Lately after 2, 3 times of sleep/wakeup, my MBA will suddenly freezes when using Safari, nothing can help except force power off and reboot. I installed Runcore 128GB SSD 2 weeks ago, and I don't know if this problem comes form Runcore. I reset PRAM and SMC, but the situation remains. Does anyone have the same problem?
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My MBA Rev.C Runcore SSD keeps freezing after wake up from sleep......
- Thread starter peterho
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I don't believe that's a Runcore issue, and I also don't believe it's related to just sleep but rather sleep or bootup. It seems that Safari and Snow Leopard together are the big problem. I actually put my stock SSD back into the MBA to test a few issues. I didn't have any problems with the stock SSD until I updated to the latest version of Snow Leopard and the newest Safari on the stock drive. As soon as I updated both, I had the exact same problems on the stock SSD as I had on the Runcore. I had a few other small issues which have all found there way to the stock SSD once I updated Snow Leopard and Safari.
I am extremely frustrated with Snow leopard. Apple is really failing miserably and starting to ruin its brand with users not being able to depend on their expensive "Just Works" Macs. I guess my MBA "Just Works" as long as I boot into Windows 7! It just makes me sick that I can use Windows 7 Professional 64-bit on my MBA absolutely PERFECTLY, but I cannot even run 32-bit OS X Snow Leopard. OS X Snow Leopard has been a JOKE to me.
I hate to say it, but Windows 7 is SOLID as a ROCK while OS X is completely undependable for me... seems like times are changing.
Have you tried running Disk Utility to both repair permissions and also to check the disk image?
There was a thread in this forum recently about alternate settings for sleep, etc. There was also some talk about issues with certain Runcore firmware levels causing problems in one of the threads on the Runcore (I think it was related to PATA-ZIF drive for the Rev As). Maybe Matt will chime in if you post your firmware version to verify that it is latest supported version, etc. Or ping them on their site.
I have a rev b 1.6 with all software up-to-date and a HD (not SSD). I have never had a freeze after sleep. I probably have cold booted less then 20 times in the 3-4 months I have had this MBA (I always sleep instead of shutting down).
I'm using a Rev C, 2.13Ghz with 128Gb SSD and have had no freezing problems and, now that I think about it, no kernel panics either.
Running SL 10.6.2 and latest Safari.
Running SL 10.6.2 and latest Safari.
I have this same problem. Firefox, not Safari
I have a MBA Rev b, 1.86 ghz with a new 128GB Runcore SSD (FW 1819). I get this every other day or so, with very light usage. I am using the latest release of Snow Leopard (I guess that's 10.6.2), and I do have the latest version of Safari installed but I rarely use it. Certainly this hang has happened without Safari being run at all since reboot.
One time it did happen returning from sleep. All of the other times I've been surfing with a handful of tabs open. The laptop will hang. At first the mouse (well, the cursor because I'm using the trackpad) will still respond but everything else freezes, including the dock. At first it's sometimes just one app (like Firefox) and I can select something in the dock. The dock will eventually freeeze mid-bounce. I don't get a beachball, I have a normal cursor that nothing responds too. Eventually, the circle of lines on the lower half of the screen (the one you see below the apple when booting) comes on. I always have to power off the MBA.
I've opened the case back up and checked to make sure the SSD cable is well seated and that none of the cables are loose.
I did copy the drive over from the old HDD. I've been debating doing a fresh install after repartitioning the SSD. I may also try installing Windows 7 to see if it works for a few days without hanging.
** EDIT **
Just wanted to add -- this NEVER hapened before I installed the Runcore SSD. The laptop was perfect (but slow). Now it's fast until it hangs. I've had the laptop for around a year, no hangs. I installed the SSD about 2 weeks ago and I've had 7 or 8 hangs.
I have a MBA Rev b, 1.86 ghz with a new 128GB Runcore SSD (FW 1819). I get this every other day or so, with very light usage. I am using the latest release of Snow Leopard (I guess that's 10.6.2), and I do have the latest version of Safari installed but I rarely use it. Certainly this hang has happened without Safari being run at all since reboot.
One time it did happen returning from sleep. All of the other times I've been surfing with a handful of tabs open. The laptop will hang. At first the mouse (well, the cursor because I'm using the trackpad) will still respond but everything else freezes, including the dock. At first it's sometimes just one app (like Firefox) and I can select something in the dock. The dock will eventually freeeze mid-bounce. I don't get a beachball, I have a normal cursor that nothing responds too. Eventually, the circle of lines on the lower half of the screen (the one you see below the apple when booting) comes on. I always have to power off the MBA.
I've opened the case back up and checked to make sure the SSD cable is well seated and that none of the cables are loose.
