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General discussion

Video Issue Macbook Pro

May 11, 2012 10:37AM PDT

Hi,

I encountered a problem yesterday where my laptop made a fuzzy noise and when blank while watching a video. I was forced to turn it off using the power buttton and when switching it on it beeps occured with a blank screen.

I tried to power it on again after 3 minutes and it worked. I again tried the video and the same issue occurred at a specific point of the video.

When I try to boot it up, it would hang on a white screen. But after trying again by selecting "mac HD' using the option key, I have no problems and it boots up. I try to copy some files and it hangs a little and then I had some horizontal coloured lines fill a blank screen

I did not use the mac until today. Now it boots up fine, the same video works, and I have encountered not problems with it all.

I am not sure whether I should be doing anything about it or not. I was suspecting a GPU or Ram issue. But I am not sure what I can do to figure out the problem and whether I should be worried about it. Please help
Thanks in advance

Discussion is locked

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Tip? Post the exact model so others can check something.
May 11, 2012 11:40AM PDT

There was a few models that Apple would swap motherboards but I can't tell what Apple model is under discussion.

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Thats the model
May 11, 2012 12:05PM PDT

Thats the model
Macbook Pro 13 inch Mid 2010

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See below.
May 12, 2012 2:00AM PDT

I can't be sure without seeing the unit but maybe you can tell more. That is, tell us about that you ran out of canned air. You know, that stuff you use every few months on the vents.
Bob

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Sounds like
May 11, 2012 11:11PM PDT

Sounds like a simple case of the unit overheating. I'll take a guess that the video was using flash, like from youtube or something similar. If true, then it would all but confirm it. Flash for the Mac is just plain horrible. On one of my Windows boxes, with nearly identical specs to my Mid-2010 iMac, I could go watch say a couple Red vs Blue episodes with no problem. I do the same thing on my iMac, and probably by the end of the first video I hear the fan ramping up. If I let the system sit for a minute or so after the video stops, the fan cycles down.

So basically Adobe has done a real bang up job with Flash for the Mac where there doesn't appear to be any GPU acceleration going on, and more than that, it just seems far less efficient than the Windows version in general. Whether that's because DirectX is a far more comprehensive solution than Quartz and OpenGL I can't say, but Flash for the Mac will really put some strain on the cooling systems of a Mac; even a Core i7 Mid-2010 iMac. So given the 13" MBP only has the one fan to cool the entire system, I'd just try and limit the amount of online videos you watch. There's really not much else you can do. Taking a can of compressed air to the fan may help a little, but will really only do so much.

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I agree
May 12, 2012 9:17AM PDT