2010 MBA - Slow Painful Death?

ChasingFrames · Nov 19, 2012

My 2010 MBA 13" has begun to give what I'm concerned are the death rattles.

Disclaimer: I'm a student and this computer has been abused for two years straight. It's spent 90% of its time being carted around in a backpack. It's taken a 5' fall from someone's arms onto pavement (and got only a ding in the process -- screen is intact). I was planning on replacing it with something more powerful in January or March, depending on money, so it's not the end of the world if the news is bad.

Symptoms:

Occasionally when waking from sleep by raising the lid, horizontal lines like static on a TV appear. They disappear when I close the lid and re-open it.

About every 3rd time I wake it by opening the lid, I get the white screen and "Your computer must restart due to an error" message.

There is an intermittent problem with the keyboard where it stops responding unless each key is mashed very hard, and with long intervals between each press. Sleep/waking it fixes this as well.

Startups are normal. RAM usage is low; the most I run at any given time is Adium + Chrome (3-4 tabs, no flash) + Textedit. I checked disk permissions this morning and did a repair on them. Not sure if a clean install of ML would help, because it seems like a hardware problem, but I'm willing to give it a shot in a few days when I have some free time.

Any suggestions for troubleshooting would be appreciated.

alfistas · Nov 19, 2012

There is a chance a clean re-install of ML would fix all these but...

these symptoms sound to me like there is a short circuit or a bad cap somewhere in there.

ChrisMan287 · Nov 19, 2012

Do you have OnyX installed on there?

t0rr3s · Nov 19, 2012

Frankly, after all that abuse, it's very hard to look past anything but hardware fault.

Nightarchaon · Nov 20, 2012

Apples design standards, not just for batteries, but for the hardware in general, two years then it falls apart

aldo818 · Nov 20, 2012

ChrisMan287 said:
Do you have OnyX installed on there?

is onyX causing this problems? i have start probs too. From time to time i need to restart 2 time as i get an kernel panic and slowdown times are really slow.

pedromartins · Nov 20, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
Image

Apples design standards, not just for batteries, but for the hardware in general, two years then it falls apart

That's BS. AFAIK (and i know enough about this subject), Mac hardware is the best, only a few other computers come close.

Nightarchaon · Nov 20, 2012

pedromartins said:
That's BS. AFAIK (and i know enough about this subject), Mac hardware is the best, only a few other computers come close.

Mac hardware reliability is ***** compared to any other computer hardware out there, apples marketing dept works hard to make the shiny exterior LOOK good, the hardware itself is no more, and often a lot less, reliable than any other PC on the market,

Mostly apple hardware suffers from being "bleeding edge" , untested and 1st gen of new tech in a consumer environment,

Look at the recent history of apples "Faults", Time Capsules, 1st gen TCs fried themselves because of shoddy capacitors, Mac Book Pros retina display 1st gen, ghosting issues, Ipad/Iphone/Ipod touch screens yellowing issues, iMac mass hard-drive recall (of a proprietary, non-user purchasable, non-user replaceable part that any other PC user could have fixed themselves)

Apples "Reliability" and "Build Quality" apply to the Cases, not the insides, the insides are built by the same underpaid, overwork factory workers that build your DELL or HP or any other PC, from the same parts, sourced as cheaply as possible, the only difference between the Mac and the PC you buy apart from the operating system and case is the 30%+ markup apple are selling it to you at.

xPurpleblob · Nov 20, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
Mac hardware reliability is ***** compared to any other computer hardware out there, apples marketing dept works hard to make the shiny exterior LOOK good, the hardware itself is no more, and often a lot less, reliable than any other PC on the market,

Mostly apple hardware suffers from being "bleeding edge" , untested and 1st gen of new tech in a consumer environment,

Look at the recent history of apples "Faults", Time Capsules, 1st gen TCs fried themselves because of shoddy capacitors, Mac Book Pros retina display 1st gen, ghosting issues, Ipad/Iphone/Ipod touch screens yellowing issues, iMac mass hard-drive recall (of a proprietary, non-user purchasable, non-user replaceable part that any other PC user could have fixed themselves)

Apples "Reliability" and "Build Quality" apply to the Cases, not the insides, the insides are built by the same underpaid, overwork factory workers that build your DELL or HP or any other PC, from the same parts, sourced as cheaply as possible, the only difference between the Mac and the PC you buy apart from the operating system and case is the 30%+ markup apple are selling it to you at.

