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2.52 GHz i5 already running on its last legs!

D

dreary

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 13, 2009
140
0
I'm getting really frustrated with the less than stellar performance of my MPB. :mad: whenever i'm doing something as simple as running a short youtube video or watching a movie clip in quicktime, my system freezes. the only thing that moves is my mouse, but everything else is nonrespsonsive. what can i do? do i need to contact apple and pressure them to fixing the problem?
 
i don't think so, because if i'm watching a movie in quicktime (not streaming), it freezes as well. besides my whole system becomes unresponsive.
 
dreary said:
i don't think so, because if i'm watching a movie in quicktime (not streaming), it freezes as well. besides my whole system becomes unresponsive.
Click to expand...

Either some HW device is NG or the OS is goofed. The first step might be to reinstall OSX. That is a simple ~30+ minute task and won't impact your apps or docs. If that doesn't fix the freeze problem .............. time for a trip to the Apple store.

good luck
JohnG
 
Looks like you got one of the faulty ones, just wait for an update to fix the freeze problems or get it replaced, it's your choice...

BTW can you check if it's booting on 64-bit or 32-bit?
 
dreary said:
I'm getting really frustrated with the less than stellar performance of my MPB. :mad: whenever i'm doing something as simple as running a short youtube video or watching a movie clip in quicktime, my system freezes. the only thing that moves is my mouse, but everything else is nonrespsonsive. what can i do? do i need to contact apple and pressure them to fixing the problem?
Click to expand...

Does it eventually un-freeze and everything happen in a sudden rush?
 
System freezing is most definitely NOT normal. If you just bought your unit insist on an exchange. Otherwise you'll unfortunately have to have it repaired.
 
how do i check if its 32-bit or 64-bit?
DesmoPilot said:
Does it eventually un-freeze and everything happen in a sudden rush?
Click to expand...

no, it stays frozen. i left it alone for an hour, and it was still frozen. another time i close the lid while it was frozen, and when i opened it the screen was black but the mouse was the only visible thing.
 
dreary said:
how do i check if its 32-bit or 64-bit?


no, it stays frozen. i left it alone for an hour, and it was still frozen. another time i close the lid while it was frozen, and when i opened it the screen was black but the mouse was the only visible thing.
Click to expand...

Select the Apple icon in the finder bar> About this Mac> More Info> This will open System Profiler. Select the Software option and it'll tell you if you're running the 64-bit Kernel or not.
 
I'd just suggest taking it back to an Apple store to get it fixed or replaced. No point spending all that time doing it if you aren't very savvy or don't have/want to spend the time doing it.

It shouldn't be frustrating to use it like that.
 
Funny no one has mentioned yet the 10-page long thread at: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/912218/

I respectfully suggest you ignore what everyone has said thus far, and suggest that you turn off automatic graphics switching and see whether you still experience the freezing. If you don't, you have your answer, and the only two useful options you have are to wait for a Mac OS update or to get a refund. A replacement is unlikely to do you any good.

P.S. Ignore everything except this:

DesmoPilot said:
Does it eventually un-freeze and everything happen in a sudden rush?
Click to expand...

This is a symptom of the automatic graphics switching bug.
 
Interesting how some i5/i7 MBP exhibit that freezing problem when watching Flash based videos while others do not.

I have mine (i7 15" MBP) still set to auto switch and have never had any issues. When watching Youtube and Hulu it stays on the Intel GPU, doesn't switch to the 330M.
 
LedCop said:
This is a symptom of the automatic graphics switching bug.
Click to expand...

Not for me; never experienced the auto switching bug. My issue with freezing (system beachballed and basically froze but could still move my mouse around, after 10-30 seconds the system would catch up and everything would happen at once) was due to the crappy stock seagate HD. Swapped it for a hitachi 7K500 and I haven't had a freeze since; there's also a 15+ page thread on the apple support forums with dozens of reports that swapping out the seagate HD fixes the problem.
 
i'm not running 64-bit, and right now i reinstalled OSX, so hopefully that solves the problem.

LedCop said:
Funny no one has mentioned yet the 10-page long thread at: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/912218/

I respectfully suggest you ignore what everyone has said thus far, and suggest that you turn off automatic graphics switching and see whether you still experience the freezing. If you don't, you have your answer, and the only two useful options you have are to wait for a Mac OS update or to get a refund. A replacement is unlikely to do you any good.

P.S. Ignore everything except this:



This is a symptom of the automatic graphics switching bug.
Click to expand...

i thought that was the problem as well but i have automatic graphic switching disabled. i disabled it when i first got it. it only freezes whenever i start playing a video in youtube, or watching a movie in quicktime.
 
DesmoPilot said:
Not for me; never experienced the auto switching bug. My issue with freezing (system beachballed and basically froze but could still move my mouse around, after 10-30 seconds the system would catch up and everything would happen at once) was due to the crappy stock seagate HD. Swapped it for a hitachi 7K500 and I haven't had a freeze since; there's also a 15+ page thread on the apple support forums with dozens of reports that swapping out the seagate HD fixes the problem.
Click to expand...

I could have sworn I read someone having that catching up bug in that auto gfx switching thread... maybe someone else who also thought that catching up bug was due to the switching, posted there and I connected the two. Thanks, now I know it's the Seagate that is responsible. Btw, that stock Seagate, is it the 5400 rpm or 7200 one?


dreary said:
i thought that was the problem as well but i have automatic graphic switching disabled. i disabled it when i first got it. it only freezes whenever i start playing a video in youtube, or watching a movie in quicktime.
Click to expand...

D'oh! My battleship got sunk. :( But that's strange, as both playing a youtube video (with the updated flash) and watching a movie in quicktime kick in the discrete video card for hardware processing of the video if graphics switching was enabled. But since yours is already enabled anyway... :confused:
 
LedCop said:
I could have sworn I read someone having that catching up bug in that auto gfx switching thread... maybe someone else who also thought that catching up bug was due to the switching, posted there and I connected the two. Thanks, now I know it's the Seagate that is responsible. Btw, that stock Seagate, is it the 5400 rpm or 7200 one?
Click to expand...

Mine was the 5400; but in the thread at the Apple support forms, people were reporting the same issue with the 7200.
 
so i ended up reinstalling OSX, and i haven't had any problems. anyone else still have trouble with freezes?
 
DesmoPilot said:
Mine was the 5400; but in the thread at the Apple support forms, people were reporting the same issue with the 7200.
Click to expand...

Usually when people experience these issues, everything on machine freezes but mouse, I tell people that there is a good possibility the drive is dying.

On new machines, don't know, could be a bad batch or a drive firmware issue.

Could try using SMART Utility.app to see if the drive has been experiencing DMA errors or something.
 
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