Temp fix to random shutdown (plug AC/remove battery)

I avoid this discussion board b/c of the hardcore fanboy-ism (rated members is a joke) but I want to drop off this temporary fix for random shutdowns:
Plug in your power adapter and remove your battery.
It seems to lock the cpu at 1ghz even at 100% load under the: "yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null" test.
I have been running this test for over 30min now with no random shutdowns where before I could not survive the 1 minute mark.
My cpu is now running at 1.0ghz/151F/100%.
Try for yourself and post your results.

Good News!
Last week I got a new logic board for my MB. After two hours working the MB shut down again!
I called Apple Care to get further informations and told them about the fix on macfixit.com the day before yesterday. And guess what... today my service provider have done the job!!!
I have made some tests right now... over 2h running with 100% CPU usage at 1.83 GHz. Bofore the repair it shut down after 1 minute under same condition.
It seems to be ok now. Tomorrow more reports....
MacBook 1.8GHz, 1GB   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   my first apple

Similar Messages

  • Why did this fix my random shutdowns?

    They started after a genius removed and replaced my battery. I then did the same thing, and haven't had a shutdown in two days with multiple power up/down cycles. Could a poorly seated battery actually cause a random shutdown?

    was it shutting down when it was plugged in?

  • Random shutdowns - IT'S THE BATTERY, NOT THE LOGIC BOARD!!!!

    Hey,
    Just got my battery replacement, and the shutdown problem is GONE. Here's how you verify - run your Macbook with the battery removed, on AC power - the problem disappears.
    The tech told me that it is a short in the battery, which tells the PMU that there is no power (whether there is or not!)...anyway, I hope this is helpful to all of you!
    P.S. If you're also getting the vertical lines at startup, that's a video driver issue - just zap the PRAM so you can boot, and once booted, change the resolution to something else and back to normal - it will fix the problem entirely.
    THERE IS HOPE!!!!

    <<<dear ASPs! this is -NOT- true!!!! it is NOT the battery!>>>
    probably thanks to you my ASP (DataQuest, Zurich Switzerland) only replaced my battery and handed back my MacBook unrepaired.
    After the "repair" the problem at first was rare but after just three days I'm back at normal frequency of random shutdowns. I have to spend another two weeks waiting for my macbook. this time I'm sending it to Netherlands
    I guess that it's really that badly calibrated thermal module causing these shutdowns. obviously the thermal module is irritated especially if you use your macbook often - so after 1-2 weeks of repair time the problem is barely apparent. (which causes unsuccessful repair - "testing after battery replacement worked fine" says ASP)
    MacBook 1.8Ghz   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   & iBook 2 600

  • Random Shutdown While Running On Battery

    I've been experiencing random shutdowns when running on the battery of my iBook G4 12" (2004). The iBook has been working fine when the power adapter plugged in and I don't know the route of the problem! If anyone could enlighten me it would be much apppreciated! I have run the Hardware Test and everything has come back thumbs up. I'm thinking this maybe a Logic Board problem, im hoping that it isn't because that is costly!
    Any help is greatly appreciated, Cheers.

    Hi,
    Welcome to the Discussions.
    I would suspect a bad battery. It's ~2 years old (the average life of a lithium ion battery) and it doesn't happen when plugged into the mains. Older batteries often report false information about the percent of charge in them. It can read 60% when in fact it's 1%.
    Go to Apple Menu>About this Mac>More Info and see what the capacity of the battery is and the number of charge cycles.
    John

  • Apple says they have fix for random shutdowns

    I called Applecare today again, as I have been holding off on sending my machine in for the RSD problem. I have had less problems since locking and resetting the CPU, and wanted to wait to see if they would issue a statement on this problem. Today I was told "they know what the problem is, so send it in and it will be fixed". The woman I spoke with said she is not a technician so couldn't tell me what the problem/fix IS, but seemed quite sure of herself. Anyone else heard similar??
    macbook 1.83Ghz   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   week 23

