Mid-2009 MBP Has Been Hard Freezing, I think it may be the SSD or software?

Please read this fully so you don't end up suggesting something I've already tried.
I have the Mid-2009 version of the 13" MBP that I received in December 2009. Almost two years ago, I upgraded it to8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB SSD. Everything has been running smoothly until about 2 or so weeks ago. My computer has been having hard freezes, meaning, it's not simply an application freezing up; force quit doesn't work, the clock stops ticking, the whole system freezes. It was very predictable too. Whether i was watching youtube videos with flash, reading online articles without it (I have ad block) or doing something completely non-flash or web related, my computer would hard freeze after about an hour or two or so of use, requiring a hard reset (holding the power button until it turned off and then restarting).
I did some research on this and from what I initially found I thought it was problems with the motherboard. However, I found that to be odd because my motherboard was replaced by Apple in September 2012. I read somewhere to try a system hardware diagnostic test (press D upon start up). On the short hardware test, the one that only takes a few minutes, it passed without any problems. Then I tried the longer hardware test, the one that says takes more than an hour. I put that one on and left it alone. I came back every so often and checked on it and it was fine at first. The mouse responded and the test was showing some measurable progress. However I came back, and at 2 hours 11 minutes and 59 seconds into the hardware test, it froze without completing it.
Then I tried doing something everyone says to do when anything happens: I repaired disk permissions. I did that, and according to Disk utility everything went rather swimmingly. However, that didn't fix anything,in fact, it made things slightly worse. Ever since I reset disk permissions, everytime I open Safari, it freezes immediately, and that has only happened since I repaired disk permissions. My home page is about:blank, if anyone was wondering. I've only discovered this happening with Safari as of now. I switched Chrome as my primary web browser for now.
Being the resourceful person I am, I tried to isolate the problem. My sister, luckily, has an identical MBP. First, using target disk on my computer, I booted my SSD onto her computer - this is to see if the problem was HDD/SSD related or motherboard related. When I booted my SSD onto her computer the same problems occurred: Safari froze upon start up, and then computer would hard freeze after about two hours. However, when I booted her HDD onto my computer via target disk, there were no problems. Safari opened just fine and I used her computer for several hours without issue.
At this point, I was pretty sure it was the SSD, but I thought it was possibly a bad Sata cable or something. But nope. Last night, I switched harddrives completely. No target Disk. I put my SSD in her computer and put her HDD in my computer. I got the same results as target disk. It can't be the motherboard or memory, because both computers worked fine with my sisters harddrive. Only the computer booted off of the SSD would have these problems.
At this point I think it could be two possibilities
A) Either the SSD itself is starting to become defective
B) Some software component of my SSD is buggy
I think it could be something software related because why would Safari and safari only freeze after launch, but no other apps? Also something of note, these problems were happening, I tried to see if doing anything with software update would help, updated everything that needed to be updated, and these problems still occurred.
What do you guys think? anyone have an idea of what it could be? Any suggestions of how I handle this? Applecare is expired. I'm considering doing a clean install but I'm not fully backed up yet and I don't want to waste my time and have it not work. But I also don't want to buy a new hard drive or SSD and have it do the same things. And I'm not getting a new computer if the only problem with it is contained within the storage unit, whether that problem is within the software or hardware related.
Responses and suggestions would be highly appreciated, thanks.
EDIT: this information may be of interest: currently have 19.51 GB of available space (out of 256 GB). At one point, about a month and a half or so ago, my storage was as low as 9 or so GB free.
I am running OSX 10.6.8

I have tried making a new user account like you suggested. It fixed the Safari problem; Safari opened and played video just fine. However, the computer still hard freezed after about 2 hours. I am about to back up my computer via time machine after this (hopefully it'll finish before it hard freezes again, I haven't backd up in more than a year). If that doesn't work, I guess I'll have to move folders individually onto an external. I will proceed after backup with a clean install as that is my only other option for now.
However, after a clean install, should I restore directly from time machine? I would think wiping the hard drive and replacing it with what's on time machine wouldn't solve the problem because the inherent corruption is being restored. However, what about just restoring my User folder? What would the process be for getting everything back to normal as quickly as possible? Do you know of any good ways to get my apps and other preferences back to normal ASAP without corrupting anything? Will I have to re-register anything? For example, I have Adobe CS4 that I received from my highschool IT department. I have since graduated, so I don't have the disc or any of the password codes. Would it be risky to restore the application support folder (because that's where the bug may lie)? Or if I just drag just drag apps, would that still work or is the application support necessary too?

