Random Shutdowns - Possible Problem Identification

Hey all,
I was reading the website devoted to RSD problem and saw that there is a candidate solution for the problem. Check this out:
http://maba.wordpress.com/2006/09/01/macbook-shutdown-solved-at-last-hopefully/
It does not tell you how to solve the issue but at least a hope that Apple will solve the issue shortly.
MacBook 1.83 GHz 1Gig Ram Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I have also read that some Apple representative suggested the new MacBook owners to install Firmware Update immediately, after getting their Macbooks.
Since I have seen some theories mentioning the connection between Firmware update and RSD, I am still unwilling to update the FW.
What do u people think? Are they related? Or am I risking my computer by not updating the FW?

Similar Messages

Is random shutdown a problem on newly purchased MBs as well?

I am considering buying a couple of macbooks for my kids, but am troubled by all these reports of the random shutdown problem. Has anyone experienced this problem on macbooks purchased since say mid-August, or is it only on the original factory run? i.e. I am wondering if Apple has figured out the hardware problem and quietly fixed it? The alternative is a Fujitsu laptop (which I am typing on now--have had it for two years and it's great but my kids like the macbook). Any feedback from newer macbook owners would be appreciated. Thanks.

I'm not a new Macbook owner but certainly read this forum enough to know that the random shutdown problem isn't isolated to specific dates of manufacture. Those who are affected have machines ranging from the earliest to the most recent.
That said, if you search around here, you'll also read again and again that the number of people affected is very small. There has been a figure of 10% thrown around, which isn't exactly scientific in its basis.
Buy the machines. Your kids will love you, you'll love yourself and all will be right with the world. Apple isn't going to just let this thing continue. When they find a lasting fix, they'll implement it somehow, either through a recall or on a case by case basis. The benefits of owning a Macintosh over a PC really do far outweigh the potential that one could be stricken with a problem that will soon be fixed.
Then again, you may never have the problem at all. I have not and have been using this one since late May/early June.

Random Shutdowns Possible Triggers?

Simple CPU useage doesn't seem to be the answer here
We are dealing with a power related problem maybe we should all be thinking about things that might stress the power systems? Do the people who have more frequent shutdowns do something different with respect to sleep, shutdowns, and restarts that somehow increases the probability of a random shutdown?
For example, I normally just put my computer to sleep when I am done with it. Maybe lots of restarts strsses the PMU in someway that leads to more random shutdowns?

This is intersting- I wonder if this has something to do with the thermal grease breaking down/degrading because of extended exposure to heat:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_grease
http://www.answers.com/topic/thermal-grease
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5990418.html
"thermal paste should not be exposed to very high temperatures for extended periods of time because such exposure may lead to degradation of the interface coolant and deterioration of its thermal conduction capability"
This would at least explain why you could only reproduce the problem AFTER it had already started. This might also explain the random nature of the problem.
Applying too much thermal paste can be an issue as well (as has been discussed on this forum)...

Are the replacement Heatsinks fixing people's Random Shutdown problems?

Is the replacement heatsink (the shorter one) still the method of choice from Apple for fixing Random Shutdown problems?
Is it working for people who've had it done recently?

Does this max out the CPU?
Yes. People who advocate this are testing to see if it's possible to induce a "random" shut down.
Why would anyone want to do that?
Good question. I've seen two reasons put forward: (a) It's better to make it happen now yourself rather let it strike out of the blue at some later date (and if running this test doesn't induce RSDs you can feel confident that your computer is probably immune); (b) If you take your MacBook to an Apple Store it could be useful for demonstrating to an Apple "genius" that your computer has the problem, especially if your shutdowns are infrequent.
(personally, I don't agree with (a))
MacBook (OS 10.4.8) iMac G4 (OS 10.3.9)

