Sudden shutdown of MBP while on battery power

I have started experiencing sudden shutdowns after being on battery power for 15 minutes. So far this has occurred while using Safari and Photoshop CS3. When I have checked the system log file, it has indicated "Previous shutdown cause: -103"
I have searched the web for this code and not found it yet - does anyone have an idea as to what this could refer to or what the issue might me? this is a 2008 MBP (purchased in August, 2008)

Those figures actually look fine, ze red baron.
At a maximum capacity of 5315mAh it is still at around 95% of original maximum capacity. Very different from what I expected when I wrote my earlier post!
It is possible that the figures are somewhat misleading if you haven't calibrated it in recent times, though. See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1490 for the process.
You should also reset the SMC - see http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964.
Remove and replace the battery, too.
I am wondering, though, if the battery is as good as the figures currently indicate, whether something else may be involved here. Has it ONLY shut down when using the programs you refer to, or is happening generally, regardless of what is running?
Cheers
Rod

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Hi,
I am coming from the MacBook faction, but there were similar posts in there, regarding at least your picture#2, the vertical colored lines.
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My 1 year old T510 suffers from sudden restarts.
When the notebook is booting up and Windows is loading, the screen will suddenly go black and then restart itself a couple of seconds later. This happens at different times during the process, sometimes while the screen is still black with the animated windows logo and sometimes when it is on the desktop and the system is 99% finished loading.
When connected to the AC power, the issue does not occur.
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Because of this I was hoping it would be a windows/driver related issue however...
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JDay wrote:
CorkyG wrote:
When I have my T510 at home in desktop mode, I remove the battery completely and store it in a cool, dry place.
That does nothing for your battery. Removing the battery when not in use (for long periods of time) only helped increase the life of the older NiMH and NiCAD batterys that are no longer used in laptops. That was due to those batteries having cell memory. LiION batteries do not have cell memory, they have charge/discharge cycles.
Humid air promotes discharge into the air, and higher temperatures increase reaction speed. So, all in all, there should be an effect, but how effective it is is dependent on how long you plan to store your battery. Overnight shouldn't be anything significant, but since it's usually fairly easy to find a cool and dry place, you might as well.
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Macbook randomly shuts off while on battery power.

I have a 13-inch Macbook, Late 2008 model, using iOS Mavericks. While on battery power, the laptop will randomly just turn completely off, despite still having plenty of battery power left. I know it's not a calibration issue where the battery is dead but appears to have charge left, since I'm able to turn the computer back on again and continue using it.
Battery info:
Charge Information:
Charge Remaining (mAh): 606
Fully Charged: No
Charging: No
Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 2609
Health Information:
Cycle Count: 157
Condition: Service Battery
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1265
Voltage (mV): 10855
Message was edited by: airheadoh

First try the SMC reset appropriate for your model: Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
The information you posted says "Condition: Service Battery" - that likely means you will need a new battery sooner, rather than later, especially if an SMC reset doesn't help the situation at all.
In any case, when new, your battery likely had about 4400 mAh (milliAmphours) Full Charge Capacity.
The Full Charge capacity is down to about 60% of original capacity 2600/4400
A direct replacement from Apple is $129, installed.
Any popular search engine will provide a list of less expensive suppliers, but I cannot recommend any, simply because I haven't used any non-Apple replacement batteries recently. My single experience with one lower-cost supplier for my polycarbonate 2007 MacBook (replaced in 2010) was that the cheaper battery needed to be replaced again within a year. Your mileage may vary.

MBP 15" video card problems while on battery power

I have a MBP 15" that I got about 3 weeks ago. I noticed that when I put it on battery power the video display becomes broken up laterally. I can drag the window or app window out of view then back into view and its ok. But if I start scrolling again, the text, image, video or whatever is on screen becomes distorted.
could this be a bad video card? should I try to get it replaced?
Any insights?
thanks!
T

I'm having the same issue--it looks like a tearing or smearing of lines of text, mainly in Safari, though I have seen it in Mail. I haven't noticed it related to running on AC or battery, but it may be...I had an older MacBook Pro (core duo) running 10.5.2 that was fine and recently upgraded to a 2.4 Core 2 Duo and this problem has popped up.
This issue looks suspiciously like a problem I was having on a Mac Pro with the ATI1900 card--it was brushed off for ages as a "heat problem" or the like with the card, and then miraculously after months of waiting a firmware update came out that completely cleared up the problem...

