Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What in god's name is going on with this MB?

D

Doju

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 16, 2008
1,510
1
I just got the Alu MB, and I've been having some serious troubles.

1. Incredibly flaky wireless. Safari won't even use WiFi correctly, Firefox works 90% of the time, but sometimes it just kicks my WiFi off. Same with Windows XP in VMWare.

2. Some slanted keys.

3. Above all, I'll be in the middle of doing a project, AND IT WILL DEMAND I TURN IT OFF? Why!? Why would I want to turn it off? It makes me for god's sakes, and I lose whatever I was doing. See the picture attached below, it's happened half a dozen time in five days, and no way to stop it.

4. If I leave it in sleep mode for like five hours (torrenting, won't torrent in sleep mode) and I try to wake it afterwards, it flat out won't. I have to force turn it off, and reboot it. Is this normal?

Ugh. Refurb btw.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0174.JPG
    IMG_0174.JPG
    409.2 KB · Views: 211
ooooh. that's bad. that screen is the mac equivalent of the blue screen of death. aka "kernel panic"

this means that there's something REALLY wrong. given that you're using torrents, are you using legitimate licensed software? it would be a software problem.

One way to see if it is a problem with the hardware is to run the hardware test. (put in your system restore disc and follow instructions). I believe that the disc will have instructions on how to start the hardware test directly on the disc. it might be the "software disc" instead of the "OS disc"

I've only had that happen to me once in the 4 years that i've been using a mac.

i know that torrenting is hard on the hard drive, but it shouldn't be THAT severe so soon.
 
Kernel Panic

When it demands you turn it off what's going on is probably a kernel panic for more info look it up on wikipedia, if it is still under warranty I would recommend returning it to Apple.
 
Run a hardware test. It sounds like your wifi could be causing an issue. But if that doesn't come up with anything I would recomend re-installing OSX and start from scratch.
 
uicandrew said:
ooooh. that's bad. that screen is the mac equivalent of the blue screen of death. aka "kernel panic"

this means that there's something REALLY wrong.
Click to expand...

Bad or cheap 3rd party RAM can cause a kernel panic. Easiest way to check is to take out any extra RAM that was installed and see if you still get the kernel panic.

btw, if "God" is a proper name (which it is) it should be capitalized. :)
 
Why is torrenting bad? They're non-virus files, it's just the same as downloading large files from the internet. I've had no problems with this on a windows machine...

I'm using stock RAM, btw. (Unfortunately)
 
hmmm

So is he having problems because of the torrents or because of the mac being alu and not being able to pick up the wireless signal?
 
Torrenting isn't bad. Torrenting is a very good peer to peer way of sending and receiving large files over the internet. Because of this, torrenting is often used to distribute illegally obtained software or movies. While all the ethical reasons are there for calling this bad, this wouldn't cause kernel panics, no more then when using torrents for non-illegal issues.

There is however something really wrong with your MacBook, as kernel crashes are not supposed to happen this often at all. In all my experience with Mac (about 5 years now) I only experienced this three times, of which 2 were inflicted by my own fault (something to do with modding a videocard to play nice with my PowerMac G4). In your case some software or hardware is causing the kernel of your system to crash. You could try and find the source by looking into the logs, or you could try a fresh install of Mac OS X and see if it still happens. If so, it is hardware related. If not, it was software-related. Then try to remember what software you installed just prior to these panics, and most likely that will have something to do with it. Your third option is to take it to an Apple Reseller, since Kernel Panics that often are not supposed to happen. This means you are able to get that much loved applecare. Probably they will be able to find the cause.

You also state that your keys are slanted, your wifi doesn't work and it doesn't wake up. These are too malfunctions which can be fixed by an Apple Reseller and might be symptoms of a larger problem. In your case I thus would bring your MacBook back to Apple and have it checked and fixed. Obviously there is something seriously wrong with your machine.
 
Doju said:
Why is torrenting bad? They're non-virus files, it's just the same as downloading large files from the internet. I've had no problems with this on a windows machine...

