random shutdowns

Open up Activity Monitor (Applications>Utilities). Make sure "All Processes" are listed--this option is in the upper-right corner. Sort the processes by %CPU. Is any process consuming a high amount of CPU? If so, what's the process name?

Do you have any antivirus installed?

One of the more common processes for causing this issue is labeled "printjobmgr" (or something similar). If you see that one, check your printer utility for any print jobs that didn't complete. You can also try force quitting that process and seeing if that fixes things.

~Lyssa

Hmm.

Try creating a new user account, logging out of the original and into the new one. Do you have the same issues?

~Lyssa

I have been having the same problems.

I have been online, looking at videos or something. All of a sudden, the screen dims a little, then a black box with white writing comes up saying I must restart my computer....

Its a 1st gen. Macbook. Ive had it since August 2006. Just started up recently. No idea what to do!

Paton,

This is just a shot in the dark, but have you run Software Update lately? There was a firmware update a while back that corrected an intermittent shut down issue with the older MacBooks.

Also, have you tried pulling one memory module out at a time to see if it could possibly be a bad module?

Gramps.

1. Since you have Apple Care, make an appointment at your local Apple Store for the Genius Bar.

There are a couple of things you can do:

2. open system profiler and check:

a. memory (see if there are any errors in the RAM)

b. battery (look at how many cycles there are and the status)

3. you can also check your hardware using the AHT

4. your heat sink/cooling fans may need cleaning and may be causing the machine to heat up to the point of emergency shutdown. taking the machine apart and blowing it out may be a good idea.

If both of these check out you may have a software issue, for which I would simply backup & reformat. It takes about 30 minutes to reinstall the OS and check if it begins doing it again.

good luck.

Hey, did your logic board eventually die? Mine was behaving that way last week and two days ago it shut down and didn't start up again. Took it to the Genius Bar, was told it needed a logic board replacement. $280 quote for mail-in repair, so hopefully that's accurate and there won't be any extra fees! Are there any known issues with the logic board in the late-2006 Macbook model? Because I did hear of issues with the late-2006 Macbook Pro logic board.

I've got a Black MacBook (2,1), late 2006 model.

Same problem for me, few weeks ago my MacBook started shutting down randomly under heavy load (flash/compiling stuff/games/image editing). Sadly the warranty expired months ago...

This is not a software problem because it happens while running Linux too. I already opened it, I found only a bit of dust, but not too much. I cleaned it etc, but it still shuts down... Someone told me to try replacing the thermal paste, I think I'm going to do it since I plan to upgrade my ram.

I'm broke and I can't afford another laptop :/