Computer shuts down when not in use

iMac 21" using IOS 10.6.8 goes to sleep and then shuts down. Any suggestions?

Hello, some things to try...
Have you done a PRAM reset, CMD+Option+p+r...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
In fact, do 3 in a row, takes a bit of time.
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964

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Imac shuts down when not in use

I purchased my 21.5" imac July 9, 2011 with Snow Leopard. No problems for 1 month. Then about August 12th or so, my imac started to mysteriously "shut down" when not in use. I'll be working on it, then get up to go pour myself a cup of coffee or something...then I come back to my computer that has now shut off. It is NOT asleep...it is OFF. So I turn it back on and it is fine. This has happened a few times now within a week. Anyone else have this problem?
By the way, I am now running Lyon, as of August 18th. When the imac shut down, I was usually viewing photos or on the web.
thanks!

First thing I would try is to reset the SMC, it can help with power related problems. Shut down the Mac and unplug everything including the power. Press and hold down the power button for 10 seconds. Plug in the computer but be careful not to press the power button as you are plugging it in. Wait a few seconds and turn it on. Hopefully it won't happen again. There is always Apple Support. Don't let the problem persist until your free phone tech support has expired (3 months). I would also recommend using the iMac with an UPS, and at the very least, a high quality surge protector.
If you have MS Word or a similar word processor you could try enabling the autosave feature and set it to 1 minute intervals. Keep a document open and if you come back to the computer and it has shut down, you can look at the last time the document was updated and know what time the comptuer turned itself off. It could be useful in diagnosing the problem.

Computer shuts down when not plugged in

When my computer is not plugged in it will not stay on. I've tried removing the battery and putting it back in and restarting the computer many times. Any help would be very much appreciated as to what I should do.

Try resetting the SMC first http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319
Then check your battery version System/library/systemconfiguration and check is 1.2 if it is 1.3 drag it to trash and reboot then run software update to install 1.2
Check firmware update in applications/utilities
Finally calibrate the battery http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/9036.html
If none of those help welcome to the club of the sudden shutdown...

Computer shuts down when I click on the list or grid display button

I've uninstalled an reinstalled 3 times and instead of the computer shutting down when I start itunes as it was doing, it only does it when I click on the display as a list, grid or cover display button. However it seems to unistall some parts at the same time as I can't open it all afterwards (error message says its not installed). This started to occur after a couple of weeks of non use and when I last used it I purchased songs from itunes. I now have current version but didn't when it first statred to happen. Help!!

Okay ... we'd better have a closer look at the minidumps the PC has been producing to see if they can turn up any additional information on what we're dealling with here.
Open "My Computer", and see if you can find a directory called C:\Windows\Minidump. (That's where minidumps usually go on a PC, so long as the Systemroot hasn't been set to some other folder.)
If it's been collecting minidumps, there should be files in there with names like "Mini(number-numbers).dmp"
(If you have "Hide filename extensions for known file types" enabled in Windows, the ".dmp" extension may not appear on the dump files. The numbers in the file name will be different for each minidump, if minidumps are present.)
Once we've tracked down some minidumps, we can have a go at analysing them.
1. Download and install the Windows debugging tools from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devtools/debugging/installx86.mspx
2. Go to Start, All Programs, Debugging Tools For Windows, Windbg
Once you open Windbg, you will presented with a blank screen.
3. Click on "File > Symbol File Path". Here you will enter the symbols
path. Symbols are needed to effectively debug.
The path will be:
SRVc:symbolshttp://msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
4. Enter in this path and click OK. Now, go to "File > Save Workspace"
so that your symbols path is saved for future use.
5. Go to "File > Open Crash Dump" and load the file.
(An "Open Crash Dump" screen will appear ... doubleclick "My Computer", doubleclick "Local Disk", doubleclick "Windows", doubleclick "Minidump", and doubleclick on one of the minidumps in there.)
You will/should get a message to save base workspace information. Choose no.
Now you will get a debugging screen. It takes a little bit to run it,
as the symbols have to be downloaded as they are needed.
After the "bugcheck analysis" part of the screen comes up, look for the component that seems to be causing the crash. (It'll say "Probably caused by" ...)
Let us know the precise name of the component. (Include any file name extensions like .dll or .sys.)
If you can, have a look at several of your crash dumps. Are all the crashes being caused by the same component? If not, could you let us know the names of the various components being cited in the various crash dumps?

