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MacBook Pro 2009 freezing issues; PLEASE HELP, DESPERATE

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wildcat1451

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 28, 2010
13
0
PLEASE can anybody help me?? I have a MacBook Pro late 2009 model, with 2.53 cpu and 128gb ssd HD. I am out of warranty. My MacBook keeps freezing, no matter what! I've done MULTIPLE clean installs. I re-installed LEOPARD with the DVD that came with the computer, then upgraded to Snow Leopard, then Lion, then Mountain Lion. ALL FOUR OS had the same problem. It would freeze for no apparent reason, usually when using safari, and would not unfreeze. I would have to do a hard shutdown (by holding the power button) and then when it restarts it just appears to stall with the Apple logo on the screen and the spinning wheel spinning infinitely. It won't start in safe mode, ive reset my SMC and PRAM. Occasionally after a PRAM reset the computer will start up normally instead of freezing. Otherwise it will not start up and i just keep resetting it and resetting it until it eventually will reload. Ive run the hardware analysis thing and it has come up as clean and ive also verified disk and repaired disk permissions. I dont know what else i can do. If i take it into Apple i doubt they will repair it since I have replaced my Trackpad as well as my HDD.

I'm at my wits end and am completely frustrated. I need my computer very badly. It does not matter if I lose all my data as I have done at least 10 clean installs trying to fix this problem. Can anybody please help me??? Im desperate!! Even some advice about taking it to Apple with the things i have done to it would be helpful. Anything?? Anyone?? PLEASE!!

EDIT: These issues happened before i installed my new Hard Drive.
 
I know you have done the hardware check, but is there any possibility of faulty RAM? These symptoms match the classic symptoms of defective or dying memory, including crashing, freezing, and performance issues. Go to the "System Information" app and click on "Memory." What do you see?

I was going to suggest kernel panic, but this seems to be hardware related, especially after multiple clean installs and OS upgrades. In fact, the only thing I can think of is a faulty logic board or faulty RAM. You'd best hope it's the RAM, as logic boards are ridiculously expensive.
 

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I'm currently re-re-re-re-installing mountain lion on it because unfortunately snow leopard wouldnt start up even after pram resets. It was happening before I installed a new hard drive. It became unusable because of the freezes which was why i upgraded my hard drive, i thought the old one was what was causing the issues.

Thank you very much for your help though, as soon as it is finished installing ill check my ram.

Also, if it is my logic board, how will we know?
 
Sorry dude, sounds like a hardware problem and probably the Logic Board. They're pricey to fix too, about $500 if I remember correctly.
 
Yeh, thats what im worried about too. My comptuer is still under apple care warranty, but ive actually replaced the hard drive and track pad (thought it was out of warranty, stupid me), so if i took it into apple would they even touch it?? I mean, i know they wont fix any of this under warranty, but will they do it if i pay them? or will they tell me to put it all back to normal (which i cant cos ive lost the track pad) before theyll look at it?
 
I wonder if this might be symptomatic of a damaged sata cable, possibly inadvertently caused during one of your other repairs?
 
wildcat1451 said:
Yeh, thats what im worried about too. My comptuer is still under apple care warranty, but ive actually replaced the hard drive and track pad (thought it was out of warranty, stupid me), so if i took it into apple would they even touch it?? I mean, i know they wont fix any of this under warranty, but will they do it if i pay them? or will they tell me to put it all back to normal (which i cant cos ive lost the track pad) before theyll look at it?
Click to expand...

Chances are they won't even notice the trackpad is changed. Just don't mention it. You can bring it in with a new harddrive, but don't be surprised when the "Genius" starts saying stuff like "Oh, the freezing is probably caused by your 'aftermarket' harddrive."

Basically my suggestion is: Play stupid w/ the trackpad and put in the original HDD and get it into a configuration where you can demonstrate the computer freezing in front of the Genius. Likely they'll try to boot up your machine with an external HDD to isolate the problem from a software configuration, so just be sure you can replicate the problem in front of them.
 
satchow said:
Chances are they won't even notice the trackpad is changed. Just don't mention it. You can bring it in with a new harddrive, but don't be surprised when the "Genius" starts saying stuff like "Oh, the freezing is probably caused by your 'aftermarket' harddrive."

Basically my suggestion is: Play stupid w/ the trackpad and put in the original HDD and get it into a configuration where you can demonstrate the computer freezing in front of the Genius. Likely they'll try to boot up your machine with an external HDD to isolate the problem from a software configuration, so just be sure you can replicate the problem in front of them.
Click to expand...

Sounds like I have a big day tomorrow then haha. The frustrating thing is that the freezing and non-booting is random. I have been using it for the past few hours and it hasnt happened. But guaranteed it will. Next time it happens i guess ill just put it to sleep and bring it in. Thanks for all the help!
 
Another thing to check is to look at the console logs (Utilities/Console.app) This may shed some light on what it's attempting to do when the computer freezes.
 
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