Retina MBP crashing every 3-5 minutes

[acrafton]

So. . loaded up the new MBP last night and trying to use it this morning but can't. It freezes up every 3-5 minutes and either restarts itself or I must restart it. About half the time the screen is scrambled as a result of the crash. I removed all startup items to no avail.

Totally unusable.

Any ideas before I head to the Apple Store?

All updates have been applied.

** Solved ** see below

 

[Phazer]

does the fan turn on?
I'd just go to the Apple Store without even start fiddling about with it.

 

[funnoam]

I suggest you to run Apple Hardware Test : http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509.

 

[klover]

Do a full restore. If it continues, take it to Apple.

 

[johnhalsted]

Format it, it's probably some corrupt driver or something, failing that take it back, not a huge problem, but huge inconvenience

 

[daleski75]

Try to reset the PRAM first before wiping it.

 

[protalk]

similar problem

Locks up every 3-5 minutes -- went to Apple Store, they deleted a couple files that had been moved via Migration Assistant, and said everything would be fine. Got home and continued to have the problem. Wiped everything -- installed new system software -- STILL having the problem. Back to Genius Bar today. Just like other poster said about his, my new MBP is totally unusable.

 

[maflynn]

Take it back to apple

Sorry to hear that your MBP is having problems.

 

[acrafton]

** Solved **

I spent a few hours with genius bar folks and while they were certain it was hardware, the more we chatted the more I/we realized that it must be a software conflict. Each time I had formatted, etc, I immediately went to the migration tool rather than see if it would work with just the base OS and manually install/move stuff.

Well, that solved it. I formatted, installed the OS and no crashes. I then started installing apps and moving my stuff over MANUALLY and no crashes. I am now 2 days and it works fine.

So.. .there was something on my old system that was causing a conflict.

 

[iFanboy]

On OSX, Windows and Linux, I ALWAYS do a complete reformat and install.

My MBPR is coming with Lion, but as soon as I download Mountain Lion to USB I am doing a full disk format and installing Mountain Lion from USB.

That's the only way to minimise the chance of software problems.