Sadly, I think this update just downclocks the MacBook Pro GPU in order to maintain greater 'stability.' After the update, my OpenGL Extensions Viewer benchmark dropped by about 200fps across the board (OGL 1.x and 2.x tests).
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Addresses Video Freeze Issue on Mid-2010 15-Inch MacBook Pro
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
vitzr
macrumors 68030
Your test is very revealing. It's as though Apple took the easy way out. Perhaps due the fact they just wanted to patch it & get back to what is rapidly becoming their highest priority, iOS.
It would be nice to see them fix the iMac soon...I bought Lion the day it came out and have been using Snow Leopard ever since...
replacement MacBook Pro
I also took my 2010 MacBook Pro (main work computer) to the Genius Bar twice and was without it for a week each time. Both times they had to replace the logic board.
I went back to the Genius Bar (exactly one week ago from today) to pick it up after it had been "fixed". Naturally, the first thing I tried doing was move the mouse cursor around, which was frozen on the screen. The Apple support person said to just do a soft reset. We did that and the MacBook booted and the mouse was working again, until 5 seconds later when it got the BSOD! I'm glad it happened in the store. I stressed a little frustration that I was just without it at work for another week and that I was tired of shuffling computers at work. They told me to come back in 45 minutes and they'd have a new MacBook Pro for me.
Guess I REALLY lucked out since just a week later they introduced a fix.
I also took my 2010 MacBook Pro (main work computer) to the Genius Bar twice and was without it for a week each time. Both times they had to replace the logic board.
I went back to the Genius Bar (exactly one week ago from today) to pick it up after it had been "fixed". Naturally, the first thing I tried doing was move the mouse cursor around, which was frozen on the screen. The Apple support person said to just do a soft reset. We did that and the MacBook booted and the mouse was working again, until 5 seconds later when it got the BSOD! I'm glad it happened in the store. I stressed a little frustration that I was just without it at work for another week and that I was tired of shuffling computers at work. They told me to come back in 45 minutes and they'd have a new MacBook Pro for me.
Guess I REALLY lucked out since just a week later they introduced a fix.
kockgunner
macrumors 68000
I got my laptop repaired 5 times for random reasons before they gave me my current 2010 MBP. I really thought the unibodies wouldn't have these problems though.
Awesome. That must have been pretty annoying.
Now how about that ongoing flickering issue? Hopefully they can fix that soon as well. The problem has returned for me after 10.7.2. Super lame.
Now how about that ongoing flickering issue? Hopefully they can fix that soon as well. The problem has returned for me after 10.7.2. Super lame.
Mr. Retrofire
macrumors 603
Mr_Brightside_@
macrumors 601
frozencarbonite
macrumors 6502
didn't fix mine
I really thought this would fix mine. Nope. Didn't. I've had this problem for a while now even on snow leopard mainly while using Photoshop. This sucks bad.
I really thought this would fix mine. Nope. Didn't. I've had this problem for a while now even on snow leopard mainly while using Photoshop. This sucks bad.
Never had this problem before. Today I fired Doom3 up again hooken up to my 1080p Monitor. The screen went black for 2-3 seconds then came back, then again black and so on until it became unplayable. I thought to myself, well I have a TM backup so I just as well may let the chip burn if it's overheating then take the MBP to Apple.
After 3 Minutes of switching on and off the fans finally cranked up to full speed and the problem was gone. I kept on playing for 30 minutes without any probs...
For me this update clearly screwed things up
After 3 Minutes of switching on and off the fans finally cranked up to full speed and the problem was gone. I kept on playing for 30 minutes without any probs...
For me this update clearly screwed things up
Hasn't fixed it for me either. I got the black screen within about 10 minutes of updating. I've had up to 10 crashes in about 25 minutes, it's ridiculous.
So far everything is fine on my Macbook pro. I updated around 8:30am and no BSOD's so far. Let's keep the fingers crossed.
Your test is very revealing. It's as though Apple took the easy way out. Perhaps due the fact they just wanted to patch it & get back to what is rapidly becoming their highest priority, iOS.
Don't treat it as a fact. It's one user, who's results are pretty dodgy.
People have accused apple of doing this in the past, and it's never turned out to have been the case.
You're going to need to actually look at the clock speed of the GPU if you want to see if this has happened. Not just guessing something based on one application benchmark.
vitzr
macrumors 68030
justinfreid
macrumors 6502a
Perennial Issue
If there's any consistent problem with Apple's computers it seems to center around the SMC and graphics glitches. These types of firmware tweaks are often necessary after a product's been on the market for a while.
Good to see they're fixing it.
If there's any consistent problem with Apple's computers it seems to center around the SMC and graphics glitches. These types of firmware tweaks are often necessary after a product's been on the market for a while.
