Late-2008 MacBooks: More on freeze-on-wake, wireless problems, trackpad issues

Users continue to report a bevy of issues with the new Late-2008 (unibody) MacBooks and MacBook Pros. Most pervasive is an issue we've reported upon extensively in the past few days in which the system refuses to properly wake from sleep, displaying only a blank screen while the keyboard illuminates or freezing upon wake.

As previously reported, the best fixes for this issue are:

• Do not connect or disconnect any external devices while the new MacBooks are asleep; disconnect any external devices before putting the machines to sleep.
• Turn off the "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer" in the Bluetooth pane of System Preferences fixes this issue.

The latest reader reports:

• "I've got this too. Sometimes it simply wont wake up. Or rather it appears to partially wake up, hte keyboard light will come on, the disk will spin up, but the screen simply wont wake up. Bluetooth aggravated the situation for me as the machine would wake from sleep more often, for example as I carried it sleeping through the kitchen where the blue tooth mouse was sitting on the table, it would wake up then go back to sleep or hang as I left the room."
• "I am getting the same results: MacBook Pro can't find bluetooth mouse on wake up, sometimes, freezes."
• "I've also been having the same problems as some other poster - plugging in or unplugging any external devices while the computer is asleep causes it to wake from sleep (power light is on) but the display to remain off. I presume it is a freeze because opening and shutting the laptop does not go back to sleep."

We speculate that Apple will introduce a firmware update soon to combat these issues.

Wireless issues Users also continue to report significant wireless issue with the new systems. Two recent reader reports:

"Set up my first Late 2008 MacBook Pro this week, and find the network speed varies significantly during the day. (It's primarily connecting to an Airport Extreme 802.11n.)"

"I've also been having 'connection timeout' problems with AirPort, even when 1 meter away from the base station and putting in all the correct information."

If you are experiencing similar issues, peruse our tutorial on wireless troubleshooting. If any of thee fixes work, please drop us a line at http://www.macfixit.com/contact.

Trackpad problems Meanwhile, users continue to report trackpad issues. One reader recently wrote:

"Frequently, the trackpad will become non-responsive for anywhere from several seconds to a a minute or more. I have had to reboot the machine multiple times to get it working again."

While there may be some genuine hardware issues with the new MacBooks' trackpads, other problems are caused by improper use. See our previous coverage, which includes usage tips.

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