I did copy the drive over from the old HDD. I've been debating doing a fresh install after repartitioning the SSD. I may also try installing Windows 7 to see if it works for a few days without hanging.
** EDIT **
Just wanted to add -- this NEVER hapened before I installed the Runcore SSD. The laptop was perfect (but slow). Now it's fast until it hangs. I've had the laptop for around a year, no hangs. I installed the SSD about 2 weeks ago and I've had 7 or 8 hangs.
Update on my progress
I completely repartitioned and reformatted the RunCore 128GB SSD in my Macbook Air Rev B. I reinstalled Snow Leopard from scratch. I got the latest updates from Apple. I checked the permissions with the Disk Utility. If I rebooted every day or so I never had any problems, however if I just closed the laptop (like I used to with the HD from Apple), it would freeze every couple of days.
I completely repartitioned and reformatted the drive through the Windows 7 installer (not bootcamp, I just booted the drive from the Windows 7 DVD and let it repartition and reformat the drive so it is now a PC with a glowing apple on the back of the lid). Windows 7 has been running very well, no hangs at all for about a week now. There were a couple of issues with Windows 7 (the driver for the keyboard and trackpad makes them VERY sensitive, so it would often go to sleep as I closed the lid and then immediately wake up again. After some research, it turned out the keyboard and/or the trackpad were sensing contact and waking it up. I disabled their ability to wake the computer from sleep and that has fixed it).
I'm kind of torn on this. Obviously, I bought a Mac and I can't use it as a Mac with the Runcore drive. I spent more than two weeks researching the problem, so I probably can't return the drive now anyway. On the other hand, it's lightning fast with the SSD and Windows 7 isn't so bad. This is also a second computer (most people with Macbook Airs probably aren't using them as their primary) so I mostly use it for web surfing and a little photo work when travelling. Windows 7 is OK for me, and the SSD runs great in Windows.
I completely repartitioned and reformatted the RunCore 128GB SSD in my Macbook Air Rev B. I reinstalled Snow Leopard from scratch. I got the latest updates from Apple. I checked the permissions with the Disk Utility. If I rebooted every day or so I never had any problems, however if I just closed the laptop (like I used to with the HD from Apple), it would freeze every couple of days.
I completely repartitioned and reformatted the drive through the Windows 7 installer (not bootcamp, I just booted the drive from the Windows 7 DVD and let it repartition and reformat the drive so it is now a PC with a glowing apple on the back of the lid). Windows 7 has been running very well, no hangs at all for about a week now. There were a couple of issues with Windows 7 (the driver for the keyboard and trackpad makes them VERY sensitive, so it would often go to sleep as I closed the lid and then immediately wake up again. After some research, it turned out the keyboard and/or the trackpad were sensing contact and waking it up. I disabled their ability to wake the computer from sleep and that has fixed it).
I'm kind of torn on this. Obviously, I bought a Mac and I can't use it as a Mac with the Runcore drive. I spent more than two weeks researching the problem, so I probably can't return the drive now anyway. On the other hand, it's lightning fast with the SSD and Windows 7 isn't so bad. This is also a second computer (most people with Macbook Airs probably aren't using them as their primary) so I mostly use it for web surfing and a little photo work when travelling. Windows 7 is OK for me, and the SSD runs great in Windows.
I was so annoyed by this problem since I got Runcore. I used to keep all the applications I was working on open and close the lid to put the MBA to sleep. After 3 or 4 times of wake up, the MBA would totally freeze. There was nothing that could help except reboot.
I bought the external superdrive just in order to run iDefrag off the DVD ROM and do a full defragment and B-tree rebuild. The performance got even better. Everything was so smooth and lightening fast, except the problem came back after 3 times of wake-up.
Lately I found out that if I close some applications before I close the lid, especially Word, Excel and Powerpoint, and leave only one or two apps (Safari and notebook for example), the problem seems to occur less frequent. Probably something is "lost in translation" between system and Runcore when there are too much data in the RAM.
It has been 3 days since my last reboot. I will report back later so see how far this could go......
I bought the external superdrive just in order to run iDefrag off the DVD ROM and do a full defragment and B-tree rebuild. The performance got even better. Everything was so smooth and lightening fast, except the problem came back after 3 times of wake-up.
Lately I found out that if I close some applications before I close the lid, especially Word, Excel and Powerpoint, and leave only one or two apps (Safari and notebook for example), the problem seems to occur less frequent. Probably something is "lost in translation" between system and Runcore when there are too much data in the RAM.
It has been 3 days since my last reboot. I will report back later so see how far this could go......
I don't have any of those problems on my Stock drive with Snow Leopard 10.6.2 and latest software?
