Macbook pro (10.6.8) circle of death

grumpycrab

And I thought you see some weird things with Windows...
A friend reported a permanent circle of death (COD) soon after starting his macbook. At my house it works (but it appears fussy about wifi connections).

I've been around a few loops - disk repair - install latest Snow Leopard but its the same basic issue - COD after 1-2 mins at friends house - works at mine. So the only difference being different wifi. Guess I will try disabling airport at home - take to friends with cable...

Anybody know how to completely reset wifi/network on a mac?

20aday

I've found this (even though it's from 2009):

http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/resetting-airport-to-default.786586/

Wonder if it's worth resetting the NVRAM too?:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204063

Oh... and is there any reason why your friend hasn't upgraded to OS X El Capitan? Or does the MacBook Pro not support it?

almillar

I can only suggest removing the networks that it has saved, in System Preferences. Note what channel his WiFi network is - I'd try changing that. Channel 13 upwards seems bad for some stuff.
Give it a PRAM/NVRAM reset too (oops, 20aday got in there first). Actually, give it several in a row.

grumpycrab

Weird. Still looking at this in slow time... Reinstalled Snow Leopard after clearing the disk. Works fine at my house (ADSL with BT); go back to friend's house... works fine OFFLINE and then, after connecting to his wifi (ADSL with Plusnet), I can browse to apple.com (home page of safari) but if I type ebay.com the Safari progress bar stops and coloured circle/wheel of death appears and laptop is dead (unresponsive)

Its as if my friends internet connection is injecting a virus into the macbook. (same issue with ethernet connection). Really odd. I guess I could try Apple tech support but this is quite an old bit of kit. We want to put the laptop on Ebay but I cannot say its working in this state.

OR its as if there's a built-in obsolescence feature of Snow Leopard.

almillar

Obvious test that mightn't actually get you anywhere - use a different browser. Have you tried a different computer at your friends house? Is it something to do with his ISP's Domain Name Servers?

grumpycrab

almillar wrote: »

Obvious test that mightn't actually get you anywhere - use a different browser. Have you tried a different computer at your friends house? Is it something to do with his ISP's Domain Name Servers?

Thanks. Other computers (its a large household!) are fine EXCEPT another Macbook Pro which is showing the same symptoms. Will check a different browser and ISP DNS (its Plusnet).

I'm happy sorting issues out at home but having to go back and forwards is a real pain.

almillar

Browser would be the first culprit for me. Safari could be being clever and preloading stuff, and locking up when it hits something it doesn't like. I'm not familiar with Safari but it could be a setting called Smart Browsing or something, switch it off.

grumpycrab

Thanks - have also been told to turn off IPv6. Will try in a day or 2.

grumpycrab

grumpycrab wrote: »

Thanks - have also been told to turn off IPv6. Will try in a day or 2.

Turning IPv6 Off (from Automatic) fixed the Macbook total lockups. The ISP is question is Plusnet. Would anybody like a Macbook Pro 10.6.8. Excellent condition! Will be going on Ebay soon...