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Apple Working on Software Update for MacBook Pro Hard Drive Issues
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I have a MBP that is about 2 years old. I replaced the stock hard drive a few months ago with a 320gb seagate with the g-shock thing. I have noticed the annoying beeps and little bursts of lag. Looking forward to a solution.
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Hmmm, I would return it anyway. It appears your "period" key is broken.
Macman1993 said:
Hmmm, I would return it anyway. It appears your "period" key is broken.
I am the original topic poster both here and on the apple support site. Please see the following links for reference:
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/727453/
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2049659
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2042490
Here's a bit of what has happened in my situation so far. Had the original ST9500420ASG drive in my build-to-order June 09 MBP 15. It has the 0006SDM1 firmware in it. Had the click + beep + freeze from day one. This was prior to the 1.7 firmware update. Wondered what was going on, was hopeful for a fix in the 1.7 firmware update, but as we all knodw that did not happen.
I tried my hand at getting apple to do something, but they would only offer to replace the computer which at the time was not an option as I had just started my post doctorate educational program and downtime was not acceptible. They would not arrange to ship me a new hard drive at that time.
On recommendation of another poster, I opted to try the non-G drive ST9500420AS with enclosure from OWC and install it myself, thinking I would have a backup 500 GB drive and an enclosure as well. I installed it and everything worked flawlessly. The firmware on this drive was the 0002SDM1 (apparently older, but I don't know their naming convention)
In the meantime, my schools tech support people (my school is an authorized apple reseller, not sure if that matters) quickly got me a replacement G drive, also with the 0002SDM1 firmware on it.
I again swapped this drive in to see if it worked better. I did not hear any beeps, but there was an abnormal, yet different click from time to time. I did not notice any beach balls when using this drive.
Preferring the silent no-clicking of the non-g drive, I swapped it back in and decided to give that one a try for a while.
I used the non-G drive without trouble until yesterday, 8-9-09 at which point the system froze, mouse still working but otherwise unfunctional. Of note was the faint, but different than original, beep at an interval not unlike the busy signal on an american land phone line. I had to hold my ear up to the hard drive area under the keyboard to hear it well. Only option at this point was to hold down the power button and cross my fingers.
The machine did not boot up. Powering on the system led to the same faint beep - beep - beep sound.
I decided to put in the "newer" G drive with the 0002SDM1 firmware and have been using it since yesterday. So far its ok. But I have to admit I don't trust these things at all. This is the first computer of any kind that I've had so much trouble from the beginning with and it really is coming at a bad time for me. I'm in a post-doctoral specialty program that is very demanding and I'm probably going to pay for spending so much time writing this post but hopefully it helps someone. I don't have time to worry about my computer and its ability to let me get work done. I'm glad that prior to all this I had a very comprehensive and regular back-up plan in place and through it all I've lost an insignificant amount of data. I sincerely hope there is a firmware fix. If not in the short term, I may opt for a different brand of drive.
Of interest is the fact that in my program, all 6 residents were required to buy macbook pro's. Of the 6 of us, 2 of us ended up buying the June 09 15 Build-to-order with a 500 GB 7200 drive. The other guys drive is ok as far as I know. The others in the class bought before the new ones were out and I don't think any of them upgraded to the 7200 rpm drive.
Also of interest is that I have a BS and MS in computer science but it did not make me any more credible in posting this 1.5 months ago as a definate problem. Oh well. Its amazing that even with the traffic the apple support forum has received that this issue is just now coming to the surface of the bigger news sites. I tried to message Arn about this some time ago and got no response.