Computer shuts down when burning

Why does my computer shut down when I try to burn my Itunes playlist on a Cd?
Toshiba Satellite

air traffic controller
What computer operating system is your Premiere Elements 10 running on?
If not asked before, what video card/graphics card does your computer use? NVIDIA GeForce? If so, please read Announcement at top of this forum describing the Premiere Elements 10 NVIDIA GeForce issue and related how to solution information.
Please review the Adobe document dealing with troubleshooting burn to disc issues
http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-elements/kb/troubleshoot-system-errors-freezes-burning.htm l
After that, we can decide what next if necessary.
If any questions or need clarification, please do not hesitate to ask.
Thank you.
ATR

Haroon Mahmood – computer shut down when getting update notifications

Hi,
I am Haroon Mahmood. I am new user to this forum. I faced some problem regarding the computer. I am just open a news site then whole thing will just shut off. This problem has happened many times in my computer. But last time when I started
back up I notice there was window update, that there is new update available on my computer. I could not found any solution of this problem. Please let me know the solution of this problem.
Thanks & Regards
Haroon Mahmood

Hello Haroon Mahmood,
Do you mean that the Windows shut down automatically when Windows update start?
Will it shut down when you manually use Windows Update?
Please take the following steps for troubleshooting:
1. Go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Troubleshooting\All Categories and run the Windows Update Troubleshooter
2. Open the event viewer and check if there are any related error log. For more information about the event log, please refer to the following article.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/open-event-viewer#1TC=windows-7
Best regards,
Fangzhou CHEN
Fangzhou CHEN
TechNet Community Support

Computer shuts down when I open itunes Store

Computer shuts down when I open itunes Store. I don't know why or how to fix it.. It used to work, now it doesn't. I haven't done anything differently. I tried to 'repair' it in the add/delete programs.

Some more info.................I have uninstalled and reinstalled iTunes and Quicktime. No fix. I can access the store on my other desktop computer which I also updtated to the newest version, so I think it's some setting in my laptop. As I said, it works great until I click on "iTunes Store" then it shuts the whole program down.

Computer shuts down when i try to sync my ipod

Computer shuts down when i try to sync my ipod

Just took out the book from the library "Sams Teach Yourself itunes 10 in 10 minutes" by Brad Miser.
Basics for problems syncing:
-restart computer
-make sure device is not out if power
-try a different usb port...BTW....I contaminated a usb port by someone spilling drink on the usb port end of my ipod cord...bad...
-run apple's web-based device assistant
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1495 (windows) or http://support.apple.com/kb/TB1591?viewlocale=en_US (mac)
clink for the device...etc.
this book looks great

Computer shuts down when trying to create or open a pdf file

My computer shuts down when trying to create or open a pdf file.

In that case, you need to update the Acrobat Version at your end. Click on Help -> Check for Updates. Download and install the updates. Make sure your version is 9.5.1

IPhone is 17 month old and shutting down when not connected to the mac any this I can do about it?

iPhone is 17 month old and shutting down when not connected to the mac any this I can do about it?
should I bring it to apple ?

Basic troubleshooting from the User's Guide is reset, restart, restore (first from backup then as new). Try each of these steps in order until the issue is resolved.
Replacing or even suggesting replacing hardware without doing basic troubleshooting first is not very smart.
If basic troubleshooting does not resolve, take it to Apple for evaluation. There is no obligation to pay for anything, the evaluation is free.

Computer shuts down when using Aperture

Hi, does anyone knows what cause Mac to shut down? It first happened when I was using 1.5, stopped behaving this way for a while but now its back shutting my Mac down again. Tonight, it shut down when I was making batch adjustments to several images. When I turned my Mac back on and went back to the same Aperture project, it shut down again. I did this a few times but always the same result.
What is causing Aperture to shut down my computer? Could it be due to lack of memory or something more sinister?? Please help folks.
Mike

RAM anomalies immediately came to my mind too.
Note that 3 GB is a very limiting amount of RAM for a Mac Pro anyway. RAM is inexpensive now. I suggest that you add 4x2GB matched RAM; one good source is OWC: http://otherworldcomputing.com/. The new RAM should be installed on the top riser, old unmatched RAM removed or installed on the bottom riser.
Make sure that Aperture and the OS are fully version-current. Immediately prior to and immediately after every installation of any kind (essentially anything that asks for sysadmin password) I recommend repairing Permissions. Note that repairing Permissions at other times does not have the same effect as immediately prior to and immediately after installations; i.e. repairing Permissions is not some kind of magic fix to use after problems present.
On the Photoshop forums for years there have been many instances of some folks getting poor or unstable performance out of setups that other folks get good performance out of. We see the same thing here on the Aperture forums. The suggested protocol of repairing Permissions is one of the routines that many of us with long term good Adobe performance have tended to follow.
There are many tens of thousands of files with Permissions settings. IMO maintaining them in a consistent state immediately before and after each installation of any kind is a potentially useful protocol with no down side risk.
Good Luck!
-Allen Wicks

Computer shuts down when battery is at 45% used

When running on the battery the computer shuts down completely when the battery shows about 65 % left. Then I have to use the command start to get it going again, any thoughts?

Welcome to Apple Support Communities
Reset the SMC (System Management Controller) and re-calibrate the Battery - make sure you do this re-calibration every 2-3 months (I'm guessing you've never done it?)

My computer seems to want to shut down when I am using Powerpoint (mac) and go in to some sort of panic mode

Not sure what the problem is but my computer seems to shut down while I am using Microsoft Office, but particularly powerpoint. It goes into some kind of "panic" mode. The report shows a "interval since last panic report."
Is this a problem with too little memory? or some virus that has inflicted my computer?
thanks,
John

Post in the Office for Mac Support forums since it's not an Apple product.

