Macbook Random Shutdown

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id Software co-founder John Carmack has announced that the company will be bringing three Quake titles to the iPhone. Carmack adds that he may not be heavily involved in the projects, which should be mostly handled by other developers. In addition to the Quake offerings, id is also said to be contemplating an iPhone version of its next PC game, Rage. Wolfenstein RPG, Doom 2 RPG and Doom Classic are also slated as iPhone titles.

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Well, well, well – the Macbook Air has been around a while now and Brook from CNET brings us a great article on the fatal wireless flaw in the Macbook Air:

Apple’s MacBook Air doesn’t live up to its wireless promise.

To quote an Apple tagline, “without wires, you’re free to go anywhere.” But the wireless part of the “air” play on words fails to deliver. (The other half its light-as-air weight: here it does deliver.)

As I’ve written in the past, I like the Air. I got one in February as soon as it was available at retail and have been pleased with the performance, screen, keyboard, build, and, until recently, the battery life (which has dwindled to under an hour). Of course, the head-turning aluminum aesthetics is also a major appeal to many people.

That said, after a spurt of trips including a 10-day stay on the East Coast and a few treks to Los Angeles, the Air’s wireless shortcomings have become painfully clear. In a word (or two), no 3G.

Thanks Brooke! Read her story on the “serious flaw in the macbook air’s wireless system“

What about you? are you experiencing it?

I am currently preparing a submission to a major Australian current affairs television show, seeking action from Apple for two friends experiencing MacBook Random Shutdown Syndrome.  They have both purchased white Macbooks between November 2006 and January 2007, both had repairs during initial 12 month warranty, and both have continued to experience the issue beyond warranty.

The submission will benefit from additional case studies.  If you are interested in being mentioned, referred to, or even appearing in, such a current affairs story, please email me your story and contact details to:

macbookrss@gmail.com

Even if you are not interested in public recognition or naming, I’d be happy to hear your story and will, of course, respect anonymity for anyone desiring it.

Many thanks for your involvement.

Here’s a copy of the letter I sent to as many executives at Apple that I could.
I did get a response and the one I got surprised me very much.  That answer is at the end.

Here’s the letter:

I wanted to share my feelings with you regarding your MacBook product.

To begin with, I’d like to let you know that I have been an avid Mac user for several years.  I started using a Mac because I was so frustrated with using Window’s based PC’s.   My first Mac was a Power PC G3.  Eventually I bought an eMac, then a mirrored drive door G4 Power Mac in 2003.  (Which I am using to write this letter to you today.)  My G4 works flawlessly, as it always has.  My last purchase was an Intel based MacBook in 2006 for around $1600.00.

I still have all of my Mac’s.  They all work just fine, with the exception of the MacBook.  Having become accustomed to superior products such as the G3’s and G4’s, I expected the same quality product in the MacBook, which is why I purchased it.

All of this has come into question recently when I started experiencing problems with my MacBook.  To begin with, the keyboard had to be replaced shortly after I purchased it.  Secondly, earlier this year, the keyboard and the cover case holding the keyboard in place, had to be replaced.  Last week my MacBook started randomly shutting itself down.

After running Disk Utility to repair any permissions and the hard drive, once I was able to start the computer, I thought that this corrected the problem.  It did not.  Throughout the week the computer continued to shutdown automatically.  Sometimes even shutting down and restarting itself continuously, over and over until the computer would not start up at all.  Now when I power it up the snooze light comes on and the CD Rom runs but that’s it.  

Long story short, I called tech-support to find out if they could help me.  After following their instruction to try to get the computer to start up again proved futile, they informed me that I would need to take the MacBook to an authorized Apple repair center and that the Logic board probably needed to be repaired.   Which will cost me around $500.

Of course I did complain about this to his supervisor.  I explained to him that I had come to expect more from Apple products.  That all of the Apple products I have ever owned, including my iPhone (which I failed to mention earlier) worked better than expected.  He agreed that Apple would pay for the labor incurred while repairing my MacBook, if I agreed to pay for parts.

That agreement was fine until I started to do research.  Research which has alarmed me greatly.

I have learned that there have been problems with MacBooks suddenly shutting down since the first Intel based MacBooks were made.  It is called RSS.  (Rapid Shut Down Syndrome).  The cause of which I have learned in the following excerpt.

