Macbook Pro Crashing
 

Lately my Macbook Pro has been crashing. It just goes to a black screen and becomes unresponsive, forcing me to reboot. It generates a report after restarting that I have been sending to Apple, but I don't know what that's going to accomplish. Didn't have this problem before installing Lion. Anyone else having issues?

Turn it off and hold command + option + P + R. This will reset the PRAM, and then repair your disk utility in the Utilities folder. PM Simba.

Is there anything in particular it seems to lock up while doing, such as a specific task? How old is the MacBook Pro (I ask because some of the older models had faulty logicboards/graphics processors)? Though if it brings up a crash report it sounds more software related.

Go through my troubleshooting steps and see if that fixes it.

If it's a black screen with no other information, it's some kind of software issue. Hardware issues tend to cause a kernel panic which results in the reboot screen below.

If there is a hardware issue, you can either try and diagnose it further yourself, or take it in to an Apple store, depending on your comfort level.

Has the same issue and after getting Apple help over and over it finally was resolved with the replacement of the logic board (motherboard). It is my estimation that it was the memory or video card that is integrated into the logic board.

Sounds like a SMC Reset issue that they run into a lot. The guys at Apple say this is an issue associated with the logic board. You need to take it in to have them verify.

Thanks guys. I'll probably take it in since my warranty may be running out soon. I think the reports after reboot do refer to a kernel panic. I'll try to post more info next time it does it.

Good luck!!!!!

Just got back from the Apple store. They ran some tests on it and could not get it to crash. The crash reports all list the graphics card as the reason for the crash. I'm 19 days out of warranty. Luckily they are replacing the logic board for free.

Sounds like your machine is one of those affected by the nvidia graphics issue, which should be covered even outside of warranty for a good while longer. Glad to hear they're going to get it all fixed up for you.