MBP 2009 issues...

[FcNo]

I bought a MBP 15 inch 2.66ghz brand new back in september. Since my purchase i have has several things that have been annoying the crap out of me.

Issues:

1. Clunk noise coming from HD, I have read some posts and installed Hdapm which reduced the sound a bit (i have the 320gb 5400rpm Fujitsu)

2. I believe becuz of the clunking (parking of the heads) causes my computer to stutter (mini freeze for like 1-2 secs) while using my MBP..

3. The battery used notify me that i had PLENTY of time to use even when i had below 50% battery life left, now (on Firmware 1.6) the battery tells me i usually have like 2:30mins of use when im at 85% or so battery strength left. and YES the screen is dimmed along with the keys.(i have calibrated the battery also)

I went back to 1.6 firmware due to the notion that various people have had better success on their harddrives working "better" with stock, or aftermarket.

I am on a CLEAN install of Snow Leopard...

If anyways has any tips or many the same issues that i am experiencing PLEASE leave a post on here so i know im not the ONLY one with these issues....and if i am, that will help me figure out if my machine is a lemon or not...

I would like to thank you all in advanced!
-Herbert M.

 

[prodigee]

I would suggest getting a new hard drive, get a faster 7200 rpm one if you want a performance boost. The stalls that you are getting are most likely from the heads parking, so if you did upgrade the hard drive both of these issues would go away.

In terms of the battery life, the only thing I could think of would be to go back to the previous firmware, which from what I understand from your post, you have done.

 

[FcNo]

okay im going to install firmware 1.7 to see if battery life changes. As far as the HD goes, which HD do u recommend that will not be so noisy and reliable?

 

[tenderidol]

Your issues with #1 and #2 are most likely due to Sudden Motion Sensor. Why dont you disable it if it is causing too much trouble?

 

[prodigee]

okay im going to install firmware 1.7 to see if battery life changes. As far as the HD goes, which HD do u recommend that will not be so noisy and reliable?

From what I have heard the 320gb Western Digital Scorpio Blacks are the best.

In regard to the SMS causing parking, I can understand where you are coming from, but if it is just parking for no reason when the laptop is just sitting there, I can almost guarantee that the disk is to blame.

 

[tenderidol]

In regard to the SMS causing parking, I can understand where you are coming from, but if it is just parking for no reason when the laptop is just sitting there, I can almost guarantee that the disk is to blame.

If that's the case, the OP should just take his/her MBP to an Apple Store and get the HD replaced instead of fiddling with firmware upgrades, etc, since it was apparently purchased in September.

 

[FcNo]

i have disabled sms, unchecked the harddrive sleep, and i have done PRAM and SMC reset......

#Update, I went back to firmware 1.7 and the battery status is still crappy. its at 100% with about less then half brightness on screen and about 3 bars for the light keys and its telling me i have 2:39 mins of use left......wtf it used to be at like 7hrs.

 

[FcNo]

From what I have heard the 320gb Western Digital Scorpio Blacks are the best.

In regard to the SMS causing parking, I can understand where you are coming from, but if it is just parking for no reason when the laptop is just sitting there, I can almost guarantee that the disk is to blame.

yeah it parks when its just sitting there....

 

[prodigee]

If it is parking, for no reason, then I would definitely say there is something wrong with that disk. I would suggest getting a new hard drive (unless you can live with disk parking which because you made this thread I am guessing you cant).

And as far as the battery life check activity monitor to make sure that there isn't something running in the background that is taking up a lot of performance.