Random Sudden Shutdown on MBPs

I've read mostly of this being a problem with the Macbooks, however following a recent repair (including a logicboard replacement) I started having the exact same issue. I've sent it back in (almost two weeks ago) and am wondering if it has to do with the heatsink/wires
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20060821101232169
or another faulty logic board. Time will tell...I hope (a missing in transit file been opened on mine).

Paul,
I am experiencing a similar issue as well.
It started happening about a month ago. I suspected that a faulty battery was causing the shutdowns, so I had my battery exchanged (as specified in the battery exchange program). This seemed to fix the problem for a few weeks...
But now the shutdowns are happening again. One shutdown occured while the machine was in sleep mode. The battery was at full charge, or nearly so (97%+). When I discovered the shutdown and rebooted later on, the battery charge had dropped to around 60%.
Today my MBP shut down unexpectedly on two seperate occasions. One happend around the 12% mark on the battery, and the other around 7%. The first time, the machine simply died. The second time, my desktop became "darkened" and OS X displayed a multi-lingual message telling that I needed to reboot my computer (which I of course obeyed).
I'm not really sure what to make of this. I suppose it could be another faulty battery, but presumably a battery failure would not result in a "you need to reboot" message from OS X. I've also had a recent logic board replacement, so perhaps it is related to that. Doesn't look like I'm experiencing the "kernel panic" issues that other users have reported...

Laptop freezes while on battery power.

I have Arch 64 bit install on a Thinkpad T510. While the laptop is plugged into power, it is rock solid and can run for days without a crash.
The laptop freezes up quite often when it is running on battery power. After anything from 15 minutes to an hour, it will probably freeze. I cannot switch to a tty, I just have to do a hard reset.
This is what xsession-errors says:
/etc/gdm/Xsession: Beginning session setup...
localuser:theo being added to access control list
/etc/gdm/Xsession: Setup done, will execute: /usr/bin/ssh-agent -- gnome-session
GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL=/tmp/keyring-yX87BA
GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL=/tmp/keyring-yX87BA
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/keyring-yX87BA/ssh
GPG_AGENT_INFO=/tmp/keyring-yX87BA/gpg:0:1
GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL=/tmp/keyring-yX87BA
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/keyring-yX87BA/ssh
GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL=/tmp/keyring-yX87BA
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/keyring-yX87BA/ssh
GPG_AGENT_INFO=/tmp/keyring-yX87BA/gpg:0:1
Initializing tracker-store...
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(nautilus:923): NA-core-DEBUG: na_boxed_register_type
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Clone: false
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I have the discrete graphics card enabled - NVIDIA Corporation GT218 [NVS 3100M]

It might not necessarily be caused by loss of power, but maybe if the battery power dips? Or if the battery gets too hot and something overheats, then that could cause freezing. I'm only going by what I've found on google.
Anyway, I found another thread (not sure why I didn't see it before) that suggests that it might be caused by bluetooth (bluez specifically) https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=115814, but it seems like that was more of a locking up problem than freezing completely. I've remove bluez and disabled bluetooth for now anyway (unfortunately can't remove it completely because I'm on Gnome Shell) and I'll run on battery for a good while and see if things freeze again.
EDIT: also followed this - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HDAPS in case the problem was caused by the hard drive being moved about.
Last edited by themusicalduck (2012-03-28 22:11:21)

Ti 500 freezes while using battery power

My ti 500 freezes during start up whenever I start it up using the battery. If i start it up plugged in it works just fine, it will freeze once i go to battery power. I have replaced the battery device that plugs into the logic board. but the problem is still there. I recently replaced the screen taken from another ti 500. Any ideas what might be wrong? Any help would be great. thanks.-wam
Titanium 500mhz Mac OS X (10.3.9) 512 ram, 20g HD,

I've had this happen with an old G3 Wallstreet 233 Powerbook some years back (hoping my memory is accurate) - - I think it had to do with the battery capacity wearing down with charge cycles - - I'm guessing your battery is at least 2.5-3 years old.
You might try calibrating your battery (battery-only full discharge to shut-down, then powering up on AC to full charge), I've heard some folks get more battery capacity, at least for a while. Good luck!

