Q: Mid 2012 MacBook Air Random Shutoff
I've been trying to find a solution for over a year now. My MacBook air has been shutting off randomly with no warning.
At first I figured it was overheating, so I installed Macs Fan Control and cranked the fans up, but it still shuts off around 60-70°C CPU temp which should be fine. The first 3 years I owned the computer I never had a single issue and the fan only ever sped up to where it was audible 2 times.
The error code in the log files is Previous Shutdown Cause -2, which I can't find a description of anywhere.
I took the computer to the Genius Bar for a hardware check but the computer shuts off as soon as they attempt to run the test. They wanted to change the logic board for $600+ so I said I'd think about it.
Has anyone experienced this? I cannot find any confirmed solutions online and am not sure if I should replace the logic board or the i/o board first. When it powers off it is like it lost power. Immediate shut off. It won't reboot for at least 20 seconds and if I turn on before a couple minutes it will shut off again before I get to the desktop screen. Yet it will work flawlessly sometimes for up to an hour or so.
The computer has been babied its whole life and never been dropped or spilled on. Looking inside it looks fine, but tbh I'm not sure what I would look for.
If anyone has any ideas at all I'd love to hear them. It is a mid 2012 Air i5 with 4gb RAM.
EDIT: Also I have performed SMC resets, this did not solve the problem.
MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), null
Posted on Jul 3, 2016 4:46 PM
How does the MBA operate if you start up in Safe Mode?
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262
If you can, run an Apple Hardware Test:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201257
Note that an error free AHT is not conclusive.
Check if there are any kernel panics recorded. If so, log and post it per these instructions:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201753
Ciao.
Posted on Jul 4, 2016 4:05 AM