Unibody MBP Freezes while Gaming

[dudemac333]

I am not sure if there is another thread on this, but here it goes...
I have a Unibody MBP 2.53 and when I play World of Warcraft, it will freeze. The weird part is that it wont always freeze every time I play. Sometimes it will go a few days of playing before it freezes. The whole computer just locks up and the only way to get out of it is to hold down the power button and do a hard shut off. I am pretty sure it is not a temperature issue because I have SMC Fan Control installed and it never gets too hot. Then, just recently, I installed Counter Strike Source on my 2nd partition in Windows 7. It was playing smoothly and then it did the freeze thing again. So I am reasonably sure that it is not a World of Warcraft problem, but that it might be a graphics card problem or something else.

I just wondered if anyone has had problems like this and what solution would be best for this problem.

Thanks, Will

 

[miggitymac]

I am not sure if there is another thread on this, but here it goes...
I have a Unibody MBP 2.53 and when I play World of Warcraft, it will freeze. The weird part is that it wont always freeze every time I play. Sometimes it will go a few days of playing before it freezes. The whole computer just locks up and the only way to get out of it is to hold down the power button and do a hard shut off. I am pretty sure it is not a temperature issue because I have SMC Fan Control installed and it never gets too hot. Then, just recently, I installed Counter Strike Source on my 2nd partition in Windows 7. It was playing smoothly and then it did the freeze thing again. So I am reasonably sure that it is not a World of Warcraft problem, but that it might be a graphics card problem or something else.

I just wondered if anyone has had problems like this and what solution would be best for this problem.

Thanks, Will

Be careful what you post around here...I posted my similar experiences with WC3 (I don't WOW) on my MBP and was called incompetant for it.

I wish I could offer a solution, but I still get random freezes/crashes. If I figure it out, I'll let you know...please do likewise.

 

[BornToMac]

It might be a lvl 80 mage that keeps frezing it...

 

[kastenbrust]

If it's freezing in both Apple OS X (Leopard) and Windows then its a hardware issue, most likely a broken graphics card, this was a notorious problem with a particular range of MBP's.

Does it freeze when your using the 9400M or the 9600M graphics card in Apple OS X when playing Warcraft? (Normal or Power Saver Settings?) If you dont even know what power saver settings are, then its more than likely a broken 9600 card, however if you go to power saver mode and it only breaks then, then its a broken 9400 card. Let us know.

Whatever the outcome Apple will need to replace your graphics card and the whole logic board along with it. If you have warranty or Applecare this is free and can be done on the spot, sometimes takes 5 days. If you dont it will cost $600.

 

[Consultant]

OSX or windows? Describe freeze.

Remove SMC Fan control and see if it happens.

 

[miggitymac]

OSX or windows? Describe freeze.

Remove SMC Fan control and see if it happens.

Mine happens on OSX.

I got SMC Fan Control b/c of the crashes...thought reducing heat of GPU would help solve them. So I doubt removing it will make any difference.

And by freeze...I mean units on the screen don't move and sometimes I get sound bytes or music stuck on a loop. I dunno...freeze...how else can I describe it? I have to do a Force Quit when this happens.

I don't know about the OP, but mine also crashes. I'll be playing a game, then the program shuts off on its on at random times...sometimes I get an error msg (where I can send a report to Apple) and sometimes I don't.

 

[dudemac333]

The freezes occur when I am on the 9400M side... It usually happens once or twice a week on OSX side when I am playing wow. The freeze just happens right in the middle of playing. I will be in the middle of a quest and then it will just completely freeze. No mouse response or keyboard response. I cant hear any sound or anything. Just everything is dead, but the picture is still there, just frozen.

 

[Blaine]

Does osx lock up as well, or just wow?

 

[iaymnu]

It might be a lvl 80 mage that keeps frezing it...

LAWL

The freezes occur when I am on the 9400M side... It usually happens once or twice a week on OSX side when I am playing wow. The freeze just happens right in the middle of playing. I will be in the middle of a quest and then it will just completely freeze. No mouse response or keyboard response. I cant hear any sound or anything. Just everything is dead, but the picture is still there, just frozen.

I play WoW with the 9400m and that happened before. I just reinstalled WoW and it was gone. I mainly use the 9400m to play WoW. If it was freezing every time you play then I would call it hardware problem. Again it can be a faulty gpu, but if you take it to apple you need to be able to make it happen there.

 

[Blaine]

^^ is it just the game, or does the whole system lock up?

Do you think maybe a recent patch fixed your problem?

 

[iaymnu]

^^ is it just the game, or does the whole system lock up?

Do you think maybe a recent patch fixed your problem?

It was just the game for me. Maybe my first install wasn't patched/installed correctly.? There were A LOT of patches to download lol

 

[drewsof07]

Whatever the outcome Apple will need to replace your graphics card and the whole logic board along with it. If you have warranty or Applecare this is free and can be done on the spot, sometimes takes 5 days. If you dont it will cost $600.

It's a Unibody.... only ~4 months maximum age. He still has applecare

OP, why not just use the 9600? Take some of the load off your CPU

 

[jakster4u]

I was playing Diablo 2 in os x with the 9400M and the 9600, froze on both, then I tried it in bootcamp and it froze. I downloaded the newest patch and it seemed to fix the problem. But I'm guessing WoW forces you to download the newest patch, so I don't know.

 

[dudemac333]

ya the whole system locks up for me. When the game froze, I tried to get out of it, but it wouldnt let me and nothing responds. I had to hold down the power button to turn it off.

 

[Gryfon19]

Is there a way to change between the 2 different video cards in Windows Boot Camp? I only see the 9600 listed in there...

 

[cg165]

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ya the whole system locks up for me. When the game froze, I tried to get out of it, but it wouldnt let me and nothing responds. I had to hold down the power button to turn it off.

I used to have that problem in vista until I installed laptopvideo2go.com drivers with the modified inf file also. I use smc fan control in osx and have it set to 6000 rpm then restart into windows and have no problems (2.53 unibody)