[solved?] possible reasons for random shutdowns

Several months ago, my laptop started to suddenly shutdown for no apparent reason. Initially, I assumed it was overheating. Lenovo had a look, found nothing but replaced the thermal paste anyway, gave it back.
The issue continued so somebody from IT stuck my laptop in a server room on top of a hot computer and stress tested it for a few hours. Conclusion: can find nothing wrong, definitely not a heat problem! (Laptop never went above 65.) They ran a bunch of hardware tests as part of this, got my cable and adaptor tested etc.
Next theory: issue had only ever occurred on one level of the building (in my office) and it turned out there had been another issue with another laptop in that area and it turned out to be shutting down to protect itself due to spikes in the power supply. A UPS solved that issue. One is currently on order for me.
Meanwhile, last weekend I had the issue occur twice in a friend's house in Birmingham. Even more worrying, however, I just had it happen here at home even though I use the machine extensively here and have never seen this happen here before.
I'm guessing this rules out the environmental hypothesis although I'm by no means certain of this.
That leaves: hardware or software.
Hardware is a pain - Lenovo already ran it for 48 hours straight and found nothing. Moreover, although I have paid to extend the warranty and although they've taken my money, I've so far been entirely unsuccessful in getting Lenovo's system to recognise the extension. In any case, with the holidays and everything I'd rather be sure of what I'm dealing with before giving the machine up for an extended period of time. I cannot reliably reproduce the issue so it is hard to troubleshoot.
So I would like to know what possible software issues might trigger apparently random shutdowns.
The shutdowns are immediate. One minute I am working on some document or whatever. The next the machine is off. journalctl shows nothing except:
-- Reboot --
If it was a hardware protection feature, would this get logged?
It does not reboot - it powers off - but I always have issues with reboot since I switched to systemd. Generally, it just powers off instead. [Oh, and before anybody tries to blame systemd, the random shutdowns started before I switched to systemd.]
I've checked the RAM.
Any suggestions, however unlikely, are welcome at this point.
Last edited by cfr (2013-04-13 23:42:03)

Thanks. The adaptor, cable etc. was "PAT tested" by the electricals person in our building and they checked the fuse etc. in the plug as well. Moreover, the laptop never usually has a problem switching from AC to battery and back. My battery is more than adequate for this sort of purpose and, if the battery did run low, the laptop would automatically suspend to RAM. Also, I know if this happens because, among other things, the display is set to dim on switch to battery. When the power supply has disappeared due to a power cut or just unplugging it, the switch has always been flawless.
I've just been jiggling and shaking and rotating the laptop itself as suggested above with no effect whatsoever. I've also tried pressing around the edges of the casing just in case I'm somehow putting pressure somewhere and that's affecting things. (I assume if it was pressure due to typing or touchpad, it would be happening all the time.)
I've also just spent a while jiggling the adaptor and both parts of the cable - also with no effect.
The one thing which makes me reluctant to test sans battery is that I've read that the batteries in ThinkPads serve some sort of protective function in case of issues with the power supply and that you shouldn't use them without the battery for that reason. (Somewhere on Lenovo's site but it was months ago so I can't remember where to check the details.) In case there is an issue with the power, I'd obviously rather not fry the laptop. (But it seems weird if it happens in several places in that case...)
I'm not sure about the cold boot comment. Do you think a cold boot might help? If so, I already performed one yesterday as I opened the back to look for loose connections. So if a cold boot might help, I'll just have to see. I've done cold boots before, though, after opening it up to look for issues following shutdowns.
