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MacBook Air Problems

D

Dutch66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
10
0
I bought a MacBook Air in January 2011. This computer has caused me a lot of trouble, just to name a few:
- Disconnects bluetooth for no apparent reason
- I have to manually connect the mouse after every re-start
- Disconnects from the internet for no apparent reason
- The wireless key board and integral keyboard stop working for 2 minutes or so and then works again
- Unable to re-start or shut down the computer, the only way to do this is a hard shut-down
- It does not recognise my HP Laserjet on the wireless network - my other PC's do.
- The font size is extremely small - The staff at the Apple shop could not help me.
- It has slowed down dramatically over the past 6 months
- At times the battery does not charge beyond 90%
- It does not recognise my Vodafone wireless dongle
- It takes a long time to start up; about the same as a Windows XP PC.
- The fan comes on very loud despite this computer having a SSD
- MS Office for Mac is very temperamental - it shuts down or freezes completely

Does anyone else have these problems ? Seems that most of my problems occurred after I upgraded the IOS. :mad:

Monday 1 Oct: Iphoto refuses to import pictures from a SD card. This worked fine last week; After 2 re-starts, my Wallpaper has changed as decided by my MacBook Air (I like surprises, but this goes a little far). My trackpad did not connect, requiring a manual re-connect. This computer is testing me to the limit ... I have forgotten what is so good about these Apple machines ... but would I ever buy another one? Absolutely not.

4 Oct: Prior to perform a clean install as suggested on the various replies, I backed up my MBA on an external LaCie drive 3 days ago, which seemed to go ok until tonight when I re-connected my LaCie drive and my MBA displayed the message that the files on the hard drive could not be repaired by the OS. The external drives needs to be re-formatted. Another surprise and challenge ....

12 Nov:
My MacBook Air informed me that there was an IOS update available and required a re-start. Naturally, as you would expect things to be better after an update, I agreed to install, re-start etc etc.
However, now I need to re-type all of my software application product keys ! So if you do this upgrade while away from where you keep the official software (most probably in a secure place), your Mac becomes really useless !
Again, extremely disappointing performance from Apple ... this does not happen when you have a IOS upgrade with a Windows PC.
The other really disappointing issue is that Apple actually does not inform you prior to the upgrade that you need the software product keys to keep using your computer.
All in all, extremely disappointing ... it is all very gimmicky and unprofessional.
On a side note, the upgrade has not improved performance at all... as a matter of fact, my 6 year old Dell XPS outperforms my state of the art (not) Macbook Air.
 
Last edited:
marzer

marzer

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2009
1,398
123
Colorado
Dutch66 said:
I bought a MacBook Air in January 2011. This computer has caused me a lot of trouble, just to name a few:
- Disconnects bluetooth for no apparent reason
- I have to manually connect the mouse after every re-start
- Disconnects from the internet for no apparent reason
- The wireless key board and integral keyboard stop working for 2 minutes or so and then works again
- Unable to re-start or shut down the computer, the only way to do this is a hard shut-down
- It does not recognise my HP Laserjet on the wireless network - my other PC's do.
- The font size is extremely small - The staff at the Apple shop could not help me.
- It has slowed down dramatically over the past 6 months
- At times the battery does not charge beyond 90%
- It does not recognise my Vodafone wireless dongle
- It takes a long time to start up; about the same as a Windows XP PC.
- The fan comes on very loud despite this computer having a SSD
- MS Office for Mac is very temperamental - it shuts down or freezes completely

Does anyone else have these problems ? Seems that most of my problems occurred after I upgraded the IOS. :mad:
Click to expand...

Nope. I've got a 2010 MBA on Mt. Lion running flawlessly. Sees my network and printers fine, runs Mac MS Office w/o glitches, holds a good charge still, fans come on only after extended gaming.

Have you tried a clean install? Is it under Applecare? Maybe it needs service.
 
D

Dutch66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
10
0
I was not aware that PC's needs servicing; i understand that cars, motorbikes and mechanical watches etc needs servicing, but a computer with no moving parts???
 
marzer

marzer

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2009
1,398
123
Colorado
Dutch66 said:
I was not aware that PC's needs servicing; i understand that cars, motorbikes and mechanical watches etc needs servicing, but a computer with no moving parts???
Click to expand...

