MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) Random shutdown!!

See if you have any Kernel Panic logs which are located in "/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports" with file names beginning with "kernel" and ending in ".panic". If there are any Kernel Panics logs, then please post several of them here so we can see if there are any patterns in them. Post them here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.

Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected.

Make sure to disconnect all external devices in case one of them is causing a problem.

You have the 15" model which is known to have GPU issues (usually there will be a Kernel Panic log to confirm diagnosis). You can try forcing the laptop to use the Intel GPU instead of the discrete GPU by using the gfxCardStatus app assuming you can boot normally or boot into Safe Mode.

https://github.com/steveschow/gfxCardStatus/releases/tag/v2.4.4i

https://gfx.io

If you cannot install the gfxCardStatus app, then you can try using these instructions to force the laptop to use the Intel GPU:

http://dosdude1.com/gpudisable/

The shutdowns can also be caused by file system issues, a bad or incompatible SSD, a third party app, or a corrupt OS.

Run Disk Utility First Aid on the hidden Container (don't attempt to run check the Container if you just scanned one of the volumes as it will cause First Aid to fail until you reboot). Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Container and physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid shows everything is "Ok" click "Show Details" and manually scroll back through the report to see if any unfixed errors are listed. If there are any unfixed errors listed, then you can try running First Aid from Internet Recovery Mode. If the errors still cannot be fixed, then you will need to erase the whole physical SSD before restoring from a backup or clone.

To look for possible software issues run EtreCheck and post the report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. If you give EtreCheck "Full Disk Access", then the report will also include a summary of recent logs which may provide some clues.

I might have found the solution,

VTEncoderXPCService was consuming 600 % cpu and was launched by Photos.app going to Photos > Preferences > iCloud > uncheck iCloud Photos wait for VTEncoderXPCService to stop and check again seems to solve the problem.

So far 12 hours without unexpected shutdown.

Christopher Bendel wrote:

I'm not having the issues with VTEncoderXPCService or AppleSmartBattery

Yesterday, I reset the SMC, erased the HD and reinstalled Big Sur

System was quite stable, but I still had a -128 shutdown. Another observation, once I get a -128, the system becomes unstable until I do a proper shutdown and restart.

When you performed the clean install did you test the laptop before migrating/restoring from a backup and before installing any third party apps? If you migrated/restored from a backup, then you may have just brought back the same software issue.

If you did not migrate/restore from a backup and encountered the same problem even before installing any third party apps, then your laptop has a hardware issue of some sort (assuming you erased the whole physical drive when performing the clean install). With a clean install did the NVidia GPU show up and can you run gfxCardStatus (you may need the v2.5 one)? If the NVidia GPU doesn't show up, then I think that is the source of the crashes.

@yoplait2 had a good idea about iCloud or other cloud syncing services even if you are not encountering the same errors in the system log. When performing the clean install you should just create a normal user account not associated with any AppleID in order to minimize any interactions except for macOS and the laptop's hardware.

FYI, for the most part the macOS system logs are worthless for troubleshooting purposes. They contain so much repetitive junk that it is extremely hard to sift through for any legitimate entries that may provide any useful information. Even if there are such entries most times these days those log entries have been sanitized for privacy (even for the admin user). Anymore those logs contain very scary and indecipherable entries meant only for the developers.

You mentioned checking the SMART Status. Run DriveDx and post the complete report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper. The SMART status only tells you when the drive has a complete failure state according to the manufacturer. It is the actual SMART Attributes that contain the real information and health reporting of the drive, although this information is unfortunately very sparse for the Apple SSDs. While there are other apps to check the drive's health, DriveDX does provide the health information in a nice easy to read format unlike some other apps.

There is no need to keep posting the system logs since they just show the same shutdown causes and they make it harder to follow the conversation here.

The SSD appears to be healthy.

@zarathu may be correct about the hardware bug with the Intel CPU. I recall several posts on here a few years ago where this occurred with the 2014 MBPro and it did involve using a third party app to keep the CPU active so the CPU would not go to sleep. I don't recall the app recommended at the time. You should definitely perform you own check to make sure the suggested app is safe to use (no offense to @zarathu).

But I also know that the 2013 MBPro 15" model was known to have GPU issues. Those GPU issues can manifest with symptoms other than graphical anomalies. Plus it is interesting that the EtreCheck report and the gfxCardStatus app seems not to recognize the NVidia GPU in your laptop. When hardware mysteriously disappears that is always a bad sign. Since the gfxCardStatus app would not run, you should dry manually forcing the laptop to use the Intel GPU using the instructions in this article:

http://dosdude1.com/gpudisable/

I'm not sure even disabling the NVidia GPU this way will be enough to solve your problems.

Hi Christopher Bendel,

We understand you're experiencing an issue with your Mac display going black and then powers off. Since you've gone through all of those steps, we suggest contacting Apple to have the Mac serviced: Get Support.

Take care.

I have exactly the same problem,

this issue happened when I Updated from 11.6 to 11.6.1

If I read correctly the dogs attached,

to me it is related to the os trying to read smc values  related to the battery that doesn't exist and thus provoking  a kernel panic

As you can see below just a few moments after the -128 shutdown the system logs entries about AppleSmartBattery

I have tried 

SMC Reset

PRAM Reset

Smart test on SSD 

Disk utility verification

Apple Hardware Diagnostic 

I did all the things above: the only thing that worked was to pay the 10 bucks and download the above little piece of software that keeps the processors from going to sleep. If yours is one of the logic boards with this problem after using it you mac will benchmark as fast as a quad 1.7 ghz 2019.

HWtech, I only used the NoCrash MBP after exhausting every other remedy. This included taking it into a service that repaired macs. I was told by Apple tech that the logic board needed replacement. It's just a little python script designed for only two specific CPU motherboards. It won’t work on any other Intel chips but those two. And it won’t even faze a RISC chip.

If this didn’t work, the mac was already DEAD MAC WALKING. It was unusable.