Intel-Based Apple Portables: Troubleshooting a computer that will not power on

There are some simple troubleshooting steps you should try if your MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro won’t turn on.

Via: Apple Support

Continuing in the series of useful support articles to have close at hand, this one provides tips on troubleshooting a cranky portable that doesn’t want to start up.

Image courtesy of Brian Solis on Flickr.

• Startup Key Combinations for Intel-based Macs
• Playing It Safe When Booting Up Mac OS X
• Troubleshooting Mac OS X Startup Issues

Startup key combinations for Intel-based Macs

Learn about the startup key combinations you can use with Intel-based Macs. Products covered: Mac Pro, Mac mini, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac

Via: Apple Support

Another one of those handy Apple Support articles to have on hand when you need to know what keys to press to start your Intel-based Mac for troubleshooting purposes.

Image courtesy of Jessica Garro on Flickr.

• Troubleshooting Intel-based Mac Portables That Won’t Boot
• Troubleshooting Mac OS X Startup Issues
• Intel Mac Start-up Sequence Reference

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010): Intermittent black screen or loss of video

Apple has determined that a small number of MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) computers may intermittently stop displaying video on the built-in display or on an external display connected to the MacBook Pro. In this situation, you may also see a restart warning message before the video is lost or the display turns black or gray. Affected computers were manufactured between April 2010 and February 2011.

Via Apple Support

Update: This issue has been addressed with the release of MacBook Pro Video Update 1.0 — but it’s only good if you’re running Lion (10.7.2+). If you choose to remain on Snow Leopard, you should make a Genius Bar appointment at your favorite Apple store to have the problem addressed. Chances are you’ll get a new motherboard out of it. See the support article for more information.

It seems the MacBook Pro/Lion Black Screen of Death™ has not been solved yet has been addressed. The good thing is Apple acknowledges it really is a problem.

I updated my Lion partition to 10.7.2 yesterday, and it seemed more stable than it was before – though I didn’t get much of a chance to really push the system. I was planning to update my production system this evening, but I think I might hold off a little longer until there’s more info from Apple in the article.

Has this bug caused you grief? How have you dealt with it?

• MacBook Pro NVIDIA Recall Extended
• Troubleshooting Mac OS X Startup Issues
• Yasu and Lion: Compatibility

Indeed, it is a pretty straightforward—if not evil—hack. However, as noted by Daring Fireball, the trick doesn’t work for all paid apps from the store. Developers who followed Apple’s instructions for validating App Store receipts should be unaffected; it’s only those who don’t check at all, or don’t do the right kind of check, that are finding themselves being taken advantage of.

Via Infinite Loop.

My question here is, if there’s an Apple recommended method for validating App Store receipts, why wouldn’t this be qualified during the App Store approval process, with paid apps that aren’t up to the standard being rejected? It seems obvious to me that Apple would be concerned with this since they’re losing out on their cut of the profits.

For the record, I have no plans to put anything I develop on the App Store — period. If the day ever comes where that’s the only option I have for distributing my software, then my days of Mac hobby development are likely over.

• The Mac App Store Isn’t for Today’s Mac Developers
• iOS Multitasking Myths Debunked
• Troubleshooting Mac OS X Startup Issues

MacBook Pro: Distorted video or no video issues

In July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. At that same time, NVIDIA assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected.

If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.

Via Apple Support

Since I have been affected by this issue, I thought I’d throw up a quick post for anyone else who may get bit by it. Apple has extended the NVIDIA 8600M GT graphics processor recall on MacBook Pros manufactured around 2007/2008 to four years from date of purchase.

Update: My son’s machine was in fact covered under the recall, and the local Apple Genius Bar was able to diagnose and replace the motherboard in the unit in a day, no questions asked. One thing to note, your video has to have failed before they will fix it though. If your MacBook Pro from that time period is still running okay, you’ll have to wait for it to fail before you’re covered.

