Randomly Turns Off

Actually, my issue occured after the random shutoff issue presented itself. I was installing software and it shutoff. I rebooted (though it presented the same problems in rebooting as have been described in this thread), and it shutoff randomly after 5-10 minutes several other times. Finally, it just died, as per the video. So I'm quite confident that this is the same issue, but my MacBook's logic board just croaked a bit faster than everyone else's.

Ah, I understand. Yeah, hopefully you can get a replacement.

I wonder if the logic boards have weak traces which fail with the heat over time? In addition to professional IT experience, I have some electronics experience too. It sounds like a CPU or power failure is incurred by a bad trace. It will be interesting to find out what exactly causes this.

Well, the Best Buy guys did right by me. Even though they didn't have any Black MacBooks in stock in British Columbia (we bought ours in Calgary, Alberta, last weekend), they didn't even argue the fact that it needed to be replaced, and went out of their way to help us to get the last ⚠ black unit through the online store. We chose expedited shipping, so it should be here by Monday. Hopefully it will have been made far along in the industrial cycle that it won't exhibit the same problems.

I really encourage those who have this issue to ask for a replacement computer.

Here's my extended story on my MacBook, which has some fun issues and even more fun trying to get them fixed.

*About 10 days after my purchase (the day the MacBook was announced, btw), I started getting a pink discoloration around the trackpad and around the edges. I took it to an Apple Store a couple of hours away where I was visiting for the weekend, and they said they hadn't seen the issue before, and that it was "obviously" customer abuse. Not happy.

*About two weeks ago or so, I started to get random shut downs, which got progressively worse. I did the PMU resets and PRAM zaps to no avail. I’ve added no third party RAM or anything. Then, about 10 days ago, I called AppleCare, and talked to a sympathetic representative who set me up with an overnight shipping box to get it taken care of. I told him about the discoloration, and he said that would be taken care of as well. Starting to get happy.

*The computer gets overnighted to an Apple repair facility in Memphis. It arrives on a Wednesday. The status shows it as being repaired on Thursday, and it shipped out on Friday. My hope is building!

*I received the unit the following Monday, and, to my dismay, the casing was not replaced, so the pink discoloration is still there. It’s not a major discoloration, but it’s very noticeable, noticeable enough that the “geniuses” in the Apple Store noticed it and attributed it to my error. The computer starts up fine, though, so I think they fixed the shutdown problem. Still, I want this puppy looking brand new, and so I call up Apple to request that they fix the obvious pink discoloration around the edge of my computer. I talk to another sympathetic AppleCare guy who profusely apologizes that they didn't replace the top case, and he overnights me yet another box.

*On Tuesday, I receive the box to send it in for the discoloration; however, no fewer than five times on Tuesday did my Macbook shut down on me with no seeming logic to it. Very, very opposite of happy.

*I call Apple, where I talk to sympathetic AppleCare guy #3. He checks the notes on the repair, and it turns out the repair place in Memphis (Flextronics, I think) did absolutely nothing to the machine. They couldn't replicate the problem, so they simply sent it back to me with NO explanation about anything.

*At this point, I'm getting pretty fed up. I ask about just getting a replacement machine, and I get put on hold for about 20 minutes or so. I finally get in touch with a Product Specialist. I try to barter for a replacement, but he's really not giving much ground on that front. He suggests that I take it into an authorized Apple repair center and explain my woes. He assures me that if it doesn't get fixed that a replacement isn't out of the question. The good news here is that he gave me his personal extension number so that I can follow up with him. He assures me that he wants my computer fixed and wants me to keep in touch with him.

*So, the latest chapter in my saga is that my computer is at a local university computer repair center, which is an authorized Apple repair center. It’s been there for a couple of days, but they haven’t gotten around to looking at it yet. I’ve had good experiences with them in the past, and so I’m hopeful again.

*Any advice from anyone? I can’t make Apple give me a new machine, so I seem to be at their mercies. I have good marks for Apple’s direct support, but definite failing grades for the actual service center in Memphis. I got no phone calls or emails from them at all. Not cool, not cool at all. When does a computer qualify as a lemon? When can I “demand” a replacement from them? I purchased the computer from Apple directly.

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

Unfortunately sometimes you need to get tough with them. Document the problem extensively, take videos, post them online, take pictures, etc., generate buzz. With some companies I've had to write the CEO directly to get results. Usually after the third or fourth letter in a row, they got ****** off that no one had taken care of the problem and got someone to talk to me and address the issue, just so that I'd stop writing (got Telus to refund over $100 that they had wrongly charged me, this way). Of course, that might not work with Steve since he probably won't even read the e-mail. If you're passionate enough about it, step it up to snail mail, phone calls. Once you make it apparent enough that this is not just your problem, but it is now their problem that they are having to spend time, effort, personnel, and most importantly money to deal with, you usually get a quick, efficient response.

