2011 MacBook Air Freezing ever since Mountain Lion Update

[Mazda 3s]

I have a 2011 MacBook Air (13", 4GB) that was rock solid with Lion for a year. However, ever since upgrading to Mountain Lion, I've been experiencing frequent freezes/lockups.

Sometimes, my Menu bar will freeze, and I'll get the spinning beachball, then the system will completely freeze requiring me to power down.

Other times, the machine will just instantly freeze, requiring a power down.

Still, in another annoying situation, I'll close the lid on my laptop while plugged in, come back a few hours later, and the machine won't wake up. No screen activity, not even any light noticeable through the Apple logo on the back of the screen. NOTHING.

It's getting to be to the point where I don't want to use my MBA anymore and try to do as much work as possible on my iPad.

Nothing has changed software/hardware wise since the upgrade to Mountain Lion. I even tried disabling PowerNap, but that didn't work.

 

[theSeb]

I've not noticed these problems since upgrading my 2011 MBA. Have you upgraded to the latest version of Mountain Lion as well (10.8.2)?

 

[Mazda 3s]

I've not noticed these problems since upgrading my 2011 MBA. Have you upgraded to the latest version of Mountain Lion as well (10.8.2)?

Yup, I had the problems initially with 10.8. The 10.8.1 and 10.8.2 updates did nothing to stop the problems.

 

[theSeb]

Yup, I had the problems initially with 10.8. The 10.8.1 and 10.8.2 updates did nothing to stop the problems.

My advice would be to start with a clean slate. Do a backup using TM, and then do a clean install of Mountain Lion. Then check how things are running for a day or two and migrate your apps/data/settings from the TM backup. My 3 Macs that have been upgraded to ML have all been running well.

 

[Mazda 3s]

My advice would be to start with a clean slate. Do a backup using TM, and then do a clean install of Mountain Lion. Then check how things are running for a day or two and migrate your apps/data/settings from the TM backup. My 3 Macs that have been upgraded to ML have all been running well.

I even did that. I had been using the same base image/install from my 2009 MacBook Pro, to a 2010 MacBook Air to my 2011 MacBook Air. It went from Leopard to Snow Leopard to Lion to Mountain Lion.

So decided to do a complete wipe of the machine, installed Mountain Lion, and installed all of my apps back one by one. I didn't bother with migration assistant because I wanted EVERYTHING to be fresh. Still, FREEZE!

 

[theSeb]

I even did that. I had been using the same base image/install from my 2009 MacBook Pro, to a 2010 MacBook Air to my 2011 MacBook Air. It went from Leopard to Snow Leopard to Lion to Mountain Lion.

So decided to do a complete wipe of the machine, installed Mountain Lion, and installed all of my apps back one by one. I didn't bother with migration assistant because I wanted EVERYTHING to be fresh. Still, FREEZE!

Well, that is not normal and there is something very wrong with your computer that is either being caused by one of the apps that you've installed, or a hardware issue. How did you perform the clean install just out of interest?

 

[Mazda 3s]

Well, that is not normal and there is something very wrong with your computer that is either being caused by one of the apps that you've installed, or a hardware issue. How did you perform the clean install just out of interest?

I made sure that I had all of my app DMG files backed up to an external HDD, and backed up my Mail folder/Pictures/Documents.

I then rebooted the machine, and booted from a USB stick that I put the Mountain Lion install files on. I wiped the internal SSD using Disk Utility, then proceeded to install Mountain Lion from scratch.

Then I spent about an hour and a half loading all of my apps back, copying my Mail/Pics/Documents back over and installing updates.

 

[theSeb]

I made sure that I had all of my app DMG files backed up to an external HDD, and backed up my Mail folder/Pictures/Documents.

I then rebooted the machine, and booted from a USB stick that I put the Mountain Lion install files on. I wiped the internal SSD using Disk Utility, then proceeded to install Mountain Lion from scratch.

Then I spent about an hour and a half loading all of my apps back, copying my Mail/Pics/Documents back over and installing updates.

So was the MBA freezing when you were installing and copying stuff back?

 

[Mazda 3s]

So was the MBA freezing when you were installing and copying stuff back?

Nope.

 

[theSeb]

Nope.

When did the erratic behaviour start again? After you had finished copying/installing? After a couple of days?

 

[Mazda 3s]

When did the erratic behaviour start again? After you had finished copying/installing? After a couple of days?

It started happening about a day afterwards.

But the key is, I never had ANY problems before Mountain Lion.

 

[theSeb]

It started happening about a day afterwards.

But the key is, I never had ANY problems before Mountain Lion.

This could be an incompatibility issue between one of the apps and Mountain Lion or it could be a hardware issue. Have you tried running Apple Hardware Test? (hold D during start up)

 

[TPadden]

Well, that is not normal and there is something very wrong with your computer that is either being caused by one of the apps that you've installed, or a hardware issue. How did you perform the clean install just out of interest?

Don't listen to him ; you are not the lone ranger, it's ML and SL or L will fix it.... .

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1413358/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1415783/

 

[Mazda 3s]

Don't listen to him ; you are not the lone ranger, it's ML and SL or L will fix it.... .

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1413358/

Wow, I'm NOT alone! At least others are running into the same issues as me.

 

[theSeb]

Don't listen to him ; you are not the lone ranger, it's ML and SL or L will fix it.... .

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1413358/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1415783/

Odd issue, but, frustratingly, I see no common usage pattern that is causing the problem. It does not explain why thousands of people don't have the problem with ML either.

 

[TPadden]

Odd issue, but, frustratingly, I see no common usage pattern that is causing the problem.

Current bet is on graphics driver. Personally I got tired of reformatting and clean install (2011 MBA), went back to L, and will wait until the ML freeze on Macbook complaints disappear.

 

[theSeb]

Current bet is on graphics driver. Personally I got tired of reformatting and clean install and just went back to SL and will wait until the ML freeze on Macbook complaints disappear.

That was a common issue when the 2012 MBA came out, even on Lion. I recall that Chrome was one of the apps causing the entire thing to hang. I am surprised that this is still a problem on ML.