Randomly Turns Off

I hate to say this, but I think it means they were not able to reproduce your problem, so they did not perform a repair.

Actually mine did the same thing earlier today, but I called the support rep and she said they were updating the system and by the time I got off the phone with her the page was back up with my nice little "on hold for part" message.

She also told me that they were replacing the logic board in it....so apparently they are in high demand right now and are taking awhile to come in.

After I reset the PRAM and got the rainbow lines I had to do a complete reformat to factory settings. I then did the 10.4.7 update and reseated my RAM. I am still getting random shutdowns when running anything heavy, like Photoshop, a game, etc... I am calling Apple tomorrow. I also am seeing other issues now too, discoloration when I always use with very clean hands, weird shadows around rhe edges of the screen, the fans never seem to be able to turn on and the mooing has started. Mine is a week 21 special order received on May 24th. Mine is an all around lemon. I best get a new one or I will have lost all faith in Apple and I have 3 other systems that have never once had an issue. I am bummed.

ALSO, WARNING TO ALL, DO NOT RESET PRAM, THIS IS BAD MAKES THIS PROBLEM WORSE!!!

I talked to Apple Customer Relations today because my Logic Board has been on order for well over a week, and they told me that it will be shipping tomorrow overnight and should arrive at my local authorized repair facility on Friday.

I'm hoping this will fix the problem with my random shutdowns. I haven't been able to recreate the problem by any means, so I don't know how I'll be able to check. My shutdowns are infrequent, but when they happen, it usually is an hour or so before I can get it to start up completely. I'll keep everyone posted as to what happens. I bought my MacBook on day one (Week 20 build), and have had the shutdown problem since mid June.

Macbook (1 gig RAM; 120 gig HD); 20" iMac Core Duo (1 gig RAM; 250 gig HD) Mac OS X (10.4.7)

I have the same problem with my new Macbook 13".
I have done all the sugested things still happens.
Will have to send it back!

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?

Al be it, I am not a Mac user. Reading all the messages I get the feeling it has somthing to do with powerusage. My first thought is the power used by the screen or the Harddisk? Especially when people mention that they have to press the power button more than once. It looks like there is some sort of "sleepmode" active. Saving to the Harddisk is not completed. Pressing the powerbutton will give some power to complete the "sleepmode". So if anyone would like to try disabling the sleepmode and look if the system still wants to shutdown. Its just a hunch ;-))

P.S.
I am aware, it is not normal, that the system goes into "sleepmode" the way it is told here, but still a human error in the program (updates mentioned) can do this.
Also think about wich screensaver you all use? Is there a screensaver that might be the problem?

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?

Al be it, I am not a Mac user. Reading all the messages I get the feeling it has somthing to do with powerusage. My first thought is the power used by the screen or the Harddisk? Especially when people mention that they have to press the power button more than once. It looks like there is some sort of "sleepmode" active. Saving to the Harddisk is not completed. Pressing the powerbutton will give some power to complete the "sleepmode". So if anyone would like to try disabling the sleepmode and look if the system still wants to shutdown. Its just a hunch ;-))

P.S.
I am aware, it is not normal, that the system goes into "sleepmode" the way it is told here, but still a human error in the program (updates mentioned) can do this.
Also think about wich screensaver you all use? Is there a screensaver that might be the problem?

I was at the Genius Bar a couple days ago (not about the shut down issue). The genius I was speaking to told me he hasn't updated to 10.4.7 because he thinks it's too unstable and causes problems. He says Apple is aware that 10.4.7 isn't working and they are currently working on a 10.4.8 update. He also mentioned that he knows about the MacBook shut down issue.

The next day I went back and spoke to a different Genius about 10.4.7 and about the shut down issue. He seemed surprised that yesterday's Genius would tell me his opinion about 10.4.7 and about the shut down issue.

I started thinking that perhaps there are many Geniuses out there who sympathize with what's happening to the customer. However, perhaps they are told to not say too many negative things about Apple in front of the customer.

Just what I think. I could be way off but that was the impression I got yesterday.

MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.6)

I think the real problem is there are too many "geniuses" out there that have no earthly idea what they're talking about.

