Consistent shutdown OS 11.2.3

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Level 1

4 points

Consistent shutdown OS 11.2.3

I am expierencing constant shutdowns with a MacBook Pro that up until a month ago was rock solid. I have been pouring over logs and removing culprits related to zombie applications (remnants of long deleted applications. In safe mode the shutdowns are far less often but do occur. Fortunately I am able to backup using both Carbon Copy and Time Machine. I have included an EtreReport. Any assistance would be appreciated. I spent a career debugging Windows and OS/2 but am hitting a wall with MacOS.

Thanks, Mark

EtreReport 6 April 2021

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 6, 2021 9:24 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

zontar999 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 13, 2021 8:00 AM in response to zontar999

....the laptop stabilized somewhat but not enough to be productive tool. After several iterations, it is now being used for parts and I never found what the problem was. Effectively, this incident is closed and my expecations from Apple have been seriously reduced.

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

56,156 points

Apr 6, 2021 10:05 PM in response to zontar999

Uninstall Bitdefender by following the developer's instructions. Anti-virus apps, cleaning apps, and third party security software is not needed on a Mac and usually causes more problems than it solves plus they impact performance. If you still have issues, then run EtreCheck again after removing Bitdefender and post the new report here.

It is also possible the battery could be causing a problem. A "Service Battery" condition means that macOS has detected a hardware fault with the battery.

You should also run Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container. Unfortunately Disk Utility now hides the physical drive and Container from view by default since macOS 10.13. Within Disk Utility click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid shows everything is "Ok" click "Show Details" and scroll back through the report looking for any unfixed errors. If there are any unfixed errors listed, then you will need to erase the whole physical SSD and restore from a backup or clone.

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Answer 3

zontar999 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 7, 2021 8:11 AM in response to zontar999

Will do. In the meantime, the battery was just replaced. Second, in Safe Mode the Macbook is shutting down while backing up in Time Machine. Any advise? What is the integrity of the backup? I look forward to your reply.

Thank you, Mark

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Answer 4

zontar999 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 12, 2021 6:30 PM in response to zontar999

This reply is for anyone searching answers to their device crashing or suddenly rebooting.

First any support you receive here is boilerplate (i.e. recited from a playbook) and for the most part a waste of time. If you've ever gone through a similar episode with Microsoft you'll understand. Here you will be told to remove antivirus software and any cleaning utility (CleanMyPC seems to be a common one), run an EtreCheckPro report and then post it. I have spent two weeks search for answers and have read this response almost verbatim every time.

Second, after you have jumped through the requested hoops.... silence.

On a couple of occasions, someone who is intimately familiar with MacOS has called-out the tech and requested a specific answer regarding the error message being thrown by the service: simply "what does this log entry mean". No hoops. Again.... silence.

I spent a full career designing, developing, implementing and supporting software. I know boilerplate and I know terrible support. I saw it from the other side. I saw it working at the technical OS/Network level with Microsoft and IBM. This was was my first interaction with Apple.

My solution to the consistent crashing of my MacBook Pro was to remove partitions and reinstall and an earlier version of MacOS (Catalina). It helped somewhat but the laptop was too unstable for my needs and it was decommissioned.

To anyone searching for answer to a situtation similar to mine, good luck getting any form of constructive response that actually results in a proven solution. But remove your antivirus application first, you'll be one step ahead.

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Answer 5

HWTech

Level 9

56,156 points

Apr 12, 2021 8:05 PM in response to zontar999

zontar999 wrote:

First any support you receive here is boilerplate (i.e. recited from a playbook) and for the most part a waste of time. If you've ever gone through a similar episode with Microsoft you'll understand. Here you will be told to remove antivirus software and any cleaning utility (CleanMyPC seems to be a common one), run an EtreCheckPro report and then post it. I have spent two weeks search for answers and have read this response almost verbatim every time.

Second, after you have jumped through the requested hoops.... silence.

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you here, but I have been extremely busy and got very tired so I was unable to post a timely reply. Sometimes life gets in the way plus I had a lot of messages to catch up on. Apple is not here on these forums. Keep in mind we are just other users such as yourself volunteering our own personal time to try to assist people. Plus there are hundreds if not thousands of new posts in each forum every day so it is very easy for other contributors to miss your post. When you have a very difficult or complicated issue, then the number of contributors with the necessary knowledge to assist you is much more limited as well.

If you want someone from Apple to directly assist you, then you need to either chat with Apple or by taking the Mac to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider. If you click the "Get Support" link at the top right of this page you will eventually have an option to chat directly with an Apple technical support agent. I'm not saying you will definitely get a better experience or a solution unless the support agent escalates the issue to an engineer.

On a couple of occasions, someone who is intimately familiar with MacOS has called-out the tech and requested a specific answer regarding the error message being thrown by the service: simply "what does this log entry mean". No hoops. Again.... silence.

Unfortunately the macOS logs are completely worthless for troubleshooting issues these days because the logs are flooded with useless messages that should never even be included in the logs. Plus many of the log entries are very cryptic and Apple has been sanitizing the logs so that many entries don't contain any useful information. The only useful macOS log these days are the Kernel Panic logs. If you have to resort to macOS logs, then you are indeed truly desperate (I cringe when I break down and examine the logs on our organization's Macs because I know I'm going to be disappointed and frustrated).