Similar Messages

Original SATA HDD in mid-2009 MBP has dissappeared, completely dissappeared...

Hi there,
I have been successfully running a OCR Vertex 4 256GB SSD in the optical bay as a the boot HDD with two partitions of OSX and Win7 through Bootcamp. The original 256GB 5400RPM HDD remained in its original position and was being used for file storage. I had applied the EFI Update and had been enjoying this configuration for a while now however tonight during the writing of a file to the HDD (lightroom file import) the HDD dismounted and is nowhere to be seen. The HDD doesn't show in the Disk Utility or under the Serial-ATA Device Tree of the System Profiler. Multiple reboots of the system have not changed this.
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Many thanks!

Take out, put in external case and test.If it works, could be the SATA cable that plugs it into the logic board, a known failure point.

WhatSize this: mid-2009 MBP w/LION has full HD

i am starting to use Mac OS with enough fluency to try to solve some long ongoing issues with my Mid-2009 MBP. right now the issue is that i have a 250 GB HD and i cannot store /any/ documents on this computer because the hard drive is filled up with all manner of items. i am posting the Mac HD info, WhatSize analysis and OmniDiskSweeper analysis. can anyone help me figure out what i can do? i have ALREADY deleted a 50 GB Parallels VM file so i am no longer running parallels. from what i can see:
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THANKS for any help.
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For information to anyone who views this posting. I have now reverted my MBP back to the original Ram setting of 4GB with the RAM that was installed when I purchased the MBP.
The freezing/locking issue has since stopped (touch wood) and all seems well so far.

Mid 2009 MBP OSX Lion Unresponsive/Locking/Freezing

I wonder if anyone able to shed any light on the issues that I have begun to experience with my MBP?
I am having an issue where my MBP has started to freeze on a daily basis, this has been happening for approx 1 week.
If I’m using the MBP at the time of the freeze it will keep the screen on, but freezes the content and the keyboard and mouse become unresponsive, the only way to move things along are by holding the power button for 10 seconds and rebooting.
My current spec is:
Mid 2009 MBP 15" 250gb, 2.53 intel dual core, 8gb Ram (upgraded in August last year) running OSX Lion 10.7.3.
2 weeks ago I purchased a Benq RL2240H monitor with a 1080 resolution, I have an Apple wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse connected via Bluetooth, however, the freezing takes place whether the peripherals are connected or not.
Another scenario is when the screensaver kicks in. The standard colour cycle saver is all I tend to use, but will freeze the MBP whilst the screensaver is running.
The final scenario that the freezing takes place is when the MBP has been put to sleep for anything over 2 hours. Once this takes place it is pot luck if it will wake or not, the MBP is totally unresponsive but displays the white light on the front when closed and turns off when opened.
I have tried resetting the PRAM and SMC, but the problem has persisted and I have verified / repaired the disk via Disk Utility.
I’m now considering a total reinstall of Lion as the next phase of my home remedy, does anyone think this may help, or should I just take it straight to a Genius appointment?

For information to anyone who views this posting. I have now reverted my MBP back to the original Ram setting of 4GB with the RAM that was installed when I purchased the MBP.
The freezing/locking issue has since stopped (touch wood) and all seems well so far.

I have a mid-2009 MBP and I've been using my BOSE Companion 20 with it for about half a year now. It was fine until recently, when i want to adjust the volume using the pod on the BOSE Companion 20, it will cause like a surge in volume, spiking it up

I have a mid-2009 MBP and I've been using my BOSE Companion 20 with it for about half a year now. It was fine until recently, when i want to adjust the volume using the pod on the BOSE Companion 20, it will cause like a surge in volume, spiking it up and down. It will not stablise itself! It's very fustrating. Anybody with the same issue?

I have the BOSE Companion 5 speakers and have had the same problem. I've searched everywhere and gotten nowhere. My speakers are way past their warranty, so calling Bose would probably get me no where either. Only thing I can think of is that the speakers overheat which causes the spikes in the volume. I've tried unplugging them for a few minutes and then plug them back on. The problem does go away, but after about 5 minutes, same problem.