“Since isolating the heatsink as the cause of the MacBook’s Rapid Sudden Shutdown (RSS), readers have isolated the specific part of the heatsink that is causing the problem, is actually the CPU thermometer itself. Essentially, the heatsink can expand during use, and comes into contact with the lead from the thermometer’s sensor cable. A short circuit results, and the SMC pulls the plug. Once the system cools down, the heatsink resides and the contact is broken. This also explains why sometimes you cannot immediately power the MacBook back on. The heatsink is still in contact with the metal lead.

Apple’s solution to this is to realign the location of the thermometer and cabling on the heatsink so that it does not short circuit. That is why the new heatsink is necessary. In the view of this writer, it warrants a public recall. Any user can produce easily the scenario that causes the MacBook to crash, even with pre-installed applications such as iLife.

This also explains Apple’s recent SMC Update for the MacBook. In short, the ramped up fan is a response to Apple knowing the heatsink is going to expand, and attempts to proactively cool it down to prevent the short circuit.”

The source of this is http://news.softpedia.com/news/Apple-MacBook-owners-disappointed-38109.shtml.

Apple was aware of this information when this article was written back in October of 2006.  I was never made aware of this.  Nor did technical support make me aware of this, nor was there ever a recall when there should have been.  I have friends that have had the very same problem with their MacBook also.

My question is why should I invest another $500 in repairing my MacBook which has been riddled with problems from the day I bought it;  when I could spend $500 to buy a  laptop running Windows.  Yes, I admit, I hate Windows based products, but at least I can expect to get my money’s worth of $500.  I know very well that it’s only going to last a couple of years anyway.

That’s why I purchased the MacBook in the first place, I thought I was buying a quality product and I thought I would get my money’s worth.   I thought that it would, like my other Mac’s, work perfectly for years without ever requiring maintenance.  Now I sincerely question that.  I question the quality of all of your laptops given my experience.  

I’d really like for my MacBook to be replaced with a new one.  The one I have is inferior and it shames the Apple brand.  It’s not what I expected when I purchased it for $1600.  Had I known what I would have encountered the past two years, I would have lowered my standards and purchased a PC

LATEST NEWS:

After mailing the above letter to Apple, an assistant to Steve Jobs contacted me regarding my problem.  He said that Apple still would pay for labor for any repair but that I had to pay for parts.  I tool the computer back to the Authorized repair center (not the apple store) where I had my top-case repaired.  The first time I took it they re-seated the top-case.  I picked it up, still didnt’ work.  Second time I took it they re-seated the RAM.  Picked it up, it would come on, but whenever I moved the computer it would turn off.  I

I had had enough.  I called Apple again, told them what was going on, and I took it to the Apple Store.  The guy at the Apple store looked inside the computer, said that it was missing several screws and that the frame of the laptop was bent.  All of this was caused by the repair center I had taken it too.  He said since the original repair was under warranty, that HE WOULD send it to the factory, and have them completely refurbish the laptop for me for free.  So, it turns out that the cause of me RSS was a faulty repair.

It appears that the RSS issue is happening to my MBP duo 2.2 lap top as well !!

My story is  . . when i unplug my AC it powers down within 3 seconds . . .

and with out AC power it will chime and immediately power off  . . . FAK!

this machine works fine when plugged in  . . . 

so my problem could be defined as                                                                            ” unplugged immediate shutdown syndrome” 

just if you where wondering, ITS NOT THE BATTERY.  i have tried a new battery  fully charged  and i have the same issue. 

As this computer is only 14 months old i am some what perplexed on how to proceed  . . .seeing as i dont have an apple care plan, An over sight i know .. BUT,

As far as i can tell from a large number of nightmare stories proved in great detail on this forum and many others it  appears apple aint gonna do shit for me even if i had a care plan 

so in short 

what i can gather from the surfing around all after noon 

it looks like the mac books simply run to hot, and over time they slowly cook them selves and create a number of short circuits are often found around the heat sync and power circuitry.

it doesn’t take a physicist to work out what happens to complex circuitry that is exposed to sustained heat  . . . . 

the most likely reason this syndrome is considered ”random” is because it can effect any part of the complex circuitry in any number of ways.

based on my hypothesis this might explain why are a number of people who keep having issues long after batteries ,mother boards and heat sync are replaced, 

so if there is any one keen on a class action suit or better known as a “civil case” in New Zealand and Australia  im keen to throw mac book on the bonfire and start a Riot  !!!

