MBP won't sleep - Now *Volume needs repair*

[potlatch]

I've begun to notice problems with my MBP 15" (2007/8) recently. First, it was a noise near the bottom of the monitor (and slightly left) which seems associated with the brightness of the screen when I switch on the computer, but then goes away.

More recently, I've noticed that the computer does not go to sleep when left alone as it used to. Bluetooth is inactive, I've checked the energy settings, I've reset PRAM and restarted the SMC.

I decided to check the HD to test for problems as I saw this as one potential fix on a forum. Instead, I got this:

Verifying volume “Macintosh”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Checking multi-linked files.
Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Checking Extended Attributes file.
Checking volume bitmap.
Checking volume information.
Volume Header needs minor repair
The volume Macintosh needs to be repaired.

Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit


Disk Utility stopped verifying “Macintosh” because the following error was encountered:

The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair

Now I'm scared and don't know what to do. Help!

 

[spinnerlys]

Have you got another Mac, with that you can boot and connect the MBP as external drive to repair the disk?

Or an external 2.5" SATA enclosure to use to connect your internal as an external?

 

[potlatch]

Have you got another Mac, with that you can boot and connect the MBP as external drive to repair the disk?

Or an external 2.5" SATA enclosure to use to connect your internal as an external?

How do you do this exactly? I can connect to a PPC MacPro or a new MacBook (no FireWire).

 

[daneoni]

Time to break out your restore disks. Boot from it and run disk utility and then repair your HDD. Second you might want to run a hardware test . Your display inverter might be faulty.

 

[spinnerlys]

How do you do this exactly? I can connect to a PPC MacPro or a new MacBook (no FireWire).

Connect the MBP to your PowerMac via FireWire, start the MBP and immediately press and hold the T key until the FireWire symbol (like a Y) appears on the screen.
Now the PowerMac will see it as an external drive.
Then use Disk Utility.

But daneoni's way is simpler if you have your disks handy. I always forget about this method.

 

[potlatch]

Connect the MBP to your PowerMac via FireWire, start the MBP and immediately press and hold the T key until the FireWire symbol (like a Y) appears on the screen.
Now the PowerMac will see it as an external drive.
Then use Disk Utility.

But daneoni's way is simpler if you have your disks handy. I always forget about this method.

I have the disks. Is it 'C' or 'N' that I hold down with CD1 in?

 

[potlatch]

I have the disks. Is it 'C' or 'N' that I hold down with CD1 in?

Right, here's an update.

I ran a hardware check. No problems. I booted into safe mode and could therefore peform the Disk Utility verification. No problems. I then booted into OS X normally and performed a disk verification. This time it worked, and no problems identified. In safe mode, the computer goes to sleep as it should; in normal mode, it's the same problem.

In both safe and normal mode, I printed out through Activity Monitor what processes are running to compare.

Here's Safe Mode and here's normal mode.

Anything unusual?

 

[potlatch]

Another update: the issue affects only my account. I set up a new user account and it sleeps as it should.

I also noticed that it wasn't my imagination that the keyboard illumination settings worked fine, too. Keyboard illumination keeps changing of its own accord.

 

[potlatch]

Newer update:

I followed the instructions in this link and it seemed to fix the problem.

I returned the sleep mode setting to mode 0 and it entered sleep mode as it should. However, mode 3 retains the same problem.

Presumably, the problem is with some file that controls this and other functions. Perhaps it has become corrupted.

So, does anyone know if it can/should be replaced?