Replacement options for keys on mid-2009 MBP

i have a mid-2009 MBP that i am extremely unhappy with and which i /was/ going to just give to my mom but it acts so oddly that i am afraid she will get too confused and won't be able to use it.
/anyway/ i had this thing in to the genius bar and asked them to replace all the keys as there are a lot of these that are very wobbly and make typing sort of a challenge. the technician asked me to tell him which /specific/ keys were a problem - i didn't sit down to test this - and then proceeded to give me some kind of song and dance explaining the technical reasons why the keys would fail and he assured me that as long as there was not some failure with the mechanism under the keys that they would replace the keys for the life of the machine at no charge.
two questions:
1. i have written down the 23 keys that feel like they are hard to work with and i am wondering if it is unreasonable to expect them to just replace all of them now so i (or the person i give the machien to) won't have to deal with this periodically.
2. is it in fact the case that i should expect to get other keys fixed for free when they go bad?
3. is there some reason why the technician at the genius bar may not have wanted me to do another repair on this machine within the warranty period since i have had it in complaining about various issues very often and they finally found a battery and a logic board problem about three months before my warranty expiration? i mean, i have not trusted the advice i get which is a complete 180 degrees from when i was first on mac before i had to move to PC and i am wondering if there may be a reason why they did not want to simply go ahead and do the key replacement for me under warranty. it seems really sort of mean and cheap to turn me away on this at the 11th hour with some kind of verbal assurance when i've never been happy with the machine or the explanations on the problems with the machine anyway.
is there some kind of magic words to get them to just replace all the keys so i won't have this as an ADDED problem to my battery life, beachball hangs, sleep battery drain, etc, etc, etc?
THANKS

What Bob is saying is that according to the table there are different versions of Bootcamp which can be run on each Mac which load the various drivers for the specific versions on Windows.
Windows 8 is designed to run 64bit but it will run 32bit as well it just means you dont get all the benefits and can loose Disc & Ram, but the host mac needs a 64bit compatible processor and it needs to meet the spec for the version of Windows being run and you need the various drivers.
Often this level of support and development wont be provided on older machines as they knnow it will run into problems at some point.
That doesnt mean you cant or shouldnt go for it, as long as you accept it may not be a stright forward install
This thread should provide all the info you need as the user has done what you are looking to do:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4897066?tstart=0

Mid 2009 MBP Boot and Target Disk problem

Hello all.
I'm trying to help a friend get his Mid 2009 MBP back on its legs. He dropped it at some point and its condition has been deteriorating since. It has finally come to the fact that his computer simply won't boot into OS X. It has Leopard installed on it still.
We decided to try and get his data off of his computer and when we connect with firewire using target disk mode, it can see his hard drive, but it seems every couple minutes, the disk mounts again. After a while, the longest we've had it on (15 minutes) has had 6 copies of his "Macintosh HD" connected to my computer. You can only access data on the latest mounted drive, and if you try to transfer data, the transfer fails when the drive gets re-mounted the next time.
We've run the hardware diagnostics, both the quick and the extended and neither have found problems with anything, so that's why we figured we could just get his data off the computer and then reload Leopard or Snow Leopard onto it.
Any guesses as to what's happening? Any possible solutions?
I was thinking maybe the hard drive cable, but I don't think that would keep multiple "Macintosh HD"s connected to my computer all at once.
Thanks for your time.
Message was edited by: jondy

Is a Genius Bar diagnosis free?
My understanding is that the diagnosis is free. Go to "Got a technical question? Step up to the Genius Bar" (http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/) to read more about their services and how to make an appointment.
Of note is:
How should I prepare for my appointment?
First, back up your data. (We’re happy to show you how to back up, but remember we’re not responsible for data loss.)
I don't know how this will actually play out in your situation (i.e. they might give same advice as above, have a different approach, or they might ask to do diagnosis - that would likely answer your question as to if data retrieval is possible / practical - just keep in mind that they are not responsible for data loss).
Given that the MBP was dropped and the problems as stated, I would make an appointment. Would like to hear how it all works out.
Best of luck.

