Performance and Audio Issues

sp00nix

Registered
Hello,

EDIT OOPS! I meant 2009, not 2008

I run both 10.8 and Win 7 on my 2009 15" MBP. I am experiencing some really bad performance issues as well as a new audio issue that started just yesterday. I will try and explain them as best as i can.

Performance:
-Takes ages to boot both OSX and Win 7
-Takes ages to log in after entering my password in OSX, it sometimes skips characters of my password
-When trying to launch a program i am greeted with a pinwheel in both OSX and Win 7
-Once things are "going" it seems to run fine

Audio:
-After installing win 7 and rebooted, the start up chime made a harsh atari like "ccchhhssshhowwwwwww" followed by the last half second of the standard chime. This repeated 5 or 6 times.
-The above happens every time i reboot from Win 7, only when rebooting and not shutting down and powering back on
-OSX has no audio at all. when using the volume keys theres a slash out symbol under the volume bar
-Audio settings are greyed out in the settings screen, but i do have the option to select "built in speakers"
-Win 7 has no audio issues at all

What i have tried:
-Used OnyX to clear every type of cash i could
-PRAM reset
-Smart Utility; shows a good drive
-Apple System Diagnostics; Shows all systems GO
-Another Hard Drive
-Both OSX and 7 are fresh installs


Audio recorded from my speaker:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u4zbcd7cmzm5s7s/2012-08-18_19-05.wav

Screen shot of audio settings and volume dialog:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9q476b37j59jrvr/Screen Shot 2012-08-18 at 8.35.34 PM.png

Thanks ahead of time for checking this out.
 
Last edited:
What was the 'Output' set to? Have you reset the external speakers at all? I ask because it sounds as if the sound is overdriving your internal speaks or you have a blown speaker.
 
That's a sound that I have heard before. It may be faulty memory. Try reseating the chips in their sockets. Be sure to also try a power manager reset: Remove the main battery, and unplug your power adapter. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds, then release, and put the battery back in place. Connect the power adapter, wait 5 seconds, and try to boot again.
Does your main battery still hold a good charge?

Is there any possibility of a liquid spill on your MacBook Pro?
 
What was the 'Output' set to? Have you reset the external speakers at all? I ask because it sounds as if the sound is overdriving your internal speaks or you have a blown speaker.

Output is set to internal speakers. As i stated in my original post i have perfectly working sound in Win 7, and the garbled distorted chime only happens in the above situation i described.
 
That's a sound that I have heard before. It may be faulty memory. Try reseating the chips in their sockets. Be sure to also try a power manager reset: Remove the main battery, and unplug your power adapter. Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds, then release, and put the battery back in place. Connect the power adapter, wait 5 seconds, and try to boot again.
Does your main battery still hold a good charge?

Is there any possibility of a liquid spill on your MacBook Pro?

Battery in this machine is next to new, only a few dozen cycles on it, lasts 6ish hours.

I just reseated the ram and HDD connections and performed the power management reset. I still have no sound in OSX, but it does chime on power on. So far it seems to feel quicker, but it might be a placebo effect so i will report back on that later.

as far as liquid damage, not as far as i know. i received this machine second hand and have been through it entirely and have found no signs of liquid damage.
 
Something new i noticed:

The tick box for "show volume in menu bar" was unchecked. When i tried to check it, it kinda wigged out and pinwheeled while checking and unchecking it self, a blank spot showed up in the menu bar where it usually is, then eventually showed the volume control, but it s greyed out.

EDIT:
Fan control i installed does not report temps or proper fan speeds, according to this they are running at 6,000,000 RPM, quite fast id say.
 
Your situation is not really as clear as you think you have expressed it.
Just to clarify (be sure to try this several different ways if you are not sure), if you have the boot drive set for OS X, and shut down (your Mac would be OFF then), and then press and release the power button, then do you get the garbled chime sound?
Do you also get that garbled sound if you do a simple restart to OS X?
Or - do you only get the garbled boot chime when you are booted to Windows, and restart without shutting down, so that OS X should boot by default?
And, finally, if you are booted to Windows, then shut down (not a restart) - do you then get a garbled chime when OS X boots?

