Alright, off to the Apple Store I go, this time I am armed with my MacBook Pro with an empty drive, I managed to copy everything to my backup drive. I will see how everything goes.Got to the Apple Store, and Alex P. helped again, I told him what I did and the symptoms the computer experienced. So he took over, plugged in the Ethernet cable so that the computer can boot over the network.

He tried:

• Visually verify the hardware to see if anything was wrong, and it seems that everything was working
• Install 10.7.2 from the network, which failed on xar_verify
• Install 10.7.2 from the USB key, which failed on var_verify
• Install 10.7.2 from the network, with Apple’s own ram, which failed on var_verify
• Install 10.7.2 from the USB key, with Apple’s own ram, which failed on var_verify

At this point, he said that it is probably a logic board issue, and that the next step would be taking one stick of ram out and test the system, but then again, even if that was the case, the logic board would still have to be replaced, thus more down time for me.

To which I suggested that he replace the machine with a new machine with the same specifications. He thought about it, and agreed to it, since I have already wasted over 5 hours of my time sitting at the bar (it would have been better if they served alcohol.) He asked me about the specs of my old machine, and then told me that since that my old machine is not being produced anymore, I would get a replacement of the same specs but a newer version, so I’m not going to object to that.

My old MacBook Pro was the mid 2009 version with the product code “MC118LL/A” with spec:

• 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 8GB
• 250GB Serial ATA; 5400 rpm
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory

Was replaced with the late 2011 version with the product code “MD318LL/A” with spec:

• 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
• 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM; supports up to 8GB
• 500GB Serial ATA; 5400 rpm
• Intel HD Graphics 30005 and AMD Radeon HD 6750M with automatic graphics switching

So not a bad replacement, however, now I do have to ask to get the power adapter replaced as well, since it is a 60W, and the new MacBook Pros comes with a 85W charger. Because the charger gets REALLY hot when in use.

I am also going to have to shop for a set of 8GB 1333mhz ram for the machine, since I am a ram hog with all my VMs running on the machine.

In detailed specs:

• Old MacBook Pro
• New MacBook Pro

Since I still have over 10 more months left on my Apple Care, I was offered to either transfer the existing 10 months to my new MacBook Pro, or get a refund, and then buy a new Apple Care for my new MacBook Pro.

All in all, Alex did what I wanted in the end, a new computer with the same specs. Now I have my machine up and running, still in the process of getting all my programs back. At least the money that I spent on my first MacBook Pro was well spent, despite it was a tidbit expensive. (The beauty of it all was that I got a free brand spanking new computer, as well as a free copy of 10.7 on my Apps account.)

So coming back to the bet, it was a memory/logic board/hardware issue!

MacBook Pro 2009
7,975,404 presses
589,880 clicks (not exact, tap to click is enabled)
269.33 miles traveled by the mouse

I brought home a new MacBookPro the other day (well yesterday) It had nothing but a clean install of 10.7.2, I installed Skype, and did a bit of video calling, to my surprise it was using over 300% of the CPU. Unless if it is solving the cure to cancer, that should not happen.

I tried multiple versions of the software, and they were all taking up the same amount of CPU cycles. Fucking frustrating!

This was the before picture

This is the after picture:

The fix hack:

I realized that Skype uses peer to peer with supernode peers for call routing. I have a Rogers extreme connection, without a firewall, and my IP for the mac placed in the DMZ.

I enabled the Mac OSX Firewall, and disallowed incoming connections to Skype, so now I can video chat, and as well have the CPU stable at around 60% instead of 300+%

However, I noticed that Skype will automatically switch to HD Video when there is enough bandwidth, and there is no way to limit that, how fucking stupid. 1.2mbps video for an hour is 4.2 gigabytes. Imagine someone in a long distance relationship.

Anyhow, I use a Mac, and using ipfw I am able to limit the bandwidth used by Skype, thus it should not show HD videos anymore, and effectively also lowering the CPU temperature.

The two rules that limits my Skype to only use 70kilobyes per second. (246 megabytes/h)

ipfw pipe 55555 config bw 70KByte/s
ipfw add 55555 pipe 55555 src-port 5665 #the port Skype is using


Skype, What the fuck are you doing?

250%+ CPU usage with video calling?

I’m on a brand new MacBookPro with a i7 CPU, and Skype is making my computer hot enough to cook an egg. What the fuck is Skype doing? Can’t they hire people who can actually write code that won’t cause CPUs to melt?