...and yes...before everyone chimes in with helpful hints...I have tried
1.) hdapm
2.) turning off the "turn off hard drives when not in use" option
3.) resetting NVRAM / PRAM
4.) SMC reset
None of these for me did anything. Smart Utility gave some useful information with regards to parking numbers, and before I swapped the original drive out I ran it and it was reporting drive failure. I'm scared to run it again on the replacement G drive with older firmware.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/727453/
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2049659
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2042490
Here's a bit of what has happened in my situation so far. Had the original ST9500420ASG drive in my build-to-order June 09 MBP 15. It has the 0006SDM1 firmware in it. Had the click + beep + freeze from day one. This was prior to the 1.7 firmware update. Wondered what was going on, was hopeful for a fix in the 1.7 firmware update, but as we all knodw that did not happen.
I tried my hand at getting apple to do something, but they would only offer to replace the computer which at the time was not an option as I had just started my post doctorate educational program and downtime was not acceptible. They would not arrange to ship me a new hard drive at that time.
On recommendation of another poster, I opted to try the non-G drive ST9500420AS with enclosure from OWC and install it myself, thinking I would have a backup 500 GB drive and an enclosure as well. I installed it and everything worked flawlessly. The firmware on this drive was the 0002SDM1 (apparently older, but I don't know their naming convention)
In the meantime, my schools tech support people (my school is an authorized apple reseller, not sure if that matters) quickly got me a replacement G drive, also with the 0002SDM1 firmware on it.
I again swapped this drive in to see if it worked better. I did not hear any beeps, but there was an abnormal, yet different click from time to time. I did not notice any beach balls when using this drive.
Preferring the silent no-clicking of the non-g drive, I swapped it back in and decided to give that one a try for a while.
I used the non-G drive without trouble until yesterday, 8-9-09 at which point the system froze, mouse still working but otherwise unfunctional. Of note was the faint, but different than original, beep at an interval not unlike the busy signal on an american land phone line. I had to hold my ear up to the hard drive area under the keyboard to hear it well. Only option at this point was to hold down the power button and cross my fingers.
The machine did not boot up. Powering on the system led to the same faint beep - beep - beep sound.
I decided to put in the "newer" G drive with the 0002SDM1 firmware and have been using it since yesterday. So far its ok. But I have to admit I don't trust these things at all. This is the first computer of any kind that I've had so much trouble from the beginning with and it really is coming at a bad time for me. I'm in a post-doctoral specialty program that is very demanding and I'm probably going to pay for spending so much time writing this post but hopefully it helps someone. I don't have time to worry about my computer and its ability to let me get work done. I'm glad that prior to all this I had a very comprehensive and regular back-up plan in place and through it all I've lost an insignificant amount of data. I sincerely hope there is a firmware fix. If not in the short term, I may opt for a different brand of drive.
Of interest is the fact that in my program, all 6 residents were required to buy macbook pro's. Of the 6 of us, 2 of us ended up buying the June 09 15 Build-to-order with a 500 GB 7200 drive. The other guys drive is ok as far as I know. The others in the class bought before the new ones were out and I don't think any of them upgraded to the 7200 rpm drive.
Also of interest is that I have a BS and MS in computer science but it did not make me any more credible in posting this 1.5 months ago as a definate problem. Oh well. Its amazing that even with the traffic the apple support forum has received that this issue is just now coming to the surface of the bigger news sites. I tried to message Arn about this some time ago and got no response.
...and yes...before everyone chimes in with helpful hints...I have tried
1.) hdapm
2.) turning off the "turn off hard drives when not in use" option
3.) resetting NVRAM / PRAM
4.) SMC reset
None of these for me did anything. Smart Utility gave some useful information with regards to parking numbers, and before I swapped the original drive out I ran it and it was reporting drive failure. I'm scared to run it again on the replacement G drive with older firmware.
was just about to upgrade
Hmm...I was just about to buy a new MacBook Pro (in two days) with a 500 GB hard drive (the $2300 15" model). Anyone know if that model is affected by this?
Hmm...I was just about to buy a new MacBook Pro (in two days) with a 500 GB hard drive (the $2300 15" model). Anyone know if that model is affected by this?