Was there any change when you tried swapping RAM sticks between slots?
Do you see any errors reported in your System Information? Choose the Memory tab, and check in the Status column. Finally, is the memory size reported correctly in that same tab.
One other check, for Diagnostics results, after clicking the Diagnostics tab, also in your System Information.
You may want to check those few things before you try reseating the RAM sticks, then check the same info again, after the reseat to check for any changes to the report.
 
Looks like you are a half-step ahead of my posts!

Is there a red light inside the headphone/audio output jack?
Do you get any sound from headphones?
Finally, does the Sound pref pane show an update to the Output device, when you plug in headphones? Then, again when headphones are unplugged? This could also all be connecting to external speakers, etc. The results should be the same - you should see some change to the device listed when a device is plugged in to that output port, then removed. Give it a few seconds to show that change....
 
Your situation is not really as clear as you think you have expressed it.
Just to clarify (be sure to try this several different ways if you are not sure), if you have the boot drive set for OS X, and shut down (your Mac would be OFF then), and then press and release the power button, then do you get the garbled chime sound?
Do you also get that garbled sound if you do a simple restart to OS X?
Or - do you only get the garbled boot chime when you are booted to Windows, and restart without shutting down, so that OS X should boot by default?
And, finally, if you are booted to Windows, then shut down (not a restart) - do you then get a garbled chime when OS X boots?

Was there any change when you tried swapping RAM sticks between slots?
Do you see any errors reported in your System Information? Choose the Memory tab, and check in the Status column. Finally, is the memory size reported correctly in that same tab.
One other check, for Diagnostics results, after clicking the Diagnostics tab, also in your System Information.
You may want to check those few things before you try reseating the RAM sticks, then check the same info again, after the reseat to check for any changes to the report.


The garbled chime only happens when I tell windows to reboot, shutting down and powering on its fine. It does not happen at all with OSX restarts or power downs.

BUT! Get this...

I still had no sound in OSX, but i booted into windows to see how it was running there performance wise. Both OSX and windows still seem to suffer long boot times and long application launches and hesitations, BUT after rebooting using windows "restart" command, the chime was normal and i have audio in OSX!

sorry this thread got confusing, but this seems to be a goofy situation, at least for me.
 
My buddy thinks its the HDD ribbon cable, they seem to fail a lot (he's an apple hardware tech) so he will swing by tomorrow with some spare pats and we'll see what happens.
 
In my experience "pats" don't usually help much, so - good luck!
Here's hoping your tech friend brings a "part", and not a "pat" :D

(not sure why I always notice that kind of thing!)
 
In my experience "pats" don't usually help much, so - good luck!
Here's hoping your tech friend brings a "part", and not a "pat" :D

(not sure why I always notice that kind of thing!)

He has two minions that follow him around, both are named pat. They will be doing the work for us!

Kidding lol, I'm typing around 2 disassembled laptops and what ever other unfinished projects i have on my desk lol

But thanks for the help! I'll report back.
 
So we tried my HDD in his machine, and it ran just as poorly. So i have another HDD in there and installing all my stuff again. I think that was the issue, it already runs way better.
 
Does that also fix up the garbled boot chime?

This might also be a convenient time to move to an SSD!
(just thought I'd mention that, if you want an amazing upgrade...)
 
Does that also fix up the garbled boot chime?

This might also be a convenient time to move to an SSD!
(just thought I'd mention that, if you want an amazing upgrade...)

I haven't re-installed windows yet, but it did stop getting garbled after i did the power management reset and RAM swap before i put the new drive in.

I was already thinking of getting an SSD and a sled to keep the 500GB in there as storage in the optical bay (i do a lot of photo/video stuff)
 
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