Problems with Macbook

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tngisaga

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 11, 2006
68
0
San Jose, CA
My friend has been having many problems with her Macbook lately. She has told me that her applications are always freezing up on her and that she has to force quit many of them to get them to work again. I guess she's been getting a bunch of the spinning beach balls for some odd reason.

Well, I looked at her computer and did everything that I could to fix it. This includes repairing permissions, verifying and repairing the disk, running OnyX, and using DiskWarrior to repair the directory. After all of these attempts, the computer continues to act irratic. I don't think it's a RAM issue either because she only runs Safari, iPhoto, and NeoOffice most of the time. This should be enough for 1GB I assume.

I was wondering if I could go to the Apple Store and possibly get a replacement. The Macbook is only a month old and it has had way too much problems for a Mac. Perhaps she got a lemon. What do you all think is going on and what we should do? Thanks
 
snowmoon

snowmoon

macrumors 6502a
Oct 6, 2005
900
119
Albany, NY
tngisaga said:
I don't think it's a RAM issue either because she only runs Safari, iPhoto, and NeoOffice most of the time. This should be enough for 1GB I assume.
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Any one of those apps can easily consume 1gb of memory by itself.

Have you...

1) checked activity monitor to see how much ram is free

2) Run the Apple diagnostics from the 1st install disk

3) Tried an "Archive and reinstall"

You should also bring it in to a local apple store since they will have better diagnostic tools and might be able to pin down the problem sooner. Also the more you are seen with the unit in the store the more likley you will score a replacement unit.
 
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tngisaga

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 11, 2006
68
0
San Jose, CA
When those programs are running, I do not see any problems with RAM in Activity Monitor. There are no page-outs and much free ram. I made sure to check that no apps are opening when the computer logs in. I have tried a reinstall and the problem still remains. I'd say this is very peculiar for a month old macbook.
 
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tngisaga

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 11, 2006
68
0
San Jose, CA
Here's an update to what's been going on with the macbook:

I took the macbook to the apple store and the genius pretty much didn't believe a word I was telling him. The computer was even exhibiting a bunch of beach balls in various programs and all he said was that it's a software issue despite having already doing a clean install of OS X. Anyway, he told me to take the computer home and do another clean install and if it still had troubles, I should come back to the apple store.

I don't know what will happen if I take it in again. In addition, the trackpad has broken. The trackpad still senses a click on the mouse button and the pad, and that interferes with productivity. At this point, would it be feasible to ask for a replacement? Once again, the computer is a little more than a month old and these problems are unacceptable. This is my friend's computer who is a switcher and she's having a horrible experience with Apple. Of course, I know Macs aren't usually like this so I'm trying to convince her that Apple is still the way to go.
 
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droo94

macrumors member
Jun 26, 2007
57
0
tngisaga said:
Here's an update to what's been going on with the macbook:

I took the macbook to the apple store and the genius pretty much didn't believe a word I was telling him. The computer was even exhibiting a bunch of beach balls in various programs and all he said was that it's a software issue despite having already doing a clean install of OS X. Anyway, he told me to take the computer home and do another clean install and if it still had troubles, I should come back to the apple store.

I don't know what will happen if I take it in again. In addition, the trackpad has broken. The trackpad still senses a click on the mouse button and the pad, and that interferes with productivity. At this point, would it be feasible to ask for a replacement? Once again, the computer is a little more than a month old and these problems are unacceptable. This is my friend's computer who is a switcher and she's having a horrible experience with Apple. Of course, I know Macs aren't usually like this so I'm trying to convince her that Apple is still the way to go.
Click to expand...
That's a cr@ppy response by Apple. Re-install OS X after you all ready did a clean re-install? This isn't Windows on a Dell for crying out loud!

I'm not trying to be harsh, but I think you should have been more insistent. If you're willing to try another install, then at least you have the right to set a clear expectation of what Apple will do if you have to go back there again. Remember, you've gone through over a month of headaches and you sound like you know what you're doing in terms of researching the problem on your own -- don't let them get away with looking at it for a couple of minutes then giving brush-off responses. Maybe it's too early to say whether a replacement is needed, but it sounds like Apple hasn't taken a serious look at your problem yet.

I love my PB and I've bought a few Apple products lately that have all worked well (knock on wood). But if I ever have any issues then I'll be all over Apple to fix them and won't go away easily. You don't have to be rude, but be firm and ask them to come up with a plan of action in advance. And if that plan makes sense to you then make them stick to it.
 
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tngisaga

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 11, 2006
68
0
San Jose, CA
droo94 said:
That's a cr@ppy response by Apple. Re-install OS X after you all ready did a clean re-install? This isn't Windows on a Dell for crying out loud!

I'm not trying to be harsh, but I think you should have been more insistent. If you're willing to try another install, then at least you have the right to set a clear expectation of what Apple will do if you have to go back there again. Remember, you've gone through over a month of headaches and you sound like you know what you're doing in terms of researching the problem on your own -- don't let them get away with looking at it for a couple of minutes then giving brush-off responses. Maybe it's too early to say whether a replacement is needed, but it sounds like Apple hasn't taken a serious look at your problem yet.

I love my PB and I've bought a few Apple products lately that have all worked well (knock on wood). But if I ever have any issues then I'll be all over Apple to fix them and won't go away easily. You don't have to be rude, but be firm and ask them to come up with a plan of action in advance. And if that plan makes sense to you then make them stick to it.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your advice droo94. Yes, I believe it's ridiculous that Apple's customer service in this case isn't on par with how it usually is. It didn't make sense for me to do two OS X re-installs either. The genius that I was talking with didn't seem like he knew what he was talking about, and sometimes I felt like I knew more about Macs than he did.

Yeah, I should have been more persistent with showing the genius my computer problems, but I could tell that he had had enough of listening to me. Totally unacceptable. Anyhow, I'm going back to the Apple Store tomorrow as I have been plagued with more problems. I will take your advice and hopefully things will turn out better this time. I'll post what happens on here afterwards.
 
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IrishRetro

macrumors newbie
Dec 18, 2007
1
0
Macbook not shutting down, and programs taking forever

My girlfriend was having the same issue as mentioned above. We tried repairing disk permissions, usual stuff, but that didn't help!
Now she took the macbook to the genius bar, and the tech told her the problem with the computer not sutting down was the idisk was preventing it from shutting down. He took the idisk off the computer and that solved the issue immediately!
As for the programs not working, he advised two things, 1. take it home, create a new user account and see how that goes and if the problem keeps happening to come back, or do a Archive and re-install!
She chose the archive and re-install as this seemed to be a more definitive solution, and once she got the computer back, it seemed to be working perfectly!
She is currently on her way home, and will begin testing the computer out, hopefully everything will be ok!
 
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