These issues appeared several months ago and I've reproduced the issue with the LTS kernel a while back. So if it is a regression, it has been around for a bit. I might try a live Ubuntu USB. (I don't have an optical drive.) The problem is that a negative result won't really prove anything because the issue is so random. Given that yesterday is the first time it has ever happened to me at home and that even in my office I've sometimes gone three or four days without problem, a couple of days testing won't cut it. (And will make it difficult for me to get stuff done!) It might be best to wait and try it in my office after the holidays - if it worked for, say, a week there without issue, that would strongly suggest something in my Arch setup. (Or something about the hdd, I guess.)
Somebody suggested modules so, for the record, here's output from lsmod:
Module Size Used by
usb_storage 47385 0
uas 11120 0
efivars 12441 1
fuse 69213 3
hid_generic 1114 0
usbhid 37036 0
hid 85974 2 hid_generic,usbhid
rfcomm 33792 8
bnep 8858 2
ipt_REJECT 2282 2
ip6t_REJECT 2797 2
xt_LOG 12055 6
xt_limit 1978 6
xt_tcpudp 2472 4
nf_conntrack_ipv4 7799 5
nf_defrag_ipv4 1340 1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
nf_conntrack_ipv6 7512 5
nf_defrag_ipv6 6318 1 nf_conntrack_ipv6
xt_recent 8603 12
xt_conntrack 3298 10
nf_conntrack 64101 3 xt_conntrack,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack_ipv6
iptable_filter 1457 1
ip_tables 16947 1 iptable_filter
ip6table_filter 1397 1
ip6_tables 18519 1 ip6table_filter
x_tables 17000 11 ip6table_filter,xt_recent,ip_tables,xt_tcpudp,xt_limit,xt_conntrack,xt_LOG,iptable_filter,ipt_REJECT,ip6_tables,ip6t_REJECT
nls_cp437 5954 1
vfat 10120 1
fat 48403 1 vfat
uvcvideo 72788 0
videobuf2_vmalloc 2469 1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops 2283 1 videobuf2_vmalloc
coretemp 6071 0
kvm_intel 124718 0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 24529 1
videobuf2_core 24073 1 uvcvideo
videodev 100860 2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
snd_hda_codec_conexant 47159 1
btusb 12373 0
kvm 374014 1 kvm_intel
media 10406 2 uvcvideo,videodev
joydev 9992 0
arc4 2040 2
bluetooth 192234 22 bnep,btusb,rfcomm
iwldvm 171052 0
mac80211 426350 1 iwldvm
snd_hda_intel 26181 2
snd_hda_codec 98034 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
thinkpad_acpi 62562 0
snd_hwdep 6429 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 75735 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc 7218 2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
microcode 12346 0
snd_timer 18935 1 snd_pcm
nvram 5907 1 thinkpad_acpi
snd 60189 12 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,thinkpad_acpi
rts_pstor 401665 0
atl1c 33647 0
psmouse 71952 0
iwlwifi 125182 1 iwldvm
iTCO_wdt 5256 0
iTCO_vendor_support 1930 1 iTCO_wdt
cfg80211 177109 3 iwlwifi,mac80211,iwldvm
rfkill 15605 5 cfg80211,thinkpad_acpi,bluetooth
soundcore 5443 1 snd
i2c_i801 9572 0
evdev 10267 25
serio_raw 4690 0
pcspkr 1900 0
mei 32666 0
lpc_ich 10610 0
ac 2537 0
thermal 8120 0
battery 6774 0
wmi 8380 0
nfs 127008 0
lockd 64905 1 nfs
sunrpc 186134 2 nfs,lockd
fscache 40996 1 nfs
acpi_cpufreq 5934 0
mperf 1300 1 acpi_cpufreq
processor 26856 1 acpi_cpufreq
ext4 440435 10
crc16 1360 2 ext4,bluetooth
jbd2 78802 1 ext4
mbcache 6027 1 ext4
sha256_generic 10262 2
ablk_helper 1973 0
aes_x86_64 7556 5
aes_generic 26139 1 aes_x86_64
cbc 2737 1
dm_crypt 15800 1
dm_mod 72106 35 dm_crypt
sd_mod 29560 4
crc32c_intel 1988 0
ghash_clmulni_intel 4278 0
cryptd 8742 2 ghash_clmulni_intel,ablk_helper
ahci 21361 3
libahci 20024 1 ahci
libata 167757 2 ahci,libahci
scsi_mod 133434 5 uas,usb_storage,libata,rts_pstor,sd_mod
ehci_hcd 41817 0
usbcore 150472 6 uas,btusb,uvcvideo,usb_storage,ehci_hcd,usbhid
usb_common 955 1 usbcore
i915 496012 3
video 11277 1 i915
button 4663 1 i915
i2c_algo_bit 5392 1 i915
intel_agp 10745 1 i915
intel_gtt 15660 2 i915,intel_agp
drm_kms_helper 32878 1 i915
drm 218903 4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_core 20708 6 drm,i915,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,videodev
I did wonder about the watchdogs and whether I should try turning (any of?) them off. But I suspect this thought just shows my ignorance of these things.
I don't think there's a fan in my power supply - it is just a brick type adaptor between the AC and the laptop. If it is the battery, it would be odd that it only ever happens when I'm plugged into AC. (Again, I use it a lot more on AC and the problem is random so this need not mean much.) One difference between battery and AC is that laptop-mode tools is configured to disable the NMI watchdog on battery. But again, I don't understand enough of what this means to know whether this is even vaguely relevant.
My graphics is intel so I'm not using any closed source drivers from Nvidia or ATI. The driver is currently set to use the default acceleration. QT is using default rendering (X11/XRender) rather than Raster or the experimental OpenGL.