...are...impervious?...indestructible?...beyond the natural forces of the physical world? :D

No seriously. Is this your first experience with modern technolgy. Integrated circuits (since the dawn of integrated circuits) are even prone to failure.

So. Do you have Applecare? Have you tried reloading the OS as a clean install?
 
D

Dutch66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
10
0
No this is not my first experience with modern technology, but this is the first time in 15 tears with an Apple; I have never had any problems such as I am currently experiencing with my MacBook Air with any of my Windows based PC's or even the SPARC Sun stations I used to work with. This has been a very bad investment. (I think to use the term modern technology on a Mac is a contradiction in terms).
On top of that my screen has developed a crack ... it seems that I have a Monday morning Apple. And no I do not have Applecare, I did not expect that to be a requirement after spending £1,800 or so.
 
marzer

marzer

macrumors 65816
Nov 14, 2009
1,398
123
Colorado
Dutch66 said:
No this is not my first experience with modern technology, but this is the first time in 15 tears with an Apple; I have never had any problems such as I am currently experiencing with my MacBook Air with any of my Windows based PC's or even the SPARC Sun stations I used to work with. This has been a very bad investment. (I think to use the term modern technology on a Mac is a contradiction in terms).
On top of that my screen has developed a crack ... it seems that I have a Monday morning Apple. And no I do not have Applecare, I did not expect that to be a requirement after spending £1,800 or so.
Click to expand...

Ok. So lets resume troubleshooting. Given you are experiencing unusual problems with your MBA: Have you tried a clean OS install?
 
blesscheese

blesscheese

macrumors 6502a
Apr 3, 2010
698
178
Central CA
I've never had that many problems with my MBA. Something isn't right.

I would definitely do the clean install (or, re-install of the system). There should be plenty of info on google if you search for it, it is rather simple to do.

Re: Bluetooth...I don't know why, but my wireless keyboards and mice work great for months, and then for a week or two (it seems) won't work for *****. I have to say I find it rather annoying...I can't explain it, so you have my sympathies with that.
 
E

efirmage

macrumors member
Apr 13, 2010
94
0
I'd reinstall the OS, reset SMC, PRAM, and call AppleCare if that doesn't solve the problem.
 
D

Dutch66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
10
0
fleawannabe said:
Then try it...
It has been suggested quite a few times in this thread, take the advice.
Click to expand...

I have once done a re-install / OS upgrade on my Ipad (as recommended on one of the forums), with the end result of losing all my books, movies, pictures, apps and music. It took Apple 10 days to get my books, movies (bar 1), apps and music back onto the device. Based on this experience I am not very keen on re-installing software on an Apple device.
 
V

Vandefilm

macrumors regular
Feb 17, 2012
138
1
You are all missing the point. Apple-products recognize if people are a fanboy or not. I'm a fanboy, i never have (major) problems with my MBA. My brothers is an apple-hater. The only time my MBA froze was when he was working on it. Never froze in my hands. Aka, become an apple fanboy and all your problems with your MBA will disappear as snow for the sun.

:D
 
G

GWIM2

macrumors member
Sep 21, 2011
56
4
Scotland
Couple of points

Both of these are down to the dongle and the associated software;

- Disconnects from the internet for no apparent reason
- It does not recognise my Vodafone wireless dongle

I have a similar machine and the dongle has been a source of constant disconnections and slow running. Basically it tries to switch up to 3G and then just hangs. I did visit the Vodafone site and download updated dongle software which has helped a little, but the dongle is going in the bin at the end of the contract. If you use your MBA on WiFi note that it still connects via the Vodafone Mobile Broadband software.

- It does not recognise my HP Laserjet on the wireless network - my other PC's do.

Recently spent a morning getting my MBA to recognise my new Brother laser printer. In the end I completely ignored the software that came with the printer and let the MBA download and install it's own drivers when hooked up via a USB cable, then disconnected the USB, hooked the printer to the network router, got the printer self-test which had the printer's new net address on it, printed a WORD document to get the ADD PRINTER dialogue to come up, and gave the MBA the name and net address of the printer - job done. I can now sit here at work and print stuff back in my house, which I'm sure is useful but I don't know for what.