Good to see they're fixing it.
kockgunner
macrumors 68000
The video crashing is back again after about 24 hours of smooth running. There is a huge thread on Apple discussions and it seems the fix isn't working for a lot of people.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3191083?start=1890&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3191083?start=1890&tstart=0
I took my mid-2010 MacBook Pro to the Genius Bar a few times with a beach ball of death issue that happens almost every login. It was so bad I had to use automatic login to bypass that just to get to the desktop. I was going to use that as a workaround expecting a patch would be released but it kept freezing up on Hulu shows too, which is when I decided to take it in.
After two trips to the Genius Bar they finally replaced the logic board for free, which resolved the issue (10 reboots and counting without any problems). I haven't installed the video patch yet.
My suspicion regarding the source of the problem is that it's the nVidia card. Disabling automatic graphic switching was another workaround that stops the BBoD and occasional BSOD as well, at least for those of us with the same MBP and hardware revisions.
Later tonight I'm going to benchmark the OpenGL before and after I install the video patch to see if what was said about the video update crippling performance was really true. I doubt it is though, considering how much it's improved gaming for others.
I'm just glad not to see that damned beach ball anymore. My goodness.
BTW, if the video patch still doesn't work it's likely you'll need to have the logic board replaced like I had to do. Even without Applecare and out of warranty you can get it done for free as long as the MBP is less than two years old. As much as I didn't want to take it in I'm glad I did, as they also replaced the thermal module (whatever that is) and the memory too.
After two trips to the Genius Bar they finally replaced the logic board for free, which resolved the issue (10 reboots and counting without any problems). I haven't installed the video patch yet.
My suspicion regarding the source of the problem is that it's the nVidia card. Disabling automatic graphic switching was another workaround that stops the BBoD and occasional BSOD as well, at least for those of us with the same MBP and hardware revisions.
Later tonight I'm going to benchmark the OpenGL before and after I install the video patch to see if what was said about the video update crippling performance was really true. I doubt it is though, considering how much it's improved gaming for others.
I'm just glad not to see that damned beach ball anymore. My goodness.
BTW, if the video patch still doesn't work it's likely you'll need to have the logic board replaced like I had to do. Even without Applecare and out of warranty you can get it done for free as long as the MBP is less than two years old. As much as I didn't want to take it in I'm glad I did, as they also replaced the thermal module (whatever that is) and the memory too.
Just finished the OpenGL tests (OpenGL Extensions Viewer) and can confirm that the FPS scores did drop 150-200fps after I installed the video update.
But let's put this in perspective: the original scores varied between 1000-1200FPS, after the video update it's now 900-1000FPS.
Just to compare I ran the same tests on my Windows desktop with a mid range ATI card and got similar scores, actually slightly worse due to using 1920x1080 resolution. Still runs Arkham City like a champ.
So despite the roughly 16% performance drop in OpenGL, I'm not seeing any real world difference here. Seriously, I'm just glad not to see that damned beach ball again.
But let's put this in perspective: the original scores varied between 1000-1200FPS, after the video update it's now 900-1000FPS.
Just to compare I ran the same tests on my Windows desktop with a mid range ATI card and got similar scores, actually slightly worse due to using 1920x1080 resolution. Still runs Arkham City like a champ.
So despite the roughly 16% performance drop in OpenGL, I'm not seeing any real world difference here. Seriously, I'm just glad not to see that damned beach ball again.
got two lockups last night. Update doesnt seem to have fixed anything. Gone back and disable graphics card switching.
Mr. Retrofire
macrumors 603
Yes:
- Thunderbolt software v1.1 update only for Lion (v1.0 was available for Snow Leopard)
- Newer versions of Apple Apps which run on Snow Leopard, but cannot use iCloud on this OS version (v10.6.8)
- iTunes Match still in beta testing:
- ...and --> https://www.macrumors.com/2011/08/29/mac-os-x-snow-leopard-10-6-9-to-bring-icloud-support/
It would not make sense to make all Snow Leopard machines incompatible with Apples iCloud service and with the iCloud features in iOS 5 (these would be useless for Snow Leopard users, which do not have access to iCloud services). Lion and Windows users have no problem with the iCloud access.
Mr_Brightside_@
macrumors 601
Cool.
Just as an update to this thread, I've just run Software Update (under 10.6.8) and the Video Update is showing for me! So I guess it was just a matter of time to get the update out. It's 54.3MB for me. Also, FWIW, I made a G Bar appt when the update originally came out (for Lion only) and the genius found one underlying (third party) software that hadn't been erased properly, and getting rid of it entirely seemed to fix the problem. But I'll apply the update anyway.
I have been getting that. It kills me I no longer have a desktop background, just a blue background.