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Macbook Pro 5,5 constant hard freezes

J

john402052000

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 10, 2015
20
1
I own a Macbook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo, 8G RAM, OS 10.6.8.

My computer experiences hard freezes, sometimes once, sometimes as many as 10 times daily. I have to hold the power button down until it shuts down, then power it up again. Sometimes it freezes before it restarts. Sometimes it freezes immediately after it restarts.

I replaced the stock HD with a SSD about 2 years ago. The freezes were happening before then and continued after. Yesterday I replaced the RAM with an 8G upgrade from Macsales. While doing this I noticed that the battery had swollen to the point where I had to press on the case to reinsert the case screws. Also, the computer locked up after the RAM upgrade.

I did save the crash report from a couple of weeks ago, but thought I should see if that's necessary to included here since it's very long.

I have the MBP hooked up to an external monitor, keyboard and us a wireless Logitec mouse.

Any help would be great! Thanks.
 
john402052000 said:
I own a Macbook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo, 8G RAM, OS 10.6.8.
My computer experiences hard freezes, sometimes once, sometimes as many as 10 times daily. I have to hold the power button down until it shuts down, then power it up again. Sometimes it freezes before it restarts. Sometimes it freezes immediately after it restarts.
I replaced the stock HD with a SSD about 2 years ago. The freezes were happening before then and continued after. Yesterday I replaced the RAM with an 8G upgrade from Macsales. While doing this I noticed that the battery had swollen to the point where I had to press on the case to reinsert the case screws. Also, the computer locked up after the RAM upgrade.
I did save the crash report from a couple of weeks ago, but thought I should see if that's necessary to included here since it's very long.
I have the MBP hooked up to an external monitor, keyboard and us a wireless Logitec mouse.
Any help would be great! Thanks.
Click to expand...
Just to verify; you have a 13" Mid 2009 MBP? Since you use an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse, are you using clamshell mode? Do you still have hard freezes when not using the external devices?

The swollen battery is a major problem, it could be putting pressure on the internal components which can cause problems and damage. A bad battery can explode causing damage to the inside of your computer or even a fire. You need to address the problem with an Apple Certified Tech ASAP or remove and replace the battery. Here is a link to fixit with instructions about replacing the battery and they also sell replacement batteries:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2009+Battery+Replacement/1332

Get the battery addressed before working on the hard freeze issue since it is more urgent.
 
Thanks! Yes, I have a 13" model. I'm not familiar with clamshell mode. I'm a graphic designer so I use the MBP for work with screen mirroring turned off. This allows me to use the MBP screen toolbars and pallets for programs like Photoshop, InDesign, etc..., and the monitor for the actual work space.

I'll order a battery today since Apple won't replace it. A swollen battery like that seems like more of a recall issue rather than an old part that the user should replace, especially if it can explode.
 
john402052000 said:
Thanks! Yes, I have a 13" model. I'm not familiar with clamshell mode. I'm a graphic designer so I use the MBP for work with screen mirroring turned off. This allows me to use the MBP screen toolbars and pallets for programs like Photoshop, InDesign, etc..., and the monitor for the actual work space.
I'll order a battery today since Apple won't replace it. A swollen battery like that seems like more of a recall issue rather than an old part that the user should replace, especially if it can explode.
Click to expand...
Please make sure you get a GOOD quality replacement battery. I know ifixit sells good quality batteries. The stuff you find on ebay can be cheap, dangerous, poor quality knock-offs that can be a waste of money.
 
I'm going through Macsales.com. I've always had good luck with them. Ifixit's battery is an Apple OEM battery, which I'm a little gun shy about, given the shape my battery is in. Macsales' battery is NewerTech.
 
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john402052000 said:
Is there a fix, or a diagnosis, for a faulty hard drive cable?
Click to expand...
There are a couple of methods to diagnose a HD cable problem, but the only way to fix it is to replace the cable.

Method 1) The most common way to diagnose faulty HD cable is to remove your internal hard drive, place it in an external enclosure, boot your computer from the external and see if you get hard freezes. Since your MBP only has a FireWire 800 and USB2s ports then your best performance would be from an enclosure that has FireWire 800. Either one will be slower than the normal internal, but you should not get hard freezes if the problem is the internal HD cable. If you continue to get hard freezes then that would point to the HD as a possible problem.