[SOLVED] Mid 2009 MBP - nvidia nonfree drivers

- X server looking for nouveau
Hi all
So this is my first post on here but I have been looking on the net to find a resolution to the following for the past week or more; I have been using Ubuntu for a number of years now but would still recon my experiance in linux is still in the realm of beginner.
I have a Mid 2009 MBP with Nvidia 9600m gt and 9400m; the problem i face is getting X to start.
NOTE: Currently I'm running Manjaro 3.10.30 (clean install) as it couldn't get the pure Arch live to boot, didn't have time to investigate that, maybe in the comming weeks.
The Xorg.0.log states that it is trying to load a nouveau module
[ 11.610]
X.Org X Server 1.14.5
Release Date: 2013-12-12
[ 11.610] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[ 11.610] Build Operating System: Linux 3.12.6-1-ARCH x86_64
[ 11.610] Current Operating System: Linux manjaro 3.10.30-1-MANJARO #1 SMP Fri Feb 14 06:07:50 UTC 2014 x86_64
[ 11.610] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-310-x86_64 root=UUID=d6202b98-312c-40e4-ba98-467a4f6b41c7 rw nomodeset
[ 11.611] Build Date: 08 January 2014 01:35:51PM
[ 11.611]
[ 11.611] Current version of pixman: 0.32.4
[ 11.611] Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
[ 11.611] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[ 11.611] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Thu Mar 13 18:55:57 2014
[ 11.611] (==) Using config file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"
[ 11.611] (==) Using config directory: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[ 11.611] (==) ServerLayout "Layout0"
[ 11.611] (**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
[ 11.611] (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor0"
[ 11.612] (**) | |-->Device "Device0"
[ 11.612] (**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0"
[ 11.612] (**) |-->Input Device "Mouse0"
[ 11.612] (==) Automatically adding devices
[ 11.612] (==) Automatically enabling devices
[ 11.612] (==) Automatically adding GPU devices
[ 11.612] (WW) `fonts.dir' not found (or not valid) in "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/".
[ 11.612] Entry deleted from font path.
[ 11.612] (Run 'mkfontdir' on "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/").
[ 11.612] (WW) `fonts.dir' not found (or not valid) in "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/".
[ 11.612] Entry deleted from font path.
[ 11.612] (Run 'mkfontdir' on "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/").
[ 11.612] (==) FontPath set to:
/usr/share/fonts/misc/,
/usr/share/fonts/TTF/,
/usr/share/fonts/OTF/,
/usr/share/fonts/Type1/
[ 11.612] (==) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[ 11.612] (**) Extension "Composite" is enabled
[ 11.612] (**) Extension "RENDER" is enabled
[ 11.612] (WW) Hotplugging is on, devices using drivers 'kbd', 'mouse' or 'vmmouse' will be disabled.
[ 11.612] (WW) Disabling Keyboard0
[ 11.612] (WW) Disabling Mouse0
[ 11.612] (II) Loader magic: 0x7fac20
[ 11.612] (II) Module ABI versions:
[ 11.612] X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
[ 11.612] X.Org Video Driver: 14.1
[ 11.612] X.Org XInput driver : 19.1
[ 11.612] X.Org Server Extension : 7.0
[ 11.612] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card0)
[ 11.612] (II) xfree86: Adding drm device (/dev/dri/card1)
[ 11.615] (--) PCI:*(0:2:0:0) 10de:0647:106b:00b0 rev 161, Mem @ 0xd4000000/16777216, 0xb0000000/268435456, 0xd2000000/33554432, I/O @ 0x00003000/128, BIOS @ 0x????????/524288
[ 11.615] (--) PCI: (0:3:0:0) 10de:0863:106b:00af rev 177, Mem @ 0xd6000000/16777216, 0xc0000000/268435456, 0xd0000000/33554432, I/O @ 0x00002000/128, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
[ 11.615] Initializing built-in extension Generic Event Extension
[ 11.615] Initializing built-in extension SHAPE
[ 11.615] Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM
[ 11.615] Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension
[ 11.615] Initializing built-in extension XTEST
[ 11.615] Initializing built-in extension BIG-REQUESTS
[ 11.615] Initializing built-in extension SYNC
[ 11.615] Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension XC-MISC
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension SECURITY
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension XFIXES
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension RENDER
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension RANDR
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension COMPOSITE
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension DAMAGE
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension MIT-SCREEN-SAVER
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension DOUBLE-BUFFER
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension RECORD
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension DPMS
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension X-Resource
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension XVideo
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension XVideo-MotionCompensation
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension XFree86-VidModeExtension
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension XFree86-DGA
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension XFree86-DRI
[ 11.616] Initializing built-in extension DRI2
[ 11.616] (II) LoadModule: "glx"
[ 11.616] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/extensions/libglx.so
[ 11.638] (II) Module glx: vendor="NVIDIA Corporation"
[ 11.638] compiled for 4.0.2, module version = 1.0.0
[ 11.638] Module class: X.Org Server Extension
[ 11.638] (II) NVIDIA GLX Module 331.49 Wed Feb 12 20:17:10 PST 2014
[ 11.638] Loading extension GLX
[ 11.638] (II) LoadModule: "nouveau"
[ 11.638] (WW) Warning, couldn't open module nouveau
[ 11.638] (II) UnloadModule: "nouveau"
[ 11.638] (II) Unloading nouveau
[ 11.638] (EE) Failed to load module "nouveau" (module does not exist, 0)
[ 11.638] (EE) No drivers available.
[ 11.638] (EE)
Fatal server error:
[ 11.638] (EE) no screens found(EE)
[ 11.638] (EE)
Please consult the The X.Org Foundation support
at http://wiki.x.org
for help.
[ 11.638] (EE) Please also check the log file at "/var/log/Xorg.0.log" for additional information.
[ 11.638] (EE)
I have uninstalled all nouveau packages using the following page to help me; https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/NVIDIA
The following is the output of
$ pacman -Qs nvidia
local/libvdpau 0.7-1
Nvidia VDPAU library
local/linux310-nvidia 331.49-1 (linux310-extramodules)
NVIDIA drivers for linux.
local/mhwd-nvidia 331.49-1
MHWD module-ids for nvidia 331.49
local/mhwd-nvidia-legacy 304.119-1
MHWD module-ids for nvidia 304.119
local/nvidia-utils 331.49-1
NVIDIA drivers utilities
I am also including my xorg.conf created with
$ nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 304.119 (buildmeister@swio-display-x64-rhel04-14) Fri Jan 17 10:35:46 PST 2014
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection
Section "Files"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Unknown"
HorizSync 28.0 - 33.0
VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Output of
$ lspci -k | grep -A 2 -i "VGA"
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G96M [GeForce 9600M GT] (rev a1)
Subsystem: Apple Inc. Device 00b0
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation C79 [GeForce 9400M] (rev b1)
Subsystem: Apple Inc. Device 00af
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
Also tried the 304 set but to no avail.
I noticed just before grabbing my the above files/data via ssh that the /home/[username] directory is still the default user, "Manjaro" in this case. but this is probably in part due to X server not being able to start.
If anyone has any idea what direction i should take, please let me know. I have an image/backup of my Ubuntu 12.04 which i might have to restore to get the equivalent data, but i would rather fix this without it.
P.S. Not sure if this is the correct section for this topic.
Last edited by DoveDev (2014-03-14 18:34:15)

