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MBP 15'' Unibody - Cover closed = insomnia

Jules242

Jules242

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 10, 2008
34
0
Hello everyone, I am a pretty desperate macbook pro user with some very bad problems... I hope that you guys could offer some advice!

About a week and a half ago, when I closed the cover of my macbook pro, I saw that it would attempt to go to sleep, the status light would dim down... and then the cd drive would spin up, the apple light would flash, and it would turn itself on once again (with nothing at all plugged in). No restart would help this, no NVRAM/PRAM clearing, no update, ... nothing. This would happen perpetually until the battery drains itself, and the laptop reaches an extremely high temperature. I decided to take it to the apple store...

Here is what they found:

They plugged in their external drive and booted off a stock copy of OS X. It was able to go to sleep without any issue, and would not wake up 15-20seconds after closing the lid (it keeps on doing this till the battery is drained). Even with all the SMC/EFI updates available for this product, and clearing the NVRAM/PRAM on startup, nothing would fix it. They told me they did an archived reinstall, but it still has the problem, which they said confirms that I need to do a full erase/reinstall.

(http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8819235&#8819235 ----> see how many others are having this issue.. and are getting no help)

Their conclusion is that this is an OS issue, not a hardware issue, and that I'd have to reinstall. I'm really, really not happy about this naturally, but what can we do .... NOW... after wanting to REINSTALL, I plug in my external hard drive to back up my stuff (its a 3rd party case with my hard drive inside), and I get that translucent gray wipe down screen saying that I need to hold the button and restart... complete crash.

I swapped the hard drive four times, but I have the same problem... tried making a new user, and same problem once again! What the hell is going on? Any help on either of these issues would be unbelievably amazing.... thank you so much.
 
They told me that they would have to charge me $50 to back up my stuff first... something I could do myself, but as you see I can't even plug in my external without the entire system crashing! :(
 
Ugh. I've sorta been here before, but on a Windows comp. This is the defining moment in your life where you'll start backing up everything weekly, or more. :p We all go through it, fear not.
Anyways, here's my suggestions in order of suggestion

1) Call AppleCare and explain the issue. They may give you a case number and will waive the $50 charge.
2) If you don't have AppleCare, think about it this way: is all of your stuff worth $50? I mean, it's just money :rolleyes: I'd just bend over to Apple and take it at this point. It sucks, but it's the best option it seems like, after #1 of course

Good Luck
 
I see what you mean, but there really should be some software fix to my external hard drive crashing the mac when it's turned on. I have no problem with moving my files over and reinstalling, but I need to be able to get my stuff backed up, which isn't something I should have to go to apple for =/

Any ideas on the external usb hard drives crashing the computer? (Transparent gray screen that wipes down slowly from the top, and displays the power button icon, and prompts me to hold the power button to restart (says this in several languages).

here:

panic_dialog.png
 
Jules242 said:
I see what you mean, but there really should be some software fix to my external hard drive crashing the mac when it's turned on. I have no problem with moving my files over and reinstalling, but I need to be able to get my stuff backed up, which isn't something I should have to go to apple for =/

Any ideas on the external usb hard drives crashing the computer? (Transparent gray screen that wipes down slowly from the top, and displays the power button icon, and prompts me to hold the power button to restart (says this in several languages).
Click to expand...

have you updated all the drivers for it? also does someone you know have one that you can try plugging in to see it causes you computer to fail. because if it does than you can go to them and say that you cannot back up you stuff because the computer is failing when ever you plug in ANY external HDD.
 
Jules242 said:
I see what you mean, but there really should be some software fix to my external hard drive crashing the mac when it's turned on. I have no problem with moving my files over and reinstalling, but I need to be able to get my stuff backed up, which isn't something I should have to go to apple for =/

Any ideas on the external usb hard drives crashing the computer? (Transparent gray screen that wipes down slowly from the top, and displays the power button icon, and prompts me to hold the power button to restart (says this in several languages).

here:

panic_dialog.png
Click to expand...

You got a kernel panic. Generally it appear when the hardware is in cause. Seems like a trip to the Apple bar is required.
 
Jules242 said:
Hello everyone, I am a pretty desperate macbook pro user with some very bad problems... I hope that you guys could offer some advice!

About a week and a half ago, when I closed the cover of my macbook pro, I saw that it would attempt to go to sleep, the status light would dim down... and then the cd drive would spin up, the apple light would flash, and it would turn itself on once again (with nothing at all plugged in). No restart would help this, no NVRAM/PRAM clearing, no update, ... nothing. This would happen perpetually until the battery drains itself, and the laptop reaches an extremely high temperature. I decided to take it to the apple store...

Here is what they found:

They plugged in their external drive and booted off a stock copy of OS X. It was able to go to sleep without any issue, and would not wake up 15-20seconds after closing the lid (it keeps on doing this till the battery is drained). Even with all the SMC/EFI updates available for this product, and clearing the NVRAM/PRAM on startup, nothing would fix it. They told me they did an archived reinstall, but it still has the problem, which they said confirms that I need to do a full erase/reinstall.

(http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=8819235&#8819235 ----> see how many others are having this issue.. and are getting no help)

Their conclusion is that this is an OS issue, not a hardware issue, and that I'd have to reinstall. I'm really, really not happy about this naturally, but what can we do .... NOW... after wanting to REINSTALL, I plug in my external hard drive to back up my stuff (its a 3rd party case with my hard drive inside), and I get that translucent gray wipe down screen saying that I need to hold the button and restart... complete crash.

I swapped the hard drive four times, but I have the same problem... tried making a new user, and same problem once again! What the hell is going on? Any help on either of these issues would be unbelievably amazing.... thank you so much.
Click to expand...

Tell me, did you change your USB drivers for anything? I did to hack my iPhone and my MBP became an insomniac. It sounds like the kernel extensions for USB are either the wrong versions or not installed properly.

Try installing this and then try to put it to sleep:

http://files.me.com/jontheman/1jizig

The accelerometer in these models is connected via USB and incorrect drivers could cause any slight movement to wake it from sleep. If this doesn't work then try another archive and install. That did the trick for me.
 
mkvowner said:
Tell me, did you change your USB drivers for anything? I did to hack my iPhone and my MBP became an insomniac. It sounds like the kernel extensions for USB are either the wrong versions or not installed properly.

Try installing this and then try to put it to sleep:

http://files.me.com/jontheman/1jizig

The accelerometer in these models is connected via USB and incorrect drivers could cause any slight movement to wake it from sleep. If this doesn't work then try another archive and install. That did the trick for me.
Click to expand...

UNBELIEVABLE!!! YES! I DID jailbreak, and I realize now that I had installed a different USB driver to do this, but I never would have remembered! I can't even explain to you how much trouble you saved me!!!! Time to cancel that "genius bar" appointment!!!! Hurray! No more insomnia for me! My hard drives work as well!!
 
Does anyone happen to have a link to the USB file that was provided? I am having the same issue after Jailbreaking my iPhone.

Thanks.
 
you have to be a registered developer (which is free), but go to developer.apple.com then click mac, login and go to downloads. the USB driver versions are posted by version and OS version.
 
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