Yet anothing freezing Macbook Pro

January 27, 2012 10:09 AM

A couple of weeks ago my Macbook pro started crashing, and I can't use it without it freezing every fifteen minutes. Any suggestions before I go to the Apple Store?

It's running Snow Leopard, 13" and I bought it in August 2010. It crashed a couple of times at first, then it wouldn't boot at all (it froze usually at the gray screen as the wheel spun), so I brought to the Apple Store only for it to mysteriously start working again when I got there. It worked for a couple of days only to start freezing again. Now I can't use it for more than fifteen minutes or so at a time. Usually its fans start to act up, it slows down then stops with the screen frozen and fans whizzing. The last time I tried using it it said it didn't recognize the airport card and couldn't connect online, but I haven't used it since then so I don't know if it still says that.

So my question is: is there anything I can do, anything I might be overlooking? I tried updating its software but that didn't fix anything. Or is there anything I should do before I go to the Apple Store? Thanks.

posted by catwash to technology (3 answers total)

Can you boot it from the install disc?
posted by Thorzdad at 10:33 AM on January 27, 2012

You may have the video issue, which seems to be unfortunately rather common with these machines. Sounds like Apple is replacing the logic boards on affected machines, even past the warranty period. I'd try taking it back again.

I'm finding that doing something video-intensive -- like playing a large movie -- is usually enough to trigger the bug.

In the meantime, I've also found that it helps a bit to force the machine to use the low-power integrated graphics (rather than the high-power Nvidia discrete graphics chip), using gfxCardStatus. It still crashes, but less frequently.
posted by xil at 10:38 AM on January 27, 2012

I've been having similar issues that went away when I turned Time Machine off.
posted by dantodd at 11:57 PM on January 27, 2012