This is one of them times I should have wrote down what steps i had completed and had not, I reread the information on this page, http://wiki.manjaro.org/index.php?title … on_Startup. Obviously i missed a vitel step while i was half asleep a few nights ago... Anyway This is solved.
P.S. I will be getting a refurbished Dell Latitude e7440 next week and I will be playing with it and a pure Arch experiance, can't wait. Catch you later.

Downgrade form 10.7 to 10.6 (Mid 2009 MBP)

Ok, I wan't to be very clear about this before I make any decisions because I am a video editor, have lots of footage, deadlines etc.
I upgraded to 10.7 on my mid 2009 mac book pro a couple months ago, ever since then, it has been extremely slugglish (final cut pro runs at 150 percent cpu, as do other processes like kernal task, safari plug in, any game, etc.)
I've done a few back ups while on Lion unfortunately, so does this mean that I can't erase my drive and reboot with snow leopord with lion back ups?
If so, how can I go back, look at previous back ups, and tell if one is snow leopord or not?
I have an external 2 TB drive that i can just drag all my user files to, and as for applications I guess I could just re install.
But files like .fcp (final cut pro project files) that I worked with on lion, will those work once I downgrade to snow leopord?
I've taken the computer to apple, they said nothing is wrong with it at all and it must be the operating system , i'e heard countless similar stories of mid 2009 mbps not being able to handle Lion.
I have a 3.3 GHz processor, and 8 gigs of ram, there is no reason that my computer should be freaking out like this and going slow, its put my work at a stand still, please help!