Yeah, I didn't have any problems at all until I installed the Runcore drive. I should add I also tried changing the Mac's sleep method (I can't remember the command now but it was recommended as a way to fix this problem) and it didn't help me. No hangs with Windows 7 yet after a week though.
I'm curious to see if keeping fewer apps open helps Peter. I normally run Firefox and that didn't keep it from hanging, although I do normally have lots of tabs open and Firefox can certainly eat up some memory.
I'm curious to see if keeping fewer apps open helps Peter. I normally run Firefox and that didn't keep it from hanging, although I do normally have lots of tabs open and Firefox can certainly eat up some memory.
It has been a week since my last boot up. I tried to keep at most 2 applications running before going into sleep mode by closing the lid. Sometimes I just close all the applications to keep RAM usage as low as possible. So far no freezing has occurred. So for those who switch to Runcore and suffering from freezing problem, I guess this is the temporary solution until someone could identify where it comes from.
My problem was the cable. I took the MBA apart again and taped the cable onto the SSD and the problem was solved. With the stock SSD, there was a piece of cable holding it in place... I found the Runcore SSD needs that piece of tape. However, some have reported having a "locking" clip on their Runcore SSDs. Mine has no locking "black" clip, but I would check yours for that first. If it doesn't have one, use a piece of tape. Or perhaps just use a piece of tape to secure the LIF cable firmly in place in the SSD.
Good luck.
Same thing here with Runcore and Leopard
I've just upgraded my Macbook Air Rev B with a Runcore 128GB SSD. Whilst the upgrade went well and things seem nice and fast (like a totally different machine!) I am getting the same hangs described here. The difference is I'm still running Leopard (10.5.8).
It usually hangs when coming back from sleep, and similar to described above is seems to be OK, and the pointer moves about, but then clicking on a window and it seems to not respond correctly, then you get the beach ball spinning and nothing responds anymore. Only thing for it is to hold the power button down until it shuts down and reboot it.
I've emailed RunCore and hopefully they can offer some more info.
-Matt
I've just upgraded my Macbook Air Rev B with a Runcore 128GB SSD. Whilst the upgrade went well and things seem nice and fast (like a totally different machine!) I am getting the same hangs described here. The difference is I'm still running Leopard (10.5.8).
It usually hangs when coming back from sleep, and similar to described above is seems to be OK, and the pointer moves about, but then clicking on a window and it seems to not respond correctly, then you get the beach ball spinning and nothing responds anymore. Only thing for it is to hold the power button down until it shuts down and reboot it.
I've emailed RunCore and hopefully they can offer some more info.
-Matt
Reproducible
I've actually managed to reproduce this now fairly consistently.
If you start Disk Utility and try to verify the disk then it gets a short way through and then hangs the whole system. I've just had it happen 3 times in a row. I start up the MBA and go straight to Disk Utility without starting anything else up. It seems to get a different amount of the way through each time, so I don't think it is specifically something to do with a part of the disk, but more likely to do with the load and/or temperature.
-Matt
I've actually managed to reproduce this now fairly consistently.
If you start Disk Utility and try to verify the disk then it gets a short way through and then hangs the whole system. I've just had it happen 3 times in a row. I start up the MBA and go straight to Disk Utility without starting anything else up. It seems to get a different amount of the way through each time, so I don't think it is specifically something to do with a part of the disk, but more likely to do with the load and/or temperature.
-Matt
I am convinced this is a cable connection issue and not a problem with the drive.
Have you ensured the LIF cable is attached and secured properly? I had to use a piece of tape on mine. Some have mentioned a "locking black clip," but mine doesn't have any such thing. This black clip supposedly allows opening and closing... this is where good instructions would help. If one would just push the cable in, it wouldn't have a secured proper connection and would probably not fit perfectly.
The standard SSD uses a piece of tape to keep it secured. I had problems with the Runcore about two months into perfect use with no problems. I swapped both drives out, and once I replaced the LIF cable and used tape to secure it, the failures went away instantly and for good. I am guessing that my Runcore is older and that is why it lacks the locking clip. Obviously Apple got around the "clip" by using a simple method of tape.
How does the cable affect the performance of the system? If the connection cable is loose, the system shouldn't be able to start up at all right? I have a hard time relating a piece of tape to this random freezing problem honestly.
To hammertoe:
Do you have any other applications open at the same time? How much memory do you have left when running Disk Utility? If you have an external superdrive (or perhaps "borrow" one form Apple store or Bestbuy), you can boot up from Leopard or Snow Leopard DVD and do a disk repair. I used iDefrag for a full defragment and B-tree rebuild after disk repair.
Or perhaps you should contact Runcore for an exchange!
