macbook is slowly dying,, cant figure it out.

[davyb]

i bought a macbook almost a year ago and its been great( 13 inch. white with the upgrade). it has only caused me minor problems for about 10 months..at one point in time. about 7 months ago. i had an incident where i turned my macbook on in a college class. it was qiuet and i didnt want to disturb the class so . being stupid. i closed the screen while it was loading. expectin it to sleep . and then i could open it queitly from there. the computer froze on the blue start up screen and cuase me some problems .. but i fixed.. however about 2 months ago i did a similar. thing. i dont even think this really is the problem.. but now whenever i shut my macbook off. or even put it to sleep. it never starts up properly.. when i reopen. or start up. it wil go to the black sleep screen. eand the sleep light is frozen. does not "breathe" if you will. after running my fingers over the keyboard a few times.. the light starts flashing.. almost once every second.. the way i get my macbook to start now. is that everyonce in a while. after running my fingers over the computer. it will restart completely. .. i have triedmany ways to restart it. im not tech savy though. so i dont know how to run all the programs to diagnose the problem. .. one thing i have noticed that concerns me especially. is when it is rebooting .. the bar that shows the progreess as it starts has slowly. come down and down. about 3 weeks ago. it would only fill up half way. .. now when it restars completely it maybe goes 10% of the way.. does this have any significance?..
im planning on buying an external hardrive. and storing all my files on there. then completely reinstallign the whole thing.. will this help? i guess not if it is a hardware problem..
i didnt buy the apple care.. because i got my computer from bestbuy. and when i bought my ipod from there and purchased the protection care i got screwed over. never was able to use it.
anyways. any suggestions would be awesome. i love macs.. but i need it to work properly for school now.
another hting is. .i have safari..msn.. itunes. all my apps. freeze on me. at least 5 times a day. usually there are maybe 2 apps running.. any help would be awesome thanks..

 

[cogsinister]

Well if your MacBook is over 12 months old and you have no Applecare, i'm afraid your rather stuck.......

 

[EricNau]

If your computer is less than one year old, you are still eligible to purchase AppleCare, adding another 2 years to your current warranty. ...Just buy it before the year is up.

 

[eman]

See if you can find someone with a macbook and swap the hard drives. If your computer will boot then this will help eliminate the other components. I would definitely try to reload the OS X and see if this will solve your problems; if not, your hard drive may be dying and you may need a new hard drive. I have a spare 80 Gb Apple HDD, if your interested , let me know.

 

[davyb]

yea i think i will buy the applecare plan. but will it fix my problem?

if i am reloading my osx,, will i lose all my files?
thanks alot by the way..



also on a side. note. im just wondering what apps you guys use most.. its always interestin to hear what poeple like and use most about their computer.

 

[TheStu]

yea i think i will buy the applecare plan. but will it fix my problem?

if i am reloading my osx,, will i lose all my files?
thanks alot by the way..



also on a side. note. im just wondering what apps you guys use most.. its always interestin to hear what poeple like and use most about their computer.

Just buying AppleCare will not fix the situation (obviously) but it will give you more breathing room for taking it in to be repaired.

When re-installing OS X, you can choose to 'Archive and Install'. That will preserve all your old settings, applications, music, movies... all but system files (so preferences for some apps will get wonked). However, those get placed into a folder called Previous System which you can view at your leisure.

The Apps I use the most / cannot live without:
Handbrake
Safari 3 (with inquisitor and Safari-Adblock)
iTunes
Adium
XSlimmer
Transmission
PhotoBook (lets you view your friend's facebook albums on your desktop)
iSync
Mail
AppFresh
AppZapper
Etc, Etc, Etc (not an app, just an expression )

 

[triddent222]

yea i think i will buy the applecare plan. but will it fix my problem?

Applecare is not going to fix your problems per se. Though they will cover any hardware issues you could be having. I advise you to get it as soon as possible, if it ends up being a hardware-related issue the one you're having, they will cover it, unless it's "accidental" damage. But you'd know that anyways...

if i am reloading my osx,, will i lose all my files?

Select "Archive and Install" on the installation options and you will not lose your files, though you might need to reinstall some of your applications.

also on a side. note. im just wondering what apps you guys use most.. its always interestin to hear what poeple like and use most about their computer.

Well, aside from the obvious (Safari on Leopard, Adium, Mail, etc), I use BitTyrant as my bittorrent client (normally I'd use Transmission, but it's being rather slow lately), VLC for video playback, VMware with Vista x86 full screen (on second monitor), Toast or Disk Utility for my CD/DVD/ISO needs, Photoshop CS3, Flash CS3, Dreamweaver CS3, Locomotive + Textmate, and KOTOR .