semi f/u to MBP Spontaneous Restarts

[Stephanie]

from this thread: http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/276674/276735

Ok, those of you who said "it's the ram" - no, you're not right - but you may not be wrong
& those of you who said "it's something else" - you're not right - but you may not be wrong either

I replaced the old ram. The machine is still running VERY hot. No spontaneous restarts; however, it wasn't doing daily spontaneous restarts with the new ram either. They were sporadic and random.

BUT

now I have a new problem. The airport card has now spontaneously turned off and won't come back on no matter what I try. There is no option to turn it back on. It doesn't even show up at the top of my screen. No grayed out icon, nothing. It's almost as if it's not there at all.

Something's not right. I'll call Apple - won't be able to take it in 'til next week though.

[Stephanie]

ah ha! now a f/u to the semi f/u!

turned my MBP back on. Airport's back. I think something's causing the MBP to overheat and I don't think it's the RAM. Oh and earlier, I had restarted the MBP several time, each time Airport was not available (until now). I'd repaired permissions (which were ok anyway), verified the harddrive...

[Paul F.]

When you talk to Apple... don't mention that you had "other" RAM in it...
They will focus on that, and it will waste your time and theirs before you can get it through to them that it's still doing it with APPLE's RAM back in the machine.

Lobby to get an overnight shipping box delivered and send it in if you can.

At least, that's the approach I'd take!

[Stephanie]

Paul, that was my thinking as well. Since it's obviously doing strange things with the stock RAM, there's probably not much worth saying about that anyway.

I've got to go out of town in a bit & I'll back up my files this weekend and talk to Apple on Monday or so. I'm now only an hr away from an Apple store. I could easily go there next week but perhaps I will see if they can send me a box. I've still got my Powerbook to tide me over (although, I was going to give it to my dad this weekend for his b-day).

Another thought I have - I also have an imac that i bought at the same time as the MBP. They use the same type of ram. I think I'll try the new ram in that computer to see if it causes any weirdness.

[Paul F.]

A new iMac AND a new MacBook Pro?
That new job musta come with SOME raise!

Hope you get the MBP fixed up ASAP!

[vision63]

We had hell with ours too. Restart city. Try using it for a good while with Airport turned off. It was at the root of our problem, though Apple took us to China and back with their remedies. And it started over with each "genius" that encountered it.

[Stephanie]

So yours was the Airport card, vision63? I'm hoping if i go to the local Apple store, I might have some decent "luck" getting them to take the problem seriously. I know someone who works there.

So, if you don't mind me asking - what did they try to tell you the problem was? I'd like as much ammunition & information as possible so I can tell them "here's why I think it's x, or here's why I don't think it's y"

[SKYLANE]

Hey... I know there are a lot of solutions being thrown out here. All interesting to read. I know heat can cause a freeze up too -- not sure about a spontaneous restart though.

I got the 2.16 GHz MacBook Pro last November. Gets really hot, and my firmware and software are all up to latest revs. I just bought a new 160 GB harddrive that I need to install into it. When I do, I plan to go all the way to the motherboard and fix the thermal grease problem too. I'll report back on how I make out just in case you decide you need to do it as well. I don't have the restart problems or any performance issues, it just gets ridiculously hot.

In mean time, check out this thread: http://forums.macresource.com/read/1/249...msg-249616

By the way, I use the airport card all the time with no issue.

[vision63]

They kept having me copy the crash logs. They several times "nuked and paved" the machine for us to only take it back home and the same thing happened. Kept telling them that it seemed to behave better when airport was off, but that was meaningless to them. Ended up writing Apple and even sending a letter to the state Attorney General before they stood down and finally switched it out. I was probably being too nice to them because they treated me like a punk.

The most aggravating part was when each new person you spoke with tried to run you through the same exact paces that you just spent a month recycling through.

The current one works fine. There is still a kernel panic every couple of months or so.

We've had major issues with a 2 iBooks, a 12" PowerBook and an earlier 500 series PowerBook. The desktop Macs have been rock solid though.

[Stephanie]

vision, this is my first real issue with any Mac i've had

oh and I wouldn't be as nice as you. I've been through a similar thing with Qwest & I've gotten to the point where I won't take their crap. I'm never rude but I'm firm and I tell them, "listen, I've tried all the standard trouble shooting things that you guys ALWAYS tell me to do (then list them all) and I've done so repeatedly. It's still doing it." I think I even went so far as to tell one of the techs that I didn't appreciate the customer service I was getting.


Looks like this prob is really going to be some fun to deal with though