I'm using stock RAM, btw. (Unfortunately)
Click to expand...

i'm not getting into whether it is good or bad, morally/legally.

i'm just saying that it puts wear and tear on the computer/network because it's done in little small pieces over and over again. (think of it as wear and tear on a carpet, running back and forth. it is NOT the same as downloading large files from the internet because there is no "uploading" and the pieces are in "sequential order"

http://www.tipoftheday.info/tips/6-steps-to-avoid-bit-torrent-damage/

run hardware test. find your original discs. They will tell you info that none of us can because we don't have your machine in front of us. It is a nice diagnostic.
 
uicandrew said:
i'm not getting into whether it is good or bad, morally/legally.

i'm just saying that it puts wear and tear on the computer/network because it's done in little small pieces over and over again. (think of it as wear and tear on a carpet, running back and forth. it is NOT the same as downloading large files from the internet because there is no "uploading" and the pieces are in "sequential order"

http://www.tipoftheday.info/tips/6-steps-to-avoid-bit-torrent-damage/

run hardware test. find your original discs. They will tell you info that none of us can because we don't have your machine in front of us. It is a nice diagnostic.
Click to expand...

not to mention that the file could be corrupt but still run just crash later
 
uicandrew said:
i'm not getting into whether it is good or bad, morally/legally.

i'm just saying that it puts wear and tear on the computer/network because it's done in little small pieces over and over again. (think of it as wear and tear on a carpet, running back and forth. it is NOT the same as downloading large files from the internet because there is no "uploading" and the pieces are in "sequential order"

http://www.tipoftheday.info/tips/6-steps-to-avoid-bit-torrent-damage/

run hardware test. find your original discs. They will tell you info that none of us can because we don't have your machine in front of us. It is a nice diagnostic.
Click to expand...

What !? Awesome how your website starts out with "Let’s not discuss about whether it hurts hard disk, but how to protect our hard disk."

a) the article is written about windows pc using fat or ntfs partition that don't work the same way HFS+. It doesn't fragment files as much and has less risk of corruption. IE it doesn't put file pieces all over the hard drive as much.

b) any use of a piece of hardware can lead to it's failure :rolleyes:

c) except if you have a very fast and dedicated connection, the transfer speed of a torrent is very low compared to the read and write speed of the HDD.

d) mac os automatically defrags slow growing files ( http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375 )

e) except if torrenting is the only thing you use your computer for, it shouldn't be something absurd for the computer to handle.

f) the article talks about computers with 128mb ram with possibly much older drives (much slower).

g) if anything writing large files very fast should screw the hdd up much more than slow adding of data. Quite a known issue in the audio recording industry : recording many high quality tracks simultaneously on a hdd. Leading to failure. Even those faillures seem to have dropped with new hdds.

h) whaaat !?
 
The thing is, is that the nearest Apple Store is a fifteen hour drive (Canada ftl), and I'm really not excited about the idea of losing my precious MB for several weeks sending it in. :(

I'll try reinstalling the OS. >_>

Anything else?

Hopefully I'll just never have another "kernel panic", but even if I don't, this WiFi is killing me.

But it's only with Safari (for the most part). Safari drops it x10 more than Firefox. Why? :confused:
 
Doju said:
The thing is, is that the nearest Apple Store is a fifteen hour drive (Canada ftl)
Click to expand...

You don't need to actually go to an Apple store. You can call Apple and find the nearest authorized service center. It's likely that there's one in your town.
 
Before you do that, try reinstalling Leopard with the included discs. Try doing an absolutely clean install. Apple told me that the OS is loaded on new computers in an automated way and sometimes this installation is corrupted.
 
One habit I do is not just erase and reinstall from scratch, but use the disk utility on the OS disk to zero out every sector on the drive. This will either show the disk is OK, or it will cause the SMART prefailure warning to come on if the drive is unable to relocate bad sectors (this is good -- better knowing the drive is about to fail than having it actually fail with your precious stuff on it.)

An erase install will at least get you to a known good point. Of course, make sure your data is backed up via Mozy, iDisk, or some other service first.
 
Doju said:
How do I run a hardware test? :eek:
Click to expand...

WTF!!!! I told you how in the FIRST REPLY of this thread!

are you even READING our responses?

the hardware test was mentioned in posts 2, 4, 11, and 16

Why should we even waste our time helping you if you don't READ our responses?
 
uicandrew said:
WTF!!!! I told you how in the FIRST REPLY of this thread! are you even READING our responses? the hardware test was mentioned in posts 2, 4, 11, and 16...
Click to expand...

+1 ^^^ Get AppleCare on the phone and have them walk you through resetting the PRAM, reinstall disc to repair permissions, repair disc, and eventually an OS clean reinstall, erasing any bad or corrupted software and restoring everything to factory settings. Even if you take it to an Apple Store, they tell you exactly what AppleCare will do with you on the phone. The Apple Store techs will do a diagnostics on your MB, but I'm yet to see anything definitive or conclusive with regards to the kernel panic being a software or hardware issue. Hopefully you are backing up you MB on a regular basis. What you have experienced is definitely "a kernel panic" and there is still some research going on as to the reason they occur. I've had three on my MBAir and it's now in AppleCare's care to get it fixed or replaced...:eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back