Computer shuts down when backing up

Hello,
I am using an iMac with Mountain Lion 10.8.3. My Apple Airport Extreme is about one year old (fully updated and current). I am on a DSL connection with AT&T. I am backing up to an external 1.5 TB hard drive (non-Apple brand). There is lots of room remaining on that drive (about 700GB).
All backups in the past have been smooth sailing with no problem.
What's happening now are two things (but one of them I think I fixed). At first, Time Machine would try to back up but it would never succeed because it would give a message that there is not enough space available in the drive (it was saying that it needed 10 more GB of free space). But I know that's wrong. I could not figure out how to fix that issue, so I erased the drive completely and started over. Now, I no longer get the "full" message and all appears to be going well----UNTIL......(see next paragraph).....
Now what happens is that it begins doing the backup process like normal (this would be the first/initial backup since I erased the drive and started over), however, once it gets about 100 GB or so (very rough estimate), the computer SHUTS DOWN. It turns itself OFF. No error window, no warning, no nothing----it just "POOF" turns off. To get it working again, I have to push the power button to turn it back on. There is no error message when I turn it back on.
I am copying (below) the two most recent Time Machine messages from last night from that neat widget/app that I think pondini invented. I sure hope this helps to diagnosis what is wrong, because I'm stumped.
The backup log that says "Automatic" is the first one that failed where it claimed there was not enough space to complete the backup. Once I erased the drive completely and started "fresh", that is what the second "Manual" backup is.
Friday, April 5th
Starting automatic backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: Macintosh HD
Event store UUIDs don't match for volume: 2TB HD
Deep event scan at path:/ reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
Finished scan
Deep event scan at path:/Volumes/2TB HD reason:must scan subdirs|new event db|
Finished scan
Found 433286 files (625.62 GB) needing backup
751.26 GB required (including padding), 741.14 GB available
Deleted backup /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb/ScottPeavler’s iMac/2013-04-04-110906.inProgress/D11ECC13-2EB1-4975-A041-8EEA74F1339B containing 4 KB; 741.14 GB now available, 751.26 GB required
Removed 1 expired backups so far, more space is needed - deleting oldest backups to make room
Deleted 1 backups containing 4 KB total; 741.14 GB now available, 751.26 GB required
Backup date range was shortened: oldest backup is now Apr 5, 2013
Backup failed with error: Not enough available disk space on the target volume.
Friday, April 5th, 7:58PM
Starting manual backup
Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine/Backups.backupdb
Forcing deep traversal on source: "Macintosh HD" (mount: '/' fsUUID: 7267FE51-06B9-318F-80B2-EC5D94A925E2 eventDBUUID: DBDDEE41-0BFF-4DB0-AB1A-F7D152B9E065)
Forcing deep traversal on source: "2TB HD" (mount: '/Volumes/2TB HD' fsUUID: B4DDE136-9D38-302F-A81E-4645F23F6D09 eventDBUUID: B8E29F6D-A35B-4E34-B733-7C2983BD24D9)
Found 1331692 files (837.62 GB) needing backup
1.01 TB required (including padding), 1.49 TB available
Can anyone kindly help? Thanks!

Do a verify of the local disk. The sudden complete failure sounds like a hard disk or memory issue.
A5 http://pondini.org/TM/Troubleshooting.html
So the hard disk is plugged into the computer directly?? If not, then I think you should do it that way. Backup to Extreme USB drive is not reliable.
YOu don't have an error message for the manual backup.. and I am uncertain what the problem is.
Do a reset of Time Machine. A4.
And try again with the hard disk plugged into the computer directly.
You can look at other suggestions on the troubleshooting page.
eg http://pondini.org/TM/C4.html
But if you are doing it with the usb drive in the Airport Extreme please read this.
http://pondini.org/TM/Airport.html

My computer shuts down when I put it to sleep

Ever since I used some of those auto-download upgrades my Mac shuts down when I put it to sleep. What's wrong?

Hi gazebo, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Could be many things, we should start with this...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Mac OS X Install disc that came with your computer, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
*Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.*
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Click the disclosure triangle to the left of the hard drive icon to display the names of your hard disk volumes and partitions.
5. Select your Mac OS X volume.
6. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it completes.
The usual reason why updates fail or mess things up, is if Permissions are not fixed before & after every update, with a reboot... you may get a partial update when the installer finds it doesn't have Permissions to change one obscure little part of the OS, leaving you with a mix of OS versions.
Some people get away without Repairing Permissions for years, some for only days.
If Permissions are wrong before applying an update, you could get mixed OS versions, if Directory is the slightest messed up, who knows!
If many Permission are repaired, or any Directory errors are found, you may need to re-apply some the latest/biggest updates.
May even need to do an Archive and Install if you have room on the HD, but saves all your files and gives a new OS...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
I only use Software Update to see what is needed, then get them for real via...
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/
That way I can wait a week or so, check the forums for potential problems, and get Permissions & such in order before installing.

Computer shuts down when not in use

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