MacBook Shuts off While Using Battery Power

Hello!
I have a white 13" MacBook from 2006.
But whenever I try to just run the MacBook on battery power, it shuts off within
1-3 minutes of use (Mainly using Safari).
I tried to reset the SMC, and changing the battery to a new one, but the problem
still persists.
*Battery Information:*
Model Information:
Serial Number: DP-ASMB013-34da-4799
Manufacturer: DP
Device name: ASMB013
Pack Lot Code: 0001
PCB Lot Code: 0000
Firmware Version: 0102
Hardware Revision: 0300
Cell Revision: 0200
Charge Information:
Charge remaining (mAh): 3693
Fully charged: Yes
Charging: No
Full charge capacity (mAh): 3869
Health Information:
Cycle count: 217
Battery health: Good
Battery Installed: Yes
Amperage (mA): -1231
Voltage (mV): 11969
When we switched the battery, the cycle count was 216 with the new battery.
But when we switched the batteries back, it was still a cycle count of 216.
We also tried to call AppleCare, but they didn't help very much...
Is there a defective part in my MacBook?

Never mind with the question...
My dad mixed up the batteries and put the old battery back in the
old one, and the new battery stuck in the new one... =P
So, I tried switching the batteries by myself, and guess what?
I'm using the new battery right now - just on battery power!
(And it's not shutting off! =) )

17in MBP Freezes on Battery Power?

I have a 17 inch core-duo MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.4.9. Within the last couple of weeks (maybe since I updated to 10.4.9, can't really remember), I have been having an issue where whenever I take the computer off AC power and use it just on battery it randomly freezes after ten minutes or so. It doesn't seem to correlate to any specific task but it freezes to the point that apple control power button will not restart it so I have to hold down the power button until it shuts off..
The screen and clock go completely paused however iTunes music will still continue to play..
Does anyone have any thoughts on how to solve this via software? I already did an archive and install of the OS and am still having the same problems. I checked and repaired permissions/etc as well. I am not sure if this is related to hardware or software?
Any help would be appreciated!!!
Thanks again!

The first thing you can try is resetting the PRAM which is outlined here:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238
If this doesn't help then try resetting the SMC:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319
Read the info before resetting the SMC as it will return your MacBookPro to it's default settings.
If after all this you still get freezes you will have to call Applecare and they will probably ask you to perform the same tasks again.
MacBook Pro 15" Mac OS X (10.4.9) 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo

MBP 17": Sudden shut down with plenty of battery, then battery warped

My battery warped while in the computer and I had a hard time getting it out. This was after my computer began shutting down without any warning while on battery power. I called my local Apple reseller this morning and was told to bring the computer and battery in so they could check it out. When I arrived, they told me that they had a simple test which they had to run on the computer with the warped battery inserted. Pass: no free replacement. Fail: Replace the battery for me.
The USB gadget they used indicated pass, so I was out of luck. In other words, they said that my battery tested "OK". "But it's warped!", I said. They agreed, but only offered to sell me a new one for $129.95 + tax. I said that I wanted to complain to Apple since the battery was obviously on the way to a more serious problem and might damage my MBP. They said that they would complain if they were me....
I was in a bind since I need to travel soon, so I bought a new battery.
The explanation was that Apple recognizes that there is a problem, but since my MBP/warped battery passed the required Apple test, they couldn't replace it for free. The battery was so warped that I my computer wobbled on my desk! This is crazy! Those of you who have been reporting the sudden shut down had better be very careful. You may be on your way to a potentially catastrophic event in which the battery failure does serious damage to your MBP. I've read some real horror stories about this on the net.
Are you reading this, Apple?
-jr