After 10 months of purchase of MacBook it stopped starting up. Appel service replaced the logic board after keeping it for a week with them. After this replacement I have been facing one or the other problems with this peice of crap!

List of problems I have been getting:

• MacBook automatically starts up when it’s shutdown and AC adapter is disconnected at random intervals. I can no longer take it with me when I travel as it automatically turns up and become extremely hot in the bag. Apple service center had kept macbook for 2 weeks in back to back services and still problem persists. OSX has been re-installed from scratch and that too did not help
• A power dialogue keeps popping up saying “Are you sure you want to Restart, sleep, cancel, shutdown?” even when I do not press the power button or any key sequence
• Battery icon intermittently shows “x” on it unless it’s removed and re-inserted after some time.
• It now runs very hot comparitively than it used to before I gave it for service.

I’m going to the Apple store very soon to talk to a ‘Genius’ about my problem.  It sounds like the problem so many have described here: My battery charges all the way (but when it gets to the height of the charge it alternates from charging to not charging, charging to not charging). I unplug AC and depending on screen brightness, etc, it’ll calculate 1:30 or 2:10. It starts depleting and that number goes down about 5 minutes every 2 or 3 minutes. Then at some point around 1:00 ZAP, the lappy just shuts off, no warning given.

Macbook Pro Core Duo 2.16 Ghz

I got my MacBook for Christmas of 2006. Now it’s July 2008 and I’ve recently started having the “Random Shutdown” problem. It started I think late June 08 doing it every so often and now it’s doing it whenever I unplug it from the Power Adapter! Today I was just surfing the net (while my laptop wasn’t plugged into the wall) and it shut off on it’s own and when I tried to turn it back on it would make the start up sound and then shut off again. It had about 30% full battery and it almost seemed like there was no more battery. So I had to plug it back in to the outlet and now it’s working fine.
My computer does have the tendency to get pretty hot and the fans go really fast when it gets hot but I’m not sure if the temperature is the problem.
I still do LOVE my MacBook though, it has lots of important documents and important passwords saved and it looks pretty but if this shutting down thing keeps happening I might lose my love for Apple.

Well, my Macbook issue has finally gotten me pissed off enough to register and tell my tale. Hopefully this will save some people from the trouble of getting a crapbook.

I purchased my Macbook in October 2006. Everything was fine and dandy. Except small details like hinges creaking, a “click” sound when I opened the lid which later I found out was because of improper alignment at the hinges, and not waking up from sleep sometimes. Never mind, I can live with this, or so I thought.

Fast forward to December 2007. (< 1 year and 2 months) One fine day, my crapbook would’t boot up at all. Had to leave it to cool overnight, then I managed to get it to start… for 2 minutes. Enough to boot to OS X, then it would freeze. Sent it in, logic board replacement required. Was told that my unit was out of warranty. After much talk to customer relations, they said they would cover the cost of the parts, but not the labour. Fine. I agreed. Macbook worked fine after repair, was told the new logic board would be covered for 90 days, parts and labour.

Roughly 2 months after, random shutdowns began. Called Apple Support, was told to do Disk Repair, firmware update, and finally a full format. Still randomly shutting down. Called them for the 5-6th time, finally was told to take it in for repair. This time, I was told that Apple would not even cover the cost of DIAGNOSING the problem, even though I was told it would be covered parts and labour for 90 days. Called Apple again, and after much talking to Customer Relations, I was told what I was told before, that Apple would cover the cost of the repair if it turned out to be a logic board issue. Fine. Sent it in, and got the logic board replaced.

And it worked fine – for less than a week, till now, so I called Customer Relations again. Was told I have to bring my unit in for repair AGAIN. Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is the last straw for me, wondering if there’s anywhere I could scrap or sell this Macbook, and get an Acer or something instead. At least I’ll only be paying a third of the cost for something with the same specs and I can change my laptop every 3 years instead of every year.

So, moral of this story, don’t give in to the marketing hype that is called Apple. If you want something with looks and branding, get a Vaio or something.