[manofmany]

I just got my first Mac and was very excited. Straight out of the box however, I am dissapointed.

From the initial launch, my keyboard and trackpad randomly stop functioning. Even if I hit keys, move my finger across, they still refuse to operate. Is there something I am missing?

I disabled my trackpad and am using only the might mouse, however my keyboard still freezes but the bluetooth mouse still operates.

Also, I do not like how the mighty mouse slows down over the maximize, min, and kill buttons and snaps to them. Highly irritating.

Any guidance will be appreciated.

[hldan]

Well you can do one of two things. If there is a local Apple Retail Store close enough to you take it there and they will look at. The other thing is to wipe the HDD clean and reformat. Sometimes the factory image is corrupt. When buying a new computer it's a good practice to erase and install. This will eliminate any bugs from the factory install.

One more thing you can try before all of the above; try resetting the PRAM. (Parameter Ram) When the computer acts buggy like the trackpad acting erratic or the mouse not responding then most likely the PRAM needs resetting. To do this restart the computer, after you hear the "chime" then immediately hold down these keys, Command+Option+P+R. Command key is the Apple key. Keep these 4 keys held down until you hear the familiar chime again then let them go and the computer will start up to the desktop. From then see how it reacts, if nothing changes then reformat or go to the apple store.

[manofmany]

Thanks, I will reset the PRAM now.

Are there really that many notebooks defective straight out of the box? It amazes me that paying near $3000 for a laptop with so many probs.

I also was not impressed at their retail store either. I had my student identification with me, but yet they would not give me the discount because I had no drivers license. He also stressed the fact that if I have any problems there is a 10% restocking fee. Not a good impression to a first time customer. The closest, and only apple store in my state is 70 miles away.

AIM also keeps crashing.

[Parvez]

I have a similar problem. There is nothing wrong with my Macbook but my AIM keeps crashing. Most of the time, I am logged on from Windows using gaim and i'm online for about 16-20hours. WHen i login with iChat.. it says gaim error: please try after 10minutes... then i try after 10 mins i get the same thing.

ALso with Adium too.. msn crashes.

[manofmany]

My S key just got stuck or something and kept typing "ssss" and my keyboard stopped functioning. Unbelievable lol

Edit: I just erased the drive and am trying my luck with a fresh install.

[manofmany]

Just popped in the second disc to finish the install, and low and behold, the keyboard and trackpad have frozen. What a shame for such a beautiful $2.5k laptop.

[Simon]

You got a lemon. Take it back, have it replaced. IIRC you can do that within 14 days of purchase.

[zaghahzag]

if you want to run the hardware diagnostics that come with the machine put in the OSX disk, boot up and hold down 'd'. My new MBP had some bad ram, which was causing lots of very strange things.

[manofmany]

No troubles found in hardware dianogstic.

Just great, I went out of my way to get to the apple store, which is 70 miles away and I get a POS. Apple better be willing to arrange shipping to take care of this problem.

[manofmany]

Update: I turned all sleep options and energy savings off, and my keyboard has continued working. I will let it run a few hours without any use to keep a check on it. Is it possible the energy savings were having some ill effect on it?

Also, my backlight stays on constantly. Is there a way to dim that?

[hldan]

Originally Posted by manofmany 

Thanks, I will reset the PRAM now.

Are there really that many notebooks defective straight out of the box? It amazes me that paying near $3000 for a laptop with so many probs.

I also was not impressed at their retail store either. I had my student identification with me, but yet they would not give me the discount because I had no drivers license. He also stressed the fact that if I have any problems there is a 10% restocking fee. Not a good impression to a first time customer. The closest, and only apple store in my state is 70 miles away.

AIM also keeps crashing.

Now, after reading all of your postings I'm inclined to believe you may have a lemon. After a reformat and install things should have been back to normal if it was corrupt software. Don't think for one minute that spending $3000.00 on any computer means it will be without issues. That's just not reality. How many times in a year do car companies recall their latest models because of flaws? Uncountable. You can spend 70,000.00 on a Mercedes and get a lemon, it's not unusual.