So, re-install your OS, hook the MBA to the printer and set that up, upgrade the dongle software, and you'll be a bit happier. ;)
 
D

Dutch66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
10
0
Perhaps I was not entirely clear. The MBA disconnects from the internet without the Vodafone dongle attached without any reason. I never got the Vodafone dongle to work as it was not mission critical and reverted to using a Windows laptop.
The little trick to get the printer to work wireless, I did that with my NAS. The result is that sometimes the MBA recognises my NAS and sometimes it does not, requiring a re-boot.
Anyway, my screen has developed a massive "crack" and is getting worse everyday. Another mystery.
I have been to the Apple shop, but the guys 'n gals there are just interested in selling you stuff, they do not want to hear about some 'challenges' some of us are experiencing.
However, what this forum makes perfectly clear to me is that the problems I am facing with my MBA is not an isolated case (although perhaps an extreme case) and that most of the people responding are very well versed in 'clean-install' etc.

----------
Vandefilm said:
You are all missing the point. Apple-products recognize if people are a fanboy or not. I'm a fanboy, i never have (major) problems with my MBA. My brothers is an apple-hater. The only time my MBA froze was when he was working on it. Never froze in my hands. Aka, become an apple fanboy and all your problems with your MBA will disappear as snow for the sun.

:D
Click to expand...

I will try that. However, I was not biased towards Apple or Windows when I bought the MBA and was receptive in learning to operate this MBA. However, it simply does not live up to expectations - it has slowed down, it is not any more user friendly than a Windows based PC, and definitely less reliable but much more expensive.
 
G

galllatea

macrumors newbie
Nov 7, 2012
1
0
Mine sucks too - it keeps connecting and disconnecting to the Internet over and over, sometimes have to restart it. This is with a college wireless connection. Full signal, the lights are on, but no one is home. What a piece of garbage. Has done it since day 1. I just bought it about a year ago.
 
M

mattnxtc

macrumors member
Oct 20, 2008
31
0
galllatea said:
Mine sucks too - it keeps connecting and disconnecting to the Internet over and over, sometimes have to restart it. This is with a college wireless connection. Full signal, the lights are on, but no one is home. What a piece of garbage. Has done it since day 1. I just bought it about a year ago.
Click to expand...

If this has been happening since day one then you deserve the problems.

If my computer acted like that on "day 1" it would be back at the apple store on "day 1"

In fact the very first tablet I bought (non-apple) had issues starting up...I had it back at the store and replaced the very first day.

Smells more like trolling.
 
T

TomCat

macrumors member
Jul 12, 2000
32
1
Dutch66 said:
I have once done a re-install / OS upgrade on my Ipad (as recommended on one of the forums), with the end result of losing all my books, movies, pictures, apps and music. It took Apple 10 days to get my books, movies (bar 1), apps and music back onto the device. Based on this experience I am not very keen on re-installing software on an Apple device.
Click to expand...
From this description, I guess not.

But you don't have to be all that tech-savvy to solve this; in fact that is why a lot of folks use Apple products in the first place -- they normally just work, and there are usually easy solutions to any problems that come up, and excellent help is only as far away as your telephone or Apple store. Dell or HP or Asus won't provide that, and you might need to run an American-to-Korean translation app to even get started with them.

But you also have to not do somethng foolish like attempt this using the wrong approach or without making at least one backup first. If your host computer has a HDD backup and iTunes has a backup of your iOS device, then it is exceptionally difficult to get into this situation you have reported. In 99.99999% of cases, taking an iPad back to factory settings is just a few steps in iTunes, and then applying the backup should only be just one more step which should take anywhere from 2 minutes to an hour, depending on its size. If your computer dies in the process, you still have a backup. More than one, if you are careful and diligent.

A clean install in Mac OS is a little more daunting, but not much, and if you have a HDD backup, which is absolutely always recommended, you should lose nothing. The Migration Assistant makes this process as easy as pie.

That takes care of the easy stuff, and eliminates all but the hard answers you may not want to hear, like that you might need an $859 logic board. But then you will know. Knowledge is power and it is much more stressful to assume you have a problem that you can't identify than it is to figure out and then know what that problem is, even if the fix is costly.

It should not be running hot, as is reported, but that has very little to do with the HDD or SSD and much more to do with the processor. All produce heat, but while SSDs produce less than HDDs, HDDs and SSDs don't produce nearly as much as the CPU. CPU usage is the chief reason the fan comes on hard, unless you have blocked vents or impeded cooling from using the computer on a bed comforter or some other insulating surface (a lot of the natural cooling is that the metal case acts as a heat sink otherwise).

