Computer Help Please: MacBook Pro

I swear they put a timer in it. My Mac Book pro is fresh out of warranty and is now not working.

It started freezing out of no where about a month ago and the first time it did it I couldn't get it started but finally with a SMC reset and booting it up in safemode I got it to work. Since then when it freezes I reset the SMC and start it in safe mode. And it would freeze every few days.

Then yesterday I gothome from work, checked my email and then left it open, charged on my desk. Came home and it was off and it refused to turn on. Fight with it for a few hours and finally got it to go to the grey screen, then got it to the Apple (this was multiple startups and it kept freezing on this) and finally got it to turn on from the OS X disc. Did the disc repair then permissions repair and then a down repair again. Then it froze, I had to turn it off.

Since then I haven't been able to get it farther than the Apple (if it even gets there) and it won't start up from the disc.

So yeah. I know we have computer people on here and Apple people so I was hoping I guess for any ideas.

Never going to get an Apple computer again. I have had nothing but trouble with this computer. So frustrated right now. But cheering good practice typing on my phone

Ugh, sorry, no advice. But I have to say I've *knock on wood* had NO problems with my macbook pro for 3 years now. I'll never have anything BUT a mac anymore. I was so sick of every laptop/desktop I got freezing and getting viruses within 6 months-one year and every one I know whose switched to a mac has never looked back.

Have you called Apple?

Not yet, Ill make an appointment if I can't get anywhere but I've very bad experiences with them awhile back.

Sorry, I'm no help but I'm so sick of the laptop I have now and Windows that I would LOVE to have a Macbook Pro someday!!

Hardware failure? My Windows laptop did something similar when the RAM was bad.

What version of OSX do you have? Adam said do this: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509

Ugh, can't even get it to turn on now to try it. Fans go on and the disc that I can't get out now (was able to get it out before by pressing down on the touch pad and hitting power button) is spinning and making sounds but the screen stays black. Before at least it would go to the grey screen. Though last night when it wouldn't turn on at all it was much more quiet (if I put my ear to the keyboard I could hear faint humming) than it is now.

And it's Snow Leopard.

He said to hold the power button to try to get it to turn all the way off, then try turning it on to run the hardware test again. Do you have an external monitor that you could hook up?

Not that it helps much since it won't eject the disc, but that link says the hardware test is on disc 2 for Snow Leopard.

Yeah, that's what I was doing but all it does is run the fans and stays black.

The disc that is in the OS X because I was trying to do a disc repair but it froze during it.

Here is a video showing what happens. Really boring and I use my for at one point use my foot to press a key. Hopefully some of the noise shows up in it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfUc9_qWXXA&sns=em

Also, seriously appreciate you both helping. So very much!

Adam said "This is really stupid, but has she tried turning the brightness up?" Then he asked if you can plug in a monitor. It's definitely turning on and spinning/reading the disc.

He also asked if you have AIM or Google Talk.

I did try that early on because I am not immune to something as simple as that passing by me The keyboard doesn't light up, I tried turning on the caps lock to see if that light worked but it didn't. I have to go look to see if I have any moniter sitting around rust works

And I have both. Kinda, I'm on my phone but I do have an app for Trillian so by extension aim

He said the keyboard most likely wouldn't light up nor would caps lock because he doubts those work at the BIOS level. (Although now you have him hitting the caps lock key and doubting himself. )

He said the next step would be to hook up an external monitor. If you find one, he can try to talk you through getting it working.

I've my dad here to see if we can get it hooked up to a moniter. He's a computer geek but doesn't know apples. My question is "what are we looking to do with it hooked up?"

And I just might take you up on your offer, let me see how far we get.

Also, thanks again so much. This computer is barely over a year old and actually had much of the inner workings replaced a few months after I got it. So thos parts are less than a year old

Ooh and while I'm waiting for him to stop watching a Tom Petty concert, here is a video of it trying to start up from the disc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqkQiMBY-dc&sns=em

Aww geez, mine did this exact same stuff. I brought it in to the apple store and it turned out the hard drive was toast. They had to replace it, and now it works beautifully again.

Does it get moved around a lot while it's on, even in sleep mode? When I asked the techs what would cause it to fail like that they said that if someone closes it up while it's on, and tosses it in a backpack and carries it all over the place then that can really screw it up, since the disks inside are not meant to be jostled around while it's running. Mine had been stolen and recovered by the police, so we figured it was treated poorly by the thief.

If it's a solid state hard drive they don't have that problem though.

He said if you hook up a monitor and can, well, see stuff, then the screen, video card, or screen controller failed.

If the hard drive was dead, it would be able to boot from the CD just fine. And dead hard drives usually make some pretty angry noises, lol.

Romy, how much did it cost to have it replaced?

I will be upset if its that since I was bad and didn't back anything up,.but not heartbroken. What does bug me is that the harddrive was replaced less than a year ago and I never take my computer out of my house.

RedHotDobe, does the way it was freezing previously make it sound like it could have something to o do with the video card or screen?

What bothers me the most I think is how inconstant it is. Last night I couldn't get it to turn on at all other than light fan noise, then I got it to turn on to the grey screen and apple and them to boot up from the disc. Then it freezes again and I can't get it to c do anything other than fan noises unless starting up from the disc and it freezes while doing that

Okay, we just watched the second video. The screen isn't dead. Adam's first comment was "I don't think she held D long enough." What disc is in there right now? Can you get it to eject? I know I already said this, but the Apple Hardware Test is on Applications Install Disc 2.

I was in the middle of typing that it won't eject when I decided to try it again and it popped right out. The disc that was in there was the OS X installation DVD.

I just put in the other CD that mentioned the hardrive test on it. How long should I hold the D down? I did it for about a minute and a half and it had made some noises at first but then nothing and the screen stayed black.

Holding it for a minute and a half is plenty long enough. He's trying to figure out how to get it to boot from the disc, since it doesn't seem to be doing that. He said try holding C instead of D.

He's searching forums and stuff now, so I'll post again if he happens to find anything else useful.

If that doesn't work, he said try holding down option to see if you have a recovery partition, and then boot to that.