Fans face freezing Apple MacBook Pros A fair few buyers of Apple latest generation of 15in and 17in MacBook Pros have begun complaining that their new machines are locking up when asked to perform a task that sets the second-gen Intel Core i CPU racing. Apple's support forum contains a lengthy thread full stories of fans' freezing MacBook Pros. Many of the users …
Nearly all of the people with issues in the largest Apple discussion thread on this fixed the problem by uninstalling smcfancontrol or gfxcardstatus. Two programs that interfere with the standard operation of the hardware/firmware.
True, a program shouldn't cause an issue like this. But also true is that you should leave the machine to manage it's hardware as programmed.
Yeah, that's right. There 'may' be a problem with a small number of the latest version of their laptops. That obviously means all Apple stuff is rubbish?
Idiot.
I have had an Acer laptop that has had the same problem since it was bought. Obviously all their stuff is rubbish too?
No? Didn't think so.
Word on the forums is that it's a problem with a 3rd party bundled application, iStat and its fan control software (smcfancontrol), and the fix is to just yank it out.
As a test analyst, this sort of screw-up makes me smile - cos it means one more set of muppets gets the message on QC. Testing may not be rocket surgery but it is essential.
"Reg Hardware tested the 2.0GHz, quad-core i7-based MacBook Pro 15in and experienced no such problems when thrashing the CPU with video encoder Handbrake or when running the PCMark Vantage benchmark suite in a Windows 7 Bootcamp partition."
Looks like you found the sweet-spot in the range then
Go to the “lengthy thread full of stories” link mentioned by the Reg, and you will see page after page after page after page of scary complaints. (It just works? Or maybe it just happens? No new Windows computer from the top five manufacturers comes close to the scale of the Apple problem.) Here are some quotes from the first page of the Apple thread alone (where each mini paragraph corresponds to one separate complaint):
"The fans revved and suddenly I could use nothing but the cursor. Had to hold down the power switch to kill all and then re-power & startup."
"I'm having the exact same issue. It happens when rendering video in Imovie. The fan comes on and everything freezes. I can do nothing but a hard reset."
"I've had my MBP 2.3 15" for 5 days. It has now frozen or locked up about 6 or 7 times."
"I have the same problem with me 2.3 i7 15". Happened 3 times now, mine freezes and the screen goes all funny (like it has hundreds of dead pixels). You need to power down (hold power button) the turn it on again then its fine! Will be talking to apple in the morning!"
"I have a 15" 2011 MacBook Pro with a 128 SSD. It has repeatedly frozen in the week I've had it - often at random points while using StarCraft II and also while trying to access Time Machine. When it freezes, sound continues and I can still move the cursor (which is sometimes the spinning ball and sometimes the regular cursor) but the computer is completely unresponsive -- force quit does not work nor does anything else - have to do a hard reboot. I tried turning off Time Capsule entirely but still get freezes. Turned down graphics settings in StarCraft II - still freezing. Very frustrating. This has happened about a dozen times in a week."
"Sorry to make an intervention even though I am still a 2010 MBP owner: did you have a look at 2010 MBP freeze 'kilomteric' thread? It seems that there is something not fully addressed even in 2011 MBP, probably coming from past generation (I had a 10min freeze with my MBP a long time ago and only once during Imovie files import). On the other hand, I had already noticed high temps on 2010 MBP when rendering with FCE or imovie but I had never had freezes (max noted temp was 104°C for me). I was thinking of changing over my 2010 MBP but I will probably wait a couple of months yet. Cheers."
"BTW: They have already replaced my 2011 MBP with another 2011 MBP and the same thing happens."
Had a Lenovo once which did the same thing. When I asked them about it, they told me not to run compiles on the system as it wasn't designed for prolonged CPU use. Here's me thinking they put a CPU in it in order for me to actually _use_ the smegging thing. If all I'm allowed to do is run a browser I may as well buy a netbook...
*erases Lenovo from the list of possible future laptop models*
And here I was, thinking of buying MacBook Pro, out of desperation from current generation of laptop displays - at least their TN matrix is less crappy than the lot. I neither use iMovie nor play StarCraft 2 (yet), but compilations are another story.
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