Hi, all,
I've done a forum search about this topic and I'm not sure I have found the precise issue, so here goes:
I have an Intel Core i7 MacBook Pro
8 GB memory
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics/NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
I'm running the most updated OS (10.6.8) and its elements. I religiously use Software Update.
The computer's between a year and two years old, as I recall.
Problem: My MBP's screen goes black intermittently (like every couple of days). The keys remain lit, as if the computer is on, and the only way to proceed from that point is to hold down the power button long enough to shut it down (which takes a while). When I start up, the computer asks me if I want to send a report to Apple.
The reason I ask if this is software or hardware is because this happens ONLY when certain software is involved. Something similar happened when I ran The Sims Medieval about a month or two ago, but their company said my graphics card wasn't supported, so I got my money back. Since that time, until now, I had no problems.
Then I downloaded FF 4 (I can't recall which version of FF4 it was, just that it was recent) and the random Black Screens began to happen again. I can't be 100% certain it's the same thing as the Sims Medieval failure, but it sure seems like the same thing--a black screen forcing you to shut down, requiring extended use of the powerbutton to get that shut-down to happen, and then all good when the computer starts back up.
Suspecting a software issue again, I downgraded to FF 3 and was fine. I then saw FF 5 had been unleashed, and upgraded again, hoping the black screen was a bug with FF4. And...back to occasional Black Screen Syndrome--always when FF is open. (I tend to keep my web browsers open, so that's pretty much all the time.)
I asked FF and their Twitter staff helped me go into my crash records, which show nothing, other than a single Quicktime issue once in the last month. Since what's happened has occured more than once, that isn't the same issue. Whatever's going on, seems not to be "crashing" FF--and so their logs are useless. They tend to think it is a graphics card/driver issue.
I've looked on MR's forums and the black screen threads I see involve an issue with earlier NVDIA processors, are not specific to certain programs, and sometimes appear at start-up as well as a forced shut-down.
Because this has happened only in two programs, though, I am tempted to think this is something related to software. Does anybody have any ideas? Am I doomed to go visit the Apple Genii again and lose my computer to a repair for a few days? *sigh*
Any thoughts you might have would be very much appreciated!
I've done a forum search about this topic and I'm not sure I have found the precise issue, so here goes:
I have an Intel Core i7 MacBook Pro
8 GB memory
Processor Speed: 2.66 GHz
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics/NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
I'm running the most updated OS (10.6.8) and its elements. I religiously use Software Update.
The computer's between a year and two years old, as I recall.
Problem: My MBP's screen goes black intermittently (like every couple of days). The keys remain lit, as if the computer is on, and the only way to proceed from that point is to hold down the power button long enough to shut it down (which takes a while). When I start up, the computer asks me if I want to send a report to Apple.
The reason I ask if this is software or hardware is because this happens ONLY when certain software is involved. Something similar happened when I ran The Sims Medieval about a month or two ago, but their company said my graphics card wasn't supported, so I got my money back. Since that time, until now, I had no problems.
Then I downloaded FF 4 (I can't recall which version of FF4 it was, just that it was recent) and the random Black Screens began to happen again. I can't be 100% certain it's the same thing as the Sims Medieval failure, but it sure seems like the same thing--a black screen forcing you to shut down, requiring extended use of the powerbutton to get that shut-down to happen, and then all good when the computer starts back up.
Suspecting a software issue again, I downgraded to FF 3 and was fine. I then saw FF 5 had been unleashed, and upgraded again, hoping the black screen was a bug with FF4. And...back to occasional Black Screen Syndrome--always when FF is open. (I tend to keep my web browsers open, so that's pretty much all the time.)
I asked FF and their Twitter staff helped me go into my crash records, which show nothing, other than a single Quicktime issue once in the last month. Since what's happened has occured more than once, that isn't the same issue. Whatever's going on, seems not to be "crashing" FF--and so their logs are useless. They tend to think it is a graphics card/driver issue.
I've looked on MR's forums and the black screen threads I see involve an issue with earlier NVDIA processors, are not specific to certain programs, and sometimes appear at start-up as well as a forced shut-down.
Because this has happened only in two programs, though, I am tempted to think this is something related to software. Does anybody have any ideas? Am I doomed to go visit the Apple Genii again and lose my computer to a repair for a few days? *sigh*
Any thoughts you might have would be very much appreciated!