Macbook problems, hard drive crash, random shutdown, freezes

I bought my macbook used a few months ago, and it worked flawlessly until about 3 weeks ago. The system started freezing and not booting (getting folder icon instead of apple at startup). I ran drive setup and tried to repair the drive, but this did not fix the problem. DiskWarrior also could not fix it. I pulled the drive and installed a new hard drive, as I wanted a larger capacity anyways. All my problems appeared fixed for about two weeks, then similar problems began occurring. I backed up all the files I needed to an external firewire drive and attempted to reformat the new internal drive. Drive Setup says it can not reformat the drive - can't mount it and if it does, the drive disappears while in the process of formatting. I pulled the new drive and am having it replaced under warranty. I am using the firewire drive to run my computer, and this seemed to work fine for a day or two until the computer just started shutting down with no warning. Everything goes black, including the little light on the front of the computer. I have to hold down the power button for 10 seconds before it lets me start the computer back up. I had read this may be a memory issue, so I ran memtest and it says the memory is fine (I need to do it in single user mode still, however). I also tried pulling both sticks of ram. They are both 1GB crucial memory. I put each stick in by itself and tried it in both slots and was able to reproduce the shutdown issue with any ram configuration of either stick.
After all this, I realized the firewire drive was only running 10.5, so I updated all the software through software update, and it is now running 10.5.2. It seems to be working better as I have not experienced a random shutdown yet, but I'm anticipating it may start back up soon. Today, however I experienced a different problem - the screen froze on me and the only way to get anything to happen was to force a shutdown with them power button. It's restarted and seems to be working fine again for now.
I've run some logs and here's some things I've found:
When the latest freeze happened, I got this repeated over 100 times:
Apr 29 11:04:31 jon-turners-macbook quicklookd[536]: CGContextClosePath: no current point.
I've also seen this:
Apr 29 11:18:19 jon-turners-macbook kernel[0]: Previous Shutdown Cause: 3
Apr 29 11:18:19 jon-turners-macbook kernel[0]: GFX0: family specific matching fails
Apr 25 19:19:50 localhost kernel[0]: hi mem tramps at 0xffe00000
Should there be anything else I can check? I would run Apple Hardware Utilities, but I don't have the original disks, just the Leopard installer. I have Disk Warrior, but it seems strange this would happen with multiple systems and drives. I'd like to get Techtool Pro, but haven't had the money/time to order it yet.

Thanks for the replies!
Yeah, I think it's the HDD. I was just worried that the RAM was bad and corrupted the HDD or something, but given the symptoms I think you guys are right. Ordered a 7200RPM 320GB HDD off Amazon Prime...will be here tomorrow
I'll post how it goes after I finish installing it. I'm backing up as I type.
I wonder if I can fix the ir port and the sleep indicator light when I install the hard-drive. The sleep indicator light never turns off. It stays on as long as my computer is on, only turns off when I shut it down.

Problems with random shutdown after replacing a swollen battery

Hello all,
Perhaps one of you can help with this issue.
I'm using a Macbook Pro 17" mid-2007 model. A few months ago, the power disconnected from the machine when the battery had already run down and the machine did a hard shutdown. When I booted it back up there were serious problems with the display. Eventually it stopped working altogether. I took it for service and it was determined to by the NVIDIA graphics processor problem, so Apple replaced my motherboard.
When I got the machine back from servicing, there was a rattle in the right fan that gradually got worse. After a while the touchpad button stopped depressing in the center. I also experienced several random shutdowns while operating on battery power. I learned about the swelling battery issue with macbooks and ordered a replacement. By the time the replacement battery arrived my original battery was quite swollen. I'm concerned that the swelling battery may have warped the case a bit, leading to the fan noise.
I have now replaced the battery, but I'm still experiencing random shutdowns after 20+ minutes of use on battery power. I have done the RSS tests that were recommended in other forums and there doesn't seem to be any random shutdown problems when I'm plugged in -- only under battery power. My understanding is that a swelling battery can sometimes cause the battery to disengage from the electrical contacts on the MB, causing a sudden shutdown. I'm wondering why the problem is persisting now with a new battery? After one random shutdown, I tried to power up again using the battery, while pushing the battery into place at various angles, but I couldn't find any angle that would give power to the machine. The fan noise is also still present.
Can anyone offer an explanation or advise on any methods to overcome these random shutdowns? I have checked the console and the machine isn't registering any error when it shuts down, although when it restarts it says "DirectoryService[35] Improper shutdown detected"

Yep, it is video (or: or audio for video) so unless you're sure you need it (because you work or will work with the DVC Pro HD video/audio codec), you can remove the plug from its' folder and put it in your documents folder (don't trash it, I have no idea if it is necessary for non-DVC Pro HD users to have it installed too).
The WWW is littered with posts from people encountering bugs and crashreports with DVCPROHDAudio.plugin as the main suspect. Most of those posts seem to be from video people rather than audio folks.
http://www.google.nl/search?q=DVCPROHDAudio.plugin&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=or g.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
But, if you get crashes and you see this one mentioned in the report, disable it, restart, and see if the problem's gone.

Random shutdown problem on G5 dual 2.3 GHz w/OS 10.4.7

Hello,
I’m using a dual 2.3 GHz G5, and it’s been working flawlessly since I bought it about a year ago. Until yesterday, I was running OS 10.4.5. Yesterday I upgraded to 10.4.7, and as soon as I booted up after the install, I started having a maddening problem with my computer randomly shutting down. (Not sleeping, but a complete power down.)
At first, the shutdown would happen immediately after powering up; my computer wouldn’t even make it to the blue progress bar. I zapped the PRAM and tried something I found online about unplugging the computer for 15 seconds, then plugging it back in. It now boots up, and I can log in, but the computer still shuts down randomly.
There seems to be no pattern to the shutdowns. I tried taxing the processor by opening and resampling huge Photoshop files while lots of other apps were open, and things were fine. Then it would conk out while I was composing an email.
I’ve heard of this random shutdown problem affecting Macbooks, but I have yet to find anything about G5 towers and OS 10.4.7. Does anyone have any info/advice?
Many thanks.
G5 dual 2.3 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2.5 GB RAM, 250 GB HD
G5 dual 2.3 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2.5 GB RAM, 250 GB HD