    Here's a post I made over a month ago with annotations in parenthesis...
    Re: Randomly Turns Off
    Posted: Jul 18, 2006 8:28 AM in response to: Bontempi
    I called applecare yesterday for an update on my previous case regarding this issue. I told them the first time that I wasn't going to send it back until they identified a specific issue and came up with a fix due to the widespread nature of the problem. Yesterday, they said the fix was developed last week and that if I sent it in now, I will get that fix. He didn't know what the fix but we set it up to get repaired.
    I don't know if he was just blowing smoke but I have to trust them at some point. I just hope it doesn't come back full of scratches. (after 14 days it did!!!, plus the dvd drive ate discs now. They sent me a new macbook so I wasn't able to really verify if the fix worked)
    I also asked about parts involved in the fix that may be on backorder but he didn't think there was any due to the very few number of cases of this reported! He said he's never dealt with this type of issue before and I was the firt to report it to him.

  • My HP Pavilion dv6-3060sa is not starting up on power plugging. Removed Battery Tried Hard boot.help

    HP Pavilion dv6-3060SA is not starting up, tried hard boot but still no solution. The charger is OK. The problem is no LED blink on power connect as well no starting up of Laptop. Please help.

    If you have another Mac, use Target Disk Mode. Connect your Mac to the other Mac using a Thunderbolt or FireWire cable, and hold down the T key while booting up on the problematic Mac. If you go into Finder on the other Mac, the first one's hard drive should show up as a disk.

  • White Macbook 2006 random shutdown solved removed cpu heatsink and more

    I picked up a cheap macbook from a secondhand retailer for $300 and it regularly shutdown, froze, restarted as well as the grey kernel panic screen completely random no real pattern. I set about trying to solve the problem swapping ram and hard drive with my identical 2006 macbook (which I had similar problems with last year, fixed that one with a new battery connector cable). The ram and hard drive made no difference so I downloaded istat menus to see if any combination of cpu voltage, current and temperature were causing the random shutdowns. It seemed when the temperature reached certain values the computer would shutdown or freeze(around 30 to 50 degrees). I'd read on other forums about faulty cpu temperature diodes so I reapplied heatsink compound to the cpu heatsink and checked all the wiring for shorts but nothing seemed to solve the problem. I was ready to retire the computer and use it for spares for my other macbook when needed but I pulled the keyboard off one more time and tried something completely radical. This fix requires some forward planning and software installation but it has completely solved my Random shutdowns completely.
    for instructions see my next post *Fix for random shutdowns white macbook*

    Ok this is not for the non technical person but it is quite a simple process with the right instructions.
    This first step is very important install the software coolbook($10) and fan control (Free)( not smc fan control). Set up coolbook to operate the cpu at the lowest speed and voltage for both power adapter and battery(1002MHz and .95Volts). Remove the keyboard to access the computer logic board (instructions can be found at iFixit). Remove the four screws and two connectors holding the heatsink to the logicboard and gently lift the heatsink out (very important that you leave the fan screwed in and connected). Close the computer back up if you wish to test just gently connect the keyboard and loosly sit the keyboard back in. Restart and reset the pram immediately. Let the computer boot up and then open system preferences and configure Fan Control to your liking. So far no random shutdowns for over a week (was getting many a day previously.

  • Vista - Sleep FINALLY fixed, still annoying Random Shutdowns

    Ok, they FINALLY fixed it so the Mac Pro wakes from sleep in Vista RC1 with the recent EFI update, now they need to fix the Random Shutdowns. These occur as if you were telling your system to shutdown, I do not suspect the power supply because it is not an abrupt power loss, it gracefully shuts down, but of-course is annoying as h3ll...
    Here's looking forward to the Leopard/Vista releases when all of this should be worked out!
    SH
    Does Vista RC2 run any better? Have better Bluetooth support?

