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Are you noticing any messages in console.log or system.log similar or identical to this? I noticed in that support thread that you posted someone noted getting these...

Jun 24 19:39:09 ******** kernel[0]: NVChannel(GL): Graphics channel exception! status = 0xffff info32 = 0xd = GR: SW Notify Error
Jun 24 19:39:09 ******** kernel[0]: 0000000c
Jun 24 19:39:09 ******** kernel[0]: 00200000 00005097 0000047c 00000000
Jun 24 19:39:09 ******** kernel[0]: 00000486 00000f10 00000000 00000003
Jun 24 19:39:09 ******** kernel[0]: 00000000 00000000 00000002

If so, its likely an issue with the 8600M GT driver's support of anti-aliasing. See if you can disable anti-aliasing in Second Life. At least, that's what I've tracked it down to. This is already filed in Radar and supposedly they have someone working on it, we'll see...

If not, then back to the drawing board!

Hi there...

here's my most recent log (as an attachment)... I do see something quite similar to the one Sbrocket pointed out... now I'm scared... as of the anti-aliasing... I am not quite sure how I would go about disabling it... :(

Thanks for your continuing support... it means a lot...
 

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  • second life log-graphics exception.doc
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Hi there...

here's my most recent log (as an attachment)... I do see something quite similar to the one Sbrocket pointed out... now I'm scared... as of the anti-aliasing... I am not quite sure how I would go about disabling it... :(

Thanks for your continuing support... it means a lot...

Yep, that's your problem! It looks like you got the error and then rebooted 10 minutes later, which I would assume is from waiting to see if the freeze would unstick itself, giving up, doing a hard shutdown, and rebooting.

Since I've never played Second Life, I'm not exactly sure how to turn anti-aliasing off...but that's what you need to do. I'm not even sure if you can. That's your problem though. If SL doesn't offer you a way to turn it off, you may have to wait for their developers to add that option or for Apple to fix the graphics drivers. As I mentioned, there's already a few bug reports filed on this.

Good luck!
 
similar problem here

I have been having a similar issue with my new macbook pro (1 week old). The screen freezes at random times when using diferent programs, light or heavy loads, power pluged in or not. Safari seems to be involved often, but it is opened most of the time so...
I just upgraded from a Mac Intel 1st gen macbook pro. I used the migration assistant and had a few issues with World of warcraft, but then uninstalled the latest Windows media support WM and I can now play. I also had to reinstall parallels which has been working flwlessly since. Incidently I have never had a crash (yet) while the focus was on my virtual machine. Most often, it is when I try to load a webpages, or from iTunes, and sometimes WOW.
At this point I am trying to figure out where the crashes are coming from. Unfortunately when I get this total freeze, the crash logs don't mention anything.
How can I monitor my computer's state just before the crash occurs and pinpoint the problem? Is there a function in OS X which can help me pinpoint the problem? Any thoughts?
thanks!
 
lyb, leave Activity Monitor running and showing you all processes. If you have them sorted by CPU you might be able to catch something flying to the top before your freeze as it takes up more and more of your CPU cycles. Also, keep an eye out for red processes as that means they're hanging and this could also be a potential problem.

As a side note, I find Migration Assistant to be pretty dodgy for anything more complicated than simple files (documents, music, movies and pictures). I always make a point of manually reinstalling all my apps and reconfiguring my customised settings to ensure the system isn't buggy. :)
 
thank you mad Jew

I added a 2g ram chip on this model so I am testing the memory with memtest to make sure the problem isn't coming from there. I will keep activity mlonitor opened until I get my next crash. Thanks for your help.
 
Excellent. Just quickly, memory testers are notoriously bad at finding dodgy RAM so if it comes back with no faults but you're still getting these freezes, then actually physically remove the sticks of RAM 'til you find the culprit (have no freezes). :)
 
so the best way to go about potential ram issues...

Should i trust the original ram chips which came with the mac? I suspect these could be bad too?
I just finished the 5th ram sweep and found no problems.
Still I will revert to the original ram chips which came with. Then on my next crash switch them out and around. I guess if i stop getting crashes i will know that was the pb, and if i still get the crashes well i can eventually rule this out. Still its annoying not been able to rule out the ram as a problem.
Thanks again for your support mad Jew.
 
Generally the RAM Apple ships is safer 'cause it has to pass their own internal tests. If it's still crashing with the Apple RAM (and only the Apple RAM), then you're problem might be something else. :)
 
is there a way to log activity monitor output?

Again, thanks Mad Jew, I really appreciate your help.
I find myself not wanting that window in the foreground all the time. I was thinking about building a small script to log the top processes running at a set time interval. I might have a better chance catching the incriminating process this way then relying on the fact the activity monitor is in the foreground when it crashes...
I'm thinking with maybe top and a cron job recurring every minute or so might do the job.:eek: am looking into this right now.
 
It should be possible but I dunno if I can help you there. Unless it's one of the core processes that's causing this, OSX should let you select Activity Monitor before the whole system freezes... Hopefully.
 
update on the freeze issue

I thought I would give you guys an update on my situation. After posting my last message this week end I proceded to do 2 things: I uninstalled a little menu app called Butler which would load at startup, and I installed and then uninstalled the Safari Beta because I realised I had previously been using the beta of safari (I have firefox as well), but after I used the migration asistant I was back to using Safari 2.

I didn't change my memory conf or do anything else.

I am happy to report I have been running now ever since without any crashes.

I keep activity monitor opened in the background and occasionaly take a look at the stats there. Sometimes when the fan starts I check out the activity monitor and I have noticed safari taking up over 100% of processing power once or twice for no reason and just quit safari.

In conclusion, my best guess so far is that the safari beta 3 was causing the system freeze symptoms.

About the 3d graphis pb, I had solved my previous issue with WOW crashing by removing the support for Windows Media Player files (WMV). Something in that extension was causing the game to crash when it tried loading up cinematics (I read this on a forum somewhere). I haven't had any crashes with WOW since, allthough I don't play it that much...
 
Macbook Pro freezes and Black memorex cds don't register

Similar issue here. I have a brand new MBP 15 " 2.2 GHz with an upgrade to 160 GB at 7200 rpm.
One of the first times I ran Safari I had the freezing problem. It has since happened throughout the week approximately 4 times with only Safari open (with a strong internet connection) and I had to force shutdown each time.

I have another issue with my cd drive, it won't read black memorex cds. I tested the cds on a friends Imac and they work fine so it appears to be a drive issue and Apple is taking the computer back. I'll probably get a desktop because I fear i could have the same problems if I get the same spec's on the same MBP model. You never know and I'm not that tec savy to look into the log file whatnot to investigate the cause of the problem.
 
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