Thanks for the advice. I did check the system.log in Console and found the following altert:
PMU FORCED SHUTDOWN, CAUSE = -122
Now, since my computer is just over a year old, and since this problem happened immediately after applying the 10.4.7 OS update, I found it hard to believe that my hardware could be responsible. After 2 days of troubleshooting, I was stumped; after a 2-hour service call, so was Apple tech support. I ended up doing an archive and install back down to 10.4.5, and all is well.
I tested this issue on other machines running 10.4.7 and had no problems. It seems that the following specific combination of elements triggered the problem:
• PowerMac G5 dual 2.3 GHz (dual 1.8 machines did not exhibit the same problem)
• OS 10.4.7
• Logging in with Open Directory/Active Directory mobile profiles
• iTunes 7
Bottom line: if you’re using a dual 2.3 GHz PowerMac with mobile OD/AD profiles, do not update to 10.4.7, and steer clear of iTunes 7, at least until there is a patch update available.
(And Apple wants to be taken seriously in the enterprise market?)
G5 dual 2.3 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2.5 GB RAM, 250 GB HD

Have any T430x users had random shutdown problems?

like this one with the T400x model:
T400s random shutdowns - Lenovo Community
If not I'll buy a new one, otherwise I'll buy another brand. Thanks!

Have you run all the newest updates at the new Lenovo update site. It is up and running and took my computer a while to update including a new bios.
This helps but will/can make it worst for a while.
My Take:
If you laptop is new OR you have just installed a good bit of software OR did anything to move alot of files around on your drive it will take time for Vista to re index the files. Being that the processor is slow it will suck up resources that are required for the touchpad or even the keyboard. Mine would even freeze the keyboard and you could type and nothing would happen and then all of a sudden everything you typed pops up on the screen.
I have found that when ever you "upset" the indexing it is best to just leave your computer alone and let it do it's thing. You will see alot of hard drive and processor activity. After this stops, all is well and you should not have any more problems.
This is my opinion on what is happening and I have noticed the same on all three of my X301 units one with normal hard drive and one with 80gb SSD and 128gb SSD. Basically the slower processor is fine 90% of the time but seems to bog down a bit when asked to do too much.
Try this and see. Leave you laptop up and running for several hours, make sure it is set to not go to sleep and come back and see if it does not make a difference.

Random Shutdown Problem Fixed (for now)

I experienced the same random shutdown problems/symptoms with my MacBook that have been extensively described in this forum and elsewhere. I sent it back for repair under AppleCare and it was returned in 3 days. It has been running now for 4 days with no problems and far cooler and quieter (the fan rarely comes on) than it was before. The repair sheet indicates that the heat sink and heat assembly unit were replaced.
I'll keep my fingers crossed, but at least in my case and perhaps others, the problem may simply have to do with the thermal contact with the heat sink going bad and the processor simply shuts down due to overheating.
MacBook 2 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Followup:
They told me something interesting at my Mac Retailer. They have had two other machines brought in doing the same thing. They tried new logic boards with no success, they tried new thermal assemblies with no luck, new ram - nothing seemed to solve the problem.
What they finnally did was replace the Hard Drive - they tell me this has fixed the problem. Now I don't know if that is what they'll do to mine. The other two machines had the 60gb drives - mine is a 100gb, but we'll see. From all I have heard, this doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Anyway, we'll see what happens.
Anyone else hear anything about replacing the hard drive?
Clayton

