my daughters MacBook keeps shutting down when she is using it even when it is plugged in, She upgraded to Snow Leopard about a year ago ,but this problem started a few months ago, she just informed me of the problem saying it is getting worse.
MacBook, Mac OS X (10.7.5)
Try these trouble shooting steps.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
and
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Try the steps, and if they fail, consult Apple Care or a genius. Is it possible this is a piece of software doing this?
Are you sure it's shutting down or is the backlight of the display shutting off? Sometimes displays cut out making you think the computer shut down, when it is in fact still running.
If the MacBook is shutting down on it's own, it could be that the logic board is faulty. Not distributing power from battery or power adapter.
I would get in touch with Apple or an authorized service center.
Is she using the computer on a bed, sofa, pillow, carpeted floor or other soft surface? Does the fan run often, loudly and for a long time? Is she using the computer to watch streamed tv and movies? Over-heating will greatly diminish a computer's performance, causing operations and applications to slow down or become unresponsive. The computer will shut itself down if the internal sensors tell it that the heat is approaching a level that would harm the processor.
Soft surfaces such as beds, rugs, laps etc act like a blanket, insulating the computer and keeping heat in. Hard surfaces like metal, stone hardwood, plastic, glass etc dissipate heat. Placing the computer on a hard surface like a marble cutting board or a metal cookie sheet or a plastic tray and then placing it on the bed will allow it to run cooler. A laptop cooling pad with fans would help even more. Apple stopped calling them laptops because they don't want you to put it on your lap.
Video playback, streaming, encoding etc are demanding, CPU-intensive tasks that stress the processor and cause it to heat up more than usual. If the computer is to be used for watching tv and movies, it would perform those tasks best with no other applications running and on a non-fabric/insulating surface.
Even if it transpires that over-heating is not the issue you are facing, preventing over-heating will improve the computer's performance and extend its life.
my daughters MacBook keeps shutting down when she is using it even if it is plugged in
