Macbook Random Shutdown

i was wondering why nobody ever questioned if the random shutdown could be the result of a virus…

Just to let everyone know that I just got my MB back from Apple. I picked it up from the local Apple Store and noticed that the only replaced the heat sink and the keyboard cover. I asked why they did not replace the logic board and they said that the Apple engineers have confirmed that the problem is the heat sink. So, the machine has been running great so far but we’ll see if the Apple Genius that I spoke with was correct.

My black Macbook is week 23, bought 12 June, receivend early July, started RSD early August. As stated on lots of posts, it crashed before and after firmware update to 1.4.7, apparently when warming up, always in the first minutes after power on, and, when it went worse, even during start-up while charging the MacOSX. Finally I called mid-September to Apple Service phone here in Spain, they gave me a case number to bring the MB to the nearest Apple Center (100 Km from my home) and they suggest me to visit the forums in Support Apple webpages. While discovering the bunch of hangry users affected by their MB RSD, I found on the forums some tricks and hints that users had try to minimize or avoid somehow the crashes (for example some Economizer settings like unchecking “Auto restart after a power cut”, it’s translating from spanish so not exactly this but you know, and some energy saving actions like disabling Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and reducing screen bright) Surprisingly, it almost reduced to zero the RSD, in fact only one crash in normal use after those tricks, although the crash test yes >/dev/null & runned twice in Terminal kept crashing the MB. As the behaviour of MB has improve a lot, and early repairs seems to develop again fastly the RSD, I didn’t send my MB for repair and I wont until a real and clear solution is found. But the best was yet to arrive. When finally the auttum arrived late september, with first rain in months and a small but noticeable descent in ambiental temperature, RSD absolutely disappear, even with the crash test yes etc.. By now, my MB seems to be again the magnificent piece of enginering and design it was supposed to be, but I’m afraid next summer RSD nightmare will be back and then without warranty! I’ll see what Apple tech service men say to me when I’ll be able to contact them, three tries by phone and I haven’t talk with them yet, they seem very busy, maybe trying to repair all those defective MB…
I updated software yesterday and it seems there was some SMC Intel upgrade in the middle of iTunes, Quicktime and lots of others. Maybe, although RSD seemed clearly a hardware issue temperature related, the Apple men have found some better cooling pattern with this software (changing fan management somehow reduce working core temperature to lower and safer level). It would be so great that they had found a software solution, but my MB worked fine BEFORE update, so it doesn`t seem to be the ultimate solution I’m waiting for. But at least now I can use the MB without fear of loosing the work on progress, and after the depresive times of several crashes per day, it’s a great great great step ahead.

My macbook ( week 22 ) started shutting down after about 3 weeks. I lived with it for a bit but as you all know the problem gets worse. So I took it into the shop ( in Thailand where l live ) and showed them the problem, then I took the guy to apple defects and showed him both the problems there along with the fixes.

Macbook turning orange -> replace the cover.
Random shutdown -> replace the logic board.

He paid attention and wrote all this down. Two weeks later it was fixed! I went to the store and gave it a good ragging before accepting it as fixed. On the slip it said they had only replace the heatsink and fans ( as apple recormends ). I thought thats odd, but since it worked I didnt ask any questions.

Three weeks later, its started again. Same old, same old. I took it back to the store today, and told them its happening again. Problem is there are no more logic board parts in thailand, so I have to wait. Once they get them they will change the logic board, since thats the only way to fix the problem. Nice. wish they had listened to me first time round.

So, here is my adivce to people. Try to get a new model. If that fails ( as it did in my case ) only accept a new logic board. Seems like apple are playing trial and error by replacing only heat sink and fan. Dont be fooled into thinking that will fix the problem.

Still the not so proud owner of a MacLemon.

I feel bad for the people who have to go without their Macbook for weeks while it’s in repairs…..
It’s not your fault that you happened to buy your Macbook during a time at which they were being made defective.

Why don’t you all just do what i did and go into the store and demand a new one and for your harddrive to be transferred?

It really makes the whole process a lot better. I’ve had my new Macbook for over 2 weeks now with no shutdown…..

I registered my MacBook last week on your pool of MacBooks suffering from RSS. I have had my MacBook since July and had no problems with it until I patched the new SMC update around 3 weeks ago. The following day, I had nothing but RSS issues and this continued until I brought it back to the shop on the Saturday. The shop called Apple support for me and replaced the RAM and said if it contined to bring it back in.
My MacBook ran ok for about 2 days and I was back to RSS. I stuck with it for a few more days and then last week I checked for any new Mac updates and their were was a download of about 150MB of new updates, all software related to iTunes, iMovie, etc and nothing for the SMC. However when I took a look at the system logs, under software update (found in system preferences) I see that Apple had managed to sneak in an SMC update by Intel. Since then I have not had a single RSS and everything appears to be back to normal. What worries me about this fix is, 1: they did not mention in the downloads anything about an SMC update and where an SMC update is required a lengthy WARNING!!! is given about please ensure your Mac is plugged in to the mains during an SMC update i.e. if your computer shuts down during an SMC update of EEPROM memory, you will probably have rendered your MacBook useless. So from what I have gathered of Apple, they had realised what was wrong with their last SMC update and then tried to put out a fix without telling their customers. Why not tell us about an SMC update, when they have done so in the past and they know the risks involved. But at least my MacBook is working again and I can rest for awhile.

Last Monday Apple collected my machine for repair, to try and cure the RSS.

By Friday, the machine was back in my possession. Nifty. Except that during the repair, they appear to have broken the keyboard. Various keys now only work intermittently.

A further 58 minutes on the phone to AppleCare today, they finally diagnose that the problem is probably something to do with the keyboard, and it is probably a hardware fault (really!). The machine goes back to AppleCare tomorrow or the next day, but this time they say it will take up to 2 weeks to repair. Great!

I wonder when I’ll actually get to use my MacBook.

There is an article on MacFixIt stating that they “obtained a service document revealing the instructions authorized repair service centers are receiving regarding the issue, and stating that only the heatsink needs to be replaced on afflicted models.”

Check out the article here.

Does anyone have any tricks or work-arounds that might discourage RSS while I’m waiting to take my MacBook in for repair? For example, I’ve found that my computer comes out of sleep mode with no trouble (i.e., without crashing) as long as I leave iTunes running when the computer isn’t in use. Also, holding down the power button until I hear the screech of death and forcing the computer to run on one processor helps prevent RSS.

The reason I’m asking is that since RSS, I’ve been using my laptop more as a desktop, treating it very gingerly, not moving it around, making sure the power cord is always plugged in so it wont have to run on battery, etc.

I hate feeling tethered to the electrical outlet!

Any suggestions or am I stuck here, in this chair, when I should take my work outside on the back deck?