Problems with MBP

[pukifloyd]

I have a 2012 MBP (in my signature) that I got in March 2013. It was an applecare replacement because apple couldn't fix my old MBP. The apple store also migrated all my data from the old computer.

I've been having some issues with this machine. First, the battery life was no more than 4 hours. The computer took 2 minutes to boot up and had random restarts all the time. I took it to the store in June and they reinstalled OSX 10.8 for me. After restoring through time machine, it was fine for a while, but it was still slow and unresponsive sometimes. The problems became worse after 10.9 update, especially with Safari. It reloads and crashes all the time, and sometimes it freezes the computer too. It also rebooted a lot.

I took it to the genius bar again last week because the computer was stuck in a boot loop and wouldn't even boot into OSX (bootcamp worked okay), and they reinstalled 10.9 for me. This time, I decided not to restore from backup and manually copied just my files from the time machine backup. The problems got worse in the last week, so I called applecare again yesterday. They guided me through PRAM reset, disk repair, safe mode, etc etc. The problem is still there.

No one knows what the problem is, and they have done everything they can to fix the software. The MBP also passes the hardware tests every time at the store.

TLDR; computer reboots a lot some days, or once or twice on some days, especially while using Safari and using the export function in Pages. AppleCare has reinstalled the OS 2 times, I've started from scratch (just copied my files from time machine backup), but the problem is still there. Safari crashes and reloads pages a lot, especially while opening a new website.

The only pattern I've noticed is that the computer reboots especially while or after loading something (like safari pages or exporting to a different format in Pages). It becomes unresponsive and then it reboots in 2-3 seconds.

Anyone has any idea on what the problem may be? I can't send it to apple again until my finals are over in 2 weeks. I would love some input from you guys.

Thanks for looking

 

[yjchua95]

I have a 2012 MBP (in my signature) that I got in March 2013. It was an applecare replacement because apple couldn't fix my old MBP. The apple store also migrated all my data from the old computer.

I've been having some issues with this machine. First, the battery life was no more than 4 hours. The computer took 2 minutes to boot up and had random restarts all the time. I took it to the store in June and they reinstalled OSX 10.8 for me. After restoring through time machine, it was fine for a while, but it was still slow and unresponsive sometimes. The problems became worse after 10.9 update, especially with Safari. It reloads and crashes all the time, and sometimes it freezes the computer too. It also rebooted a lot.

I took it to the genius bar again last week because the computer was stuck in a boot loop and wouldn't even boot into OSX (bootcamp worked okay), and they reinstalled 10.9 for me. This time, I decided not to restore from backup and manually copied just my files from the time machine backup. The problems got worse in the last week, so I called applecare again yesterday. They guided me through PRAM reset, disk repair, safe mode, etc etc. The problem is still there.

No one knows what the problem is, and they have done everything they can to fix the software. The MBP also passes the hardware tests every time at the store.

TLDR; computer reboots a lot some days, or once or twice on some days, especially while using Safari and using the export function in Pages. AppleCare has reinstalled the OS 2 times, I've started from scratch (just copied my files from time machine backup), but the problem is still there. Safari crashes and reloads pages a lot, especially while opening a new website.

The only pattern I've noticed is that the computer reboots especially while or after loading something (like safari pages or exporting to a different format in Pages). It becomes unresponsive and then it reboots in 2-3 seconds.

Anyone has any idea on what the problem may be? I can't send it to apple again until my finals are over in 2 weeks. I would love some input from you guys.

Thanks for looking

Try replacing your current hard drive. The hardware test may sometimes show it's working even if the drive's busted. It happened on mine before.

A 2 minute boot time is normal for your drive since it's a 5400rpm drive.

I'd suggest an SSD because you get much faster boot times (11 seconds on my 840 Pro 512GB) and much less chance of a drive failure, since it has no mechanical/moving parts.

 

[pukifloyd]

Try replacing your current hard drive. The hardware test may sometimes show it's working even if the drive's busted. It happened on mine before.

A 2 minute boot time is normal for your drive since it's a 5400rpm drive.

I'd suggest an SSD because you get much faster boot times (11 seconds on my 840 Pro 512GB) and much less chance of a drive failure, since it has no mechanical/moving parts.

That's what someone suggested at the store, that the hard drive might be going bad. It's surprising because the computer is only 10 months old, but I've been having problems since the first week. Oh well, I guess it's just my bad luck.

I also noticed that my computer drops wifi connection all the time, and none of the other computers on the same network have this problem. This makes me think that there's a logic board issue.

I'm considering an SSD upgrade, but I don't really need it right now except for faster boot times. I upgraded another MBP in the house with an SSD, and it really does make a difference! soon......very soon....

I'll send in my MBP next week and see what happens. Thanks for replying!

 

[yjchua95]

That's what someone suggested at the store, that the hard drive might be going bad. It's surprising because the computer is only 10 months old, but I've been having problems since the first week. Oh well, I guess it's just my bad luck.

I also noticed that my computer drops wifi connection all the time, and none of the other computers on the same network have this problem. This makes me think that there's a logic board issue.

I'm considering an SSD upgrade, but I don't really need it right now except for faster boot times. I upgraded another MBP in the house with an SSD, and it really does make a difference! soon......very soon....

I'll send in my MBP next week and see what happens. Thanks for replying!

Since it's a mechanical drive, I'm not surprised it's failing this fast. These drives are fragile things and if you move your MBP a lot while using it, it just damages the drive faster. Using your MBP on your lap in the subway, for instance.

 

[pukifloyd]

Since it's a mechanical drive, I'm not surprised it's failing this fast. These drives are fragile things and if you move your MBP a lot while using it, it just damages the drive faster. Using your MBP on your lap in the subway, for instance.

I understand that it's a mechanical drive, but I've never had a problem like this with any other drive ever. I'm hoping it's a logic board issue because then I won't have to spend hours on transferring data back to my computer

 

[pukifloyd]

Just a follow up in case anyone's interested:

So I mailed in my MBP to AppleCare last month and they replaced the logic board, the wifi adapter cable, and some other cable that connected the battery indicator. The laptop was fine for a few weeks but it started showing the same symptoms recently (Safari crashing, random reboots etc). Today was crazy because Safari just refused to load webpages without crashing the page and reloading (chrome is same but not as crazy as safari).

No idea what the problem is, but I can't think of anything else now except the HDD (since they replaced pretty much everything with that logic board).

Thanks for reading. I'll keep updating this thread in case anyone has same issues.