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2011 MacBook Pros Confirmed To Crash Under Load

Posted by timothy on from the switch-to-multifinder dept.

sammcj writes "2011 MacBook crashing under heavy load?... you are not alone. While trying to figure out what was wrong with my fancy new MacBook I soon realized that the issue is very widespread."

14 of 501 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Well of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Pre-sale marketing & PR gets the sale (i.e. money).
    Everything else doesn't matter. The people will buy whatever you sell them and keep buying, even if it doesn't work.

  2. Re:Well of course by beelsebob · · Score: 2, Informative

    Difference being you don't pay £1000 for the spec included in a £400 Dell. (Sadly, not an understatement)

    Oh? Which £400 dell has a quad core sandy bridge i7 in it?

  3. Lemons deserve mud by perpenso · · Score: 2, Informative

    Do you want a list of Dell models that my employer has concluded have design flaws or do you just want to fling mud at Apple? (here's a hint: Every manufacturer has issues with their machines, including Apple).

    Yes every company has the occasional lemon but they deserve to have mud flung at the lemon. It's part of the incentive system to get it right.

    Part of the justification of higher prices for Macs is that they are of higher quality than Dells. So your argument is not convincing. Furthermore what percentage of Dell's laptop sales does your list represent? Are they high end models? Compare that to what percentage of Apple laptop sales the MacBook Pro represents and where the MacBook Pro stands with respect to Apple's high end offerings.

    In short, IF the reports of problems are bogus then flame on. But IF the reports of problems are accurate why excuse them?

  4. Re:Well of course by philj · · Score: 5, Informative

    Having read the linked thread, it looks like it's an ATI graphics card driver problem. You can still ssh into a machine that has "crashed under load".

  5. Re:Well of course by Dunbal · · Score: 4, Informative

    You don't get a sandy bridge i7 in a Mac for 1000 pounds, either. Your point?

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  6. It is caused by by toxygen01 · · Score: 5, Informative

    iStat menu (most probably).

    for those tl;dr:
    most of the users report that after uninstalling istat menu pro (and it's "fan control" set to on by default) the problem goes away...

    keep panicking...

    1. Re:It is caused by by sk19842 · · Score: 4, Informative

      iStat isn't necessary to cause the problem. Most people seem to be able to reproduce the issue by opening Photo Booth and trying to install/compile Boost from MacPorts (per these directions). FWIW, following these directions just crashed my 2011 15" MBP.

      It seems to be an ATI graphics card issue, because some people report that they can get a stable machine by setting their graphics to integrated only with gfxCardStatus.

    2. Re:It is caused by by sammcj · · Score: 3, Informative

      That's no true so don't spread uninformed rubbish. There are a pile of people having the problem who have never installed istat pro or any other fan controller.

  7. Software Related by amiga3D · · Score: 4, Informative

    According to the thread this is software related. Removing smcfancontrol seems to be fixing the problem. I have to wonder how that got out the door.

    1. Re:Software Related by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      When you say "got out the door", are you talking about how Apple allowed the machine to be released with this "flaw"? In case you don't know, smcfancontrol is not apple-provided software.

      Who could ever guess that if you're running unsupported third-party packages that monkey around with power management settings it could make your machine crash? I mean, that's just nuts.

  8. Re:Well of course by beelsebob · · Score: 3, Informative
    1. The CPU you chose is significantly slower than the sandy bridge i5 in the MacBook – they may have the same name (in that they're both i5s), but they're completely different archituctures – what you're doing is like comparing a CoreDuo to a Core2Duo. Anyway, with that in mind, lets use the highest end CPU the vostro can have –the i5 560m, which is still slower than the MacBook Pro's
    2. The graphics card is massively slower – this is one area where sandy bridge made an enormous improvement. You can equip the vostro with a GT310m, which is still slower than the HD 3000 in the MacBook Pro (it's roughly as fast as a GT320m).
    3. The battery life on the vostro is about 3 hours -litterally half that of the MacBook Pro

    With that in mind, and the fact that the dell now costs £999 and is still slower, and still has less battery, no, you've not come close.

  9. Re:Well of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    MacBook Pro 17-inch
    Intel "Sandy Bridge" Core i7 2.2GHz
    4GB DDR3 SDRAM
    AMD Radeon HD 6750M 1 GB GDDR5
    17" 1920x1200 16:10 aspect LED backlit display
    750GB SATA hard drive @ 5400 RPM
    DVD burner
    Illuminated keyboard
    ----
    $2500

    vs

    ASUS G Series G73SW
    Intel "Sandy Bridge" Core i7 2.0GHz
    8GB DDR3 SDRAM
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M 1.5GB GDDR5
    17.3" 1920x1080 16:9 aspect LED backlit, 120Hz 3D display w/3D glasses
    1TB (500GB SATA hard drive with Hybrid SSD x2) @ 7200 RPM
    Blu-Ray burner
    Illuminated keyboard
    ----
    $2000


    Superior hardware in bold.

  10. Re:Well of course by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    The ASUS display is larger, true HD widescreen aspect and 120Hz. That's why it's better. I'm not sure why you think having a higher refresh rate "cripples" it. Also, for a gimmick 3D sure has taken off in a huge way.

    The 17" Macbook is 15.47"×10.51"×0.98", the ASUS is 16.60"x12.80"x0.80". How is that "twice" as thick?
    The 17" Macbook Pro weighs 6lbs, the ASUS 8lbs. How is that "twice" as heavy?

    How are you measuring battery life? Sitting idle or running full tilt?

  11. It's not exactly crashing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    This happened to select 2010 models as well - the problem is that the video card overheats and tries to switch back to integrated and the machine barfs all over that. (If you use a laptop cooling pad, this tends not to happen, although there are still some non-heat-related "hangs" in switching between integrated and discrete graphics). If you have ssh enabled, you can indeed see that the machine hasn't crashed, it just isn't drawing to the display (because the display is now connected to the other video card, but something - OpenCL, CoreGraphics, whatnot - didn't get the memo to write to a different display).

    If you can make your machine do this reliably, you can take it to an Apple store, show it to them (being able to ssh helps), and they will replace the machine for you. You may of course get another machine with the same problem, but you also might not...so you have the option of rolling the dice on a new machine until someone comes up with a software fix. (You can also go into the Energy Saver control panel and force the discrete graphics to be used all the time, at the expense of your battery life, which tends to resolve the problem).