Macbook freezing/not responding/shutting down at random

Hey everyone. I've got a problem I've been having with my MacBook (which I've had for almost a year now, with no real problems up until now) lately where it will either shut down or freeze at random. This never happens while I'm in the middle of something, thankfully, but this is a list of what I experience:

1) Sometimes if left unattended or inactive for an extended period (this amount of time seems to vary), it will go into screensaver mode but when I go back to use it, it will be unresponsive and not exit the black screen. Often the hard drive will be making a very loud whirring noise, and the power light will still be on, but it still refuses to click back on, and this always requires that I shut the unit down and power back up.

2) When I close it, it will randomly either sleep just fine and pop right back into action when I go back to open it, and sometimes when closed, it will automatically blank out, and go into something like the mode I described above.

This all seems to have only started happening since I installed the latest software update some time ago, and it began happening seemingly almost immediately after the update was installed. I'm curious whether or not it has something to do with that, or if it's just pure coincidence.

Anyway, hopefully that's enough information. Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

edit: Note - All of this will still occur, even if the battery is charged.

What is the config of your laptop??

aroonmac said:

What is the config of your laptop??

Click to expand...

Hope this is enough info...

Processor: 2.4 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Startup Disk: Macintosh HD

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MB41.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.31f0
Serial Number (system): W8829BBG0P2
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

Click to expand...

Anyone?

As an update, it seems like this actually happens every other time I close it. I never noticed that before but that does seem to be the case.

screen goes blank

I'm having a similar problem. I have a MacBook Pro.

I'm working in Windows XP a lot with bootcamp. 1-2 times a day the screen will go blank and be unresponsive. The computer is still on, as I can see the num lock light.

I've tried closing the lid and re-opening it, but that doesn't make any difference. My only solution is to do a manual power down, which I don't like doing.
Help...

Welcome cakebaking ..... Mmmmmm can smell it from here lol

First things first, what troubleshooting have you tried ??

Anyways try start with these ...
Make sure you're not running out of free space on the System volume...
Repair permissions via disk utility, then log out and back in ..
Create a new user account, and see if the problem persists there ...

Just trying to 1 by 1 root out the problem.
If it still happens post back and see what we can come up with next

Cheers

HELP!
Similiar problem, have had my MBP for 12.5 months now and have Snow Leopard installed.
Over the past couple of days it has been sluggish all of a sudden with 10 minute start up times and I get the 'beach ball' every time I try to do anything and have to wait up to a few minutes before it is responsive again.
I tried clearing caches - didnt help
I tried repairing disk permissions - didn't help
I tried 'repair disk' through Disk Utility - didn't help
I wiped the hard drive and did a fresh install of Snow Leopard - didn't help
I copied my old files etc through time machine - back how it was when I started.

This suggests to me that it MAY be a hardware issue considering it stayed the same even when I wiped the hard drive.
Is there any diagnostics I can run to determine this before I pay someone a lot of money to do the same and overcharge me to repair it 12 days out of warranty.

Thanking you in anticipation!

I have about 19GB free space and did run chkdsk in Windows XP.

My screen goes completely black (no spinning hourglass). It happens 1-2 times a day, so it is difficult to predict when it will happen...might be a few hours. It happened yesterday, so just waiting for it again sometime today.

I read on some other forums that it might be windows dimming the screen to black (however in Windows the F2 key on my MBP keyboard doesn't alter brightness, so I have been unable to check this)

Off to eat some cakes now...

cakebaking said:

Off to eat some cakes now...

Click to expand...

Wheres the invite ??? LOL

But honestly before you go eat cake, what have you done as in the suggestions in my post ^^ ??

I re read your post and it would be hard to see if it happens in Windows side in another account... Does it happen when your only in OS X ??? If so try another user account and see if it persists .... You need to help us to help you ... A little more info woudnt go astray

Like what model MBP, What OS are you running ???

Cheers

Screen goes black randomly

Hi

MacBook Pro laptop 17 inch
2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo
Memory: 2GB 667 MHZ DDR2 SRAM
Purchased: September 2006

I use it 100% as a PC, unless I'm travelling (as I also have a PowerMac which is constantly on). So, will please need some "WinDoze" advice.

I am using Windows XP Home edition 2002 SP3.

If I can get the screen brightness key to work on my keyboard in Windows, that will at least give me something I can test the next time it has gone black.

Today I've set the "turn off monitor" in the power settings to "never"...waiting to see if it happens again today.

Issues with Black screens

Hello folks,

I found this thread searching for the same issue and wound up here.
I have a MBP-15, purchased in July of 2010. It's running Snow-Leopard and the software is up to date. I'm not running any boot camp or dual boot scenarios.

My MBP goes black-screen, randomly, without warning. I have to hard power down, then power back on. A message appears to indicate that the OS has shut down unexpectedly, would you like to send a report? blah-blah-blah...

I've tried repairing permissions, I've also tried the disk utility and repairing the Hard Disk after booting from the install DVD. I clicked on sending the report to Apple once. I've also experienced the every-other-boot condition, where I can boot it up once, watch it fail within minutes of logging in, and then booting again for a good period of time.

Any further help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

chrism2202 said:

Hello folks,

I found this thread searching for the same issue and wound up here.
I have a MBP-15, purchased in July of 2010. It's running Snow-Leopard and the software is up to date. I'm not running any boot camp or dual boot scenarios.

My MBP goes black-screen, randomly, without warning. I have to hard power down, then power back on. A message appears to indicate that the OS has shut down unexpectedly, would you like to send a report? blah-blah-blah...

I've tried repairing permissions, I've also tried the disk utility and repairing the Hard Disk after booting from the install DVD. I clicked on sending the report to Apple once. I've also experienced the every-other-boot condition, where I can boot it up once, watch it fail within minutes of logging in, and then booting again for a good period of time.

Any further help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Start here: http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-operating-system/93819-basic-os-x-mac-troubleshooting.html

...and let us know how you make out.

Overheating??

I still haven't solved the problem for myself. However, one possibility I've read is that my MBP may be overheating, causing the screen to go blank in an attempt to cool it down. It certainly gets extremely hot to the touch, especially towards the top of the keyboard near the screen.

Yesterday I changed my Power Options (Control Panel) in Win XP to
Turn off monitor after 5 mins
Turn off hard discs after 10 mins

I will need to give it 1-2 weeks to know for certain whether this fixes it, as the blank screen happens so randomly.