• MacBook Pro Intermittent Black Screen or Loss of Video
• Startup Key Combinations for Intel-based Macs
• Troubleshooting Intel-based Mac Portables That Won’t Boot

Apple is reportedly developing yet another version of the iPhone for launch this summer, according to “people briefed on the matter” speaking to the Wall Street Journal. On top of this news, the company is also preparing a CDMA version of the new device that will work with Verizon Wireless.

(Via Ars Technica.)

The iPhone on Verizon has been speculative fodder for a long time now. While it seems like it could be plausible, I’m going to say not yet — but it will happen eventually.

AT&T service blows from what I continually read (I’m a satisfied Verizon customer), so I’m sure Apple wants to do something about that. For as much as AT&T service stinks, the next best GSM alternative is T-Mobile, which, as far as I can tell, doesn’t have anywhere near the infrastructure to handle the data needs of most iPhone users. So I say that a Verizon deal will eventually happen — but not this summer. It will only happen when Verizon rolls out more than two 4G cities, which means it might be closer to the end of 2010 (maybe in time for the holidays), or summer 2011.

Additionally, I really, really, really doubt Apple is making a CDMA based iPhone just for Verizon to sell for a year or two while 4G coverage rolls out. So on this point, I call total bull on the “people briefed on the matter” mentioned above. Apple doesn’t brief anyone on anything. We all know that. And if Verizon briefed anyone they may find themselves in hot water.

Admittedly, I’m far from well versed in wireless technology, and could be talking out of my left elbow. If you know more than me on the topic, please set me straight. At any rate, should the iPhone come to Verizon eventually, I might consider dumping my Blackberry in favor it. That is a big maybe, though. I still prefer the BB hardware keyboard over the software version on my iTouch hands down…

• Father and Son Launch iPhone Into Space
• iOS Multitasking Myths Debunked
• One for the WordPress Users

• Added browser cache, history and cookie removal routines for Google Chrome.
• Addressed a rare issue that caused the “Reset home permissions” option to fail on some systems.
• Rebranding the software back to the “jimmitchell.org” name.

As always, it’s a recommended update for all users. Click on over to the Yasu page and download now if you haven’t already.

Speaking of releases, do you realize it was nine years ago today that the first version of OS X was released to the general public? Man, how time flies…

• Yasu Updated to Version 2.7
• Yasu Updated to Version 2.7.3
• Yasu 2.7.6 Released

Since I’ve had this machine, a MBP Unibody 2.6 Ghz / 4 GB RAM purchased in September of 2009, I’ve had to back it up, completely wipe the internal HD, and restore 5 times. Two of those times, I’ve completely zeroed the drive for extra measure. I even tried starting entirely from scratch once hoping that would finally fix my issues to no avail. In that time I’ve ended up with a “keys out of order” error more times than I can remember. Running a single user “fsck” at boot usually cannot fix the problem. I had to lay out $100 for DiskWarrior to finally resolve that. Still, through all of that, I seem to keep coming up with issues on this unit. I’ve never had this much trouble with any Mac I’ve owned–ever.

Here are the symptoms that eventually lead up to the disk to going bad: When putting the machine to sleep for more than an hour by closing the clamshell, upon waking by re-opening it, the MBP will spontaneously log itself out, sometimes only once, other times it will happen multiple times in a row (I think I counted 5 logouts once). Usually, after all that excitement, any app that I try to launch will immediately crash. I do not keep any apps running when putting the unit to sleep anymore. I’ve lost too much work because of it. Twice I’ve gotten kernel panics instead of spontaneous log outs. It is far more likely that this machine will wake with an issue than not.

Logs allude to crashed threads in windowserver, CoreGraphics, as well as a video driver (not sure which right now). I’ve tried removing every single system add-on that I’ve ever installed, but still have problems. I’ve also cleared every single cache I can get my hands on and then some, but still have problems.

Right now, I’m testing the memory using Memtest. When I left for work this morning, it had not found any problems yet. If it were as simple as a bad memory module I’d be thrilled — but to be honest, I’m thinking the problem lies in the 7200 RPM drive I had installed as a BTO option when I ordered it from Apple. It’s always seemed to be a little finicky.

