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kitbum Author

Level 1

0 points

Very Unhappy MBP User

So here's the story.

I bought the 2012 MacBook Pro when it came out last June. Here's an overview of my experience:

Bought laptop (June)

Froze, restarted itself three times in first four days

Camera not connected

Not connecting to wifi...

Long boot time

iPhoto freezing

Preview won't close

Frozen when lid opens (greyed out)

When anything plugged in cursor freezes

Restart to make faster every few days

No cursor in Launchpad

Apple Authorised repair (September)

Nothing wrong with hardware

Problems remain

Apple Phone Support (October)

Software fixes with keys held down on restart

Problems remain

Apple Store (November)

Reinstall OS X

Problems remain

Apple Phone Support (November)

Take in for repair

Replacement Hard Drive (December)

Still slower than 4 year old Dell laptop

Grey screen on wake up, loading bar

Restart every day to prevent slow running

Three applications open – slower than my computer 15 years ago

Rainbow wheel when copying, pasting, performing routine tasks

Apple Phone Support (February)

Uninstalled everything, reinstalled only user data. Installing each program one at a time.

Once Microsoft Office was reinstalled I began using the laptop as my main machine - and problems occur

Typing takes ~5 seconds to show up in Safari

Laggy programmes after opening lid - Mail, Calendar, Safari

Launchpad laggy, has no cursor

Rainbow wheel when copying, pasting, performin routine tasks

Apple Phone Support say that MS Office is the problem - bearing in mind this is my third clean install. I don't agree. They basically told me that I could either not use Office on this machine or put up with it, which I am not happy with. I use Office a lot, so some point soon I will uninstall it and see if Office really is the problem. I don't have any weird apps or anything installed, so I don't understand why Office should be causing the machine to play up so much.

Is there anything I can do here? I would be happy with a replacement or a refund, but doubt this will occur. Considering the amount that I spent on the laptop and the amount of time that I have spent trying to make it work acceptably, I just can't be bothered with it anymore.

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 21, 2013 3:23 AM

21 replies

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Feb 24, 2013 7:09 AM in response to kitbum

Please read this whole message carefully, especially the warnings, before doing anything.

1. The changes to your configuration suggested here should be considered provisional; they may not solve your problem, or they may remove functionality that you find useful. If a third-party system modification that you want to keep is causing the problem, seek help from its developer.

2. WARNING: Back up all data now if you haven’t already done so. Before proceeding, you must be sure you can restore your system to its present state, even if it becomes unbootable. If you’re not sure you can do that, STOP — DON’T CHANGE ANYTHING. If you’re dissatisfied with the results of the procedure suggested below, restore from your backup. I will not be responsible for the consequences, and I will not be able to help, if you ignore this warning.

3. You should either remove or update the following system modification(s), if an update is available from the developer:

N/A

and definitely remove at least the following:

Samsung Kies

Silverlight

4. Whatever you remove must be removed completely, and (unless otherwise specified in this message) the only way to do that is to use the uninstallation tool, if any, provided by the third-party developers, or to follow their instructions. If the software has been incompletely removed, you may have to re-download or even reinstall it in order to finish the job. I can't be more specific, because I don't install such things myself. Please do your own research.

Here are some general guidelines to get you started. Suppose you want to remove something called “BrickYourMac.” First, consult the product's Help menu, if there is one, for instructions. Finding none there, look on the developer's website, say www.brickyourmac.com. (That may not be the actual name of the site; if necessary, search the web for the product name.) If you don’t find anything on the website or in your search, contact the developer. While you're waiting for a response, download BrickYourMac.dmg and open it. There may be an application in there such as “Uninstall BrickYourMac.” If not, open “BrickYourMac.pkg” and look for an Uninstall button.

Again, please don't ask me to do this research for you. You can do it better than I can, because I haven't installed the product and I may not even know what it is.

If you can’t remove software in any other way, you’ll have to erase your boot volume and perform a clean reinstallation of OS X. Never install any third-party software unless you're sure you know how to uninstall it; otherwise you may create problems that are very hard to solve.

WARNING: Trying to remove complex system modifications by hunting for files by name often will not work and may make the problem worse. The same goes for "utilities" that purport to remove software.

5. I recommend that you never reinstall the modifications marked with a dagger (†) above, if any. If your problem is resolved after uninstalling all the above modifications and rebooting, but you still want to use some of those not marked with a dagger, you can experiment with putting them back, one at a time, testing carefully after each step. Keep in mind that system modifications may be incompatible with each other or with future OS X updates, so it may not be clear which one is at fault.

6. If you still have problems after making the suggested changes and rebooting, post again. Remember: if you don’t like the results of this procedure, you can undo it by restoring from the last backup you made before you started.

kitbum Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 27, 2013 2:10 AM in response to Linc Davis

Hi - I removed Silverlight and Kies and am still having problems. Yesterday the system froze completely and required a hard restart and the system is still exhibiting other symptoms such as momentarily hanging when a USB device is plugged in and general slowness.

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Feb 27, 2013 6:16 AM in response to kitbum

Sounds like a warranty issue to me. To confirm, you'll have to reproduce the problem behavior with a clean installation -- no third-party software installed.

kitbum Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 6, 2013 8:36 AM in response to Linc Davis

Update: I called Apple Customer Service and asked to talk about a replacement or refund because I was unhappy with the product. The lady I spoke to said she would see if I could get an exception, then called back and put me through to Technical Support where I spent an hour and a quarter restarting with different keys held down, repairing the disk, repairing the disk permissions, clearing cahces, checking safe boot (which was completely frozen and unresponsive). At the end of this the guy says I have to wait and see - so I assume the problems will return - but that I cannot get a replacement.

I'm so frustrated. This is the eighth attempt to resolve the problem. (And typing this is laggy - so I guess the problems have already returned!!!!)

kitbum Author

Level 1

0 points

Mar 6, 2013 9:01 AM in response to kitbum

Edit: this then turned into the entire laptop running so slowly that opening a new tab in Safari took 90 seconds and trying to reply to an email resulted in windows not opening and text not showing up for a number of seconds. Help. Please.

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Mar 6, 2013 9:30 AM in response to kitbum

You're asking for help in the wrong place. Make a "Genius" appointment and show the "Geniuses" that the machine isn't working. It will be repaired under warranty.

Very Unhappy MBP User