You're like many people that get hung up on Apple's reputation for great asthetics and tie that into living perfection, they both don't go together. Apple is a corporation and their machines can and will have flaws.
Most likely your exchanged model will be fine. I wasn't there but I find it hard to believe that an Apple rep told you that "If you have problems with the computer you have to pay 10% to exchange it" Most states have no lemon laws so that's no legal for them to say that.

Let us know your experience when you get your exchange.

[Cottonsworth]

Originally Posted by manofmany 

Thanks, I will reset the PRAM now.

Are there really that many notebooks defective straight out of the box? It amazes me that paying near $3000 for a laptop with so many probs.

I also was not impressed at their retail store either. I had my student identification with me, but yet they would not give me the discount because I had no drivers license. He also stressed the fact that if I have any problems there is a 10% restocking fee. Not a good impression to a first time customer. The closest, and only apple store in my state is 70 miles away.

AIM also keeps crashing.

I'm sorry to hear that you had so many initial problems but don't despair! Defects happen with all electronic manufacturers and you case you just didn't have a good draw. As for the Apple retail store, I have found two types of employees--the really cool and helpful-types that could be one of your friends, and the other are the arrogant, "Macs are superior, so since I work here, I must be also be superior," totally inflexible DMV-types. One time I wanted to purchase something with my student discount, the employee wanted just more than a student ID, but also wanted me to print out my class schedule to prove that I am actually still in school. The other day, I was helped by an employee who didn't even bother looking at my ID and gave me the student discount. It is really hit or miss. Luckily, I reside in LA, so I have ample of Apple Stores to choose from.

[milhous]

Originally Posted by hldan 

Now, after reading all of your postings I'm inclined to believe you may have a lemon. After a reformat and install things should have been back to normal if it was corrupt software. Don't think for one minute that spending $3000.00 on any computer means it will be without issues. That's just not reality. How many times in a year do car companies recall their latest models because of flaws? Uncountable. You can spend 70,000.00 on a Mercedes and get a lemon, it's not unusual.

You're like many people that get hung up on Apple's reputation for great asthetics and tie that into living perfection, they both don't go together. Apple is a corporation and their machines can and will have flaws.
Most likely your exchanged model will be fine. I wasn't there but I find it hard to believe that an Apple rep told you that "If you have problems with the computer you have to pay 10% to exchange it" Most states have no lemon laws so that's no legal for them to say that.

Let us know your experience when you get your exchange.

i'm going to take it a step further and say that i'm inclined to believe that the OP is trolling. if i was having THAT much trouble with a new Mac, no amount of posting on a forum is going to help the situation. i'd be on the phone with apple or at an apple store for an immediate resolution.

[aristotles]

Originally Posted by milhous 

i'm going to take it a step further and say that i'm inclined to believe that the OP is trolling. if i was having THAT much trouble with a new Mac, no amount of posting on a forum is going to help the situation. i'd be on the phone with apple or at an apple store for an immediate resolution.

Exactly. If there is problem with your mac hardware, reformatting will not fix it. The first step should be to call Apple.

I don't get why people automatically tell people to go to their nearest Apple store. Unless if it was purchased at a local Apple store, the best course of action is to call Apple directly.

[Dillon-K]

oh come on! "it's a shame that a $2.5k laptop blah blah blah." it's a computer. Computers can have bugs, defects, be lemons... Get off your ass and call apple to get it fixed.

[hldan]

Originally Posted by aristotles 

Exactly. If there is problem with your mac hardware, reformatting will not fix it. The first step should be to call Apple.

I don't get why people automatically tell people to go to their nearest Apple store. Unless if it was purchased at a local Apple store, the best course of action is to call Apple directly.

You don't get why? Okay I'll explain to you why I recommend taking it to the Apple Store. It doesn't matter where he bought it. Apple will service the computer while in warranty. Also if it's something that's not necessarily a defect they can take care of it right away.
Calling Apple doesn't always help fix the issue right away because they cannot see the computer and all they can do is try and solve the problem based on what the customer says is wrong. Apple ends up sending a box to the customer to mail the machine off to them causing an inconvenience for the customer when it could have been taken to the Apple store for same day service or an exchange if bought from Apple. BTW hello? it's an Apple product!
Where do you get off questioning someone else's suggestions? I was offering help and not judging people like you sir.
Try offering help for a change and mind your own opinions.

