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Hard drive beachball problem for the 17"

Ok, so I know that there is already a few posts about this issue, (including the very large 96 page one) but I wanted to start a post for those of us with a 17" MBP that are having the same issues.

I was on the phone to a senior technician at Apple (Australia) today for about 2 hours trying to sort out this problem. Firstly he was a bit hazy about the issue to begin with assuming it was a RAM paging issue. Seriously, this thing has 4gb of ram, I think you would have to running so much stuff at once for it to legitimately run out of ram. I'm a web developer/designer so I can push the machine reasonable hard sometimes but I get the beachballs even when I only have safari and mail open. This is the fastest (stock) laptop Apple have ever produced, surely it can handle a bit of stick.

So I suggested it could be the hard drive/firmware etc and mentioned about the large amount of people on here with the exact same issue. After looking into some internal documentation he noted that there was indeed similar problems happening around the place but he seemed convinced that this only applied to 13" and 15" models and that the 17" never got the 1.7 firmware update.

After looking at the firmware page: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237 it seems maybe he's right. I can't see my boot ROM version there anywhere (MBP52.008E.B05) The mid 2009 model 17" isn't on that list.

Whilst my friend at Apple is reasonably sure that my issue is software related and wants me to watch the console when Im having the freezing, I'm positive that I'm having the exact same problem as the 13 and 15s.

Can other people with 17" MBP that are having the same issue please post here so that we can begin to build a case for Apple to acknowledge the problem for our model too? Please add whether you have installed a 3rd party hdd or whether you are having the problem despite only having the stock hdd like me.

Thanks guys.

17" Macbook Pro 2.8ghz 4gb ram, Mac OS X (10.6.1)

Posted on Sep 16, 2009 5:53 AM

51 replies

Sep 24, 2009 6:43 AM in response to blackmondo

Thanks for the help!

I'll give it a shot and report back...

Sep 24, 2009 6:50 AM in response to ernst lanzer

Just a quick note - those were fantastic, idiot-proof instructions. I got the process done in five minutes with no problems. Thanks again!

Sep 24, 2009 8:40 AM in response to ernst lanzer

great to hear ernst, my pleasure.

I'm really keen to see if that stops the beachball freezes for you too (still haven't showed up again for me). keep us posted!

Sep 24, 2009 9:12 AM in response to blackmondo

Thanks from me too. I really appreciate you taking the time to document a step-by-step process.

The system definitely feels snappier with the hdparm change. Firefox still beach balls briefly when it attempts to scan the search history in the URL location bar - but it doesn't bring the system to a screeching halt.

The test for me will be playing a movie while surfing the web, composing email and downloading on iTunes. This combination always results in 30-40 second beach balls. I will do that later and report my findings tomorrow.

Sep 24, 2009 7:57 PM in response to richardaustin

cool richard. let us know your results. I'm still cranking away here with a smooth beachball-free machine... fingers crossed.

ubotch

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Sep 24, 2009 8:31 PM in response to soniktrooth

Wish I'd seen this thread earlier. I've got a 17" MBP, got it about 3 weeks ago. Since I got it I've been disapointed with how it ran. I got the spinning beachball constantly, mostly in when using Safari but other times as well. I moved from a 2.4 GH MBP and was looking forward to a small speed bump. I even upgraded to the 3.06 GH processor and 7200 rmp hard drive.

Last night the beachball problem got worse, couldn't even use the computer. I eventually had to shut it down. Since then I can't even start the computer up. When I try I get a gray startup screen with a progress bar across the bottom. When the progress bar gets about 1/8th of the way it just shuts down.

I don't know if it's the same problem as you've all been having but seems similar.

Sep 24, 2009 8:36 PM in response to ubotch

whoah that's weird. it almost sounds like a firmware upgrade is running, since that's how most people describe that (a progress bar on the boot screen).

Did you try zapping the P-RAM? That is, hold down Cmd-Opt-P-R as you boot? That always cleared up the beach ball for me for a day or so at least.

Good luck!

rmellio

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Sep 25, 2009 2:05 AM in response to soniktrooth

Hi, I have had the same problem with my new MacBook 17" and have taken it back for repair on two occasions. I'm finally picking it up tomorrow after two weeks at repair.

There IS a known problem with new MacBooks with more than 2GB of RAM; mine has 8GB.
The following has been repaired under warranty for my MacBook:

1st repair job was replacement of the 8GB of RAM with new chips. This seemed to work, but once I used Adobe Photoshop or multiple programs at once the computer froze. So it went back for repair.

2nd repair job was to replace the logic board and the tech seems to think this has resolve the problem. Will see when I pick it up.

I believe the problem lies with the video card / logic board or the 500GB 7200rpm drive and not the RAM.

Hope this latest repair stops the beach balling and freezing problems if not I want my money back!!
For anyone else with the same problems; take your MacBook back NOW and get it repaired whilst it is under warranty. If Apple is getting all their laptops back for repair they will surly have to act and resolve the problems.

Note: This issue happens under Leopard as well as Snow Leoapard.

Sep 25, 2009 6:47 AM in response to blackmondo

HDAPM is working for me so far....

I'll check in again after a few more days, or at the first sign of beachballing. Hopefully it'll be the former and not the latter....

I'll be very happy if this works.

Sep 25, 2009 6:50 AM in response to ernst lanzer

great ernst!

I still haven't seen any sign of beachballs yet, it's nice to have this computer running like it should!

Sep 25, 2009 7:00 AM in response to blackmondo

Same here - no beach balls yet since applying your HDAPM fix.

I'm watching video now and everything is still running smooth as silk. Browsing the web, opening tabs and hitting AJAX intense pages would always result in 30-40 second beach balls and video stalls. So this looks very promising!

Message was edited by: richardaustin

ubotch

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Sep 25, 2009 8:52 AM in response to blackmondo

blackmondo, YOU RULE! Maybe zapping the P-RAM is a standard thing but I'm not particularly good with these things. I thought I was going to have to take my computer in but I followed your instructions and it started up! I could not be happier. Seriously, I really appreciate the help.

So now I'd like to stop the spinning beachball. I would like to follow the instructions on downloading the HDAPM. This won't kill my warranty or anything will it? I just get nervous doing something like this.

Sep 25, 2009 8:59 AM in response to ubotch

glad that worked 🙂

well, don't hold me to it, but no, I highly doubt running hdapm is going to void your warranty. it's a pretty minor fix compared to some of the other things people have been doing to their machines (downgrading firmware, replacing cables, etc....).

cgagne

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Sep 25, 2009 10:38 PM in response to blackmondo

Same problem here. Beachball for 20-30 seconds. No consistent console messages. Nothing really poking up in top. Hitachi 5400 RPM 500GB, model HTS545050B9SA02. This is driving me insane.

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,2
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz
Memory: 4 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP52.008E.B05
SMC Version (system): 1.42f4

Sep 26, 2009 6:50 PM in response to soniktrooth

any more news from people who have installed HDAPM?

Just checking in to say that my machine is still as smooth as butter 🙂

Hard drive beachball problem for the 17"