mac', check out graphics, what does it give you?

Mine is supposed to be Intel HD 256MB and the GeForce GT 330, but instead when I look at this all it says is "Intel HD Graphics 288". I'm wondering if yours says something similar.
 
doctorstrange said:
Mine does the same thing (also Mid 2010), and I temporarily fixed the crashing problem by installing gfxCardstatus and running the machine on "Integrated Only" 24/7.

I'm curious though, if you go to to 'about this Mac', check out graphics, what does it give you?

Mine is supposed to be Intel HD 256MB and the GeForce GT 330, but instead when I look at this all it says is "Intel HD Graphics 288". I'm wondering if yours says something similar.
Click to expand...

Hi,

It takes ages to get to it but it says:

Chipset Model: NVIDIA GeForce 320m
Type: GPU
Bus: PCI
VRAM (total) 256 MB
 
I've bought a new battery off eBay so will report back once it's recieved and installed.

Hopefully this will cure the strange goings on. If not I'll set fire to it, stick it in a bucket and set it down the river like a vikings funeral.
 
Last edited:
fantasticbobski said:
I've bought a new battery off eBay so will report back once it's recieved and installed.

Hopefully this will cure the strange goings on. If not I'll set fire to it, stick it in a bucket and set it down the river like a vikings funeral.
Click to expand...
Make sure it is a cardboard bucket, so it is environmentally friendly :rolleyes:

Barney
 
doctorstrange said:
Mine does the same thing (also Mid 2010), and I temporarily fixed the crashing problem by installing gfxCardstatus and running the machine on "Integrated Only" 24/7.

I'm curious though, if you go to to 'about this Mac', check out graphics, what does it give you?

Mine is supposed to be Intel HD 256MB and the GeForce GT 330, but instead when I look at this all it says is "Intel HD Graphics 288". I'm wondering if yours says something similar.
Click to expand...

it doesn't . You have the 15" version with both, integrated and dedicated GPU, which has the common chipsetfailure (apple fixes this for free within 3 years of buying it), while his 13" has only a integrated 320M.

For me this looks like a RAM (<--hopefully) or logic board problem.
 
Barney63 said:
If the battery is dead it still goes into limp mode.
Not sure about earlier problems, pick yourself a battery up from somewhere like ebay and try it again.

Barney
Click to expand...

So, I bought a new battery from Amazon. Took a few days to arrive but it's installed now and there's zero difference. The battery isn't even recognised. There's still a black X in the battery/power indicator icon on the top right of the screen.

So since the initial problem I have replaced the hard drive, re-installed from the original boot disks and replaced the battery. If anything things have gotten worse. Now the MacBook won't recognise the battery, new or old, and it's running VERY slow. moving the cursor with the trackpad is painful due to lag and all the Apps are behaving like they're wading through treacle.

I've also tried using the MacBook's original RAM to check the upgraded Crucial Ram that I'm currently using wasn't faulty but no difference.

Also, the fan is running constantly. Non stop.

Any ideas?


FB
 
A quick check on Activity Monitor tells me that my CPU is being used like this:

% User 1.77
% System 87.12
% Idle 9.39

How do I work out what's using all the CPU power? I can't spot anything on Activity Monitor.
 
fantasticbobski said:
A quick check on Activity Monitor tells me that my CPU is being used like this:

% User 1.77
% System 87.12
% Idle 9.39

How do I work out what's using all the CPU power? I can't spot anything on Activity Monitor.
Click to expand...

go to the CPU tab and then click on CPU so the arrow points down. like this

It will sort all processes by how much cpu they use.
 
fantasticbobski said:
So, I bought a new battery from Amazon. Took a few days to arrive but it's installed now and there's zero difference. The battery isn't even recognised. There's still a black X in the battery/power indicator icon on the top right of the screen.

So since the initial problem I have replaced the hard drive, re-installed from the original boot disks and replaced the battery. If anything things have gotten worse. Now the MacBook won't recognise the battery, new or old, and it's running VERY slow. moving the cursor with the trackpad is painful due to lag and all the Apps are behaving like they're wading through treacle.

I've also tried using the MacBook's original RAM to check the upgraded Crucial Ram that I'm currently using wasn't faulty but no difference.

Also, the fan is running constantly. Non stop.

Any ideas?


FB
Click to expand...

Sorry, due to people confusing this with the 15" this thread is a mess!

So, you have tried so far:

- New/Original ram. Still crashes.
- New/Original HDD.
- New/Original battery (non OEM I guess?)
- Fans spinning up

The fans spinning up is probably a consequence of the battery not being detected - two things will cause the fan to spin up:
- High temperature
- Missing/Faulty temperature sensor

Given that the battery has a temp sensor - it's probably this that's causing it. Also - not having a battery connected (or detected) will throttle the CPU, hence why it's slow.

If neither battery is being detected, you should try two things:

- PRAM reset
- SMC reset

To see if the battery is detected again. If it's not, then it's going to be an MLB failure.

As for the original graphics problem - it's one of two things (for integrated graphics) - MLB or RAM. As you've replaced the ram, this is also going to be caused by the MLB.

An MLB replacement on a 13" 2010 will probably set you back about £300-350.
 
Brian Y said:
Sorry, due to people confusing this with the 15" this thread is a mess!

So, you have tried so far:

- New/Original ram. Still crashes.
- New/Original HDD.
- New/Original battery (non OEM I guess?)
- Fans spinning up

The fans spinning up is probably a consequence of the battery not being detected - two things will cause the fan to spin up:
- High temperature
- Missing/Faulty temperature sensor

Given that the battery has a temp sensor - it's probably this that's causing it. Also - not having a battery connected (or detected) will throttle the CPU, hence why it's slow.

If neither battery is being detected, you should try two things:

- PRAM reset
- SMC reset

To see if the battery is detected again. If it's not, then it's going to be an MLB failure.

As for the original graphics problem - it's one of two things (for integrated graphics) - MLB or RAM. As you've replaced the ram, this is also going to be caused by the MLB.

An MLB replacement on a 13" 2010 will probably set you back about £300-350.
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for your time & repsonse.

What's really confusing me about all this is that the issue started off with a normal funcyioning macbook apart from lots of crashing. The problem now is that the fan CPU are going mental and the battery isn't being recognised. The machine no longer crashes.

I did check in activity monitor but there aren't any processes showing unusually high CPU usage even though the monitor is saying that %87 is being used.... by something.. but nothing on the monitor.

Before it would crash if you looked at it the wrong way or moved it. Now it isn't crashing at all. It's just working VERY slowly. So slow it's un-useable. The original problem seems to have dissapeared and been replaced with a whole new set of more equally annoying problems.

I'm going to re-install everything from scratch and if that fails it's going on eBay.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back