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Randomly Turns Off

My Macbook just randomly turns off sometimes without me doing anything. Then I'll try and boot it back up and it takes me pressing the button about 3 times for it to finally actually boot up. I have it connected to my power supply the whole time, so I'm positive that it's not a power issue. Any advice?

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Posted on Jul 1, 2006 10:21 PM

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622 replies

Jul 3, 2006 8:15 AM in response to gram

My Macbook has been powering off randomly as well. Alot of times it will get all the way into the OS and I'll fire up safari, and maybe get to my news page (gotta have the morning news!). Then all of the sudden the screen goes pitch black, and the macbook is out cold. Pressing the power button the screen acts like it's going to POST, and then dies and I get the "cd whirly" sound that some people have described. I found out that the mac will keep doing this everytime i press the power button until I unplug the power adapter, and remove the battery, put the battery back in and then power up. I know it's not anything I do, but It would really suck if I took my macbook to the apple store, and it doesnt do it (because sometimes, it wont even do it!). If anyone has any solutions, or know if apple will replace, please keep me in the loop.

Jul 3, 2006 8:55 AM in response to richie.foreman

Its not a software update problem. Mine is doing the same thing and I have not touched the software. As well, I have done all the RAM removal, tests etc that have been suggested here.

Additionally, there are no messages in the system log.

There is clearly SERIOUS issues with the early runs of the MacBook.

I hope Apple steps up to the plate and offers a recall/replacement order for these.

Tonight I finally have an appt at the genius bar to look into this.

I am not looking forward to the experience, to be honest.

Jul 3, 2006 7:11 PM in response to richie.foreman

Just called the apple store. I think I'm going to call on wednesday and setup an appointment. It's been doing the power off thing just about all day. I got so angry I called the apple store, and he said that my macbook could be a lemon and he's seen two others that had the same or similar symtoms.

This is frustrating. I popped open the back and check how the RAM was seated, and I made sure to give it an extra firm (but loving) push in to make sure it was seated. I also tried the taking the battery out, unplugging it and pressing the power button for 5 seconds. However, I'm still having random power offs. It really ***** when I'm typing email and it does this, heh heh.

Jul 3, 2006 9:22 PM in response to BangBangBlah

I have exactly the same porblem starting from this morning. It typically happens when the computer wakes up after several hours of sleep. I doubt if its the internal heat, as my computer is not hot at all when this happens. Also, there is no random power off so far if I use the battery. On my macbook, I only see the problem when I use the adapter.

It's so frustrating. Mine is only one month old. I hope Apple will initiate a recall.

Macbook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Jul 3, 2006 10:32 PM in response to BangBangBlah

This happens to me too. I've noticed that the longer my computer is shutdown the longer it will run before it shuts down again. Once it shuts down i generally have to leave it off for a couple of hours before i can use it again or esle it will shut down imediatly after i access the OS.
Does doing a hard ram reset harm the computer in any way. Since this problem started happening i started having another issue where upon booting my screen starts displaying colourful vertical lines that keep increasing in number. i have to do a hard ram reset to get it to boot into osx. I'm currently out of the country but apple told me they would replace my MB once i got back in August. Should i trust them?

Jul 3, 2006 10:56 PM in response to BangBangBlah

I too had this problem about a month ago. I went through applecare, sent it off for repair, waited 2 weeks in frustration while they diagnosed the problem, and finally convinced them to send me a new one. The culprit: bad logic board. They sent me a new black macbook (original was white) and it has been working well for about 4 days now. Fingers are crossed. Just out of curiosity, what widgets are you guys
using? I noticed that my problems occured around the time I installed the iStat widget, although I didn't realize at the time. But I think some widgets may be the cause of some of these issues, just a hunch but you may want to try switch off certain widgets that run in the background as they may interfere with the computers normal operation. Who knows?

Jul 4, 2006 2:19 AM in response to BangBangBlah

I also think it's more of a physical defect of some sort... It crashed on me when I had booted from the OS X install disc (I didn't actually try to re-install because that seems risky - what if it crashes during install, then I won't be able to boot up at all. I was just repairing permissions.)

The problem seems to be getting worse. It turns off more often when it's not running on battery - which could mean that some component is having heat problems. I guess it could point to a motherboard defect. The RAM passed the extended hardware test twice.

I really don't want to send it in for repair, it's gonna take like a month (vacation period) and I need it!

Jul 4, 2006 2:49 AM in response to BRiPod

Hi,
sorry for my bad english speaking.
Mine shut down randomly too. And i can see in system.log an error : "Previous Shutdown Cause : -82"
It s not a system problem cause i tried a clean install, and the memory are new too.
I already try to reset PMU without success, and i am trying without the Battery now... i ll inform you if it resolves the problem.

Randomly Turns Off

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