My solution to the consistent crashing of my MacBook Pro was to remove partitions and reinstall and an earlier version of MacOS (Catalina). It helped somewhat but the laptop was too unstable for my needs and it was decommissioned.

From reading your latest EtreCheck report it still seems that a part of Bitdefender still remains installed and active as shown here in the report:

System Extensions:

[activated_disabled] Bitdefender.SPSE - version 1.5.0 (Bitdefender SRL - 2021-03-03)

Application: /Applications/Bitdefender/BitdefenderAgent.app - version 1.5.0

Have you performed a clean install of macOS 11.2.3 by first erasing the whole physical drive before installing macOS? Have you thoroughly tested the Big Sur clean install before migrating or restoring from a backup and before installing any third party apps? Unfortunately Disk Utility now hides the physical drive from view by default beginning with macOS 10.13 so you must now click "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. If you have an issue with a clean install of macOS, then either you have a hardware issue or you have discovered an unknown bug. Figuring out which is impossible unless your issue is escalated to an Apple engineer so Apple will most likely have you repair the laptop.

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Answer 6

zontar999 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 13, 2021 7:55 AM in response to HWTech

My apologies. I thought this was an Apple support site staffed by Apple personnel. The Apple domain name and copyright is therefore very confusing and now can appreciate your situation.

"Apple is not here on these forums.Keep in mind we are just other users such as yourself volunteering our own personal time to try to assist people."

This does no however remove Apple from a providing valid response. It is still unacceptable.

Finally I did a thorough clean and install of Catalina and did not load any applications (no restore from Time Machine)

The Bitdefender remnant is a relic. In your research you should come across various Apple databases contain archaic references to long deleted application. The "Disabled Softerware" listing in System Preferences is a perfect example. Trust me there was no Bitdender application, plist or kext. I reviewed the drive outside MacOS.

Next, yes I reviewed kernel panic logs but they caught 5% of the crashes. And when they did occur (iClould and Sportlight were common agents) they were corrected. Again the only information related to the state of computer prior to and during the crash were in the system logs. And this were we have problem; by your own admission we can not dissect the incident that caused the abend. Apple has gone to lengths to obscure the problems. Again unacceptable. However, why are Apple users with apparently serious issues posting logs that can not be acted on. EtreReport is obviously acceptable for high level analysis but, and in my case, useless; and from what I read the same for other users. Post the report and silence. As I said, those of us who spent time with operating systems and kernels are simply looking for what service threw the exception.

Again, I fully respect and appreciate your position and suspect that you are left to your own devices by Apple. This is not first level support and many Apple users are extremely frustrated. It is import that other readers see this.

Finally I did a thorough clean and install of Catalina and did not load any applications (no restore from Time Machine)

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Answer 7

HWTech

Level 9

56,156 points

Apr 13, 2021 4:40 PM in response to zontar999

zontar999 wrote:

Next, yes I reviewed kernel panic logs but they caught 5% of the crashes. And when they did occur (iClould and Sportlight were common agents) they were corrected.

There are several sections of the Kernel Panic log that can be relevant for identifying a possible cause.

However, why are Apple users with apparently serious issues posting logs that can not be acted on. EtreReport is obviously acceptable for high level analysis but, and in my case, useless; and from what I read the same for other users. Post the report and silence.

The EtreCheck report is just a tool that is extremely useful for quickly understanding a user's system and configuration since we cannot see their systems. So many users do not provide enough pertinent details and many times will report things incorrectly. The EtreCheck report allows us to quickly see a lot of system details which can help point us in a direction to investigate plus it easy for a regular user to use to gather the information. Just like any other tool it is just one part of the process. Most of the time the Apple Diagnostics do not report any hardware failures, but it is still useful to run the diagnostics just on the off chance it does detect a hardware issue.

Finally I did a thorough clean and install of Catalina and did not load any applications (no restore from Time Machine)

....the laptop stabilized somewhat but not enough to be productive tool. After several iterations, it is now being used for parts and I never found what the problem was.

I'm not sure if a clean install of Catalina was fine or if you still had issues. If you had issues with a clean install (assuming the whole physical SSD was erased), then it would most likely indicate a hardware issue. One possibility could be the SSD. Testing the laptop while booted from an external drive would be a good test to help to eliminate the internal SSD. Or maybe you have a bug with Big Sur. Apple has been going down hill for many years now. I no longer recommend Apple computers to anyone because of what I've personally seen and experienced.

Some issues are just hard to troubleshoot remotely without direct access to the system. So much in troubleshooting is just noticing the smallest things which can point you in a different direction.

I'm sorry you were not able to resolve the issue and are going to scrap the laptop.

Stay safe and healthy.

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Answer 8

zontar999 Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 13, 2021 5:02 PM in response to HWTech

Hi

I am now fairly certain it was a power supply issue based on monitoring when I stressed the CPU. I mounted the SSD on another device and it passed several low level test. I didn't go much further. I ran the Apple hardware diagnostics and everything passed.

Please, there is no need to apologize for Apple's indifference. You are doing what you can to support a community without the backing of the company. A thankless job. I was level 3 support for a couple of years and fully understand your position.

Stay safe and well yourself.

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