13" Macbook keeps shutting down

engrish?

Hi,

I bought a 13" Macbook off a friend who used it only for online tutorials, making word documents and browsing. She owned it for 2 years with limited use of the machine in that time. Since she purchased it, at different stages it started to shut down at random, it would then not restart. It has been sent to apple twice and both times a part has been replaced. After each time, the machine was wiped and everything was installed fresh - this was done about 2 months ago when I bought it. about 3 weeks after buying it (it has extended warantee until september) it started to shut down for me and I have been onto apple about it. I dont want to return it to my friend although she has offered a full refund, it is still under warantee and I think this is a serious fault with the machine which they should rectify

The apple technician is saying that it is probably a software issue and apple will most likely take the machine in, look at it and say there is nothing to repair and then return it with nothing done. He is saying that we can reinstall snowleopard and go from there... Can anyone help me here, I get the strong feeling that come september, I will have the same issue and I will be out of warantee. I had to get a copy of snow leopard for the technician which I did a week ago and since then he has not responded to my emails or calls.

I have taken a youtube video of the computer attempting to restart several times, usually the machine works fine for a while and then shuts down randomly and wont restart for some time. It happens watching a video, browsing the net and sometimes when I am just downloading and the computer is otherwise idle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plkpmRzVuvw

I'm at my wits end here, I have switched over from PC to Mac and I am starting to regret the decision. I'm off work with cancer at the moment and not having a computer is seriously not helping matters. I have taken a serious investment in apple of late (own two iPhones, an iPad, two iPods and a Mac....) and I dont feel like I am being treated fairly here.

Has anyone any advice on my rights, what the issue could be and how I should now go about ggetting it sorted?

Thanks in advance

engrish?

I should note that the extended warantee with apple goes until September and I also have insurance with PC world until February. I brought it to PC world and the guy there said it sounded like it was overheating and a few parts would need to be replaced which would take 2 weeks or so.

By all accounts I should be covered but I get the feeling that I am just getting the run around from apple so that my warantee runs out and I go away....

steppen

did they replace the hard drive? or is it the same one that has been in from the start?

engrish?

steppen wrote: »

did they replace the hard drive? or is it the same one that has been in from the start?

Its the same hard drive, I cant remember the parts they said they replaced though, sorry. Now I cant get the guy on the phone to ask him again.

steppen

i have the exact same computer, my hard drive went so i replaced it, i also put 4gb of ram in it.

try a new hard drive, a 2.5 serial ATA, they are quite cheap nowadays.

engrish?

:eek:

steppen wrote: »

i have the exact same computer, my hard drive went so i replaced it, i also put 4gb of ram in it.

try a new hard drive, a 2.5 serial ATA, they are quite cheap nowadays.

Cool - would that be under the warantee? Did you ever have any problems like this?

Sad Professor

It's not a software issue. Looks (and sounds) like the hard drive is gone. That noise is it struggling to spin up. You have Applecare so they should replace it no bother. But given that the machine has been sent back with problems twice before, I'd be pushing for a replacement.

engrish?

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's not a software issue. Looks (and sounds) like the hard drive is gone. That noise is it struggling to spin up. You have Applecare so they should replace it no bother. But given that the machine has been sent back with problems twice before, I'd be pushing for a replacement.

Thanks dude - great help. Going to push for a replacement so. Will report back once I hear!

steppen

engrish? wrote: »

:eek:

Cool - would that be under the warantee? Did you ever have any problems like this?

no problems with it,

i presume it would be under warranty.

good luck with it

engrish?

Looks like apple are going to replace the machine, they have asked me to install a file called capture_data.dmg

Can anyone tell me what kind of information will be taken by this file? I have information on my computer which is private and I would not like to be reached by such a file - is it safe?

Sad Professor

I'm not familiar with it, so I can't really say for certain. But I assume it collects system log file data. It's unlikely to go near your emails, documents or other user data.

If you do get the machine replaced you are going to lose all that data anyway. Unless you manage to get the machine up and running long enough to make a backup and then wipe the hard drive.

stesh

Don't go nuts and buy a new hard drive just yet.

First, try resetting your parameter RAM. Turn the mac off, then turn it on whilst holding command, option, P, and R. Wait until you hear the startup chime twice, then release.

If that doesn't fix the problem, turn it off, then turn it on again whilst holding command and V, to boot in verbose mode. Note the messages which appear on screen, particularly in relation to fsck. Post as much detail as you can here.

Next try a hardware test. How you do this depends on how old your computer is. First, try booting up as above, except holding down the D key. If you see a little image of a computer and what looks like a 'computer chip', then you're in the hardware test. Follow the instructions on screen, and note the results of the test. Alternatively, you can start the hardware test from the install disks that came with your computer. Post as much detail as you can here.

Depending on the results of the hardware test, the next thing I would do would be to open it up and reseat the RAM modules (removing them from their sockets and replacing them again) - sometimes a hard knock can displace them.

In any case, that doesn't look like any hard disk error I've ever had. Usually, if you see this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGNRugawBgc
then you have something to worry about.