If the backups you did are bootable clones, any one can be used to restore the old system back into the internal drive. Else you will have to dig out the SL install DVD and start with a fresh install of both the system as well as all the applications.
You can tell if a bootable system is found in a drive by plugging it in, turning it on and opening System Preferences / Startup Disk. If the drive pops up in the list, it has a system and it will tell you what it is.

Temporary video stutter in games, mid 2009 MBP

Hi all,
I've been having a chronic issue with my mid-2009 MBP with 256MB NVIDIA 9400M, only noticeable when playing games. Starting a few minutes after I start playing a game, the video will stutter in regular, discrete chunks. It will run fine for about a second, then lag horribly for a second, and alternate between these two. This is especially noticeable with graphics-intense games such as Starcraft 2, but happens even for certain less demanding games too.
The funny thing is that the issue goes away after 15-20 minutes of play or so. After that, no matter how long I play for (for periods up to several hours), the issue does not return. This makes me think it must be some sort of software or driver issue, and thus hopefully fixable. On the other hand, it happens both in OSX and Win 7 under Bootcamp.
One thing is that I have upgraded the RAM and installed a new hard drive; maybe these are causing problems? I don't remember if this issue predates the new hardware.
Anyone have any thoughts? I've poked around a bit and haven't seen anyone report this exact same issue.
My specs are:
MacBook Pro
13-inch, Mid 2009
Processor 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory 8 GB 1067 MHz DDR3
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB
EDIT: found this post with what seems to be the same issue: https://discussions.apple.com/message/15530456#15530456

Perhaps you could try this to resolve your issue: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
If the issue still persists, I would contact AppleCare, or may an appointment at the Genius Bar. There may be diagnostics they can run to determine if you have a failing logic board or GPU.

CHKDSK fails on fresh install of Windows 7 x64 on mid-2009 MBP with SSD

There was an earlier post about this that has been archived prematurely that I will reproduce below. The main issue is a flaw in the Windows 7 x64 CHKDSK of the SSD drive in the mid-2009 MBP= 5,2. With fresh OSX installs, bootcamp 3.1, Windows 7 x64 all updates, the CHKDSK operation checks files at about 1 per second in stage 4 of 5, verifying file data.
Moderators: please leave this open until it is actually resolved.
Earlier posts:
Panajev
Posts: 4
From: ITALY
Registered: Oct 14, 2009
Windows 7 x64, MacBook Pro, frequent CHKDSK after HDD firmware update
Posted: Nov 2, 2009 6:45 AM
Hello, I have been having filesystem problems on my Windows 7 partition since the HDD related firmware update (the latest Performance update) was released and installed onto this mid 2009 MacBook Pro.
The HDD is a 500 GB 7200 RPM model, but it never gave me any troubles under OS X before the "fix" and I know other users had intermittent problems with the HDD on their MacBook Pro's related to the HDD making noises and pausing.
The fix was released, I installed it and I started seeing my first problem in Windows 7 x64 a few days after... I cleanly shut the OS down, but when I booted it back it asked me to perform a coherency check to the Filesystem... I thought that the problem was related to the fact that I was using the RC1 build of Windows 7... although that problem never manifested itself in the weeks before the Performance Update (HDD firmware fix) was installed and Windows 7 x64 RC1 had been on there and used frequently.
I recently purchased Windows 7 retail a few days ago and after a bit of trouble-free operation I started having problems again... always shutting the PC down carefully and I was asked to run the CHKDSK utility at boot twice already.
What to do?
Message was edited by: Panajev
MacBook Pro (2009) Mac OS X (10.6.1) Windows 7 x64, Bootcamp 3.0, recent HDD update
nicegom
Posts: 6
Registered: Nov 12, 2009
Re: Windows 7 x64, MacBook Pro, frequent CHKDSK after HDD firmware update
Posted: Nov 12, 2009 1:40 AM in response to: Panajev
Hi there,
I have a different experience. I installed Windows 7 before the "performance update 1.0" came out. I actually experienced the chkdsk launch problem with Windows 7. I had done repartitioning and clean-install several times but cannot solve the problem. So I tried to install XP and Vista on my MBA (Mid 2009 with SSD) and found that these two OS doesn't introduce such problem.
To be honest, I'm not sure which caused such problem, Windows 7, a bootcamp driver, or EFI. But I'm sure that CHKDSK in Windows 7 has an obvious bug that needs to be patched (memory leak and maybe this problem as well). So now I'm using Windows Vista SP2. And I'm happy with Vista SP2 (seems to become faster and stable now).
Cheer,
Message was edited by: nicegom
Macbook Air Windows Vista MBA of Mid 2009 with SSD