Because of this lemon fresh Mac, I’ve lost countless hours, and have fallen way behind schedule on a project that I promised would be delivered a month ago. I’m finally giving up and visiting the Genius Bar at my local Apple store tomorrow. So far, I’ve had pretty good luck with them helping me solve issues with other machines. Hopefully they can with this one too. I just hope I don’t have to send it back to China to get fixed. That would put me another month (or more) behind schedule.

More to follow, I’m sure…

• Yasu and Lion: Compatibility
• MacBook Pro NVIDIA Recall Extended
• MacBook Pro Intermittent Black Screen or Loss of Video

Last night, when I cracked the MBP open, I was greeted with a nasty kernel panic which lead to a whole array of disk errors that could only be repaired using DiskWarrior (a huge shout out to Steve Basile (@xebrawerx) for the reminder on Twitter — this saved my bacon last night).

After rebuilding the disk directory, I decided to see if I could get to the bottom of the flakiness once and for all. I started off by disabling every “add-on” utility I had: Growl, TextExpander, Hazel, Default Folder X, etc. Then I got to digging around in the Apple control panels to see if there as a setting I was missing somehow.

When I got to the Security system preference, the “Use secure virtual memory” was selected. It got me thinking that if the VM was being encrypted, and when the machine is put to sleep that maybe something in memory (RAM) or on the hibernation disc image is changing which doesn’t match the encrypted VM somehow on wake, thus causing the machine to not know what’s where in RAM. It’s a stretch, but worth a try I figured.

So far, by turning off the “Use secure virtual memory” option — which I’d enabled in Leopard 10.5 without issue — the machine seems quite stable, waking without issue. As a (possible) added bonus, performance seems to have increased a touch since the virtual memory isn’t having to be encrypted on the fly.

More to follow if there’s anything worth noting — as in I was wrong in my assumption and my MBP is really a MBL (MacBook Lemon).

UPDATE: Nope. That didn’t fix it. Back to the drawing board. Thinking Genius Bar visit is in order for this weekend. Maybe bad RAM?

UPDATE 2: Decided to completely wipe the machine and do a fresh install of Snow Leopard, along with fresh installs of all applications. A pain in the backside, but the only real way to be sure it’s software related instead of hardware. More to follow…

• MacBook Pro Intermittent Black Screen or Loss of Video
• Yasu and Lion: Compatibility
• Yasu 2.6.8 b2 Available for Download

The answer, as before when Leopard was released, is that I can’t be sure until I’m able to get my hands on the latest version myself, which won’t be until the 28th along with everyone else.

While I anticipate no major issues, there is always the unknown factor — which is why I am recommending that users hold off running Yasu on OS X 10.6 until I have the opportunity to ensure that those wily enginerds at Apple haven’t made some drastic change under the hood that would upset the balance of the universe as we know it.

As soon as I’m sure everything is safe, you’ll know it here first.

• Playing It Safe When Booting Up Mac OS X
• Yasu Updated to 2.7.1
• Yasu Updated to Version 2.7.3

While in the middle of my work, Leopard 10.5.2 just logged me out on its own without any kind of warning. It didn’t let me save any open documents or anything — it just logged me out, and so totally hosed a FileMaker 6 file I was working on in the process that it can’t be recovered or anything. Thank god I have a back up — but DAMNIT Apple, you just cost me two hours worth of painfully tedious work on that file with this little inconvenience. I’m pissed in a very big way right now. Thank you so much.

First it was the external monitor debacle that bit me, now this! Has anyone else had this happen to them? How did you deal with it? Is there something I don’t know about going on here?

[update] It would seem the WindowServer crashing was the culprit according to my crash logs. It could be that there’s a tremendous memory leak in FileMaker 6 (a PPC application which has to run in Rosetta) windowing code. Unfortunately, I don’t have much choice here as the day job is unwilling to upgrade — other than developing FM6 solutions in Windows, which I may have to do now. At any rate, I’ve calmed down somewhat, but I’m still quite annoyed that I lost the 2 hours of work.