Just a follow-up regarding my old battery:
I put it in the box that the new one came in and intended to recycle it. Then I forgot about it and looked at the box just now. The other side of the battery also warped to the point that I couldn't get the box out of the sleeve that fits around it without tearing it (which I did).
Pretty scary looking. Silver pouches (cells?) exposed and deformed. Afraid of the thing at this point. A fire hazard?
Out of the house in a can it went until tomorrow morning when I will get rid of it legally.
BTW, my deformed and potentially hazardous battery only had a cycle count of 137 when all this fun started....
Please be careful.
- jr

MBP (13-inch, early 2011) goes into hibernation instead of safe sleep upon closing the lid (only when using battery power)

MBP details
13-inch MacBook Pro, early 2011 (model identifier: MacBookPro8,1)
Running Yosemite, OS X 10.10.1 (however, problem started while using Mavericks)
2.5 GHz Intel Core i5
4 GB memory
Symptoms
* the MBP goes into hibernation instead of sleep upon closing the lid on battery power (i.e., when AC adapter is NOT connected)
-- problem does not occur when AC adapter is connected
* putting the computer to sleep by other means does not induce the problem; these other means include:
-- [i] option+command+Power,
-- [ii] Apple Icon --> Sleep,
-- [iii] in Terminal: pmset sleepnow
* the battery is NOT getting drained at all; if I close the lid on 87%, the battery is still at about 87% when I get the MBP back up and running
To be as clear as possible:
(1) MBP is on and in use (power source: battery); battery is at X%
(2) the lid is then closed
(3) the battery indicator light glows bright for about 10 seconds, then shuts off, and with it so does the MBP (all fans and sounds cease)
(4) opening the lid and pressing any key on the keyboard does nothing (the computer is not sleeping)
(5) to turn the MBP back on, I must hit the power button once; this brings up and the gray screen and loading bar indicative of returning from hibernation
(6) log in; battery is still at X%
Attempted Solutions / Fixes
There are Apple Discussions addressing similar MBP issues, many of which at least have work-arounds, if not full-blown solutions. However, I have tried many of the proposed work-arounds and solutions; nothing has solved my problem. Such attempted solutions include:
* made sure EFI/SMC firmware was up to date
* updated all software
* logged in as a different user
* booted in Safe Mode
* reset the PRAM
* repaired disk permissions using Disk Utility
* repaired additional disk permissions in recovery mode (a la this chron.com advice)
* ran the Apple Hardware Test multiple times (short test while plugged in, short test on battery, extended test while plugged in, extended test on battery)
* booted from an external known-good OS on USB drive
* reseated the RAM
* used MemTest to test the RAM's health (it was good)
* tested my battery's health with the app Battery Health (it is healthy!)
* booted my computer with one stick of the MBP's original RAM at a time (figured "why not?")
* booted my computer using other sticks of RAM
* checked my power management settings using PMSET in the terminal (e.g., pmset -g); tried various hibernation modes (e.g., sudo pmset -a hibernationmode X, where X=0,1,3, etc)
* searched/grepped through my power management logs and Console messages to look for googleable items (e.g., pmset -g log | grep WORD, where WORD=failure, sleep, etc); still have not found help online
* brought the MBP to a Mac Genius
-- he ran some further tests, but found nothing;
-- he re-installed my OS as a hopeful-hail-mary-just-maybe-last-ditch effort; the problem persisted!
-- we both agreed that we had ruled out a software cause
-- he offered me to leave my MBP to get fixed for a flat fee of $300.00 (which after a couple weeks of trying to figure this out is starting to sound more and more reasonable)
Given that it is likely not a software issue, what hardware might it be? By booting from an OS on an external drive, I think I've ruled out a bad hard drive or hard drive cable. Also, given that inducing sleep in any way other than closing the MBP's lid does not cause the problem, it seems there might be a wire (or something) in the hinge section of the MBP that gets moved when the lid is closed possibly causing some kind of short circuit...or something.
If someone with more experience interpreting Console messages, for example, can help, I'd be happy to provide some logs, or any additional information.
Thank you for your time and consideration.