Possible Random Shutdowns

Greetings to All,
I have been reading all these posts regarding random shutdowns on the MacBooks, and although I have never had it happen on either of my MacBooks (Week 27 and 29), I have had to troubleshoot a few that were having some issues, at our campus, with what was thought to be random shutdowns. These are Faculty/Staff machines.
Since time was at a premium, for me, I only spot-checked the batch of 7 and took peoples word for it. They have been following the discussions, after someone enlightened them to the discussion pages. I had one shut down on me after about 15 minutes of run time and it had hung up on a printer issue. I tried it again after letting it cool down, and it did the same thing after 30 minutes this time, and it was only when I went to do a test print – it hung again. There could have been others with this problem, but I didn’t have time to play around, and the others that I did test were a matter of fixing the user more than anything else.
I wiped them all clean, and reinstalled the OS X 10.4.7 from scratch, as well as Office 2004, and all of the Adobe software. The machine in question was used here for almost a week putting it through its paces without a single issue. I gave it and the others back to the users and everything was fine until a couple of days ago – she had had it for a week, and the shutdown trouble started again.
It turns out that some unauthorized software was installed; some printer drivers were installed for use at home, and some strange off the wall open source games. I blew it all away, again, and reinstalled as I did before and it’s working OK again. I did the same thing on another one that came back with more unauthorized stuff installed and other changes. It’s clean and working as normal, and all the other units are reporting OK, as I check on the folks every day.
I did do one other thing, I reseated the memory chips in all of them - and we bought the additional memory from Apple. They all have 1.256 Gig of Ram.
These were all bought in late July, but I didn’t look at the week they were built.
I do not work for Apple, I’m the Network Manager/Engineer for a large community college, and one of the few Mac users that have a fairly high level of hardware experience with regards to the Macs, as well as PeeCees, Solaris, HP-UX and so on and so forth.
It appears that bad software; drivers, programs, etc can kill the machine as well as hardware. My personal MacBooks have been working fine, so far and they have been hard at work every day for many hours a day with Parallels loaded so I can manage my Microsoft Active Directory – works great, too. I also have PeeCee notebooks and am perfectly happy with them, but I prefer a Mac and I don't want to lug around more than one notebook at a time. My other MacBook stays home for use there.
Cheers……. ☺
iBook 12" 1.42 MacBook Black 2.0 Mac OS X (10.4.7) 17" iMac PPC, 17" iMac Intel, Powerbook 12" 867, G-4 Tower, iMac Flat Panel, mor

I agree that it may be to soon to tell if the issue has gone away, and I hope it has. At the current time all of those MacBooks are up and running - I just called two of users that had the most trouble and they are happy campers, as they use them everyday for their classes, overhead projectors, Key Note presentations, email, and all the usual stuff.
On another note, and your timing is perfect, the Macbook that has been giving us the most trouble is back, with the same unauthorized software back on it. It was doing the random shut down thing until I removed all that software. As soon as I did that and turned it on, it started working again, and as of this point in time I'm writing this on it. I have been using the thing all morning for my daily routines without a glitch. I even installed Parallels on it and will install Win XP later.
I don't think heat is the issue, because when it's not behaving correctly, it shutdown within a minute or two. I have felt underneath and it is at room temperature. It is a lot warmer when I have it working, like right now writing this and burning a CD.
Am I satisfied that it's fixed for good - not a chance, I need to test further and pass this notebook around to my staff for a week. The Faculty member won't take it back as she is not happy, has no confidence in it and has decided that she wanted her desktop back.
What I have may not be the same thing as the other postings have eluded to, or maybe it is - who knows. I have 40 of these things, with 30 of them in a lab situation, and so far so good - not a glitch. We have Freeze-X on them so they can't install anything on them in the labs, so each time they reboot, they revert back to the way they were configured - works cool. I can't do that to the Faculty/Staff, much to my chagrin.
All of these machines are from the same time frame - bought at the same time, in otherwords.
I'll keep watching the saga unfold, and post if anything for sure comes along in the way of a fix, that I may get directly from Apple. They don't seem to know much about this issue, right now.
Cheers ...............

Random shutdown problem after replacement of new MB

i got the replacement of my MB one month ago due to the random shut down problem. the symptom before the replacement was not only random shut down but also that the MB could not be turned on once a while.
now it's been one month after i got the replacement from apple store, there is no randon shutdown at all, but when i got up this morning, i couldn't turn it on. i tried several times, but it just turned out to be dead. any suggestion about what i'm supposed to do? shall i ask for a refund or a replacement? i'm just afraid of that i would get a defect model again.

thanks for both replies.
i usually close the MB when the shutdown is completed, i know the shutdown won't be completed if i close it right after i shut it down.
and also, i got a whole new mb as a replacement from apple store rather than having it repared and just the logical board replaced. and it's really weird, since it was said the new logical board doesn't have whatsoever problem. i also read some news on tuaw or infiniteloop (i forgot which one it is), the RSS is not really caused by the faulty logical board, it was the heat sink melt by the high temperature coming from the intel processor which shortcut the circuits around it. now i'm totally desperated. it looks like unless apple drops the stupid intel chip, otherwise the RSS will never go ever.

