2010 MBP video black-out issue

Hey guys,

Has anyone with a 2010 Macbook Pro experienced the black-out video issue, where everything freezes and you have to restart?

It started happening to me about a week ago, and yesterday, Apple released a software update to fix it. I installed it and it still happens.

As far as I can tell, the freeze happens because of the nVidia drivers. And it only happens to me when I play Starcraft II but only if I have Skype in the background.

If I play SC2 with no Skype, I'm fine. I've played Portal 2 today for hours, no freeze. I've played Oblivion and FIFA 12 and everything seems to be okay.

When I play SC2 with friends on Skype, it freezes.

I uninstalled the Soundflower audio driver since that was mentioned in the report as well, didn't yield any results.

You guys have any ideas?

 

Son's system has this problem. We suspect a hardware problem that they tried to mask with a software fix. I don't believe that Apple has a handle on the problem yet - at least enough for a hardware fix. We had the motherboard replaced and that fixed it for two months, then it came back.

The best interim solution is to disable the discrete video card.

 

I wouldn't really call that solution. That isn't really a solution at all.

I would take your computer back to the Apple store and demand they do something about it (nicely) if you've had multiple issues with the same problem they might just replace your laptop.

 

It's an interim solution for him.

If you needed to use an external monitor, it wouldn't work because the IG doesn't support the external monitor. If you want to run games, well, no. If you want to run Windows via BootCamp, well, no. But it would get him through the rest of this semester and then Apple can have it for a week or two. I'd guess that they'd have the real causes and real solutions by then. It took them about a month or two to get to the bottom of the nVidia 8600 problem.

BTW, I recently started getting the black screen sometimes on my 2008 MBP. I may bring it in too - I've heard that they extended the warranty on the old ones to four years.

 

Apple is pretty good about fixing their computers ASAP if you take it into an Apple store, someone there told me that 5 days is too long and after that they replace, not sure if that is a full policy. That 5 days did not include the time for them to get the part they needed to fix it.

 

Our first three MB swaps took five days - they called that a depot repair. Our local store didn't do MB swaps. They do now and turned around our fourth swap overnight.

I think that it depends on the level of service at your particular store. Also on the availability of spares.

 

Download "macfan" on google and max out your fan before playing

 

I have iStat Menus and always set the fans to 6000RPM before playing and my temps never go above 80 degrees Celsius while playing.

I don't think this is a hardware issue. Like I mentioned before, at least for me, it only happens with Starcraft 2 + Skype running at the same time.

No other times do I get the black out... It's really weird.

And no, I don't want to disable my nVidia card, that's not a resolve.

 

It looks like Apple has a new motherboard part number for these units and that they aren't available yet. A few people in the long Apple Forums support thread brought their models in and the fix is a replacement of the motherboard with this new part number and, of course, they are backordered. We're going in tonight to get it diagnosed and, I suspect, that we'll be backordered too.

This issue has nothing to do with heat. Son can get the black screen just by logging into Mac OS X or running VirtualBox or browsing or doing generally mundane things. The Apple Support forum thread is 132 pages long with reports of the problem.

 

Brought it into the Apple Store this afternoon, explained the situation and they said that they had the new part in stock and would replace the logic board.

While there, I also gave them my almost four-year-old MacBook Pro that has also had black screen issues since summer. They're going to replace the motherboard on that one too under the nVidia 8600 warranty that has apparently been extended to four years.

Should get them back tomorrow or Saturday.

 

They replaced the logic board with a new SKU and son has used it for a few days and reports zero black screen issues. There was one screw loose on the bottom panel though and the angles of some of the others didn't look right so I loosened all of the bottom screws and adjusted the bottom panel a bit and then retightened them and everything went in at the right angles. He's very happy with his system again. It's good to have an Apple MacBook Pro toolkit.