MBA totally locked up

[rot@ti.org]

My MacBook Air is totally unresponsive. I put it to sleep for a minute, and when I woke it up, the screen came on. But the clock is not ticking, there is no cursor, and the keyboard doesn't work. I can't use the power key to reboot. When I close it, the little "sleep" light comes on, but the screen stays on (visible through the Apple icon on the lid). It looks like the only way I am going to get the machine going again is to wait for the battery to die and then reboot.

Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a solution other than waiting for the battery to die? I've never had this happen on my MacBook Pro, MacBook, or Powerbooks. Or, if something like it did happen, I would take out the battery to force it to reboot -- something I can't easily do with the Air.

Oh yes, I installed the 10.5.3 update yesterday. I also installed it on my MacBook Pro -- I hope it doesn't lock up too. The Air was running only standard software such as Excel, Word, Safari, and Eudora.

 

[duffyanneal]

Hold the power button until the machine turns off...usually around 5 seconds.

 

[NC MacGuy]

^^^ Agreed. It should reboot with power key held down.

Mine's done it a few times and it's usually opening and closing lid too fast for it to realize sleep or closing lid while using open Word/XL doc. No beachball or nothin' - just locked up.

 

[rot@ti.org]

Hold the power button until the machine turns off...usually around 5 seconds.

Thanks, that worked.