MacBook working worse and worse

[Margarita]

Hi, all,

I have a MacBook Pro which I bought in November 2013 with the following parameters:

- 13-inch, Mid 2012)
- processor 2,5 GHz Intel Core i5
- graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB
- memory 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

It worked fine for the first couple of months then it became slower and slower, half a year ago it also began to occasionally restart at will. Today it did so with a message "Your computer restarted because of a problem". (In fact, after installing Yosemite several days ago it all aggravated.)

It was pretty much the same with an older version of MacBook Pro (that of white plastic which heated to such an extent that the plastic was damaged). Its state deteriorated in the same way until it turned off forever. In fact, I purchased a new one because of that!

I do not do anything special - every day I only keep 3-5 Safari tabs open (Gmail, some online radio, LinkedIn, occasionally other pages as needed), Vodafone modem for internet connection, a couple of Open Office windows, iTunes (when online radio is off) and Dictionary.

I would really much appreciate any help. What can I have a look at to understand the issue, what can I do to solve the issue?

Margarita

 

[honestone]

First of all, did you purchase the machine when it was brand new, that is, never used?

Secondly, it seems you either have a "problematic" hard drive, or some problematic software, or a combination of both. Given that your machine is only 2 1/2 years old, one would think the hard drive would be OK. But, sometimes they do die an early death.

The thing you need to do is to run a disk repair program to analyze your internal hard drive. but, you need to do this externally, that is, your MacBook Pro needs to be booted in Target Disk Mode, attached to another working Mac. From that working Mac, you could run Disk Utility to 1) Verify and Repair the drive, and 2) Verify and Repair Permissions. For most things, Disk Utility is fine, but a couple of more robust programs (TechTool Pro or Disk Warrior) could be better.

In any event, once you complete those two tasks with Disk Utility (assuming the drive can be repaired), you would then disconnect your machine, and start it up. If everything is fine, good. If not, then most likely you'll need to erase the contents of the disk, re-format it, and if necessary (depending on your needs), partition the drive. Again, this needs to be done externally, and Disk Utility can be used to do all that. Of course, that will get rid of everything on the drive, so if you have any important/needed files, you'll need to copy them somewhere to an external device before erasing the drive.

 

[Margarita]

Yes, it was brand new (it is 1 1/2 years old - I bought it in November 2013, the model is dated 2012 I guess).

I found Disk Utility and am about to run what you recommended. 1. I see I can just run all without being connected to anything external - could I do that? I have no other devices i fact. 2. What should I pay attention to when running that all?

It always panics just after the Vodafone Mobile modem crashes, it has just done that again! If the modem is the only problem, what is the way out:

1. I myself can use it differently, do something special

2. It is toe wireless provider responsibility to ensure compatibility.

3. It is Apple's responsibility to ensure the MAC does not panic.

4. ...

?

 

[honestone]

You can apparently do disk repairs, but to me it is slow and potentially risky. It is better to do the repairs from an external device (that is what I always do, if needed). Maybe someone else who has done that can advise you better than I. Apparently, if the Verify Disk (runs rather slow) reveals issues, you would need to get to the Recovery HD (invisible, but you can make it visible) partition created by Yosemite to "possibly" do repairs. Again, I am no expert at all on this.

I wonder, though, if the Vodafone Mobile modem is the issue, or your ISP. What you could try is to disconnect the modem (while the Mac is off), start up your Mac, and use it for a while. If everything is OK, connect the modem, and let it go through its' initialization, etc.

Maybe someone else can give you better, more definitive advice.

 

[Margarita]

OK, while I have no alternative, I will run the repair the way I can. What messages should alert me?

The problem is that disconnecting does not uninstall it. Neither does moving to Trash. I also see no uninstall option...