    ... well... that was really a (slap in face) help ??
    I never tried sleep or hibernate, but I read the latest RTM had some fixes in there regarding better support now for laptops and sleep.
    Ignorance is bliss perhaps? or, it is a mixed world? or, there is still software that is not available...
    How about, curiosity? that's always been man's greatest strength, too.
    Being able to run Windows Vista on Mac Pro must be something even Apple engineers are keep to do and improve on.
    Every release for OS X takes a couple updates to be "ready" for use. Long-term that has meant 2-3 updates for the last three+ releases, and each release meant more work for everyone, developer and end user, while "rules" change and hardware and software has to be updated to accommodate those changes. Even good changes are still costly, and some have been costly.
    I've lived and survived FIVE releases, $600+ for one machine license, and over a year of that was "1.0" issues all over again. And the same story will get played out next year, too, bet on it.
    Some people like to explore linux and alternatives. I have, and while I've never felt linux offered the desktop experience I want, I thought SuSE 6.4 gave OS 8/9 a real run for the money at the time.
    Things to Love/Hate about Vista
    I can now help my Dad 1200 miles away with his PC Windows w/o needing a PC. I can run multiple VMs. One computer, multiple OSs. VMware, Parallels, CrossOver, as well as native installs.
    And maybe, just maybe, a more secure desktop PC will help everyone. However, a really good balanced review might actually be one from ComputerWorld - Vista may make Mac converts of IT folks!
    IT folks can support XP/Vista and be running Mac OS X
    ComputerWorld article

  • 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.

  • MBP random shutdown even with power cord plugged in

    My MacBook Pro (original) has now randomly shut down 5 times since I installed 10.5.6 the week before Christmas. 4 of those 5 times happened with the power cord plugged in, the green indicator light on and the installed battery fully charged. I have two batteries and it has happened with each of them at least twice. Yesterday I got my first shutdown while on battery only. After each shutdown I was able to restart the computer and it operated normally, even the one on battery only.
    These shutdowns are fast and complete. There is no warning of any kind. The screen just goes blank. It is not sleeping, there is no pulsing light on the front. Using the start key begins the process from scratch with the Apple "startup chime."
    The occurrences have gotten more frequent. The first two were within 24 hours of when I installed 10.5.6 and they happened within several hours of each other. Both of these were with the power cord attached and fully charged batteries. I swapped the battery after the first one. When it happened again, I swapped them again.
    The next time I had the problem was 1/30 (last Friday). The only significant software installation I had done between installing 10.5.6 and then was to install iLife '09 on 1/28. All software updates had been installed in a timely manner. Friday the laptop was plugged into external power and the battery was fully charged, but I don't know which battery was installed.
    2/1 I had an issue where my computer couldn't locate the OS file on startup so I did a archive and install. It operated normally since then until yesterday, 2/4 when I had two shutdowns. The first I had the computer on external power and a fully charged battery. The second was the ONLY time I have had the shutdown occur while on battery power only. I was on a flight when the second shutdown occurred. I had used all the power in the battery that was installed when the first shutdown happened (down to about 11 minutes remaining). I then swapped batteries without shutting the computer down. The system rebuilt itself normally and I began working on iPhoto. About an hour later it just shutdown. I was able to restart the computer normally and used it for another 45 minutes or so before I shut it down for landing.
    I called Apple Care this morning and they advised me to get an appointment with a Genius. I resist being without my laptop but will try this and let them look over the console log to see if they can find anything.
    I have done all the basics, reset the PMU, zapped the PRAM and repaired disk permissions. The next thing I am going to do is to calibrate both batteries. I doubt this will have any impact on the issue because most of the shutdowns have occurred with external power connected. I just haven't done this in a while.
    Any ideas out there? Anyone have a similar problem?
    I have another issue on my Mac Pro since installing 10.5.6 and my wife's iMac G5 has a completely different issue since installing 10.5 (I didn't install this OS until last week so I could get the new iLife on it). Seems like this latest OS version is a bit buggy or at least incompatible with a lot of Apple's products in different ways.
    Fight On!