Yes I bought the $2300 model and experienced the problems, but with apple putting in a new hard drive there seems to be no more beeping noise or read and write errors. The drive seems to be working just fine. My old hard drive made the noises when it was just sitting on my desk and not even processing anything, so not because of the motion sensors.
EASY FIX to see if it is SMS...
It is likely that Seagate gave Apple the wrong drive firmware on the OEM models.
But there is a simple, simple fix. Anyone who has this issue can try it and see if it is the conflicting SMS.
Disable SMS by opening terminal.
type:
sudo pmset -a sms 0
then just enter your password when prompted.
SMS is now off, and if those behaviors stop, then you know it was a conflict...
PS - you can check if the setting was set by typing sudo pmset -g
It is likely that Seagate gave Apple the wrong drive firmware on the OEM models.
But there is a simple, simple fix. Anyone who has this issue can try it and see if it is the conflicting SMS.
Disable SMS by opening terminal.
type:
sudo pmset -a sms 0
then just enter your password when prompted.
SMS is now off, and if those behaviors stop, then you know it was a conflict...
PS - you can check if the setting was set by typing sudo pmset -g
I must be lucky. I installed G-force enabled Seagate ST9500420ASG to my MBP (2007 SR) and have had zero problems. Revision 0002SDM1 by the way. And I'm running the latest Leopard, so it is not Leopard either.
Apple is probably not going to release a fix applicable to your computer. You shouldn't have bought that drive in the first place.
I had this issue on my previous 17" uMBP. Apparently, if I switched to a Western Digital 500GB Scorpio Blue drive, the clicking and stalling and stuff stops. It seems the Seagate drive is the fault for all the troubles.
I´ll join the club..
WDC WD5000BEVT,doesnt go to full sleep automatically, slight revving and clicking since I replaced the old drive in my MB. Good to know that apple is maybe doing something.
It just feels weird that hdd manufacturers have not been able to come up with some kind of standardisation of specs that would minimize this kind of problems?
Dang.
WDC WD5000BEVT,doesnt go to full sleep automatically, slight revving and clicking since I replaced the old drive in my MB. Good to know that apple is maybe doing something.
It just feels weird that hdd manufacturers have not been able to come up with some kind of standardisation of specs that would minimize this kind of problems?
Dang.
With all due respect your problem is not the same one that the article mentions. The article references 7200RPM 500GB drives, and the only one manufactured is a Seagate model. I wouldn't get my hopes up for a fix from Apple for your particular problem.
Sudden Motion Description
As I understand it the "ASG" description on the hard drive is the GForce option.
I have just upgraded my 2.4ghz MBP with this drive, Model: ST9500420ASG, which is the 500gb GForce drive. Touch wood I have not had any freezing just yet. Maybe this is due to the fact the MBP is 2 years old
As I understand it the "ASG" description on the hard drive is the GForce option.
I have just upgraded my 2.4ghz MBP with this drive, Model: ST9500420ASG, which is the 500gb GForce drive. Touch wood I have not had any freezing just yet. Maybe this is due to the fact the MBP is 2 years old
It does seem that it's an issue for non 7200RPM drives too though. Plenty of discussion on Apple's forums. They need to be looking at all the problems.
I've got the WD5000BEVT drive too and I do get the occasional lock-up but it's not too bad. Just waiting on the delivery of a new MBP with a stock 500GB drive and dreading what problems may await with that one!
Same here. Our older "Santa Rosa" models seem unaffected, this problem only surfaces on the newer UniBody versions. Lucky us
Or perhaps all self-upgraded drives are fine, Apple just got a bad batch from the factory?The fact that I have an older MBP that is not exhibiting these problems goes along with that idea regarding faulty Seagate firmware.
Also when I open System Profiler my MBP seems to think it is a 17" G4 Powerbook!!
This seems strange, it shouldn't be that way. My older 2007 Santa Rosa MBP correctly thinks it is in fact a MacBook Pro. I do not have these Seagate issues, but I did the HD swap myself (since that model was not available in 2007).