Ok, this is a crazy-simple, quasi-embarrassing fix, but I'll post it anyway just in case anyone is having a similar problem (for example, this guy: Changes to pmset being ignored).
Some time around late last August / early September (2014) this issue began happening for me (specifically, issue = closing lid while on battery power induces hibernation / shut down instead of sleep --- independent of hibernation mode). Maybe it was when I upgraded to Yosemite (not sure what the exact date of that was). As detailed in my original post, I frantically tried everything I could think of... At that time, however, I had quite a few presentations and posters to create and present at meetings and conferences, so I held off fixing it for a couple of months and returned to it this past week, where I tried a few more things listed above, but again to no avail...
This morning, I simply tried fudging around with all my power management settings again (via pmset in Terminal). The simplicity of the fix surprised me. But now that I understand it, I know it is likely the same fix for other threads I've read, such as the one above:
(TLDR in bold)
(1) Take note of your power management settings (Terminal: pmset -g custom)
(2) Is the "standby" flag set to 0? If so, set it to 1. Wa-la! Done.
This fix is crazy and embarrassing b/c I was so close to it for so long. I tried changing my hibernation modes multiple times (sudo pmset -a hibernatemode X, where X=0,1,3,25,etc). I read about manipulating other PMSET settings that helped other people with newer MBPs, like "autopoweroff" and "autopoweroffdelay" --- settings that I do not have on the MBP early 2011 (check your settings: pmset -g cap). And most amazingly of all, I even messed with the "standbydelay" setting, trying to make it so long that my computer should never go into hibernation... Yet, from what I can tell by looking over my notes, I never simply set "standby" from 0 to 1.
There are interesting questions that arise due to this fix. For example, why did this problem persist on clean installs of OS Yosemite? Is "standby" being set to 0 the Yosemite default? I'm not sure. If it is, then Kappy was right: this was normal behavior... It just wasn't always the normal behavior...at least not for my MBP. Normal behavior (hibernatemode 3) used to be (and now is again) that the MBP goes into safe sleep, and then only after an allotted amount of time will it go into full-blown hibernation.
NOTE: the "standby" and "standbydelay" PMSET settings are not available in some earlier MBP models (e.g., my brother has a 2010 and does not have these settings); so if you're having a similar problem with an earlier model, this fix might not be of any help to you.

Apple Cinema Display Shuts Down under MBP Battery Power

Just had the logic board replaced on my early-2008 MBP. Got home, connected to my Apple Cinema display, everything's fine. However, when I disconnect the laptop power source, the cinema display goes dark. I can click the mouse, my password prompt comes up, I enter the password and the display comes back for a few seconds, then goes dark again. If I wait more than a few seconds the laptop goes into sleep mode. Only when I reconnect the power does it come back to life. Not sure what the issue is, I checked all the battery and power settings, I don't have anything set to automatically go into sleep mode. Also went to the display panel, clicked "Detect". Still having the problem. Someone once before suggested checking the option to "Mirror" the displays, but I don't even see that option in the display panel any longer.
Any suggestions?

FWIW this has never worked with an external display while on battery power alone either in Clamshell mode or Mirroring/Extended Desktop - I thought the MagSafe was a requirement did it works without it before the replacement ??