Random Shutdown Problem

Hello I started seeing the random shutdown problem around 6 weeks ago. The problem occurs every once in a while usually around the first 5 minutes of the unit booting up. When the system powers down I will try to bring it back up but it just powers down within about 15-30 seconds again. So I wait a little while about a minute, sometimes removing the battery for 30 seconds and the system will come back fine. The random shutdown has happened probably about a dozen times within the last 6 weeks. It's not causing a real big headache yet. I didn't purchase Applecare as I never do because I rarely keep a laptop for more than a year. My question is has anyone got their unit fixed what was the culprit. I've sent my unit in already once due to receiving a spinning pinwheel 90% of the time. They gutted the unit and sent it back and it has been working fine other than the RSD. I've been waiting things out to see if there is going to be a software fix for the RSD. Any tips recommendations are appreciated.

My question is has anyone got their unit
fixed what was the culprit.
Mine has not had the problem recur after replacing the heat sink a month ago. Currently Apple seems to be replacing both logic board and heat sink with a new design for the combination.
They gutted the unit and sent it back
and it has been working fine other than the RSD. I've
been waiting things out to see if there is going to
be a software fix for the RSD. Any tips
recommendations are appreciated.
General opinion would say it's a hardware problem; there won't be a software fix.
I'd say you should send in it for repair.

K9N Platinum: CPU upgrade = Random shutdowns..

I just installed a new AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ EE in my MSI K9N Platinum motherboard (MS-7250 v1.0, the 070 model according to the box). I had updated the BIOS to version 1.7 before installing the CPU. Anyhow, I got the CPU installed and it seemed to be running fine. Until I started playing my games. Upon playing fifteen (!!!) minutes of Day of Defeat, the system completely turned off. COMPLETELY. No error messages. I check core temp's log to make sure the CPU wasnt overheating; it wasnt. The max temp was 38C on one of the cores. Just to make sure the CPU wasnt the problem, I ran two instances of prime95 for 5 hours and there were no calculation errors whatsoever. I also ran 3-4 loops of SuperPi, using the 32M test. No errors.
I have come to the conclusion that it must be the motherboard, and possibly it does not like the CPU. Or else it is having the same random shutdown problems as many other K9N Platinum/Ultra boards are experiencing. From what i have read, this issue only relates to boards that are 040, 050, or 060 models. I have a 070 model, and I AM GETTING THIS PROBLEM!!
Help!!!
Full specs:
MSI K9N Platinum MS7250 V1.0, BIOS 1.7, model 070
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ EE (old CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+; had no issues with the 3500+) vcore: 1.225
1 GB OCZ Platinum DDR2-800, 5-5-5-15, 2.1v
eVGA GeForce 7800GT videocard with Zalman VF900, 490/1220
Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 SATA HDD
LITE-ON DVD-ROM drive
Floppy drive
3x 80mm fans, 1 cold cathode
Antec Truepower 430 watt PSU, dual +12v @ 17A a piece.
Any ideas?

well, i know that ACPI has to do with power saving features.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACPI
and HPET also has something to do with CPUs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPET
and MCP55 is the nortbridge.
so i suppose i can conclude that it protects from overvoltage or promotes more power-saving? i dunno i really dont care as long as my PC works now,

To Everyone with Random Shutdowns! (Solved! REALLY!)

