[dvot]

I am writing to both warn users of a potentially damaging bug and at the same time ask for any assistance in the matter.

The problem occurs at random when one presses Play in Keynote. The screen switches - as it always does - to a black screen, but instead of the slides appearing the MacBook reboots without warning. As if this isn't embarassing enough (I was standing in front of 35 students preparing to give a lecture) the Keynote file itself was corrupted (specifically the .gz file located in the .key package) such that it is irreparable.

The best part is that no record of the error is left behind in the Console logs, and numerous telephone converstaions with Apple's tech staff have yielded nothing more than, "Sorry but we cannot replicate the issue." Running the HarwareTest in loop mode has not turned up anything suspicious.

If it were an isolated case I might feel that the mistake were in some way mine. But searching Apple's discussion forums yields untold claims of exactly the same issues.

http://discussions.apple.com/click.j...sageID=4033745
http://discussions.apple.com/click.j...sageID=3964366
http://discussions.apple.com/click.j...sageID=4026947
http://discussions.apple.com/click.j...sageID=3597734

[Big Mac]

That's incredibly odd. Sorry about that.

[Chuckit]

Interesting. Sounds like it's limited to some MacBooks. I wonder if it's related to the wonky wiring that was found in some runs. I would see if Apple can repair that MacBook.

[techtrucker]

Just tried it on my MacBook, worked fine. Does there have to be anything special in the keynote file? Mine are just simple text and a few imported graphics...

[dvot]

As I mentioned in my original post the problem occurs at random

I have been using Keynote for 3 years now and have never experienced this. The presentations are simple text and shapes from Keynote. Nothing fancy.

My guess is it's actually a hardware problem, because the crash/restart occurred when the MacBook changed screen resolutions, as it does when one presses play.

You keep trying to replicate it, techtrucker, i.e. keep using Keynote for your presentations. I just hope you're not caught with your pants down as I was.

[cdenomme]

I have run into the same problem. I'm preparing my presentation for my thesis oral defense in two weeks - I really hope this is fixed before then.

it seems to work fine the first time you play it, but after that you never know...

dvot - does running the os at the res of the presentation seem to fix the issue? I haven't checked this yet.

[dvot]

Originally Posted by cdenomme 

dvot - does running the os at the res of the presentation seem to fix the issue? I haven't checked this yet.

Our projectors are all 800x600 and I can't work at that resolution (impossible IMO with the inspector, font windows open).

I'm back to using Keynote again, albeit with a backup application (FoldersSyncronizer) running on the .key file every minute, saving and hail mary's before every pressing of the play button just in case.

Hasn't happened again since and it happened only once, but that was disasterous enough. If it's not something you can afford to lose (and we're all just sitting around making presentations for fun, right?) I'd strongly suggest doing the same.

The AppleEurope second level tech who promised to get back to me seems to have forgotten all about his promise.

[cdenomme]

it has happened to me three times now, and the only commonality I have noticed is that it only happens if you had keynote open, put the macbook to sleep, woke it up, then put keynote in presentation mode.

I haven't tested this thoroughly - just thought I'd throw that thought out there.

[dvot]

Originally Posted by cdenomme 

it has happened to me three times now, and the only commonality I have noticed is that it only happens if you had keynote open, put the macbook to sleep, woke it up, then put keynote in presentation mode.

My MacBook always acts funky after waking from sleep mode - applications crashing mostly - but I always assumed it was those applications at fault (MarkSpace hotsync monitor is the worst.)

I generally go from sleep mode > connect projector > wake > cross fingers > hit play, all with Keynote open, and as I said it only crashed that one time. Did it corrupt your .key files, too?

What I have noticed is that after waking the MacBook with the projector atttached there are display issues. These include:

• when mirroring 800x600 (upon waking) the Keynote menus are not repositioned and often lie outside the filed of view

• when not mirroring the displays, the video on the MacBook totally freaks with what I can only describe as horizontal racing such that the display is broken up into 10 pixel wide lines that flutter across the screen and never line up (I'll try to get a screen shot and post it) - in any case totally unusable.

For me that's just another indication that it's the video hardware that's at fault.