Stolen Macbook VS Flat Battery HELP!?

Hello everyone and thanks if you by any chance know the answer to this question!!!

So... turns out I had the late 2008 MacBook Aluminum. This was a WEIRD version, Running snow leopard it had a removable battery, 2.4Ghz processor 4 GB RAM and 256 GB hard drive (almost specs like a MBP). Got discontinued pretty quickly but it lasted a good 9 years for me.

Long story short. Some ##@(*!! broke into my house and stole my MacBook with other electronics such as my playstation, my brothers computer blah blah and it was a tragedy. SO HERE'S WHERE THE PROBLEM STARTS:

I had disabled my password when the computer came back from sleep mode, this because at my last work I closed and opened it often and it was a hassle to type the password EVERYTIME, so password was limited ONLY when the computer was shut down and turned on back again. I noticed that when it ran out of power and I hooked it up again even like a day or two after, the computer would restart and then show a grey screen with a little loading bar and then popped back to where I left it, without requiring a password.

All of this is because I had very sensitive information in that computer BUT this I will tell you is a game changer:
- The computer was nearly dead in performance (9 year computer)
- My wifi hardware completely died on February of the year in course
- I changed the battery 5 years ago with a used battery that was at 80% health, nowadays it said REPLACE NOW, and if unplugged it would last about 45-50 minutes before it died.
- BEFORE THEY STOLE IT THE COMPUTER HAD BEED COMPLETELY UNPLUGGED AND UNUSED FOR ABOUT ALMOST 4 MONTHS JUST SITTING IN A DESK. (last time I used it I didn't TURN IT OFF I just let it die)

So heres the question: If they plug my computer, will the battery be completely drained out flat and it would kind of "reboot" as if it was turned off and on so it would require the password screen? OR will it come back directly to the grey screen and load and grant access to these people to my unlocked computer as if it was just coming back from sleep mode like it had happened after I left it a couple of days in sleep?

Your answer will make me sleep at night again. THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

I'm afraid you've already answered your question in your post:

MacStolenSux said:

I had disabled my password when the computer came back from sleep mode, this because at my last work I closed and opened it often and it was a hassle to type the password EVERYTIME, so password was limited ONLY when the computer was shut down and turned on back again. I noticed that when it ran out of power and I hooked it up again even like a day or two after, the computer would restart and then show a grey screen with a little loading bar and then popped back to where I left it, without requiring a password.

Click to expand...

The "little loading bar", or progress bar, indicates that the Mac is waking up from safe sleep:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201635

Quote from the link above:

When your Mac wakes from sleep, you might see a progress bar on its display. This is normal behavior that means your Mac is waking from Safe Sleep.When you connect a power adapter, the computer can be restarted.
.
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Press the power button and your Mac will automatically return to the desktop state it was in before going to sleep, making it easy for you to continue with your work.

Click to expand...

While the safe sleep mode can be disabled, it does not seems to be that in your MacBook you did that.

I am sorry for your troubles and apologize for being the bearer of the bad news....

The above reply post may apply to the password usually used with sleep recovery, but it may not be the same user login password that might be used with a cold boot or restart, sand would depend on what the various settings used actually were.

And I'd sure be surprised if that Mac would even boot without being externally powered or recharged after sitting unplugged for four months.

And I really wonder what thief would spend the time, even if they could or knew how, to go through all the user data looking for "sensitive info" they could possibly use.

BTW: Was Find My Mac setup on that Mac that could be used??

I'd say the OP could probably enjoy some good sleepful nights. :Blushing:






- Patrick
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Maybe I misunderstood the initial post and the function of the safe sleep, please explain in that case...

pm-r said:

The above reply post may apply to the password usually used with sleep recovery, but it may not be the same user login password that might be used with a cold boot or restart, sand would depend on what the various settings used actually were.

Click to expand...

To my knowledge, safe sleep backs up the memory content to the hard drive, prior to actually going to to sleep. If the power is completely drained while the system is in sleep mode, the computer will shut down. The first time the system becomes active, be that powered by battery and/or power adapter, the saved state of the system is loaded from the hard drive in to the memory. If the sleep mode is not protected by password, the system loads the backed up profile/desktop without requiring password. The starter of the this thread has stated this behavior on his system:

Originally Posted by MacStolenSux
I noticed that when it ran out of power and I hooked it up again even like a day or two after*, the computer would restart and then show a grey screen with a little loading bar and then popped back to where I left it, without requiring a password.

*-Emphasis mine

Click to expand...

The bold text in the quote indicates that the power adapter had been used to start up the computer.

pm-r said:

And I really wonder what thief would spend the time, even if they could or knew how, to go through all the user data looking for "sensitive info" they could possibly use.

Click to expand...

That shouldn't be that hard, providing that someone is interested finding it. Go to "Finder/All My Files", or "Finder/Documents" available in the desktop state loaded from safe sleep backup.

pm-r said:

BTW: Was Find My Mac setup on that Mac that could be used??

I'd say the OP could probably enjoy some good sleepful nights. :Blushing:

Click to expand...

The find my Mac is good point, I forgot about that. Maybe that'll ensure some good night sleep...;D






- Patrick
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