[buddy1065]

I agree absolutely. A local Apple store is the best solution if available. Even if they have to send your laptop in you should have them make a record of its exterior condition so if it comes back with additional damage you cannot be blamed. Second point is you can possibly have a new replacement the same day. Third point is phone service will have you going thru unnecessary tests because they cannot see your laptop. Fourth point is when the local Apple store gets it back you can sit right there at the genious bar and if you find the same problem or a different additional one you don't have to accept the laptop, just show them right then and there. This has been the relatively fool proof way of my receiving a brand new Powerbook replacement last year, after their third failure to repair the old one. Make them take care of it rather than having them have you run tests over the phone and be their service tech. No way would I do that. I can't believe how so many can't see the local Apple store is the safest and in many times the quickest solution, even if it wasn't purchased at your local Apple store.

[Atheist]

Originally Posted by hldan 

The other thing is to wipe the HDD clean and reformat. Sometimes the factory image is corrupt. When buying a new computer it's a good practice to erase and install. This will eliminate any bugs from the factory install.

Am I the only one that thinks this is a completely uneducated and patently illogical response? The odds of the factory image being corrupt is no different than the odds of the image on the installation media being bad. If Apple were shipping unusable computers on a regular basis, they wouldn't be in business... that just makes no sense.

[Atheist]

Originally Posted by milhous 

i'm going to take it a step further and say that i'm inclined to believe that the OP is trolling. if i was having THAT much trouble with a new Mac, no amount of posting on a forum is going to help the situation. i'd be on the phone with apple or at an apple store for an immediate resolution.

I wouldn't say he's a troll. He's just an excited new Mac owner that bought into the hype that Mac's are the greatest thing since sliced bread and will somehow magically make his life better. Now he's frustrated that he got a lemon and wants to bitch about it.

Ok.. maybe his is a troll

Seriously though... he just needs to take it back to the Apple Store and demand a replacement.

[ghporter]

Wiping and reinstalling is a typical Windows technique and it's needed because of all the tendrils the Windows OS has into so many different files in so many different places. OS X isn't like that, so this sort of thing isn't needed. And if a reinstall were needed, it should be an Archive and Install because it's just the OS, not all the programs and files that are suspect.

I'm with Atheist and milhous on this one...

[hldan]

Originally Posted by Atheist 

Am I the only one that thinks this is a completely uneducated and patently illogical response? The odds of the factory image being corrupt is no different than the odds of the image on the installation media being bad. If Apple were shipping unusable computers on a regular basis, they wouldn't be in business... that just makes no sense.

Make sure you "read" what you are writing. You are sorta contridicting yourself.

You said, " If Apple were shipping unusable computers on a regular basis they wouldn't be in business"?

What's the difference of having a corrupt factory image on the drive and having a defective computer? Either way Apple "IS" shipping unusable computers. Duh?

Obviously his computer is not working for some reason but it's a good practice to start with simple solutions before taking the extra step especially if he lives far from the Apple store and calling Apple is not a guaranteed solution.

With computers, many times over it's a software problem that causes erratic behavior, this can happen with both Mac and Windows. And if someone is ready to quote me with a rebuttal just think about how times Apple has released software updates and it's affected other "Apple Software" in the worst way forcing Apple to release yet another update to fix the problem.
Even the RSS Macbook is now being fixed by software.

[zaghahzag]

i think the re-install isn't a bad idea.

i had some bad ram in my mbp, which i replaced (apple is sending a proper replacement).. but the machine was still acting weird. (total freezes when importing songs into itunes for example - only the mouse could move.) I reinstalled the OS, after doing the hardware tests and so far, so good. I dunno, maybe they installed the OS onto the machine when it had bad ram in it and this caused problems. either way, doing a fresh install isn't a bad idea(not to mention that you get some disk space back if you skip the languages you don't need and the printer drivers.)

[romeosc]

Check to make sure your universal access control panel is set correctly. If delay is on some of the problems you mentioned could happen!