Macbook hitting the dust... Over and over.

[Night Black]

So, a few weeks ago, my Macbook started acting strange. First, it started to kernel panic a lot, which was traced back to the Airport chip not playing nice with OSX. So, myself, being on the other side of the world from my discs and support, decided to stop using the Airport and move to using my network port. Which, after a week of staying in Vietnam, started to go crazy. The cable was plugged in, latched in tightly, yet the computer would drop the connection randomly. Figuring it was an issue with the computer, I decided that I might send it in for RMA, since the computer's flaws keep coming out as I own it, such as finish flaking off, the monitor casing curving, and the casing expanding and creaking from the screws.

About a few days later, my cousins wanted to see Live Free or Die Hard. So I booted up the Mac, and let them watch. About 15 minutes later, the youngest comes in and tells me the Mac's frozen. I go and look at it, reboot it, but all I hear is an HD searching for something, and the Apple logo doesn't appear. After the computer ramps up the fans, putting out heat, I get a file with a question mark.

The indication is that either my HD died, or the Mac OSX partition is corrupt, and maybe the boot camped XP I have. Going to the boot-camp startup menu had not icons, only a pointer. I arrived back in Canada, ran the Apple Hardware test, which was passed, and tried disc utility, which again couldn't find the drive. As I finished up and prepared to reboot, I heard a loud beep which indicated the ram was bad.

So, now, I'm thinking it might be a motherboard issue, given the Airport and network port instability, the sudden HD and RAM issues. I'm gonna swap my RAM out for another set, and get a HD enclosure to see if I can access the HD with my windows comp.

To conclude, does anybody have a clue to as what's going on, and suggestions? I don't mind sending in my Macbook for RMA, but I want the data on the HD back. Any programs to read a OSX formatted drive on Windows Vista?

EDIT: Wait, the beep might be me resetting the PMU unknowingly. Search of the net suggests the logic board might be FUBAR.

Thanks.

 

[t5brick]

Resetting the PMU doesn't cause a beep. There are a few different error beeps that Macs will emit. Generally they mean bad RAM or logic board. I'd just send it in for warranty service, if enough issues exist, Apple may replace it with the current model MacBook.

There are utilities available that will read HFS+ partitions in windows, but I don't remember what they're called. BUT, you ought to be backing up your data on a regular basis so that this isn't an issue.

 

[Night Black]

Resetting the PMU doesn't cause a beep. There are a few different error beeps that Macs will emit. Generally they mean bad RAM or logic board. I'd just send it in for warranty service, if enough issues exist, Apple may replace it with the current model MacBook.

There are utilities available that will read HFS+ partitions in windows, but I don't remember what they're called. BUT, you ought to be backing up your data on a regular basis so that this isn't an issue.

Well, I do update my backups frequently, but I've been on my trip for weeks, forgetting my Time Machine drive at home. But, I did some army paperwork, wrote scripts, and took about 4 gigs of pics that I might lose. Thanks for the help. If they replace it, it'll probably be refurbished, but still the black model if I have that one, right?

 

[aznx]

Resetting the PMU doesn't cause a beep. There are a few different error beeps that Macs will emit. Generally they mean bad RAM or logic board. I'd just send it in for warranty service, if enough issues exist, Apple may replace it with the current model MacBook.

There are utilities available that will read HFS+ partitions in windows, but I don't remember what they're called. BUT, you ought to be backing up your data on a regular basis so that this isn't an issue.

MacDrive.

 

[Night Black]

Got the drive installed externally, but it's confirmed, the thing is dead. It whirs up for a second, and something sounds like it's snapping back to it's original point, over and over. So I'm screwed.

Oh well. More of a reason to start taking more trips. It hurt to lose those pictures, but I'll get over it sooner or later. If I bring this into the mac store, noting the problems with the above, what do you think will happen?