Random, Sudden Shutdowns - A redux and other things to rule out first

Do a google search for "macbook random shutdown" and you'll find many people with similar problems reporting on various forums. At present, this issue has not been picked up by the mainstream PC news media. However, one should also note that only a fraction of those with problems are suffering this particular fault. A large number of other reasons must be ruled out before a MacBook owner should become convinced their machine is one which suffers this problem. Bad RAM, poorly seated RAM, improperly installed hard drive, corrupted OS, corrupted plists, bad batteries, bad chargers, corrupted PMU, and corrupted NVRAM all need to be ruled out first!
My own MacBook suffered the random sudden shutdown malady and eventually required complete replacement after a logic board replacement did not solve the issue. Some of the MacBooks appear to have a hardware problem which surfaces after a period of use. Many reported their problems starting after a month of ownership. Coincidentally, that also coincided with the release of 10.4.7, but most likely that is not at the root of the sudden, random, shutdown problem.
(However, 10.4.7 is strongly implicated in a separate MacBook problem - colored vertical lines during boot on some machines. That is probably a separate issue.)
Description of the Random, Sudden Shutdown Problem
MacBook suddenly shuts off to a completely powered down state seemingly at random. There are no kernel panic, mouse freezing, or other premonitory symptoms. The machine simply powers down suddenly. The screen goes black. The hard drive spins down and no sleep light illuminates. The machine simply turns itself off.
The shutdowns may occur on either battery or with AC adapter attached. Some owners report their MacBook is less prone to sudden shut down while on battery vs AC adapter. My own afflicted MacBook would suddenly shutdown on a fully charged battery or on either of two AC adapters.
The shutdowns occur with either 10.4.6 or 10.4.7 OS loaded. I went through several cycles of clean installs of the base 10.4.6 and the Intel Combo update to 10.4.7 before it became clear that it mattered not which OS was running. Another indicator that this is not an OS issue is that sudden shutdowns can occur in target mode and also when running just the Apple Hardware Test - which relies on minimal software to operate.
The shutdowns tend to grow more frequent once they begin. They may worsen to the point that a machine will not complete boot up before shutting down. It may take several power up presses to start the machine. Oddly enough, a machine that had difficulty starting up, may be easy to start up several minutes later. It may run for hours or minutes before another sudden shutdown. The frequency is low and random enough that is very difficult to demonstrate this fault to a service technician.
Some users are able to induce a sudden shutdown by running their CPU's at high load and thus heating up the machine. This is easily done by running the yes command in two Terminal windows. Some users report their MacBook is more prone to sudden shutdowns when their CPU is relatively cool. The bipolar reporting is confusing. There may be more than one type of sudden shutdown being reported. One due to CPU overheating and another due to another hardware problem which has yet to be elucidated.
Resetting of the PMU and PRAM MAY temporarily reduce the frequency of the sudden shutdowns, but the effect is temporary. Indeed, the effect may not even be real given the randomness of the shutdowns. None-the-less, one must perform PMU and PRAM resets to ensure that some corruption of those devices is not creating a reason for shutdowns. On my own MacBook, resetting PMU and PRAM (four chimes) did not prevent the random sudden shutdowns.
The sudden shutdowns occur with well seated stock RAM, replacement RAM, and reseated/replaced hard drives. Swapping out and testing both RAM and hard drive helps to eliminate those as the source of the problem. On my own machine, I exchanged the RAM and the hard drive to eliminate them as the cause. This made it considerably easier for the Apple genius to decide it was an internal problem.
In my case, a logic board replacement did indeed solve the fault, but several days later, sudden shutdowns began again. Presumably either the replacement board has the same weakness as the original or some other component of the machine was the actual reason for the sudden shutdowns. The former is quite likely because the machine was made stable for several days with a new logic board. At that point, I requested to be swapped to a new machine and the Apple Store manager wisely decided to help out his customer. For that I am most grateful. However, it is unlikely that the majority of people will have their machines swapped out, but instead repaired.
At this time, no official statement regarding cause for or acknowledgment of the MacBook's sudden random shutdown problem has been made. Because the underlying cause has not been revealed, it is impossible to know that a logic board replacement will permanently solve the problem or merely result in the same fault recurring later on the replacement board. Of course, we do not know if it actually is a logic board flaw.
My advice to MacBook owners whose machines develop the sudden random shutdown symptoms are to...
1. Get your data backed up immediately. The machine will likely suffer more and more frequent shutdown events.
2. Revert to stock RAM and hard drive if you have installed after-market replacements. You must do this and see if the shutdowns continue to occur. Otherwise, the first thing blamed will be your RAM and hard drive.
3a. Perform a PMU reset, by shutting down the MacBook. Removing the battery. Disconnect the AC Adapter. Then, press the power button for five seconds. The reinstall the battery and mains adapter. Restart the machine.
3b. Reset PRAM by holding option-command-P-R keys down during startup until you hear the chime at least three or four times.
Resetting the PMU and PRAM are standard procedures you'll otherwise be asked to perform to diagnose your machine.
4. Do a CLEAN install of the OSX if you wish to totally eliminate a bad OS install as the problem. This will destroy all your data. Alternatively, an archive and install will be helpful without totally destroying your data, but that will not let you exonerate your system files and settings. An alternative is to run Apple's hardware test utility which is found on your OS installation disc. However, an extended hardware test is needed because the shutdown flaw may take hours to surface.
Note: If your MacBook has become so "narcoleptic" that it cannot even complete a boot up sequence, try holding the power button down until you hear a loud beep. That may allow an otherwise balky machine to start.
Once you have done the above, and are still seeing random sudden shutdowns, you have largely done the preliminary footwork that you'll need to prove whether your MacBook has this particular problem and not something more common. Then, call AppleCare or visit your Apple Genius to have the machine repaired or replaced. Hopefully, the root cause of this problem will be discovered, disclosed, repaired and prevented. For now, it appears only a fraction of the MacBooks are suffering this fault, but the machine population is still young. Overall, the MacBook is perhaps the finest laptop I've bought from Apple. It will be nice to trust the machine to not lose my work.
BTW - resetting PMU may induce a separate 10.4.7 related bug which results in your MacBook exhibiting a white screen with progressively more numerous vertical color lines during startup. This appears to be fixable by resetting PRAM and then temporarily changing display resolution to something other than the current setting and then back.