To hammertoe:
Do you have any other applications open at the same time? How much memory do you have left when running Disk Utility? If you have an external superdrive (or perhaps "borrow" one form Apple store or Bestbuy), you can boot up from Leopard or Snow Leopard DVD and do a disk repair. I used iDefrag for a full defragment and B-tree rebuild after disk repair.
Or perhaps you should contact Runcore for an exchange!
Verifying the disk will stall the system regardless of what drive you're using. It should continue but the system might stall for a minute.
I have had similar issues...
I upgraded my RevB with stock 128 SSD to the RunCore and I have had some lockups as well... just as described... spinning beachball... only way out is to hold in the power button for 5 sec or so. This was on a clean install of Snow Leopard.
The problem has actually seemed to diminish over time. I had several lockups over the first few days. But since then maybe only once or twice. Last time was two days ago. Before that maybe a week.
Also, for me, it happened at random times while using it, not just after waking up from sleep. Using Word, just surfing on Safari, once in Entourage.
I did tape the cable down when I installed it - like it was on the stock drive.
Later all.
I upgraded my RevB with stock 128 SSD to the RunCore and I have had some lockups as well... just as described... spinning beachball... only way out is to hold in the power button for 5 sec or so. This was on a clean install of Snow Leopard.
The problem has actually seemed to diminish over time. I had several lockups over the first few days. But since then maybe only once or twice. Last time was two days ago. Before that maybe a week.
Also, for me, it happened at random times while using it, not just after waking up from sleep. Using Word, just surfing on Safari, once in Entourage.
I did tape the cable down when I installed it - like it was on the stock drive.
Later all.
current status
Like you guys have described, mine doesn't happen when it's coming out of sleep necessarily, but so far it has always been after the Air has been on for several days and has been put to sleep several times. That may just be because the problem only comes up every few days and that's how I use the computer, though.
I did have a full freeze on Windows 7 a few days ago. Happening once every few weeks is much better than once every few days. I've read that Win7 is smarter about dealing with SSDs, so maybe Win7 just isn't writing/reading/updating as often as OS X.
I didn't re-apply the tape when I switched drives (the apple HDD had the black tape on it also), but mine did have the little clip. It's worth a try, I'll probably take the laptop apart one more time and have a look.
Also, Runcore has released a new firmware update. I haven't applied it yet, but I figure it can't hurt (much):
http://www.runcore.com/downloads/RunCore-FW1916-Release Version(EN).rar
Hammertoe -- I haven't seen anything like what you're talking about. I am able to run the disk utility all the way through and format or check the drive with no problems.
Like you guys have described, mine doesn't happen when it's coming out of sleep necessarily, but so far it has always been after the Air has been on for several days and has been put to sleep several times. That may just be because the problem only comes up every few days and that's how I use the computer, though.
I did have a full freeze on Windows 7 a few days ago. Happening once every few weeks is much better than once every few days. I've read that Win7 is smarter about dealing with SSDs, so maybe Win7 just isn't writing/reading/updating as often as OS X.
I didn't re-apply the tape when I switched drives (the apple HDD had the black tape on it also), but mine did have the little clip. It's worth a try, I'll probably take the laptop apart one more time and have a look.
Also, Runcore has released a new firmware update. I haven't applied it yet, but I figure it can't hurt (much):
http://www.runcore.com/downloads/RunCore-FW1916-Release Version(EN).rar
Hammertoe -- I haven't seen anything like what you're talking about. I am able to run the disk utility all the way through and format or check the drive with no problems.
Did you get any response from RunCore? I just upgraded from a 64GB Runcore to a 128GB Runcore, and have started seeing the exact same problem. In fact, I did the upgrade yesterday, and saw the freeze when waking from sleep about five times already (seemingly every third or fourth sleep).
I did not see this with the 64GB. My 128GB has the black clip for the cable, and is the latest firmware (1916). Disk Utility finishes a scan.
Do you have a contact person at Runcore? Maybe if we all spoke with the same person, we'd get a quicker resolution?
recommend you don't buy until runcore fixes this
This appears to be a legitimate problem with the firmware+osx. I am certain this behavior started only after I installed my Runcore 128gb. There's a lengthier discussion here: http://forums.tweaktown.com/f78/macbook-air-rev-c-hangs-wake-sleep-w-128gb-runcore-39131/
This appears to be a legitimate problem with the firmware+osx. I am certain this behavior started only after I installed my Runcore 128gb. There's a lengthier discussion here: http://forums.tweaktown.com/f78/macbook-air-rev-c-hangs-wake-sleep-w-128gb-runcore-39131/
I'm sorry to hear that. I was pretty excited to upgrade to Runcore last December. The improved performance was thrilling, but the problem was just too annoying that I couldn't stand anymore. I sold mine after a month. I'm sticking with Apple factory SSD now and pretty happy for the stability.