No

ChrisMan287 · Nov 20, 2012

aldo818 said:
is onyX causing this problems? i have start probs too. From time to time i need to restart 2 time as i get an kernel panic and slowdown times are really slow.

No. I was going to tell him to install it if not and run Automation in there to clear some stuff up.

durruti · Nov 20, 2012

for troubleshooting;

to be completely sure, you have to rule out the possibilities. I recommend a fresh install to narrow down the cause.

TheRealDamager · Nov 20, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
Mac hardware reliability is ***** compared to any other computer hardware out there, apples marketing dept works hard to make the shiny exterior LOOK good, the hardware itself is no more, and often a lot less, reliable than any other PC on the market,

Mostly apple hardware suffers from being "bleeding edge" , untested and 1st gen of new tech in a consumer environment,

Look at the recent history of apples "Faults", Time Capsules, 1st gen TCs fried themselves because of shoddy capacitors, Mac Book Pros retina display 1st gen, ghosting issues, Ipad/Iphone/Ipod touch screens yellowing issues, iMac mass hard-drive recall (of a proprietary, non-user purchasable, non-user replaceable part that any other PC user could have fixed themselves)

Apples "Reliability" and "Build Quality" apply to the Cases, not the insides, the insides are built by the same underpaid, overwork factory workers that build your DELL or HP or any other PC, from the same parts, sourced as cheaply as possible, the only difference between the Mac and the PC you buy apart from the operating system and case is the 30%+ markup apple are selling it to you at.

According to sites Consumer Reports, your statements here are not correct. Apple consistently ranks at the top of the charts for reliability and for producing well engineered products.

Nightarchaon · Nov 21, 2012

TheRealDamager said:
According to sites Consumer Reports, your statements here are not correct. Apple consistently ranks at the top of the charts for reliability and for producing well engineered products.

Consumer reports tend to not give a full picture, also, when was the last time you saw a consumer report amended after 18 months when a defect with a product as bad as a mass recall of all units for Harddisk replacements, or PSU failures happen ?

A Consumer report cannot give you any idea of the reliability of a product any more than looking down can tell you what the weather is like on the other side of the planet.

A "Well Engineered" product is not necessarily a product that isn't going to have a flaw in its design , a "Well Engineered" product in the case of consumer reports just means "Pretty"

G4-power · Nov 21, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
Look at the recent history of apples "Faults", Time Capsules, 1st gen TCs fried themselves because of shoddy capacitors, Mac Book Pros retina display 1st gen, ghosting issues, Ipad/Iphone/Ipod touch screens yellowing issues, iMac mass hard-drive recall (of a proprietary, non-user purchasable, non-user replaceable part that any other PC user could have fixed themselves)

How is the iMac hard drive recall Apple's fault? If a quality OEM manufacturer (Seagate in this case) delivers parts to a computer manufacturer that may have a hidden defect in them, how is the computer manufacturer supposed to know that? Of course they can't, but the right thing to do is issue a recall, instead of being hush-hush and letting people's hard drives fail without warning. Yes, you're right, the hard drive is not considered a user-replaceable part, and that is a shame. But it definitely is not proprietary.

As for the other problems, yes you are absolutely right, there are problems. But Apple isn't the only one, and not the worst one. Engineering and manufacturing is balancing different aspects and Apple isn't exempt from that. They aren't perfect. But their build quality is absolutely from the top-end of what I've seen. Other manufacturers get close or better, but only in the same price category.

As for the MBA, I'm afraid the abuse has made it's mark. Try a clean OS X install, and if the problems persist, it's probably a hardware problem.

Nightarchaon · Nov 21, 2012

G4-power said:
How is the iMac hard drive recall Apple's fault? If a quality OEM manufacturer (Seagate in this case) delivers parts to a computer manufacturer that may have a hidden defect in them, how is the computer manufacturer supposed to know that? Of course they can't, but the right thing to do is issue a recall, instead of being hush-hush and letting people's hard drives fail without warning. Yes, you're right, the hard drive is not considered a user-replaceable part, and that is a shame. But it definitely is not proprietary.

