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New 17" MBP Hangs

I have had my new 17" MBP just over a week now. It keeps freezing, and hanging when i do the simplest of tasks. iTunes will skip and lag during songs as well as when I play movies. When it happens, I will see the beach ball spin and every program will become unresponsive for 5-10 seconds. I have reinstalled OS X once already due to not wanting the settings I imported from my time capsule. I have never had the OS hang some many times watching a movie or listening to itunes.

MavBook Pro 17" Unibody (2.8 GHz/ 4 GB), Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jul 7, 2009 10:02 PM

63 replies

Jul 13, 2009 9:52 AM in response to Gabberwocky

I just want to let everyone know I solved the reason behind my problem. I was using it in a chair on my lap. With the built in HDD protection, it would stop the drive and park the head when it felt motion. This can be turned off, though it is not recomended. This causes a brief noise then a lag in the system. I called Apple, and they confirmed my findings.

R_H

Level 1

5 points

Jul 28, 2009 10:28 AM in response to theycallmefreddy

Either that is not what's causing the issue for me, or the HDD motion sensor is whacked. My MBP is normally sitting on a desk and not moving. If the motion sensor is parking the HDD heads, then it's way too sensitive.

Maybe I'll see if I can turn it off and see if it fixes it.

Jul 28, 2009 3:00 PM in response to Gabberwocky

Same problem here. At first I thought it had something to do with my old MBP backup to my new mid 2009 17" MBP. I have the stock Hitachi 500GB drive, my laptop keeps freezing constantly! I already reinstalled OS X from scratch twice, just downloaded back my iphoto and itunes library, and the entire system freezes from time to time. It happens when I'm just using safari, using VLC or even only playing music.

I've noticed too that my Sudden Motion Sensor is absurdly oversensitive. If I move my laptop 2 inches in my desk and I already hear the "click" noise from the head parking. I already had a 15" mid 2008 MBP and a late 2008 13" MB. None of them triggered the sensor like that.

Definitely there's something wrong with my computer, and I see I'm note the only one..

Suave!

Level 1

4 points

Jul 29, 2009 7:04 PM in response to theycallmefreddy

Hi,

Count me in too - 17" June 2009 2.8 UMBP (Hitachi 5400rpm 500GB HD with 376GB free) - constant hangs & freezes nearly every minute or so so (rarely longer than a few mins between freezes) and a very quirky, erratic trackpad - I am so frustrated that I feel like smashing the thing into a wall - it is so infuriating! Someone please help!

Suave!

Message was edited by: Suave!

Jul 29, 2009 7:16 PM in response to theycallmefreddy

Me too, 13' inch MBP, 2.56 GHz intel processor, 70 GB free on the Hd, 4g RAM, OS 10.5.7

I have the same issue, but it happens when I am working with my laptop on my desk. If it is the motion sensor, it is oversensitive but also inconsistent.

Jul 29, 2009 7:21 PM in response to Suave!

What processes do you have starting up at start up? Post back with whats open on start up. check in your user settings.

Jul 29, 2009 7:40 PM in response to theycallmefreddy

I don't think is what you were asking for but my login items are ituneshelper and googlenotifier.

I could find startup processes, where specifically should I be looking?

Jul 29, 2009 8:04 PM in response to Ben McIntosh

You are right, I was asking about the login items. What are all of them, not just the ones checked. The checked ones just say they are hidden. Let me know what you have.

System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items

Suave!

Level 1

4 points

Aug 1, 2009 5:25 PM in response to theycallmefreddy

Hi All,

How can we tell if Apple is aware of this problem & if they are doing anything about it?

Suave!

Aug 3, 2009 8:53 AM in response to theycallmefreddy

iTunesHelper
Google Notifier

At this point I have:

Updated Software/Restarted Computer
Ran a Virus Scan
Repaired Disc Permissions
Reinstalled the Operating System
Ran an extended hardware test

Nothing has come up.

Jpics

Level 1

0 points

Aug 3, 2009 9:37 AM in response to Suave!

I am having the same issue and will be taking mine in to the genius bar. Also my friends MacBook pro (same model as mine) has the same issue.

Message was edited by: Jpics

Aug 3, 2009 10:11 AM in response to Jpics

I have spoken with Apple. They had me start a second account to see if that solved the problem. I never expierenced the lag since then. So I went back to my profile and started removing some of the login items. I'm not sure which one did it but I have not expierenced the lag since then. So that would be my recomendation. Create a new profile and see if that solves your problem.

This is the list of Login Items I have:(Note, even if they are not checked, they are starting at login. The check just hides them)

itunesHelper
Mail
GrowlHelperApp
Treansmission
DropBox
GeekTool

Message was edited by: theycallmefreddy

Message was edited by: theycallmefreddy

Jpics

Level 1

0 points

Aug 3, 2009 1:27 PM in response to theycallmefreddy

Hummmm I am gonna give that a try

jlange

Level 1

0 points

Aug 3, 2009 2:08 PM in response to Gabberwocky

I think there may be a correlation, at least for some of the freezes, with Safari and/or Flash. I know that there's a leftover debugger call in the latest release of Adobe Flash, which seems to show up in my Console every time it freezes. I also know of a Safari/RSS cache issue which causes freezes on some machines.

I'm not sure why it's happening, but it did also happen on my old PowerBook and I got it to fix somehow. I don't exactly remember. I'd look into those two/three things above though.

Athtart

Level 1

0 points

Aug 3, 2009 2:10 PM in response to andre.mengatti

Same here on my new in June 17in MBP. It only seemed to increase in frequency in the past week, but I too hear the occasional scratchy sounding hard disk head parking noise and the sudden for no apparent reason Freeze of anything Finder or Safari related. For a minute or two all systems freeze, but usually resume after a minute or two. This NEVER happened on my 15in MBP which is still running fabulously.

New 17" MBP Hangs