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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > Intermittent pausing after SMC and EFI updates

Intermittent pausing after SMC and EFI updates
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hadocon
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Dec 13, 2008, 07:45 PM
 
I did the updates to my Macbook (late 2008) today. Now for some reason my system seems to intermittently lag about every 3 to 5 seconds.

This happens to all apps and the finder.


for example when I type rapidly it displays on the screen in spurts.

When I drag windows they seem _very_ choppy.

Scrolling is also choppy.

playing a video or music is fine however.


Anyone else with this annoying problem?


it makes my new 2.4Ghz 4GB ram Macbook feel like it's an old G4.
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seanc
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Dec 13, 2008, 07:52 PM
 
Is this a new MacBook? Almost sounds like a graphics driver issue... I'd be interested to see if anyone else reports this.
     
hadocon  (op)
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Dec 13, 2008, 08:11 PM
 
It's a new (late 2008) macbook... Regardless, it totally sucks.

I knew I should not have done a firmware update. Last time I did that it bricked my black Macbook.

Ug.. This is really annoying. When I try to select a bunch of text invariably the first few letters are not highlighted as the computer stutters when I start my selection. For example; I just tried to select this line and the highlight did not start until halfway through the text.
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hadocon  (op)
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Dec 13, 2008, 08:14 PM
 
It's almost like there is some sort of interrupt that is being triggered over and over. Jesus Christ - as I type this the text is going crazy in spurts. If I try to brighten the screen by holding down the brightness increase-key is jumps also.
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seanc
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Dec 13, 2008, 08:18 PM
 
Have you got an external HDD you can re-install OS X onto?

I know you only did a firmware update but this would help to rule out a HDD or installation issue.
     
hadocon  (op)
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Dec 13, 2008, 08:23 PM
 
No - I don't have time time to do that.

It definitely seems like something is getting backed up - I use screen zooming quite a bit and sometimes I like to play with it (rapidly zooming in and out). When I do this now it is very stuttery and then after a while stops responding altogether until I do a right mouse-click. Sometimes I will zoom in and out and then it stops - and then all of a sudden it starts zooming in and out after I have stopped.

Like the system in busy and queueing commands.

I've looked in top and it shows no other resource hog.

This is so #$%^&ing lame. This is the 3rd time I've 43567'ed up a computer by doing Apple's recommended firmware update. BTW last time I had a firmware issue it was not covered by Applecare because it's software. Dicks.
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powerbook867
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Dec 14, 2008, 02:23 AM
 
I have not performed the update yet, but my new Macbook does act similarly from time to time when I have an external display hooked up. Normally unplugging the display and plugging it back in works, but sometimes I have to reboot.

It does sound graphic card related. Hope you get it squared away.
Joe
     
hadocon  (op)
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Dec 15, 2008, 10:27 AM
 
I rebooted and everything seems to be back to normal.
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Ted L. Nancy
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Dec 15, 2008, 10:36 AM
 
Originally Posted by hadocon View Post
I rebooted and everything seems to be back to normal.
New problem here... sort of similar. Although I reboot when it happens (which itself takes a while to access Apple menu.. etc.), I end up having to force quit most apps beforehand and sometimes even force shutdown. Reboot fixes the problem, but it has happened 3 times since the update and never happened before.

P.S. - no external display connected. (Only Apple bt kb, MX Revolution usb stick, ethernet.)
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