Its a none-standard, specially made, different pinout from a standard HDD you or i can buy anywhere else, therefore its proprietary, its an APPLE component, it may be made by someone else, but that's true off all the components in everything you buy nowadays, they are an amalgam of parts from various suppliers. The HDD recall is Apples fault for not stringently testing its components before launching a product, same for the time capsule PSUs, the Screen issues etc

Had a class action suit not been in the offing, and had Seagate themselves not raised the issue to the public then apple would have denied there was an issue for as long as possible, it took them two years, and a class action suit to admit to a problem with the 1st gen time capsule PSUs.

As for the other problems, yes you are absolutely right, there are problems. But Apple isn't the only one, and not the worst one. Engineering and manufacturing is balancing different aspects and Apple isn't exempt from that. They aren't perfect. But their build quality is absolutely from the top-end of what I've seen. Other manufacturers get close or better, but only in the same price category.

Apple are the worst in terms of how they Deny any issue exists, and downright LIE to consumers, i had my early 2008 MBPs GPU replaced by apple, and whilst i was there picking up my "covered by Nvidia" repaired laptop the apple "Genius" next to me was happily selling a guy a new MBP because his was "dead", it wasn't, it was the Nvidia issue, and was covered under warranty, which i pointed out to him, and they had to admit that he could get it repaired, rather than buy a new one, but apples store policy is "up-sell" , don't admit faults, which i find despicable.

As for the MBA, I'm afraid the abuse has made it's mark. Try a clean OS X install, and if the problems persist, it's probably a hardware problem.

As with all hinged lid laptops, once the connection between the screen and the base fails, there is little to do other than to try and get what you can for it, if it still outputs to an external display ok someone might pick it up as a cheap alternative to a media center (im using an old MBP with a defunct screen as an iTunes server) but don't expect to get much more than scrap pricing for it.

TheRealDamager · Nov 21, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
Consumer reports tend to not give a full picture, also, when was the last time you saw a consumer report amended after 18 months when a defect with a product as bad as a mass recall of all units for Harddisk replacements, or PSU failures happen ?

A Consumer report cannot give you any idea of the reliability of a product any more than looking down can tell you what the weather is like on the other side of the planet.

A "Well Engineered" product is not necessarily a product that isn't going to have a flaw in its design , a "Well Engineered" product in the case of consumer reports just means "Pretty"

Their reliability reports are based on actual reports from their subscribers - how is this "like looking at the weather on the other side of the planet?". You are simply refusing to look at facts, and are repeating your opinion.

gnasher729 · Nov 21, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
Image

Apples design standards, not just for batteries, but for the hardware in general, two years then it falls apart

My wife's MacBook was purchased May 2006. Works just fine.

robanga · Nov 21, 2012

gnasher729 said:
My wife's MacBook was purchased May 2006. Works just fine.

Consistently our Apple products have survived 2X- 3X longer than other products (the others mainly coming from Dell, Lenovo and HP). We have Mac's buzzing along fine in daily use from 2007 for instance. There are no PC's that old that are still soldiering on.

Mikey-Mike · Nov 21, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
Mac hardware reliability is ***** compared to any other computer hardware out there, apples marketing dept works hard to make the shiny exterior LOOK good, the hardware itself is no more, and often a lot less, reliable than any other PC on the market,

Mostly apple hardware suffers from being "bleeding edge" , untested and 1st gen of new tech in a consumer environment,

Look at the recent history of apples "Faults", Time Capsules, 1st gen TCs fried themselves because of shoddy capacitors, Mac Book Pros retina display 1st gen, ghosting issues, Ipad/Iphone/Ipod touch screens yellowing issues, iMac mass hard-drive recall (of a proprietary, non-user purchasable, non-user replaceable part that any other PC user could have fixed themselves)

Apples "Reliability" and "Build Quality" apply to the Cases, not the insides, the insides are built by the same underpaid, overwork factory workers that build your DELL or HP or any other PC, from the same parts, sourced as cheaply as possible, the only difference between the Mac and the PC you buy apart from the operating system and case is the 30%+ markup apple are selling it to you at.