    UPDATE:
    Service was due and now that I saw the machine fail 4 times in a day doing the same process I knew I could duplicate the issue on demand. That's a big bonus.
    Called Apple Care yesterday morning and the guy I spoke with read over the notes on my case after I told him what happened the day before (black friday, 4 shutdowns). While he didn't transfer me to a Product Specialist, he did talk to one for quite a while (I was on hold for about 20 minutes while he did this). He said I could ship it to Apple and they would look at it or I could take it to an Apple Store or Authorized Service Center. Thinking this was the next step I had secured a time at the Carlsbad Apple Store for late that afternoon (my usual & closest store, Escondido, was booked all weekend). They told me to take it in and reference the case number. The Product Specialist thought it sounded like a logic board and would duly note that diagnosis in the case history.
    After the conversation ended I decided to make sure I could cause the failure. So I started the process (threw out the face.db from the iPhoto Library package and opened iPhoto whereupon iPhoto begins a scan of the images for faces. Having over 12,000 images gives it a lot of work). This time I decided to monitor the workings of the laptop using iStat Pro (freeware widget download & I recommend making a small donation it's so good). I kept track of the processes at 5 minute intervals, the CPU usage, numerous temps AND the fan speed. The latter seemed to be the critical. Shortly after the fan speed got to 4700 the shutdown occurred. It took 36 minutes from the time I started. The fans kind of confirm to me that it could be the logic board.
    I took the laptop to the Apple Store and started the process in front of the "Genius." He read through the case as well as the printed copy of this thread and other notes I brought from previous shutdowns including the data I mined from iStat Pro. He was unimpressed and thought it was a non-issue. I guess that's only fair because I was unimpressed with him. He figures it's my system because of a software conflict somewhere. His answer was to do a clean install and reinstall all the software from the original disks. I told him I have spent over 50 hours on this issue to date and that what he was suggesting would take at least that much and guarantee nothing if it's a database issue...duh! Disagreement. Oh, and he also doubted it would fail just from making it work.
    43 minutes after starting the process, well after my "Genius" went home for the day (I was his last appointment), the failure occurred. The "Genius" he handed me off to was working with someone else next to where I was sitting. When the fans hit 4700 rpm I told her it was going to happen soon and as I finished my sentence the failure occurred! Cool.
    They have the machine and I'll let you know what they do.
    Fight On!

  • Random shutdown then fixed?

    well like alot of other users i got the random shutdown on my macbook the other night. i've been a long time windows user and finally got around to getting myself one of these nice new macbooks just last friday. (my pervious mac being a powerbook 190cs about 9yrs ago now) anyways all was going well till it randomly shut down on me. so i unplugged it and turned it on again this time it took alot less time to just shut itself down without my input. after this it wouldn't even make mac OS so i held the power button for 15 secs and it booted and didn't shut down for the rest of the night (except for when i reset it).
    i had had boot camp installed and while i was in the city today i went into next byte and talked to the guy in there who said that some people had solved it with a software fix. i had a look through these forums and saw that bootcamp didn't seem to play a part in most cases of this happening.
    i ended up deleting bootcamp off the hard drive as i was no longer using it after finding replacements for all bar VS 2005 and Access and was using them in parallels. after deleting bootcamp i haven't had a problem however in trying to work out what it was i noticed that instead of displaying the apple logo first up when i booted the machine it held the folder with ? on it for a minute. after getting rid of bootcamp this no longer happened.
    i dunno how or why but it no longer seems to be randomly resetting and not turning on. i'm hoping that its fixed becuase i really don't wanna have to send it in to apple for some of the fixes other people have had to do.
    anyways i just thought i'd post it incase it helps someone.

    Anybody have any ideas?
    I shut it down for a couple days. Just tried starting it up last night and it only made it to the login screen before it shut down again. This time it didn't try to turn back on.

