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Question

Laptop woes...Motherboard?

Jan 8, 2012 5:44AM PST

Hi there, I'm hoping for some help here. I have a 17" MacBook Pro that is prolly like 7 years old or so. It is running Snow Leopard. The problem is sort of hard to explain, so I'll do my best. I was doing a Dj gig and had three programs open. iTUnes, Safari and Virtual Dj. I was tabbing through the different programs doing various dj thingies when Virtual Dj seemed to 'freeze up' and I couldn't select things in it. Then, iTunes did right after. I had someone that wanted to 'rap and beatbox acapella' so I used that time to reboot the computer. No luck to fixing anything. My trackpad wouldn't work right and my keyboard was jacked up. I plugged in a usb mouse and I had the same problems. They were, I could not click on items anymore with the standard cl;icking and dragging. after working with it, it kept picking up the entire window and dragging it, NOT just the item, like to drag a song to a play list. So, i figured out i could select it, then hold down the click, then put two fingers on the track pad. It was intermittent and I'm hoping that using the external mouse didn't indicate a motherboard problem. I'm hoping that somehow thorugh all my fast clicking through programs that I reset some setting and changed the trackpad functions. PLEASE help. I am so desperate, if you could call me and coach me over the phone, I would do that. I have lost my job a year ago, this is the only income I have ( not much) and I cannot afford a new Mac.

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Gratefully yours...

Note: This post was edited by a forum moderator to remove personal phone number on 01/09/2012 at 6:01 AM PT

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Just checking.
Jan 8, 2012 5:49AM PST

Are you keeping up on your regular maintenance? The canned air on the vents and such?

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Well..
Jan 8, 2012 7:31AM PST

I always thought that canned air was bad for laptops, so no I haven't done anything like that. The way its acting is weird like the keyboard and trackpad don't have a solid connection because it is intermittent in that it doesn't do the same thing every time. Sometimes it grabs the entire window. Most the time I can use the arrow < > functions. I plugged in a usb keyboard and it didn't work at all. The Mac usb mouse worked to click. What is crazy is when I logged out and went to log back in, it boots up fine. I used the other user and the keyboard and mouse worked fine for a second, then it all froze up. Virus?

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My friends in repair shops will love that.
Jan 8, 2012 7:52AM PST

Since the machine is not getting any maintenance I would have it cleaned and again given the long term lack of care I'd get the heatsinks pulled, cleaned and replace the old heat sink compound.

The canned air every six or so months on a regular schedule could have helped.

If you think it's a virus then this will be the first I've heard of on an Apple.
Bob

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Answer
If it's seven years old
Jan 8, 2012 9:56PM PST

If it's seven years old, it can't be a MacBook Pro, it'd be a PowerBook G4, so look at the bottom of the display bezel and make sure it says MacBook, MacBook Pro, or even iBook G4 or PowerBook G4. BIIIIIG difference between them.

While I do agree with Bob in general, doing this sort of thing on older MacBook Pros is easier said than done. Having taken apart a large number of those, I can tell you that even if you blew some compressed air in the vent on the bottom rear, you wouldn't really be improving things. The air would really only hit the HSF grille, not the fans themselves, and if you don't know what you're doing in taking those top cases off, you can damage the flex cable the connects it to the MLB, and/or create a lot of cosmetic damage to the case.

That all said, it does sound like there's at least a possibility you just have a bad top case. As repairs go, it will be on the cheaper side, but you'll need to get someone with physical access to the unit to confirm the diagnosis. The bit about externals not working is a bit of a wrinkle, but until you try them with the top case disconnected, you can't be sure the top case isn't sending errant signals. And in this case, it's probably better to let someone else do it, so if they damage the bottom case on you, you can demand a new one.