No.

As to the OP. Obviously, the only thing to do is take it to a genius bar and raise your voice and act angry, claiming, that no fault of your own your just out of warranty MB is broken and you demand a new one!

No matter what they say, just remember, you are the one who is right here.

Nightarchaon · Nov 21, 2012

TheRealDamager said:
Their reliability reports are based on actual reports from their subscribers - how is this "like looking at the weather on the other side of the planet?". You are simply refusing to look at facts, and are repeating your opinion.

The consumer reports are usually about products that are less than a year old, most bad failures happen at the 18month + of ownership, after apple has washed its hands (unless you bought applecare).

Its very easy to ask everyone if there new product is reliable if you have hardly taken it out of the packaging, or if you replace it every 12 months, try asking the users of something they have had for two or three years, and expect to last another 2 or 3 years.

----------

robanga said:
Consistently our Apple products have survived 2X- 3X longer than other products (the others mainly coming from Dell, Lenovo and HP). We have Mac's buzzing along fine in daily use from 2007 for instance. There are no PC's that old that are still soldiering on.

I have the exact opposite experience, but it may be that because the PCs and laptops ive got knocking about are inherently more user friendly for fixing the little issues like faulty HDDs and the like, and apple are sealing the units to prevent this more and more, thus meaning that a Windows machine is still up and running when a mac has failed and been binned.

A PC/Laptop i can open up and nine times out of ten i can fix with off the shelf parts, Apple is going out of its way to make even the stock parts non-standard (propitiatory HDDs, custom SSDs, difficult to access enclosures etc)

Would it seriously kill apple to have a 2.5" door on an iMac to allow the SSD to be replaced/upgraded/added ?

Mikey-Mike · Nov 21, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
I have the exact opposite experience...

A PC/Laptop...

Would it...

Don't give up buddy!

TheRealDamager · Nov 21, 2012

Wrong AGAIN. The reliability analysis is done for many years at Consumer Reports, NOT just the first year. Are you just making up your retorts off the top of your head, or is anything you say based on facts?

Nightarchaon · Nov 22, 2012

TheRealDamager said:
Wrong AGAIN. The reliability analysis is done for many years at Consumer Reports, NOT just the first year. Are you just making up your retorts off the top of your head, or is anything you say based on facts?

The reports are over years of NEW releases every year, how can you say a report about iPhone or iPad reliability is valid when the people will undoubtedly be giving the review about the CURRENT model, Also with the Mac hardware, many people have applecare, and thus pay in advance to have faults fixed, these same people don't class a failure fixed this way as a reliability issue as the issue is being fixed "under warranty/applecare" and Mac fanbois often gloss over the fact that it takes them 3 or 4 trips to get a machine that will function for the life of a three year applecare warranty, after that, they usually have upgraded to a new machine anyway.

Also, have you run across the saying, don't feed the trolls...

G4-power · Nov 22, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
Its a none-standard, specially made, different pinout from a standard HDD you or i can buy anywhere else, therefore its proprietary...

Ah yes, sorry about that. I had somehow missed the news about the drive pins. I remember people having changed their iMac HD's but there must have been a workaround... which is not the best solution from Apple, that's right.

orangezorki · Nov 22, 2012

Nightarchaon said:
I have the exact opposite experience, but it may be that because the PCs and laptops ive got knocking about are inherently more user friendly for fixing the little issues like faulty HDDs and the like, and apple are sealing the units to prevent this more and more, thus meaning that a Windows machine is still up and running when a mac has failed and been binned.

A PC/Laptop i can open up and nine times out of ten i can fix with off the shelf parts, Apple is going out of its way to make even the stock parts non-standard (propitiatory HDDs, custom SSDs, difficult to access enclosures etc)

Would it seriously kill apple to have a 2.5" door on an iMac to allow the SSD to be replaced/upgraded/added ?

I think that your point is valid, but it is regarding user-servicability of the devices, not their overall reliability. If it goes wrong (which I'm not convinced is any more than any other computer), then repairing is a major pain in the arse and/or wallet. Sometimes, Apple do walk into problems pushing the boundaries of size and features, but even that is surprisingly rare.

David

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