[Jank]

I've been have this very annoying issue for the last week or so, and I'm hoping someone out there can help me either fix it or diagnose it.

Here what my issue is...

My system will freeze when the screen saver is on. It only does this when I running a program that's a processor hog, ie. BOINC, video encoding, etc. Basically I'll leave the computer alone to do it's thing over night and when I wake up in the morning the screen saver is frozen and no matter what I do it will not go back to normal. I alway have to manually shut the power off by holding down the power button.

Here's what I've tried t fix this issue...

• used the Disk Utility to verify/repair the permissions.
• switched screen savers and the mount of time idle before they activate.
• adjusted the amount of time the screen turns off, and even disabled this feature.
• this is not really a fix, but I don't put my system to sleep, so I know that not it.

So does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!!

[reader50]

It might be an overheating GPU. If this is the system in your sig, cleaning the heatsink could get involved.

If this is a desktop system, I'd suggest cleaning the GPU heatsink. Remove the fan for this step (if present), and observe afterwards if the fan runs at full speed. A dying GPU fan can make a system very unstable. And can help the graphics chip burn out. The next step might be to pull the heatsink and redo the thermal grease job.

Assuming this is the laptop in your sig, try running it overnight without a screen saver, or better yet, use a black screen saver for a few nights. If the freezing stops, then you know the cause.

[Jank]

Thanks for the reply reader50... but I don't think the screen saver is causing the problem even thought the system freezes when it's running. My system only freezes when I encoding video or running BOINC seti@home, other than that she's as stable as can be.

I've also tried these fixes/repairs to help solve this problem...

• ran verify disk from the OS and boot disk... both tests said the disk passed.
• booted into safe mode... this heped but only for a couple of days and then the freezing started again.
• ran Maintance 3.6... preformed all the maintance tasked listed.

Would the processor overheating cause this issue? When I'm running seti@home or video encoding the highest the temp goes is 78C.

Oh and yes, the system in my sig is the one having this issue.

Thanks again!

[dowNNshift]

I'm gonna agree with reader50 on this ...likely overheating.

These machines' small logic boards are dense with circuitry with power that rivals most desktop systems out there, yet they're cooled with rinky-dink heat syncs and cheapo thermal paste.

If you're leaving your machine on over night, it's always better to use Energy Saver to turn the display off in lieu of a screen saver. Just configure it to never go to sleep, but turn the display off in ~40 min.

Safeties are in place so the processor or logic board components aren't damaged by extreme heat... What kind of surface are you leaving the MacBook Pro on? A hard, non porous surface like glass is better that a wooden table since it won't retain heat -- especially if you're pushing both cores to the max. Consider investing in one of those laptop cooling pads too.