Brand New Macbook Freezing / Faulty Adapter

Question

Hopefully someone out there can help me..
I was given my Macbook Pro as a gift from the parents back in October last year. I remember it freezing on the first or second day of having it, but anyway.. since then it has been fine, until now!
About a month ago, I had my Macbook on the bed & I actually dropped it onto the floor [it worked fine] however, the magsafe charger has been faulty since. I have to wiggle it about to get the light to stay green/orange & sometimes it flickers faintly & the icon switches from charging to just normal on screen. Can someone tell me if I can get a new charger from the Apple store? I have the standard 1yr Warranty.
The other problem, which ONLY occurred this last 2 weeks is that my Macbook will just freeze. No wheel, it will just show the cursor where I last had it & NOTHING will work. I have to hold down the power until it switches off. I send a report to Apple [whatever this means] and sometimes it'll just freeze again a few minutes after. It has even froze on the actual loading up screen [with the white apple/loading icon]. Most of the time my Macbook freezes, I don't even have ANYTHING open.. which I'm guessing is bad news! I used to play my Sims 3 game smoothly before, however, now it also freezes a couple of minutes into it - so I've given that up!
I keep sending these reports & when I restart my Mac, about 5 minutes of using it [IF I'm lucky not to have the thing freeze on me] I'll get the ''You need to restart your computer'' message - and this also, just freezes up my screen. I was sending an e-mail earlier & half way through writing it, it happened & I lost everything! There is NO overheating/unusual noises.. the only time my mac heats up is when I'm using Final Cut / Sims, but even then it doesn't heat up more than usual..
I'm getting annoyed now because I have 2 x 3500 word essays to write & it is very annoying having to autosave every 2 minutes! Help!!

Answer 1

Welcome to Apple Discussions!
Your Mac should never freeze. There could be any number of causes, and the drop could be a factor. Unfortunately, the 1 year warranty does not cover accidental damage, although you may have homeowner's or renter's that does.
Since the freezing was present before the drop, it could be hardware or software related. A good place to start might be with the Apple Hardware Test, which is located on one of the gray system discs that originally came with the computer. Run the extended version if you can.
If the AHT runs to completion, see if it gives you any error codes that would indicate a hardware problem. If you get any, call Apple and tell them. Error codes indicate a hardware problem which Apple hopefully will be able to fix under your 1 year warranty.
If you cannot even run the AHT because your Mac freezes, then that in itself indicates some sort of a hardware problem, and again, you will need to call Apple about it and see if you can arrange for repair.
It's possible that the freezing and the kernel panic message you received may relate to your RAM not being well seated, so you might want to try reseating it. Instructions will be in your owners manual.
Here is a guide for troubleshooting kernel panics:
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/kernelpanics.html
If none of this has helped, you might want to try reinstalling the OS.
As for the MagSafe adaptor, you want to try a different one just to be sure the damage is to the adaptor and not to the port in the computer. Here is a link for troubleshooting these:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1713
Do you have access to an Apple Store? If so, it might be quickest to make an appointment at the genius bar and get them to help you with this. They have a hardware test they can run from the store feed, and they would know what to check.
Good luck!