So either take a deep breath and dive in, coerce a relative or friend, or pay someone. Or get another free opinion at the Genius Bar. Dealer's choice. If you just take responsibility and step up that will get you a lot farther than simply moaning about it.
 
D

Dutch66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
10
0
Update .... or not ???

Dutch66 said:
I bought a MacBook Air in January 2011. This computer has caused me a lot of trouble, just to name a few:
- Disconnects bluetooth for no apparent reason
- I have to manually connect the mouse after every re-start
- Disconnects from the internet for no apparent reason
- The wireless key board and integral keyboard stop working for 2 minutes or so and then works again
- Unable to re-start or shut down the computer, the only way to do this is a hard shut-down
- It does not recognise my HP Laserjet on the wireless network - my other PC's do.
- The font size is extremely small - The staff at the Apple shop could not help me.
- It has slowed down dramatically over the past 6 months
- At times the battery does not charge beyond 90%
- It does not recognise my Vodafone wireless dongle
- It takes a long time to start up; about the same as a Windows XP PC.
- The fan comes on very loud despite this computer having a SSD
- MS Office for Mac is very temperamental - it shuts down or freezes completely

Does anyone else have these problems ? Seems that most of my problems occurred after I upgraded the IOS. :mad:

Monday 1 Oct: Iphoto refuses to import pictures from a SD card. This worked fine last week; After 2 re-starts, my Wallpaper has changed as decided by my MacBook Air (I like surprises, but this goes a little far). My trackpad did not connect, requiring a manual re-connect. This computer is testing me to the limit ... I have forgotten what is so good about these Apple machines ... but would I ever buy another one? Absolutely not.

4 Oct: Prior to perform a clean install as suggested on the various replies, I backed up my MBA on an external LaCie drive 3 days ago, which seemed to go ok until tonight when I re-connected my LaCie drive and my MBA displayed the message that the files on the hard drive could not be repaired by the OS. The external drives needs to be re-formatted. Another surprise and challenge ....
Click to expand...

My MacBook Air informed me that there was an IOS update available and required a re-start. Naturally, as you would expect things to be better after an update, I agreed to install, re-start etc etc.
However, now I need to re-type all of my software application product keys ! So if you do this upgrade while away from where you keep the official software (most probably in a secure place), your Mac becomes really useless !
Again, extremely disappointing performance from Apple ... this does not happen when you have a IOS upgrade with a Windows PC.
The other really disappointing issue is that Apple actually does not inform you prior to the upgrade that you need the software product keys to keep using your computer.
All in all, extremely disappointing ... it is all very gimmicky and unprofessional.
On a side note, the upgrade has not improved performance at all... as a matter of fact, my 6 year old Dell XPS outperforms my state of the art (not) Macbook Air.
 
NutsNGum

NutsNGum

macrumors 68030
Jul 30, 2010
2,856
367
Glasgow, Scotland
Dutch66 said:
My MacBook Air informed me that there was an IOS update available and required a re-start. Naturally, as you would expect things to be better after an update, I agreed to install, re-start etc etc.
However, now I need to re-type all of my software application product keys ! So if you do this upgrade while away from where you keep the official software (most probably in a secure place), your Mac becomes really useless !
Again, extremely disappointing performance from Apple ... this does not happen when you have a IOS upgrade with a Windows PC.
The other really disappointing issue is that Apple actually does not inform you prior to the upgrade that you need the software product keys to keep using your computer.
All in all, extremely disappointing ... it is all very gimmicky and unprofessional.
On a side note, the upgrade has not improved performance at all... as a matter of fact, my 6 year old Dell XPS outperforms my state of the art (not) Macbook Air.
Click to expand...

Anybody here care?


...

.....


Thought not.
 
M

Mrbobb

macrumors 603
Aug 27, 2012
5,009
209
Please let this thread die.

If u wait 18 months to tell us you have problems, it's probly terminal. The cancer has spread.

Never heard of this need key thing but OK, things happens. Just with everything else in life, have an insurance, a BACK UP to be precised. Then you can "Go Bak" as $&^@ happens. It's a catch-all. Recommended.
 
D

Dutch66

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 29, 2012
10
0
Nobody really cares, including Apple ... off course people want this thread to die as it exposes Apple. Having to re-type the software keys for every piece of non Apple software is not very convenient if you are on the road ... Remember the MacBook Air is sold as the ultimate road warrior ...:mad:
 
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