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

I've been trying to resolve this issue for almost a year now.

What I am using

While working on my system, on Apple Adapter (85w) or with battery fully charged, screen will go blank and system will shutdown.

Things I have tried

reset SMC
reset PRAM
Run system diagnostics; no errors found
Fully charge to 100% and leave for 8 hours
Fully discharge battery, leave for 8 hours, charge to 100%
run caffeinate command in terminal; no change

Running the following command in terminal

log show --predicate 'eventMessage contains "Previous shutdown cause"' --last 24h

kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

List of codes

-128 unknown, possibly battery is at the end of its life, but can also occur when the SMC initiates an automatic restart following a kernel panic.

As my system DOES NOT do an automatic restart, I'm not sure this is a kernel panic.

The ONLY way I have found to prevent this behavior is to have the laptop connected to an external display via HDMI or Thunderbolt.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Nov 1, 2021 4:57 AM

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

68,714 points

Posted on Nov 2, 2021 6:05 PM

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.

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23 replies

zarathu

Level 3

621 points

Nov 7, 2021 6:23 AM in response to Christopher Bendel

No. You have to go into the terminal, and disable the ability of the mac to use ethernet EVER. I don’t know how to do that, and it's not a good idea, since I don’t know what else it might cause. You are not disabling a real port you are disabling the ability of your Mac to ever do something that at some time you may need. I don’t know if wifi uses ethernet. Its just not a good option. Having your mac connected to an active outside monitor is simply a way to make it run all the time at a low level. Running in safe mode disconnects all kinds of things.

Just go to : https://realmacmods.com/product/macbook-pro-nocrash-utility/

You’ve tried everything else.

Nov 8, 2021 3:53 PM in response to zarathu

I ran the following

- Disable File Vault (if enabled)

- Reboot into Recovery Mode (CMD + R)

- csrutil disable

- csrutil authenticated-root disable

- mount -uw /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive

- cd /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive/System/Library/Extensions

- mv AppleThunderboltKexts.kext AllThunderboltKexts.kext.bak

- kmutil install -u --force --volume-root /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive

- bless --folder /Volumes/YourMacOSDrive/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot

- reboot

Nov 6, 2021 7:49 PM in response to Christopher Bendel

Here is the DxDrive report

DxDrive

zarathu

Level 3

621 points

Nov 6, 2021 8:02 PM in response to Christopher Bendel

https://realmacmods.com/product/macbook-pro-nocrash-utility/

zarathu

Level 3

621 points

Nov 7, 2021 5:22 PM in response to Christopher Bendel

It looks like you disabled a port. Let me know if anything stops working. I did say that you could go into the terminal and disable some things. My method caused my mach to benchmark 20% faster.

HWTech

Level 9

68,714 points

Nov 3, 2021 4:39 PM in response to Christopher Bendel

You still have a Login Item for an "Antivirus" app. You should delete this login item. I don't see any other mention of this anti-virus app (Antivirus One) anywhere except for recent software installs. I assume you uninstalled this app? Unfortunately the anti-virus app confuses things because now the log summary entries may have been to the the anti-virus app and not your current problem.

Since your issues are related to an external display, then perhaps the Duet app is causing issues. Make sure the app is completely up to date. If the Duet app is up to date, then uninstall it by following the developer's instructions to see if that resolves your problem. After uninstalling Duet, reboot the laptop.

It is interesting that the EtreCheck report does not show the NVidia GPU which is why the gfxCardStatus app had the error. Maybe the Duet app is interfering here or maybe you do have a GPU hardware issue where the NVidia GPU is no longer working at all.

Nov 6, 2021 7:38 PM in response to HWTech

You can probably guess how frustrating it is to try and reply, only to have the system hibernate during typing.

Timestamp Thread Type Activity PID TTL

2021-11-06 18:28:22.854987-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 19:30:10.886653-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 20:03:49.802680-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 20:30:24.831829-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 20:31:49.838206-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 20:46:43.789200-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 20:49:58.861773-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 20:52:15.864016-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: 5

2021-11-06 20:55:33.831988-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 21:00:13.825778-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 21:03:01.792375-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: 5

2021-11-06 21:14:24.843490-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: 5

2021-11-06 21:16:14.823443-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 21:22:52.851453-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 22:33:18.846321-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: -128

2021-11-06 22:34:41.857849-0400 0xbe Default 0x0 0 0 kernel: (AppleSMC) Previous shutdown cause: 5

zarathu

Level 3

621 points

Nov 7, 2021 5:38 AM in response to Christopher Bendel

Yes, no crash reports show up. And yes it will go back to where you were. It doesn’t really crash. Crashing comes from a software issue. This is a hardware issue. ONE OF THE CORES just stops working. And it takes the rest of the computer a few seconds to even realize its off.

But if you have been trying things for a year, then however reluctantly(and I was reluctant also), its either try this little piece of software that keeps all the cores running awake all the time, or buy a new mac.

And yes, another way it to keep it connected to an active external monitor. Another way is to run in safe mode all the time. A third way is is to go into the terminal and disable the Ethernet port permanently. I don’t like the terminal. Safe mode is not a functional way to use the computer, and having it connected to an active outside monitor doesn’t work either.

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