Randomly Turns Off

Hey.. maybe it's not the processor that's overheating, maybe it's the video card! I don't know if the intel GPU has true cooling..

Can we know the temperature of the GPU?

I've had four random shut downs the last week.
I've noticed that before the machine shuts down the temperature (CoreDuoTemp) rises to above 65C, the processor throtles back to 1GHz and the fans does not start. After a shut down I've so far been able to boot it right up again. The fans starts spinning up real fast and they keep running for 3-5 minutes. Like every one else I've tried everything including sacrificing a couple of chickens in World Of Warcaft.

For each shutdown I go here http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbook.html
I try to keep on topic, not calling names and such and I refer to this thread. If enough people does this, then maybe, just maybe we'll be heard.

(MacBook serial is 4H622)

2GHz MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2GB Ram

My MacBook 2.0 GHz also developed a random shutdown problem. reseating and changing RAM, clean Installs of the OS to 10.4.6 and 10.4.7, resetting NVRAM and PMU (which BTW caused the 10.4.7 white lines screen problem to appear)did not stop the random shutdowns. No thermal alarms were in the logs. The machine would simply suddenly shutdown at random. It didn't matter if it was cold, warm, could be seconds after awakening or after a few hours. Problems began after one month of ownership. It would even shutdown during some attempts to run Apple's hardware test. Motion of the machine wasn't involved. Flexing of the case didn't cause any change. Happened on battery or on 2 different power adapters.

Apple Genius in Bellevue WA agreed it was probably the logic board and had the board replaced a week ago. With the new logic board, no more random shutdowns have happened. Definitely looks like an intermittent fault with the logic board. At any rate, I was happy to have it fixed under warranty and am once more happily using the machine.

while not happy about my macbook shutting off, i do love this thing, but was going to get a refund... so heres the story...

i had my macbook since 5/27/06... the apple store had my computer since 7/7/06... i went to the store today saying that if my computer is not fixed, i want a refund.. then i wait around the store, they tell me the part is coming in. i say i waited enough, and need a computer for work, so give me my refund... they go in the back.. i wait a while, and they tell me they can give me a brand new macbook. so i think about it, and say ok. they go back to get the macbook, and realize they are out of stock. other stores around my area are out also, but say they have shipments on the way. so bottom line, when the new computers come in by friday, i get a new computer... i must say i'm happy with my apple store experiance, although the long delay on the fix... if the apple store had your computer more than a week, i suggest you complain and try to get a new computer, or a refund... i'm happy for now. thanks apple!

I should add...... Despite the logic board failure, this MacBook has replaced my 12 inch PB Aluminum as my everyday machine. It's faster, has a nicer screen, better airport reception and is overall quite a step up. It's also great to also have Windows MCE running under Parallels. Two machines in one and now running solidly and cooler after the logic board replacement

I think i've found something that makes my MacBook
crash the very same way : just over-use the CPU

Over-using the CPU should not cause a system crash. With both CPUs running at 100%, the temperature on my MacBook stabilises at 85-87 degrees C and I can still use the computer for web browsing.

Also, now i'm experiencing coloured lines at startup.
only way to start os X is the reset PRAM.

Your MacBook is faulty.

Two machines in one and now running solidly and cooler after the logic board replacement

I would not say mine is running cooler after the logic board replacement. The keyboard feels warmer and the area above the ports (USB/Fw/etc) is distinctly hotter.

Just an FYI .... This thread alone has the most views and replies of any other thread in the Macbook section of the support forums. I think its time Apple started paying attention especially to this one.

Well, after confirming that loading four HD QuickTime movies and playing them simultaneously shuts down the MacBook each and every time without fail I called up Apple Store. After some, light, discussion they gave in and ordered up a replacement MacBook. I also get to keep my somewhat functional MacBook until I receive my replacement.

It actually suprised me that they "gave in" so easily. One should think I was not the first customer calling in and reporting this problem 😉

This will be my third MacBook - my first was DOA. Third time lucky? I'll post the serial and result of the QuickTime test when I receive the replacement book.

I would say that's probably a good sign just so long as the bottom of the computer is cooler than before. The heat sink is on top of the logic board in the MacBook, not underneath it like with the MacBook Pro, so if there is more heat on top than before, it probably indicates the heat sink is better attached (i.e. tighter fit, the correct amount of thermal paste and so on) than before.

However if the bottom is also warmer, that might not be such a good sign.

As I reported earlier (7/6) my Macbook went belly up. Randomly shutdowns culminating with gray screen/vertical lines limbo.

Apple took it and replaced the logic board and my machine is now working just fine....knock on wood.

Hopefully, that was the right fix.

RAM, software updates (10.4.7), PMU, pRAM zaps, etc. ....I'm skeptical that these are the sources of the problems people are experiencing in this discussion.

BTW, mine is a week 20 machine

various macs Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I too suffer from this problem. I bought mine the first week they were out, and the issue started probably a month after purchase (before 10.4.7). I ran apple hardware test extended twice with no errors, so I figured no reason to call Apple and reinstalled OS X. It worked fine for another month, but now has been acting up even more so.

So I figured it was the ram, and ran memtest 4.13 and it failed. Well okay it's the ram. But for the heck of it I took out one stick and ran the test, it got further along but ultimately failed. Swapped out the sticks and tried the other and it also failed. Okay, so maybe both ram sticks are bad. So I have another macbook which has never had an issue, ran memtest on it and it passed. So I took the ram from the healthy macbook and put it into mine and of course it failed!

So I called applecare and it's going in for repair. The phone rep said it's likely the logic board and they'll replace it. This better solve the issue, because if not I'm calling apple for a refund and if they don't give me one I'll call AMEX and they'll refund me since they offer a 90 day purchase protection plan on all purchases.

I hope it doesn't come to that as I had a macbook pro and didn't really like it. And I'm not ready to go back to a horrid PC.

Nick

Ok....I just re-installed my OSX disk....after I backed up my entire system. I DID NOT update my software and have been running flawlessly since....Its only been 8 hours since, but absolutely no "random shut-offs," and no parallel lines....I pray this is the solution. I will update my fellow Mac Heads if the status changes.

Just for the hey of it, open up terminal and type in yes > /dev/null & yes > /dev/null

Run it for a few minutes, until you hear the fans kick in and see if it can do it without shutting down. This test simply maxxes out the CPU, and won't harm anything since a healthy system should be able to do this w/o issue.

My system cannot do this for very long without turning completely off, and I've tried it with other RAM chips -- so it's not a RAM issue.

Nick

I am curious to know if Apple has actually identified an issue with the logic boards and fixed it, or if they are merely replacing them with the same logic boards.


My MacBook appeared to be just fine for about a month before the crashes started occurring. So if they are merely replacing the same logic boards, it might seem as if the problem is fixed but it is bound to pop up again in a couple of months.