Computer gah

[owlmoose]

So after three days of testing and running diagnostics and scouring logs, the Apple Store techs could neither reproduce nor diagnose the problem. They gave it back to me today with a shrug and a suggestion to buy the extended warranty (I'll have had it for a year about three weeks from now) "just in case". I asked if I should do a clean reinstallation of the operating system and/or upgrade to Leopard, and they basically said "can't hurt", which isn't exactly a stirring recommendation for a process that will be a serious pain in the ass (and, in the case of Leopard, cost money -- admittedly not *that* much money -- and force me to switch to a new email client).

I've done a little poking around online, and I can't find anyone else who's had this exact problem, or even ones that sound similar. Which suggests that it might be some random third-party software problem, and the problem with diagnosing that is the inability to replicate the behavior -- I can't just remove things until the problem goes away, because who knows when it will happen again? I think my two choices are to either start from scratch or just live with it, and since I get the feeling the computer isn't badly endangered by the problem (like, not on the verge of death), I think for now I will live with it, and just get in the habit of saving important things before I sleep it, and of shutting it down overnight on a regular basis (which was T's suggestion). Then when I get back from my trip, I can think about reinstalling/upgrading/shelling out for AppleCare.

Oh well, at least I have it back. And I got actual good advice on the fact that my wireless has been so flaky as to be unusable for the last several months -- he just tweaked a setting, and I think that did it. I've been off the Ethernet ever since I got it home and it hasn't cut out once. So at least something has improved.

Comments

[furitaurus.livejournal.com]

I must have missed a post or something, what is the problem and when did it start?

[owlmoose.livejournal.com]

I've had problems with the Mac freezing ever since I got it, but I guess I'd say it's settled into this particular one for the last six months or so. Basically, sometimes, when I put it to sleep, the screen goes blank as if it's going to sleep, but then the fan spins up and it freezes. The fan keeps running, the light doesn't go into sleep blinking mode, and I can't wake it up no matter what I do. I have to do a hard power off. It seems to happen fairly randomly -- I can't recreate the problem on demand, and sometimes I go for a couple of weeks without it happening. Then, for no apparent reason, it happens three days in a row. If there's a pattern, I haven't picked up on it.

The computer is a MacBook btw, running Tiger (OS 10.4).

[furitaurus.livejournal.com]

Ah, and this problem is apparently a new one that apple have never seen before? Although it would be a pain in the arse it sounds like the computer itself needs replacing, if it's just you that suffers the problem and have done so since day one.