2008-07-04

MacBook random "deep sleep" fix

I've had very few complaints about my MacBook C2D 2.0. Leopard, on the other hand, has been nothing but trouble. I kind of figured Leopard was part of the problem behind my MacBook randomly going into deep sleep mode.

What happens is randomly, I'd open my MacBook and it wouldn't wake up. Pressing the power button, it would act almost like it was booting cold, but then a progress meter would show up and then it would resume where I left off. It started happening shortly after the upgrade from OS X 1.4 "Tiger" to OS X 10.5 "Leopard". Fortunately, it was just a little hardware glitch.

First, shut down your MacBook and invert it. Use a coin to open the battery compartment.


Notice that there are several metal tabs, but the ones on the end are embedded in plastic. These two are the ones we're looking for. Only one is visible in this picture.


Get under the metal part of the tab with a sewing needle, precision screwdriver or knife blade and bend it just enough to give it some more tension.


I did this a few weeks ago and I haven't had the problem since. be careful not to break any of the metal or plastic tabs. I'm pretty sure these parts aren't replaceable.

What was happening is that one or both of these connections were occasionally jostling loose when I'd pick up the laptop, put it in a backpack, or even move it around on a table. Now, the connections are a little more firm. Other options might include a little dielectric grease, but that may not work well, either. I tried cleaning the contact surfaces quite a while ago and it had no result. I'm glad this worked, as the problem was starting to get out of control.

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