Did you switch from PC to Mac or vice versa?

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
Just install windows or linux on it. That way you get stylish, solid (if somewhat slow) hardware with better software.


Up until reading this post I'd had it in my head that Linux and MacBook Pro's don't mix, but I just went to the Debian Wiki and found this little gem:

Quote:
Feb. 12, 2011, Debian 6 (squeeze) contains the kernel 2.6.32-5-amd64. The installation works out of the box for MacBookPro7,1. Nothing has to be patched manually to work properly. But there are some configurations to be done: Bluetooth, Wireless, Synaptics, Suspend to RAM.


... Considering that Debian'd be using a fairly old kernel (my Arch install has 2.6.37), and a 100% F/LOSS stock kernel on top of that, I'd bet that darn near any modern distro would work just fine on them! I have a MacBook Pro 17" from 2006 that I may well try a distro on this weekend.

 

[Nick R]

I will never buy a new Mac. I might buy a used one, and install Windows 7 on it.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

I'm starting to use a lot more mobile devices and a lot less PC or Mac when out of the office.

Nook Color runs Android just fine, including 3.0 Honeycomb on a micro SDcard.

 

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
Just install windows or linux on it. That way you get stylish, solid (if somewhat slow) hardware with better software.


Up until reading this post I'd had it in my head that Linux and MacBook Pro's don't mix, but I just went to the Debian Wiki and found this little gem:

Quote:
Feb. 12, 2011, Debian 6 (squeeze) contains the kernel 2.6.32-5-amd64. The installation works out of the box for MacBookPro7,1. Nothing has to be patched manually to work properly. But there are some configurations to be done: Bluetooth, Wireless, Synaptics, Suspend to RAM.


... Considering that Debian'd be using a fairly old kernel (my Arch install has 2.6.37), and a 100% F/LOSS stock kernel on top of that, I'd bet that darn near any modern distro would work just fine on them! I have a MacBook Pro 17" from 2006 that I may well try a distro on this weekend.


Oh yeah, some of the guys at work run different flavors on a mac. I can't knock it, either. They make a fine looking linux box.

 

[JHZR2]

Started on Apple IIe. Moved to Mac. Got to college and found that most folks had and used PCs. We had one in the house so I was familiar, but didnt get smart on them until college. We built/tweaked/adjusted hardware and software on PCs then.

Most of the driver was the need to run certain engineering and math software. Seems there is a deep rift in the scientific community between the mac users and PC. Likely the same elsewhere.

So Im proficient on both. As I started using PCs a lot, I found significantly more lifecycle and hardware quality issues, even on computers I built myself and specced out high end parts. Started shifting back to Mac at home. Stuck with PC at work. The PCs are more problematic, though not sure I'd go mac at work just because of how some of the productivity software works pretty well on PC.

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac

Since you seem like a computer expert and mentioned it being hardware, I called customer support and will be bringing it to an Apple Store tomorrow. One thing I noticed is how quickly the tech figured out what was wrong just by me telling him that I get the black screen with the languages, and I've reformatted the hd. Less than five minutes. My sister has called into HP support (LOL, right) several times and she's often gotten angry by the time she was finished. And my sister isn't a mean person.


So I assume tech support also believes its a hardware issue?

BTW, if you'd like to learn more about logging kernel panics go to
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2546

Since its a refurb I'm going to guess your problem is either:
-RAM
-motherboard
-hard drive

When does the kernel panic usually happen? Is it when you've got a lot of programs all running at once? That would lead me to think its a RAM issue. If its random, I'd lean more towards a hard drive issue. Is it when it gets really hot (i.e. doing really intensive work like video encoding)? That might be a motherboard issue.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Originally Posted By: buickman50401
Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac

Since you seem like a computer expert and mentioned it being hardware, I called customer support and will be bringing it to an Apple Store tomorrow. One thing I noticed is how quickly the tech figured out what was wrong just by me telling him that I get the black screen with the languages, and I've reformatted the hd. Less than five minutes. My sister has called into HP support (LOL, right) several times and she's often gotten angry by the time she was finished. And my sister isn't a mean person.


So I assume tech support also believes its a hardware issue?

BTW, if you'd like to learn more about logging kernel panics go to
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2546

Since its a refurb I'm going to guess your problem is either:
-RAM
-motherboard
-hard drive

When does the kernel panic usually happen? Is it when you've got a lot of programs all running at once? That would lead me to think its a RAM issue. If its random, I'd lean more towards a hard drive issue. Is it when it gets really hot (i.e. doing really intensive work like video encoding)? That might be a motherboard issue.


I took it in yesterday and the rep ran something on it and said the ram was normal and nothing was flagged. He had me leave it for a tech to check it and authorized a motherboard replacement if he can't figure what's wrong with it. The part alone is $450! It was ready this afternoon but I don't have time to pick it up until tomorrow afternoon so I don't know what ended being wrong with it.