  • 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)

  • 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

  • Random Shutdowns Started Again After Fix - Some Questions for Others

    ::sigh::
    After a very prompt repair followed by 3 weeks of constant use with no problems, tonight I had another random shutdown. (Here we go again.) I never was able to find anyone at Apple who could tell me what they fixed (it was not a logic board replacement) but apparently it wasn't a permanent fix.
    Some observations and questions:
    When random shutdowns start, my "previous shutdown code" in the system log changes to -72, and continue to register as -72 even when I shutdown the computer myself. During the period when the system was working after the repair, shutdown codes were always 0s or 3s. Have others noticed the same pattern? In my experience, once that first negative code appears, it doesn't change back to normal, regardless of how the computer is turned off (except after the repair).
    Also, tonight was the first time since my repair that I used the 3-prong power cord with the AC adapter (rather than just the two prong). Could there be any connection (perhaps a faulty cord sendinga surge to the system and damaging something)? During the last round, shutdowns occurred whether on AC power or battery, but I'm wondering if the use of that cord may have triggered the problem in the first place. Has anyone that has had random shutdowns never used the 3-prong cord at all?
    The other thing I've noticed is that importing digital camera photos into iPhoto often seems to trigger shutdowns (not all of them, but some of them). My random shutdown tonight happened after editing photos I'd just imported from my camera (and right after I ejected and unplugged the camera). Could the connection to the camera somehow cause a problem? Has anyone who has had random shutdowns NOT connected a digital camera or used iPhoto?
    Just grasping at straws here to try to figure out what causes this problem (since apparently Apple hasn't figured it out yet). Looks like I'm going to have to take it back again. I love my MacBook better than any PC I've ever had, but I never had these kind of hardware problems with my PCs (and if I did have a problem it was usually pretty simple to troubleshoot and repair).

    I think you're confused, it's not as simple as that.
    Here's why - I just ran two yes terminal sessions on my wife's MacBook and let it run for 15 minutes. Fan came on, system is running warm but running just fine.
    On my RSD MacBook, while I was at the Apple Store, trying to demonstrate the RSD it ran two yes terminals for like 5 minutes and kept running however when I closed Terminal - wham RSD.
    It IS NOT heat related. Most likely the system "thinks" there's a heat problem by a bad sensor, wire whatever.
    If I can't run my MacBook at 100% (actually 200%, both cores) for as long as I need then it is defective and should be returned to Apple.
    When my MacBook was working I ran EVN (Escape Velocity NOVA) which runs under Rosetta, man that thing sucked the battery dry in less than 60 minutes and the system got pretty warm too. BUT IT KEPT running and didn't shut down. When my system was acting up I couldn't even browse the Apple web site and ut would shutdown.
    Greg
    PS I installed the SMC update a week before my system started having RSD.

  • Random Shutdown Fix

    My 2007 Black Macbook has the Random Shutdown Syndrome, and I want it fixed. For the love of $1400 in what I thought was a fantastic investment, how do I fix RSS?

    Yes. Typically something like iMovie that requires a little more oomph, but just yesterday I tried to watch a DVD and it happened. I've noticed it actually happens more when connected to AC power, but it happens without being connected as well. Here is the system profile battery information from just now:
    Model Information:
    Manufacturer: DP
    Device name: ASMB013
    Pack Lot Code: 0000
    PCB Lot Code: 0000
    Firmware Version: a41b
    Hardware Revision: 0000
    Cell Revision: 0000
    Charge Information:
    Charge remaining (mAh): 3321
    Fully charged: No
    Charging: No
    Full charge capacity (mAh): 5017
    Health Information:
    Cycle count: 71
    Condition: Normal
    Battery Installed: Yes
    Amperage (mA): -2003
    Voltage (mV): 11475
    And why would I need to boot from my install disc to run Disc Utility? I have not done this.

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