Method 2) This may be the easiest. Get Scannerz software. It can test for HD and cable problems. Here is a link:
http://scsc-online.com/Scannerz.html
 
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john402052000 said:
My computer experiences hard freezes, sometimes once, sometimes as many as 10 times daily. I have to hold the power button down until it shuts down, then power it up again. Sometimes it freezes before it restarts. Sometimes it freezes immediately after it restarts.
Click to expand...
Were you able to fix your computer yet?
 
When I upgraded the RAM I experienced a hard freeze. After I replaced the battery I haven't. I should mention that my computer has gone over 2 weeks without a hard freeze in the past, so I'm still waiting to be convinced the problem is solved.
 
john402052000 said:
A swollen battery like that seems like more of a recall issue rather than an old part that the user should replace, especially if it can explode.
Click to expand...

The issue is present in all lithium ion batteries. At a certain point in their life, they'll degrade to the point that they can swell. They don't last forever and need to be replaced every 3-5 years.
 
Well I replaced the battery and hadn't had a hard freeze until today. I'm wondering if changing networks can trigger a hard freeze. Today, for the first time since I replaced the battery, I took my laptop to a local coffee shop to meet a client. When I returned the MBP froze when I was setting it back up with the external monitor and then just after it restarted and I was opening my email client. In the past this computer would sometimes go weeks without a hard freeze and then start freezing again when I was at a different location than my house. Maybe I should start a new thread on this?
 
I hate to tell you this, but if the battery had swollen enough that it put pressure on the logic board, it may have cracked some of the traces in the logic board or damaged some of the components. The product that CoastalOR mentioned above can detect that as a "system fault" or something like that. How do I know? The same thing happened to me, but it wasn't because of the battery. In my case I think it was a marginal solder connection because the system had been fine for a long time then suddenly started locking up at random for no apparent reason. Like many, I first replaced the HDD. No change. Then I changed the cable. No change. Finally I got Scannerz and did a scan on the unit and it kept finding errors. When I put it into diagnostics mode it didn't say it was a drive problem, it said it was a system fault (i think that's the term, I don't remember). I then put it into system bus tests and after the system ran long enough to get a little warm, it just started logging error after error after error. Cracked traces and faulty solder connections can separate and join back together as the system heats and cools and the junctions expand and contract with heat, which is why they're erratic.

What I did was I got a MacBook Pro of the same model but with a busted display off of ebay and then cannibalized the logic board from that. It's been working great ever since.

Apple really shouldn't bury the batteries in the system, especially since they're computers are getting thinner and thinner. Considering that these types of batteries are, or at least were, prone to catch fire, I have to wonder about the safety of that kind of design.
 
Thank you so much for the reply. That actually makes sense. Maybe the previous swollen batter was putting extra stress on the logic board, therefore the 5+ freezes daily. I guess I'll look for a broken MBP on eBay, or other places, and cannibalize the logic board. When I replaced the stock HD with a SSD it was like getting a new computer, performance-wise.
 
I should also mention that after December of last year I hadn't had any hard freezes until about a week ago or so.
 
john402052000 said:
I'm going through Macsales.com. I've always had good luck with them. Ifixit's battery is an Apple OEM battery, which I'm a little gun shy about, given the shape my battery is in. Macsales' battery is NewerTech.
Click to expand...

Apple Some of the best batteries available. All lipo batteries can swell and no one sells consumer products with batteries that last much more than 5-6 years.

Newer tech are pretty darn good though and those Apple oem batteries may have been hanging around for years (age matters, a lot), they get good reviews so go for it.
 
Putting the battery inside a unit without direct access is a bad idea, IMHO. I had an old MacBook with the removable battery and I plugged it in and left it plugged in for about a week and didn't use it. The battery was fine and flat when I did it. Afterwards I noticed a very slight bloat and just blew it off as being my imagination. I used if for about a day then plugged it in again unused for about a week. This time when I went to get the unit I noticed it wasn't sitting flat. I looked at the back and the battery had expanded about an 1/4 of an inch over its case on one edge. Needless to say I replaced the battery, but this seemed to happen pretty fast. Sad thing is the battery was holding a decent charge.

What's to stop something with an encased battery from doing this? Any way to tell? Does the case bloat, or maybe in the case of MacBook Air's, actually bend?
 
My first clue, and this was my wife's also on her 15" MBP, was that the trackpad became harder and harder to click as the battery expanded.
 
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