thanks for the comprehensive info. i experienced this for the first time today. i bought my macbook the day they were released. the shutdown happenned for me after leaving my computer on overnight with no programs running. about two minutes into web browsing it shutdown. it then shutdown in the middle of restarts. i disattached power cord, external hard drive, dvd burner & ethernet & it powered up and has been working for about 20 minutes since.
this computer has really been a lemon. first my superdrive scratches the **** (just previewed this, i can't believe they sensor the h_ word?) out of discs, then the trackpad button becomes very hard to push. i've been working around those issues using an external dvd burner and mouse, but not sure how to work around sudden shutdowns. i haven't been able to send it in for repairs yet since i bought it cause i needed it's dvd authoring capabilities for a class i was taking, plus i wanted to make sure nothing else went wrong (self fulfilling prophecy?). i was planning on taking it on vacation with me, but guess i better pack my old ibook too (which other than a cd burner which sucked from the start, has been very reliable). i'll send in my macbook when i get back.
anyway, thanks for the info & advice! i'll back up my crucial data now.
white macbook, 2GHz, 1GB ram (factory installed) Mac OS X (10.4.7)
macbook Mac OS X (10.4.6)
macbook Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Web pages won't load when MacBook Pro on battery power

My sister bought a MacBook Pro in January. She switched from a Dell laptop. Everything was great until a few weeks ago. When she would be on battery power, she would have a hard time getting websites to load with Safari. I suggested she use Firefox and see if it made a difference. It didn't.
She can try to open a webpage and it will try to load for a long time (3-5 minutes). If she plugs in the power adapter, the page loads immediately. She still has her Dell laptop and the same websites load with no problem when using the Dell on battery.
I told her to call Apple since she has Applecare. Apple sent her a new battery even though they told her they didn't think it was that. It didn't make any difference. They told her it was her internet connection, but it works fine if the MacBook Pro is hooked up to the power adapter and her Dell laptop loads internet pages without any problem while on battery power. Then they tried to tell her just to use the power adapter all the time. She told them if she wanted to be tied down to a power adapter she would have bought a desktop. (Not a very good comment by Apple in my opinion.)
She doesn't live close to an Apple Store to take it in.
This is just the weirdest thing I have ever heard of. All of her other applications (Office, Photoshop, iTunes, etc.) run just fine on battery power. It is just the internet. At first I thought it might just be secure sites, like banking, but she couldn't get MacNN or Versiontracker to load while on battery power.
Does anyone have any ideas?

You'll probably find an Airport aerial issue. Does she find that Airport reception (a better guide is shown in Internet Connect) will drop dramatically when she disconnects power? If so contact AppleCare again and give them this information under the same case number she wuold have gotten when they replaced the battery.
PS In space, no-one can hear you scream!

Sudden shutdown of MBP while on battery power

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