Mid 2009 MBPro, is it dying?

[cjmacbookpro09]

Mid 2009 Macbook Pro 2.53ghz on Yosemite.
upgraded 8gb ram and 500gb 7200 rpm hard drive.

So it used to absolutely shred the internet, and now among it's other symptoms internet pages are loading super slow, videos don't stream fast enough to watch with any enjoyment. Tested against my brother's identical computer, his is lightning quick on our optic internet.

Screen colour is totally shot. Super grainy and very light, the colour has no depth and sometimes writing is hard to read. White colour is the worst, most of the time just lines show up to replace white colouring. Using an external display and colour is great.

While typing this my current CPU Temp is 74 degrees Celsius, fan running at 3250 rpm.

Also keep in mind that when I use my macbook currently, I only have 1 program open at a time. So everything else, itunes, word, etc is quit.

After not gaming for a while (because it's started having difficulty with most games) I started playing Minecraft and I'm usually running at 5 fps, the fan is aorund 6/7000 rpm and my temperature is around 85 degrees.

I used to play World of Warcraft very intensely a few years ago and it had NO issues with the game. And for whatever reason I'd assume WoW graphics are a little bit more intense than Minecraft's.

So yea just wondering if people can give me their thoughts on if my computer is toast or if I can fix it. I'm very electronically and mechanically inclined so if you have a suggestion that involves soldering lay it on me. I'd love to be able to fix it rather than buy a whole new computer which I can't afford.

Also, tried to run AHT but like many people I'm unable. Tried option D and just holding D on startup, nothing, and I don't have my installation disks from 2009.

 

[Hawky]

I upgraded my 2009 MBP to Mavericks and it just killed it, was so slow it was unreal, formatted it and put it back to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and never upgrading it again.

I also played WoW on mine and it ran smoothly low/med settings but this was years ago and WoW has been updated a lot since i last played it on my 2009 MBP.

The heat of the MBP was an issue since its launch, i swear i could cook food on it at times it was that hot, literally untoucable but ive had it since 2009 and its still going strong so i wouldnt worry too much about the heat unless its causing it to shutdown or something.

I would sugest backing your files up and doing a fresh install, if you've not done that since you first got it, will do it the world of good.

 

[cjmacbookpro09]

I upgraded my 2009 MBP to Mavericks and it just killed it, was so slow it was unreal, formatted it and put it back to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and never upgrading it again.

I also played WoW on mine and it ran smoothly low/med settings but this was years ago and WoW has been updated a lot since i last played it on my 2009 MBP.

The heat of the MBP was an issue since its launch, i swear i could cook food on it at times it was that hot, literally untoucable but ive had it since 2009 and its still going strong so i wouldnt worry too much about the heat unless its causing it to shutdown or something.

I would sugest backing your files up and doing a fresh install, if you've not done that since you first got it, will do it the world of good.

Thanks so much for the reply, I'll try doing what you said and do a fresh install of everything! Thanks again

 

[poiihy]

I have a Mid-2009 MBP, 2.66GHz and 4GB RAM. It runs Yosemite fine.

I strongly suggest you open it up and clean out all the dust, especially the heatsinks. Open the fans' casing and brush dust off the propellor with a toothbrush. I did this and it almost never gets up to full speed anymore!
The heat will cause the CPU and GPU to throttle and games will lag bad.

Also I don't understand what you are talking about about the screen; if you can post a picture that would be nice.

 

[iPad Retina]

I have a mid 2010 MacBook pro and it runs really slow on Yosemite, I only used it for homework and assignments and wathing videos on YouTube, it takes like 20 seconds just to open safari or any application and a 1:25 min just to turn it on, unlike my moms MacBook air, it's a pain in the neck, when your doing in asignments, but I think it's time to sell it, it's got 615 battery cycles alreday, if anyone out there has Mavericks or lion, STAY ON IT, and then if you want to down grade, you gotta start from snow leopard and work your way up to Mavericks, which also requires a back up.

 

[poiihy]

I have a mid 2010 MacBook pro and it runs really slow on Yosemite, I only used it for homework and assignments and wathing videos on YouTube, it take like 20 seconds just to open safari or any application, it a pain in the neck, when your doing in asignments

If you only have 2GB of RAM then that is your problem. Mavericks/Yosemite and maybe Mountain Lion/Lion run very slow on only 2GB. 2GB is the bare minimum. You should have 4GB at least.
Apple should say something about this as this is a very common problem. They probably don't say anything because they want people with very slow computers to buy new ones.

 

[iPad Retina]

If you only have 2GB of RAM then that is your problem. Mavericks/Yosemite and maybe Mountain Lion/Lion run very slow on only 2GB. 2GB is the bare minimum. You should have 4GB at least.
Apple should say something about this as this is a very common problem. They probably don't say anything because they want people with very slow computers to buy new ones.

I have 4GB of ram


I know right! So frustrating, just like our iPad 2, works well with iOS 6, but with iOS 8, it's near
Impossible to use

 

[poiihy]

I have 4GB of ram


I know right! So frustrating, just like our iPad 2, works well with iOS 6, but with iOS 8, it's near
Impossible to use

Something is wrong then. You may want to try a fresh install. Also check the hard drive SMART status to make sure it is not failing.

 

[chipchen]

Open and clear out dust with compressed air. Consider upgrading Hard Drive to SSD.

Downgrade OS to 10.8 or lower... on Mavericks and Yosemite, older Macs have big issues. At a minimum, re-install.

 

[Raunien]

I would throw in an ssd and maybe up your RAM.

Instead of the recent operating system, install 10.6.8 and you are good to go. IMO, SL is the sweet spot for machines this age.