MacBook (13") Special Report: Some repaired units exhibiting wake-from-sleep issues

As noted in another section of this report, some MacBook (13") units suddenly shuts down in the middle of normal operation, in some cases necessitating logic board replacement.

However, we are now receiving reports indicating that some units purportedly repaired for the sudden shutdown syndrome are exhibiting significant wake-from-sleep issues -- particularly a relatively common phenomenon where the system immediately switches to a non-functional blank screen seconds after waking from sleep.

MacFixIt reader Travis writes:

"I purchased a new MacBook for my wife from Apple.ca the day they were announced. It was a 2Ghz model with 1GB Ram and an 80GB HD.

"A week or two into ownership my wife began complaining that it would shut down. Upon investigation we determined it would shutdown immediately when awoken from sleep. It sometimes would not start back up, and if it was on battery power, would die also. Basically, it did not like to run.

"I called Apple, got a case number and took it into the local authorized Mac repair center. They immediately claimed bad ram as 'the MacBook Pro had the same problem'. Replaced the ram and a week later (had to wait for RMA ram from Apple) we have the Macbook back. The following morning it crashed.

"I immediately returned it and they proceeded to order a new logic board for the MacBook. A week and a half to two weeks later (who's counting?) we get the MacBook back. It all seems well for a week, when I notice the MacBook will not go to sleep on its own. It has to be forced to sleep. You can set it to sleep in the System Preferences, but it will not sleep. If you hit the power button and the option comes up and you select sleep, it will sleep, but no other time. When it finally wakes from this sleep, it promptly crashes immediately.

"I am going to call Apple again and see what they can do this time. This is my wife's first Mac (I've been using for a while) and she is enjoying it, but the random crashing has her asking for a PC back at times."

Travis also recorded and uploaded a video of the issue in action.

For more on wake-from-sleep issues and solutions, see our tutorial "Dealing with Wake-from-sleep issues."

Index:

• Do-it-yourself hard drive replacement instructions
• Excessive heat: Usage notes, cooling pads and more
• Final Cut Express is supported by GMA 950 chipset
• Irritating noises; eliminating
• Keyboard suddenly stops working
• Matched RAM pairs can come from different manufacturers
• Poor speaker output: Software-based workarounds
• Projector issues
• Release notes
• Sleep light oddities
• Some repaired units exhibiting wake-from-sleep issues
• Sudden shutdowns -- possible fixes
• Stains appearing at palm rests; cleaning and protecting -- Apple acknowledges
• Trackpad button "mushy", not registering clicks -- solutions
• Vertical lines appear on screen during startup
• Wireless (AirPort) dropouts -- fixes

Resources