Hey all,
I had posted about a week back about my Macbook (Core duo white, late 2006), it was having the same symptoms as some of the others with the known random shutdown syndrome (RSS). Like many others I had thought it was the end of my macbook and the logicboard needed replacing because that is what the 'genius' people do, but I was still wondering what would cause it. It would randomly shut off! (or so I thought) I'd be typing in Safari, watching a youtube video, and even playing games, it would just shut off and I could hear the hard drive spin down. I'd restart and it would do it again sometimes right away, sometimes hours later.
This got me to thinking (like others have said) that it must be an issue with over heating. To test my theory I backed up my HD, and tried to reinstall Snow Leopard after zeroing the HD (as a fresh install). During the install process the Macbook's fan started to get loud and then it happened, it died again! So, this proved to me that it is NOT a software/OS issue at all, which means the said efforts in other posts of changing screen saver and energy saver settings had nothing to do with the cause! Aha moment!
I thought to myself... something is making it shutdown, obviously, and has to do with too much heat as the fan was going crazy even while reinstalling the OS. After reading many posts on different support forums I came accross the possibility that it could be the heatsink and/or sensor that is attached to it. I also found out that this "RSS" only applies to the non-unibody, core duo, and core 2 duo macbooks... you know what that means?
These models are the only ones with the shared memory and GPU on the same heatsink! GAH! A possible solution presents itself? To make a long post even longer... I removed the keyboard, carefully unscrewed the heatsink and fan and what did I see? Cracked and dried out thermal paste on the CPU AND GPU, they are both under the same heatsink after all, this was bad, really bad.
Luckily I had some Arctic Silver thermal paste in a tube from years ago when I upgraded my PowerMac CPU. Using some rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth I removed the crud on the heatsink, processor, and GPU (I might add that there was way too much paste on there in the first place). I waited an extra few minutes to make sure the alcohol evaporated, and then I applied a small (dime sized) amount of thermal past directly onto the two chips, I aligned the heatsink carefully and gave it a very small gentle push down onto the chips, reattached the sensor wire to the mainboard, and screwed the heatsink back in.
After putting the keyboard back on and making sure all screws were in... I immediately turned on the laptop and reinstalled the OS. The OS install took approximately 10 mintues! (crazy!) The last time I did that it took over 30 mins to install! I was stunned!
After the OS installed I let the computer idle and shut down, I let it sit for about an hour to allow the paste to contract as it cooled. After starting up again I immediately downloaded Temperature Monitor and installed it (I did have it running when my mac had RSS by the way), here are the results to prove my theory:
My Macbook with RSS:
CPU1 and CPU2 Idle temp - 114 degrees (F)
Heatsink temp - 128 degrees (F)
Approximate over heating temp - 184 degrees (F) (causing the heatsink sensor to shutdown the laptop)
My Macbook with new high quality thermal paste:
Idle temp of CPU1, CPU2, and GPU - 77 degrees (F)
Heatsink temp - 84 degrees (F)
Running temp with adobe CS4, youtube, and typing this message - 103 degrees (F)
Pretty amazing if you ask me!
Before I applied the thermal paste my Macbook took at least a minute to start up with a fresh OS install, now it only takes about 15 seconds! I have not heard the fan spin up and go crazy since! And I can't even explain to you how much fast it is now!
This does prove that Random shutdown syndrome (RSS) is caused ONLY by your GPU over heating due to old thermal paste between the chips and heatsink! A design flaw by Apple? probably not because thermal paste will crack and dry over time.
This also proves that energy conversion to data in the chips can decrease because of over heating, causing the computer performance to dramatically drop!
So before you take your out-of-warranty macbook to Apple or a repair shop, see what your internal temp readings are and try to replicate the problem with over heating your CPU/GPU! This was a 10 minute fix! I am still amazed at how much faster everything is, and haven't had a random shutdown since! I hope this helps alot of people that think they are out of luck and have to pay to get it fixed!
- Cory -

I too have this problem as well and it has been getting worse lately, I don't know what to do anymore. Here is a little info about my macbookPro. I have the late 2008 unibody model, i bought it in late 2009 Refurbished from Apple. Recently my mac has been turning off out of nowhere. I may be doing something and all of a sudden it just shuts off, it usually happens faster when i start to open up more programs like Photoshop or Final Cut Pro. My mac is out of warranty now and i dont know how much apple is going to charge me to fix it. i mean they want 50 bucks just to talk to them on the phone (ridiculous if you ask me)!.
    I have a temperature sensor installed and here is my data
CPU A Proximity: 126F
CPU A Temperature Diode: 133F
Graphics Processor Chip 1: 122F
Graphics Processor Heatsink 1: 113F
Graphics Processor Heatsink 2: 126F
Graphics Processor Temperature Diode: 131F
Left Palm Rest: 91F
Main Heatsink 3: 122F
Main Logic Board: 118F
Northbridge Chip: 127F
Northbridge Position: 124F
Here is more data from the Power
Battery Information:
Model Information:
Manufacturer:          GSA-1281
Device Name:          ASMB016
Pack Lot Code:          0
PCB Lot Code:          0
Firmware Version:          0
Hardware Revision:          0
Cell Revision:          0
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh):          3739
Fully Charged:          No
Charging:          No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh):          4610
Health Information:
Cycle Count:          68
Condition:          Normal
Battery Installed:          Yes
Amperage (mA):          -1766
Voltage (mV):          11793
System Power Settings:
AC Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes):          0
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):          0
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):          90
Automatic Restart on Power Loss:          No
Wake on AC Change:          No
Wake on Clamshell Open:          Yes
Wake on LAN:          No
Display Sleep Uses Dim:          Yes
GPUSwitch:          2
PrioritizeNetworkReachabilityOverSleep:          0
RestartAfterKernelPanic:          157680000
Battery Power:
System Sleep Timer (Minutes):          60
Disk Sleep Timer (Minutes):          0
Display Sleep Timer (Minutes):          2
Wake on AC Change:          No
Wake on Clamshell Open:          Yes
Current Power Source:          Yes
Display Sleep Uses Dim:          Yes
GPUSwitch:          2
Reduce Brightness:          Yes
RestartAfterKernelPanic:          157680000
Hardware Configuration:
UPS Installed:          No
AC Charger Information:
Connected:          No
Charging:          No
PLEASE HELP ME, I CAN NO LONGER TRUST MY MAC FOR WORK. any replies will be appreciated. thanks

Random Shutdowns - Possible Problem Identification

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