It happens when I run a few programs at once, but several times it happened when I open the lid to wake it. I don't know if they wipe the battery stats on returns or not but mine came with only three battery cycles on it.

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac

I took it in yesterday and the rep ran something on it and said the ram was normal and nothing was flagged. He had me leave it for a tech to check it and authorized a motherboard replacement if he can't figure what's wrong with it. The part alone is $450! It was ready this afternoon but I don't have time to pick it up until tomorrow afternoon so I don't know what ended being wrong with it.

It happens when I run a few programs at once, but several times it happened when I open the lid to wake it. I don't know if they wipe the battery stats on returns or not but mine came with only three battery cycles on it.

Definitely a motherboard issue based on similar symptoms others have experienced on OSX when seeing kernel panics under these conditions.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

If that's the case, I hope they swapped the board. I think the service I receive will determine if I buy another Mac in the future. They're really nothing special. It's good to have a physical store to bring for repairs. So far my experience with their service has been positive so I'll give them that.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: buickman50401

What I've highlighted in bold is what a kernel panic in OS X - kind of like the Windows BSOD except less useful since it doesn't give you any kind of error code as to what may have happened. At least in Windows it'll throw up a string of characters you can look up later to try to track down the problem. Of course last BSOD I experienced was back in the XP pre-service pack 1, 2, or 3 days.

It could be a hardware issue (got any warranty left on it?)



That, or incorrectly installed driver. I deal with this every day as I use a non standard driver for a USB to Serial port converter for work and if you yank out the converter on the USB side, it will crash the OS, like how BSOD happens on windows.

The only difference IMO is OSX do it in style, looks way better and cooler even when you are on your way to [censored], but not as useful to the software developer working on it.

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: buickman50401

What I've highlighted in bold is what a kernel panic in OS X - kind of like the Windows BSOD except less useful since it doesn't give you any kind of error code as to what may have happened. At least in Windows it'll throw up a string of characters you can look up later to try to track down the problem. Of course last BSOD I experienced was back in the XP pre-service pack 1, 2, or 3 days.

It could be a hardware issue (got any warranty left on it?)



That, or incorrectly installed driver. I deal with this every day as I use a non standard driver for a USB to Serial port converter for work and if you yank out the converter on the USB side, it will crash the OS, like how BSOD happens on windows.

The only difference IMO is OSX do it in style, looks way better and cooler even when you are on your way to [censored], but not as useful to the software developer working on it.

In style? The last thing I want when something buggy is up with my machine in for it to do it "in style" with some slick graphic. I want an error message so I can start to track down what is going on.

 

[uc50ic4more]

Originally Posted By: buickman50401

In style? The last thing I want when something buggy is up with my machine in for it to do it "in style" with some slick graphic. I want an error message so I can start to track down what is going on.


OSX is a UNIX - there'll be log files with all of the information you'd ever need about pretty much everything that's going on under the hood.

I admire very much that Apple was able to take such a rugged, robust, enterprise/ industrial-strength base and build something (namely, a GUI) so pretty and user-focussed around it. My $75 (EDIT: $95 including an aftermarket NVIDIA card...) refurb running Arch Linux, however, still runs circles (EDIT: "runs circles" is a euphemism for "marginally outperforms"...) around my wife's MacBook Pro; and IMO looks even prettier doing it!

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Just reporting back, it's been almost seven days since I picked up my MBP from the Apple store and it hasn't crashed yet since I booted it when I picked it up. So it most likely was the motherboard. Still a shock that it was $450 though (thank goodness for warranty. And time to find money for Applecare). The service experience is definitely one of the best I've had with an electronic company. Still bogs down with several things open though.

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Just reporting back, it's been almost seven days since I picked up my MBP from the Apple store and it hasn't crashed yet since I booted it when I picked it up. So it most likely was the motherboard. Still a shock that it was $450 though (thank goodness for warranty. And time to find money for Applecare). The service experience is definitely one of the best I've had with an electronic company. Still bogs down with several things open though.

Good to hear they got it fixed.

Regarding the bogging down issue. First. Do you have any "ghost" programs running in the background (ones you thought you closed but are still active)? Secondly, what's your RAM situation look like? Maxed out? If not, go check out newegg or another online retailer and put in the max amount. Shouldn't cost you more than about $50 for some RAM (I've had good luck with G.Skill as a lower cost but well performing brand). Depending on what you need, I might even have some lying around here I'd send to you for the cost of shipping (as it's useless to me and its resale value isn't worth the effort of trying to sell it).

Anyone know of a program like CPUZ that will run on a Mac so he can tell what his memory speed and timings are?

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I think there are two RAM slots that are currently occupied by two 2 GB cards. That's normally plenty for my use. Might try restarting it in 64 bit mode, which is another annoying thing. It defaults to 32 bit each restart.