Three very annoying issues I'm having with my MacBook Pro... PLEASE HELP!

Question

Alright I received my refurbished *2.4GHz MacBook Pro with 256 Vram* in the mail a few days ago. Since then I've had 3 reoccurring problems that are extremely annoying..
1. *_The MBP will not hold a WiFi connection_*. +The AirPort is always in scanning mode. It'll stay online for a few moments, then it'll disconnect and it just keeps repeating this cycle. I know it's not my router because I've tried it with other ones and it's the same issue each time. I know these don't have as good of range as the MacBook's, but I don't think thats the issue here. This is the most serious of all the problems, so any help would be appreciated!+
2. *_The MBP will not always load up after being in sleep mode_*. +I've read this is a common issue, but have yet to find a solution. This happens when I wake the computer up from sleep mode. The screen just stays black, but you can hear the SuperDrive boot up. It does load after a minute or two, but it is still extremely annoying. I've read it might have to do with the keyboard firmware update?+
3. *_At random times the computer will drastically slow down and become very "jumpy"_*. +This is an odd issue I haven't seen anywhere else. Its happened twice now and pretty much the computer slows down and the cursor becomes very jumpy and not smooth. I have checked iStat and it says I have plenty of resources left, so there's no reason it should be slowing down. I did install 4 gigs of RAM in it, but the computer reads it fine and I installed it correctly. I doubt that's the issue, but figured I'd throw it out there.+
Sorry for the long thread, but these are really messing things up. This is my first Mac and I'm hoping these can all be easily solved. Should make a Genius Bar appointment? Thanks again!

Answer 1

I probably can't help much since I've never had these issues myself, but I will try.
How did you do your installation? For a new machine, many users recommend erasing and reformatting and doing an erase and install, which will allow you to deselect all the languages and printer drivers that you will never use. I don't know if this is absolutely necessary, but I have always done it.
Have you repaired permissions? You do this with Disk Utility, which is in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder. You want to repair permissions both before and after installing any software. This is just good practice which will prevent many software glitches.
Concerning Airport, there was a recent software update which was supposed to fix some of the problems people were having. Download it if you haven't already. If that doesn't resolve the problem, it's probably worth taking it to the genius bar. My MBP does a remarkable job of holding a connection. It will even pick up a signal from the router across the street and hold it. There may be a configuration problem or something like that with yours.
My display wakes up right after the superdrive makes its noise. In just a few seconds. I don't know why yours should be taking so long.
As for the cursor freezing, I had that problem at first when I was running the Tiger 10.4.10 it came with, along with a number of sleep issues. It seemed like it would try to go to sleep and then freeze, as if it was not recognizing an activity as an activity. But the upgrade to Leopard took care of all of those problems.
I assume that your MBP shipped with Leopard, or at least with an upgrade disc to Leopard. If you happen to still be on Tiger, you might try going to Leopard and doing all the updates.
Otherwise, the genius bar might be your best bet. Probably faster than the forums anyway.
Good luck!