Unfortunately, corporations are still powerful and consumers are still (relatively) powerless. But the Internet seems to be changing that for the better, if you know how to use it.

Hey I'm experiencing the random shut downs too.
my serial: 4h621...

there seems to be som sort of conection.


macbook Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Yep, mine started with 4H621 as well (well, it had a 21 in there).

I would take it back and try to get it replaced ASAP. Refer them to this thread and to the videos I posted above (that's the likely end result of this problem -- total logic board failure).

Hello Friends,
I am having the same trouble. I just got this Mac book about a month ago, I have win Xp installed and the machine worked well until yesterday when it started shutting down for no reason. This has happened about 10 times causing me majors problems at work. I thought it might be an update I installed so because of the severity of the problem I formatted my drive. The shut down happened twice during the reformatting process leading me to believe that it might be a hardware problem not software. Unfortunately I work in Nigeria and we dont have an apple store here so it will be difficult to get it replaced quickly. Out of igeas?
Ibrahim

Hi Ibrahim -

Unfortunately I think you seem to have gotten one of the bad batch of MacBooks (yours seems to be a week 20 unit, from the serial). As far as I have been able to tell, from reading on this forum and around the Internet, no one has yet found a non-hardware related solution to this problem. The only people who have reported success are those who have had their machines replaced. Even those sent in for repairs have many times shown the problem again.

I can't seem to find a repair facility in Nigeria, looking online. You may have to call Apple in the US and speak to someone there so they can direct you to the right place, or at least tell you where to send the MacBook for repair.

This is a growing problem that is affecting people all over the world. MacBooks are portable, and are thus used by people who travel often and do business in/from remote locations. This makes critical component failures all the more serious. Apple needs to acknowledge this issue now and issue a recall/replacement for the defective batches. 😟

Two times I have started up my macbook in the morning and a dialogue box pops up saying something like this “ OSX restarted after unexpectedly shutting down”. I clicked to submit the report both times. Curious thing is that after the first time this happened my macbook worked fine. That was a week ago. This morning the same thing happened, however, I noticed my battery was completely drained. I know for a fact that I shutdown my macbook last night, unplugged the power and all peripheral devices.

I got the moo hum issue and this macbook hates to wake-up. I’m starting to get concerned and will call applecare on Monday. Just thought it important to let folks know about what’s going on with my macbook.

I also have a MacBook (about 5 weeks old) and this same problem is happening to me.

It has randomly turned off on Mac OS X 10.4.6 and 10.4.7, on AC power, on battery power, when I'm using wireless Internet, when I'm not using wireless Internet, right after being turned on, and after being on for several hours, etc.

There appears to be no real pattern.

I brought it in the Genius Bar and it didn't turn off while I was there, so they said they didn't know what the problem could be. They advised I ship it in to get it checked out.

Here's what I really want to know: The Genius told me that they couldn't replace my machine in the store because I bought it online and made upgrades (apparently, as soon as you customize the machine it is not replaceable in the store). Is this absolutely true? If I send it in to get fixed and they find a problem, could they replace it? If I send it in and they don't get it fixed, do they have no choice but to get me a replacement somehow?

My serial number is also 4H622...

Not to dash your hopes, but read my post above. I had similar experiences and have yet to get it fixed.

Hey folks, I just got back from the Genius Bar, so thought I would relay my experience with this issue.

After owning the Macbook for about 2 weeks, I started experiencing these shutdowns. They got progressively worse over the next couple weeks (more frequent) until it came to a point where I couldn't boot up. Even when I booted to the install disc, the machine couldn't find a system disk. Obviously, I couldn't hold off any longer, so I took it to a Genius.

There wasn't much they could do there that I hadn't. After a couple reboots the genius came to the same conclusion many of the folks on here have: LOGIC BOARD.

He says an in store fix will have it back in my hands in a few days (depending on how long the part takes. I asked him about just swapping the hard drive into a new mac and giving my that (as I had read someone was able to do on here). He said he could have done that if it was within 14 days of the purchase date.

A side note: The Genius DID try a new set of ram befor he completely diagnosed a logic board defect. Although my RAM is Apple brand and was installed by them, he said it was still a possibility.

So, after all this is said, I think we can pretty safely say that this question has an answer: If it isn't your ram (which it probaably isn't) it's your Logic Board. Go get a new one!

Mine is week 22 and exhibiting problems. I am off to the Apple store in a few hours to see if I can get some help.