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Reoccurring issue at hand, anyone have Ideas?

M

mr. feeny

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 28, 2007
78
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So I have a Late 2007 Macbook Pro 2.2ghz with 2gb ram, planning to upgrade to 4gb soon.

It runs 10.6.8 which is the latest, everything is up to date entirely. I've been having a problem lately, although it went away and recently It started coming back. I was just web surfing and out of nowhere the computer froze and started flickering. The only way to get it to go away was to power down manually but then when i turn the power button on, it stays at the gray apple loading screen and never does anything, I have to power off and take the battery out then its perfectly fine. Here is an old video and a video from today. I had apple test the computer and it passed every test they could perform (graphics card, hard drive, logic board etc). The hard drive is not the original since I need more space. But other than this it runs fine. Any ideas?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh5FSOqpmrs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAZy_w3U9K4
 
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mr. feeny said:
So I have a Late 2007 Macbook Pro 2.2ghz with 2gb ram, planning to upgrade to 4gb soon.

Ill let you know this now, it needs a battery, it does not last 2 minutes off the charger, its a joke to pay $130 for an old battery that wont last and is probably down charge from just sitting. Im waiting until I have the money to upgrade to a new computer (really just waiting to see if the 15" macbook air model is actually released)

It runs 10.6.8 which is the latest, everything is up to date entirely. I've been having a problem lately, although it went away and recently It started coming back. I was just web surfing and out of nowhere the computer froze and started flickering. The only way to get it to go away was to power down manually. Here is an old video and a video from today. I had apple test the computer and it passed every test they could perform (graphics card, hard drive, logic board etc). The hard drive is not the original since I need more space. But other than this it runs fine. Any ideas?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh5FSOqpmrs&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAZy_w3U9K4
Click to expand...

Could be overheating.
 
I use this computer on my lap, and we all know how hot these aluminum computers can get, But it was not overheating, I only had this open for a few minutes.
 
Also just updating the thread

Was using the computer for internet, closed it, put it down, a few minutes later opened it, and its blank. Hit the power button a few times, nothing. give it a few minutes and it powered up and stayed at the gray apple screen and wouldn't boot. Powered down and removed battery again, and all was fine.

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON.

could it be the battery is so poor that it needs replacing? I dont see this being an issue being its plugged in every time this happens.
 
Over heating can have its effects on computers, and it can heat up fairly quick when a computer has gotten enough dust in it over time.

you should clean a laptop once a year and a desktop once every 2 years. I have known of macs that connections get damaged in extreme heat.

So if you can you should clean out your computer, it wont do it any harm, if anything it will help it out.

The only other thing I can think is that the monitor is starting to give out, but they generally last longer. It depends on the usage.
 
I cleaned it a year ago when I installed my hard drive, Its kept in an incase when not in use and I cant even remember the last time I had the fans come on hard, istat pro is showing the cpu at 75* as the hottest temp of them all. I havent been doing photography stuff and video stuff in over a year. Just simple web browsing and Itunes stuff. I should really see what the temps get to.
 
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well took it to the genius bar today, and I fortunately got the biggest nerd who worked there to work with me (thank god) and all tested within spec and normal, and said the failing battery is at fault causing a short. Anyone hear of this being a problem?
 
I just tried to run my computer off wall power only, with the battery out, the computer was slower than all hell, wouldnt bring up the dock, expose was slow almost no operable.

What gives? :confused:
 
mr. feeny said:
I just tried to run my computer off wall power only, with the battery out, the computer was slower than all hell, wouldnt bring up the dock, expose was slow almost no operable.

What gives? :confused:
Click to expand...

You can try scorched earth, as since hardware is fine, it must be in software - do a clean install and do not restore from a backup; instead, just manually copy back the files you need. After the clean install, reset the PRAM and SMC. Still having issues?
 
jenzjen said:
You can try scorched earth, as since hardware is fine, it must be in software - do a clean install and do not restore from a backup; instead, just manually copy back the files you need. After the clean install, reset the PRAM and SMC. Still having issues?
Click to expand...

Actually, there's no harm in resetting PRAM and SMC first, before going to all the trouble of nuking software.

Keep us updated. This is unusual... and I hope it's something simple-slash-inexpensive to fix.
 
thanks for the tips, the only thing I can do is back up, wipe it with tiger which is what it came with, upgrade to leopard, then snow leopard. This I think will take me an entire day to do.

I think it may be less annoying just to shell out money for a new battery to last me a little longer and see if it changes anything.

I just dont understand how its so sporadic, does it continuously for a day, then nothing for 6 months then all of a sudden its back.

Ill try resetting the PRAM and SMC first

thanks guys
 
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just reset the PRAM and the SMC, we will see how everything runs from now on.

I was reading up on the SMC and my magsafe adapter would go from green to orange, then it would go to a very dim green.

EDIT:

As I was typing this the computer just shut off. This is really ticking me off im about to just go buy a new computer.

I just have upgrade discs, will that work?
 
Have you tried running it without the battery installed? The "short" hypothesis is making sense.
 
well computer did it again, shut it off and no matter what wont get past the gray load screen. battery in or not in, still does it. The spinner just freezes and sits there.

does this sound like a hard drive issue to anyone else?
 
mr. feeny said:
well computer did it again, shut it off and no matter what wont get past the gray load screen. battery in or not in, still does it. The spinner just freezes and sits there.

does this sound like a hard drive issue to anyone else?
Click to expand...

Have you tried doing a clean install of Snow Leopard? Not installing on top on Leopard, but on a zeroed out drive.
 
im going to have to give that a try, ill keep everyone updated, thanks everyone
 
well the graphics card died on me, apple replaced because it fell under the class action lawsuit (this is what i thought it was all along, turned out i was right)

computer is back to norma and all is well for now
 
mr. feeny said:
well the graphics card died on me, apple replaced because it fell under the class action lawsuit (this is what i thought it was all along, turned out i was right)

computer is back to norma and all is well for now
Click to expand...

NICE!! That's good luck right there... Rub my Apple please haha :apple:
 
Thanks man, the computer is much more responsive and smoother than right before it took a crap. Im happy and i had my doubts and was too close to buying a new computer. Looks like Ill wait to see if a 15" slim actually makes it way:apple:
 
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