Macbook Random Shutdown

Week 0, Thursday, June 1, 2006

This is the day it all started out, the following is an account of what has happened since I got my brand new MacBook at the Apple Store Fifth Avenue in New York.

MacBook 13″ White 1.83Mhz Intel Core Duo & 512 MB RAM
Serial Number: 4H620****** / Build 8J2135
Mac OS X Version: 10.4.7

Week 1 & 2:

I started noticing the whining or mooing of the processor, although to me is not that anoying it is noticeable. Itâ??s even entertaining to me it feels like the computer is alive and that gives me great confort.

The most annoying thing was how the computer got extremely hot. Sometimes it really hurts to put your hand in the hottest area, the area beneath and around and below the [esc] key.

When monitored with CoreDuoTemp the temperatures get up to 70 degrees C.

Week 3:

It began to fail to shutdown properly, the machine seemed to complete the shutdown process and the screen went gray and then black as it normally does, but, the (power) light indicator kept on. Thus the computer was on draining the battery until I tried to turn it on (confirming the drain in the battery charge) and off again.

Week 5:

Started to shutdown randomly. From then on, the random shutdowns have been increasingly common. It happens when connected to the power adapter and when on battery power. And it seems not related to processor use, as they are completely random, and happen in times when there’s not a specific task being performed.

Random shutdowns are recorded in the console logs.

Week 6:

The power adapter started to make a humming noise, quite loud and annoying. I had to put it far away when I could not hear the noise. It seems to be related to the activity of the processors.

I’ve done PRAM reset and PMU resets, and everything seems to be the same with the random shutdowns, I thought they were related to the power management, and I narrowed the event to having some-kind of relation with the computer being put to sleep and then back on by opening the lid. But I’m not 100% sure on a procedure to reproduce it.

The problem has been recorded in many apple forums:

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3068306

The problem with the shutdowns doesn’t seem to be related with processor heat, it totally happens when the MacBook is hot or cold. Neither to operating with the airport or not, or with battery or not.

Iâ??ve not heard the Power adaptor make the humming noise again.

Also, I booted from a Live CD with Ubuntu linux, and it worked great, but the random shutdown happend exactly the same under the Linux OS, thus confirming this is not a software issue.

Call to Apple Care #1
Monday, July 17, 2006

Called Apple Care, Talked to N***** for 48 min.

About the random shutdowns, he acted like he had nevere heard that before, and suggested I reinstall the operating system, and sent me instructions to do an â??archive and installâ? re-install. Hereâ??s the link: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120

He suggested I check the hard drive for errors with the Disk Utility from the Mac Install CD 1, which I did and it found some minor errors and corrected them. But the issue continued.
Hereâ??s the link to do that: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

He told me that if this checkups donâ??t work he will put my MacBook on a hardware revision issue.

About the slight discoloration he did say it was an issue that they were resolving and could be take care of.

The issue has continued, is obvious this is not a software issue. After I hanged up I tried to restart the computer pressing C to get the Disk Utility and the computer didnâ??t start up at all, it made the Mac ROM sound and the screen flashed for half a second and it went blank and that was all, completely unresponsive.

Hereâ??s a video of what happened:

http://www.ramirezinteractive.com/macbook/MVI_3273-2.MOV

After many tries, it started up normally with the gray screen & apple logo after the sound, and I could use the computer.

I will call today again to follow up on the failed tests and the continued random shutdowns.

Week 8:

Still waiting for the Apple Care representative here to receive the logic board replacement from Apple.

The problem is getting worse and worse. Here’s what I think is helping me work on the MacBook:

Is impossible to get it to turn on if it’s cold, so it takes a lot of retries (7 perhaps, failed boots with shut downs at any moment) before it really gets stable.

Then when it let me do that I open up a terminal window (just one) and type the dev null thing. And that keeps the temp above 50 degrees celcius. That prevents the computer from shuting down at any moment. And With that terminal window opened the MacBook doesn’t shut down as easy. It would probably go turned on for hours.

Week: 10, Posted this to Apple’s Discussion Forum

If you have the Random Shutdown Sindrome here are the steps to solve it.

1. Don’t try to solve it, it’s not a software problem, the only workaround if you really need to use the computer is the start up pressing the power button for 10 secconds with the 1Ghz lock up procedure.

2. Get your MacBook to an Apple Store to either get it replaced or get them to replace the Logic Board, which is the faulty culprit.

3. When yuo have your new Logic Board, before anything you do make sure you have the latest MacBook firmware. It corrects the fan behaviour so your new logic board sensors won’t melt with the heat levels permited by the *f8 previous firmware.

4. Start using your MacBook normally. You will notice a high increase in fan activity every time the processor gets to be use intensivelly. Overall the machin will be cooler than it used to be.

5. Keep an eye on it, download the CoreDuo Temp and be conciuous of the way your computer behaves.

In my case, I had Random Shutdowns, replaced Logic Board and upgraded firmware 2 days ago, no random shutdowns and running a much cooler computer now. The technicians at the shop got the Blank screen of silence so they’re getting me another logic board because of that just to be sure the Logic Board I get installed is perfect, but the Blank Screen of silence can be easily corrected by zapping the PRAM so meanwhile I’ll wait for the next logic board and get it replaced again. But I’m sure the random shutdowns will dissapear with this or the next Logic Board. So far so good, no shutdowns, the computer sleeps by itself or if I close the lid and when it comes back, even if it’s really cold, no shut downs.

Week 12:

Posted this:

It’s been two week since the replacing of the logic board, I can say that I have had no random shutdowns.

The combination of the new logic board + the firmware upgrade have done the trick. Much cooler computer and the fan comes up more often than it did before.

I was able now to install “windows/boot camp” in a 5Gb partition and it works perfectly too. The fan also runs a lot on windows and it also keeps cool, I’ve run an app in windows and the temp is very similar to what core duo temp reports in OS X. In windows the computer goes also goes to sleep too ok.

Saludos,
Pedro

Week 13:

Back to square one.

This las week, third/fourth since the LB replacement, the MacBook turned into the good old CrashBook again.

It started a few days ago, the machine started to not shutting down properly after being told to, and to fail to sleep when closing the lid… as an expert on the RS defect, I knew what was coming. It suddenly shut down yesterday for the first time on this three week old logic board and today it did it again. So it has contracted the disease again.

I’m supposed to get another LB next week along with the new case/bezel for the discoloring. The reseller’s agreement with Apple prevents them from replacing the whole machine for a new one. So they will keep changing parts until it’s fixed.

I’ll let you know what happens next before I get the new LB and after that.

Best,
Pedro

Week 14:
Second Logic Board. One week going on it. It looks fine, I’m not holding my breath.
Let’s see what happens, it already did not shut down properly once which is a bad sign.

I’ll keep updating this.

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