Windows 7 x64 all updates
Just doublechecking. Does that include the recent chkdsk hotfixes?
[The Chkdsk.exe program does not start correctly on a Windows 7-based computer|http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975778]

Mid 2009 MacBook Pro 13 Hard Drive Upgrade Questions

I bought an upgraded hard drive for my mid-2009 MBP 13. I've done some reading and it appears that my model of MBP shouldn't have drive issues, but I still have a few questions that I'm hoping someone will answer. Perhaps this will all boil down to a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. That is, I may be worried without good reason. If so, I apologize ahead of time.
MacBook Pro 5,5
2.26 GHz
4GB RAM
10.6.3
Firmware version is: EFI64
The stock drive is a TOSHIBA MK1655GSXF (160 GB):
The new hard drive is the Western Digital Scorpio Blue 500 GB 5400 RPM drive.
I noticed that the temperature seemed to spike after installing the new drive. I didn't get the temperature of the hard drive before I took it out, but the CPU was consistently around 170 degrees Fahrenheit and the fan was in the 2,800-2,900 RPM range.
After putting the stock drive back in the MBP, the temps are consistently 142-145 degrees F for the CPU and 95-97 degrees F for the hard drive. The fan is right around 2,000 RPM.
I've read a bit about outrageous load cycles and just wanted to check the numbers.
The WD Scorpio Blue around 4,055 after 27 power on hours.
The stock drive was at last count, at 206701 after 2215 power on hours.
The machine is doing comparable things, downloading podcasts, Time Machine backups, browsing, etc.
The general questions, I have are:
Is the temperature supposed to spike like that when handling a larger drive?
If so, what is a reasonable range? I know I don't have the temperature of the new drive, but if I knew what to expect, I guess I would be more confident putting the new drive back in and not returning it.
What's a normal/healthy/reasonable (don't really know the term I'm grasping for) load cycle to see? I divided the load cycles by the number of power on hours and get around 150 for the WD and 93 for the Toshiba. Are either of those outrageously good or bad? I haven't been able to tell in my reading.
The bottom-line questions are:
Am I just overreacting based on what I've read? Or, is something not kosher and should I return the new drive and get something else? Should I try hdapm or something? If I should return the drive, any recommendations?
I've talked your collective ear off, I'm sure.
Thank you in advance for your responses.
Cheers,
Rob

For what it's worth I've put aftermarket 7200 rpm hard drives in 2006 and 2008 15" MBP's and also a WD Scorpio Black 320GB in a 2009 13" MBP 2.53GHz and have had no changes in cpu temp or fan speed. Your fan speeds and cpu temp with the new drive sound too high. Something else is going on here. The temp is not supposed to spike when handling a larger drive. Maybe it's something like
Spotlight indexing the new drive? Have a look at your Activity Monitor for an active process drawing resources with the new drive.

I have apple macbook pro mid 2009 ... my hard disk stopped working and i had mac os 10.6.8 in it ... i bought a new hard disk drive but i didn't have my CD so i installed my friend's mac os 10.5.8 in the new hard disk ... i want to get my 10.6.8 back

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You must purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order.
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store. Access to the App Store enables you to download Mountain Lion if your computer meets the requirements.
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My adobe acrobat XI Pro has been constantly freezing when I open documents.

My adobe acrobat XI Pro has been constantly freezing when I open documents. I've uninstalled and reinstalled the program, changed some settings based on community threads, nothing is working. I have to close the document, open it back up and wait at least 60 seconds before I can do anything. I use Adobe pdfs for everything this is very bad. I am using MS Office 365, and Adobe CC on Windows 8.1.

Hi Kate,
Please refer to this KB doc. for the solution Application, file icons change to Acrobat/Reader icon
Let me know if the issue persist.
Regards,
Aadesh

My Macbook pro mid 2009 just has 2 GB Ram I want to upgrade 4 GB Ram Is it possible in Apple store

My Macbook pro mid 2009 just has 2 GB Ram I want to upgrade 4 GB Ram Is it possible in Apple store

Apple usually doesn’t sell RAM for older Macs. You’re probably better off buying it from a source such as OWC or Crucial and installing it yourself.
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Mid-2009 MBP Has Been Hard Freezing, I think it may be the SSD or software?

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