There are no major instability problems with 10.4.7 (and I'm a beta tester.) Furthermore, if there is a 10.4.8 update only Apple is aware of it.

Apple employees would only talk about problems that Apple has specifically acknowledged. Any other comments they make are either inappropriate or incorrect.

Frankly, if I knew my employees were speaking ill of my business to customers I'd fire them on the spot. Any intelligent employer would do the same.

If you think you have a specific problem with your computer, then you should insist on having it repaired or replaced. Apple will authorize such action as long as there is a provable problem.

I can confirm that as I spoke for two hours with two Apple senior techs. There is update in the works, 10.4.7 broke more than it fixed "developers aside". In addition there ARE problems with the Core Duo and heat mangagment issues - specifically a faulty sensor.
http://geek.com/news/geeknews/2006Jan/bch20060123034350.htm

As for Customer Service, it's "Customer is Number One", not "Us against them". The dang things aren't working right and it's up to them to get 'em fixed so that they do.

Not a hard concept.

I understand many attribute the issue to 10.4.7, but in my case the problem started while I was on 10.4.6. It seems this issue "pops up" after a certain amount of usage.

Nick

Well I am very sad to say that this morning I had my first random shutdown. I am planning on calling apple care and opening up a case number. I bought my macbook the day that they came out. I haven't really had any problems until this morning. If this problem continues I hope apple will replace my macbook. Ciao

I received my new MB June 26 and after just one day of heavy use, it did the random shut off. I too had the same pattern described by countless (well, I'm sure someone will eventually count us) others. It would shut down randomly, then I would have trouble turning it back on for a few seconds. Then after I would get it back on, it would commence to turn off randomly over the next hour after anywhere from 5 seconds to 5 minutes (I used my stop watch). After this first round of shutdowns, it didn't do it again until a week later and again, I had a little trouble rebooting. It has only done it once more, yesterday. I took it to a Mac Store and they claimed its not a known problem by Apple and that they would deal with it as an individual problem.

Now, I absolutely love my computer (I've had some previous academic Apple use but have owned a Dell laptop for last 5 years). I think it looks great, the programs are first rate, the functionality and design of the computer and everything about it are just awesome. So if there is a fix, I'll happily wait a couple of weeks with my unit in the shop.

Unfortunately, I don't want this to become an open ended problem that I can't recreate. Hopefully, either it won't happen again, or will happen so frequently that Apple can diagnose it and fix it. I start school Sept. 20 and would sure like to have this taken care of by then. It sounds like until it happens so frequently that an Apple tech can see it, not much you can do if you're past the first 14 days. I don't enjoy this feeling of powerlessness. However, given all the positive feedback on Apple Care, I'll call them this weekend and start talking to them about it. Also, I really appreciate this forum to let folks know they are not alone or crazy. It's not you, it's your computer.

Regarding the quote below, perhaps Apple should embrace the random shutdowns and offer it as an exciting feature, much like for the shuffle: "Life is Random, when will YOUR MacBook shut down?"

"Your toaster doesn’t crash. Your kitchen sink
doesn’t crash. Why should your computer? Think of the
countless hours you would save if your PC worked on
your time — not the other way around. Then think
about a Mac."

MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7) 1.83GHz, 1MB RAM (Apple installed), 80GB HD

I too was leery of buying a first generation product, but figured that the MacBook Pro would have ironed out some of the kinks, since it also has dual core Intel chips. Shows what I know. Good luck with your repair. As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm going to contact Apple Care this week to start a paper trail for my shutdowns.

I definitely should've listened to my friend
(an avid mac user) who told me "Never buy a first
release Apple product".

MacBook Mac OS X (10.4.7) 1.83GHz, 2MB RAM (Apple installed),

It would be a good idea to call AppleCare and get a ticket opened, certainly within the first 90 days. Get something on record. Posting here doesn't count for squat with anyone.

Until Apple actually acknowledges the problem, we're stuck with "that's not a known problem" from AppleCare and Geniuses. Your only hope is to be able to reproduce the problem in front of a genius, or to get it sent in and hope that they can reproduce it in the shop.