• Yasu 2.7.6 Released
• Yasu and Lion: Compatibility
• iOS Multitasking Myths Debunked

MacBook Air battery replacement costs $130, takes 5 days

if the unit is out of warranty. (Via MacFixIt.)

As Joe “Guitar” Huges would have said: Ouchie, baby…

[Update] According to Andy Ihnatko on Twitter, the MacBook Air battery is an Apple Store replaceable part for $129 (same price as a MB battery) with no labor charge. No word if it could be done while you wait at the Genius Bar, or if a unit had to be left & picked up later.

[Update v2] Mac Daily News reports that it’s not really that difficult to swap out the battery after all. Of course, you should only have the swap done by an Apple Certified Tech, lest your warranty be voided. But then again, hopefully by the time you’d need a new battery, your warranty will have expired…

• MacBook Pro NVIDIA Recall Extended
• MacBook Pro Intermittent Black Screen or Loss of Video
• Troubleshooting Intel-based Mac Portables That Won’t Boot

1. Leopard: Agreed. Most successful OS X yet. Had to work on a machine with Tiger the other day, and it felt, well, ugly. I definitely like 10.5 way better, even with the remaining flaws (getting impatient for the 10.5.2 update).

2. iPhone: Good for Apple, but I still don’t want one. I just don’t use my phone/iPod enough to justify what it would cost me. I admit, they are sleek though. Maybe one day.

3. iTunes/AppleTV: Of absolutely no interest to me. I’m old-school when it comes to renting my movies. I actually like going to the local Blockbuster and browsing the aisles for something to watch. I don’t even do NetFlix or Blockbuster Online.

4. MacBook Air: Innovative? Yeah, to a degree I guess. Serious work-horse? Not even close. At best, I see the MacBook Air as a toy for those with an extra $1800 (or $3100 for the SSD equipped model. Ouch!) burning a hole in their pocket. To me, it’s just another gadget that only does some of what my MacBook Pro already can. I’ll stick with what I’ve got, thanks.

5. Time Capsule: This was the highlight to me. For the average user who is in the dark about backing up data, Apple has made that task much easier. Serving as a base station with a “server grade” hard drive (I guess that means it should be less likely to fail), it’s a simple set up. That’s good for a start. I’m still a huge proponent of having a fully cloned (two if possible) backup of the machines you really rely on. Disk drive quality isn’t what it used to be, so that means more of a chance to lose your data than ever. Backup often, and backup early I always say.

As a final note, I’ve already purchased my Worst Keynote Ever shirt from the MacMerc store…

Oh. A final, final note: There were software updates for QuickTime, iTunes, Front Row and iMovie today. Be sure to fire up Software Update to get yours…

• MacBook Pro Intermittent Black Screen or Loss of Video
• MacBook Pro NVIDIA Recall Extended
• Troubleshooting Intel-based Mac Portables That Won’t Boot

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93014

• MacBook Pro Intermittent Black Screen or Loss of Video
• Troubleshooting Mac OS X Startup Issues
• Intel Mac Start-up Sequence Reference

An update to that post later shifted the blame to GrowlMail. I can confirm — without a doubt — that GrowlMail has a problem with IMAP email accounts under Leopard, both on Intel and PPC based machines. While you could simply turn GrowlMail off in Mail preferences, my recommendation is to completely remove the bundle until it can be fully updated for compatibility. Note: a new version of GrowlMail was released a few days ago that supposedly addresses Leopard issues. However, my testing found it to still have lingering problems, so I promptly uninstalled it.

If you have GrowlMail installed, it can be uninstalled by removing the following files from your hard drive:

/Library/Mail/Bundles/GrowlMail.bundle
/Library/Receipts/GrowlMail.pkg
/Library/Receipts/growlmailPreflight.pkg

Since deleting those files, I’ve had no trouble with my IMAP account in Leopard Mail whatsoever. It should be noted you’ll probably have to authenticate as an administrator to remove the files.

• Yasu 2.6.8 b2 Available for Download
• Some Mac App Store apps already hit by easy piracy trick
• Yasu 2.7.6 Released