jellyberg
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Q: iMac 2010 randomly shutting down, only reboots when power cable is unplugged and replugged

Specs

It's a stock 21.5inch iMac mid-2010, with the addition of some extra RAM - two more 4gb sticks bringing it up to a total 12gb - that I've had installed for roughly 6 months with no problems.

 

No problems with my Mac since we bought it from the Apple Store until the last couple of days when this started happening. I don't have AppleCare and obviously I'm out of warranty.

 

Problem

Seemingly random shut downs. I've tried to work out if it's to do with overheating, but I've been playing some graphically intensive games today and that hasn't killed it. The strangest thing is that most of the shut downs are when it's not even in use - the next time I sit down to use it it has been turned off.

 

I don't think this is a software problem as it's been happening on the OSX and Windows partitions.

 

Nothing happens when I press the power button until I unplug the power cable, wait a few seconds, plug it back in again then press the power button. This makes me wonder if it's a problem with the power cable? Any tests I could run?

 

 

 

Any ideas? Tests I can run? Or is it a lost cause?

Thanks in advance!

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), 2010, 21.5 inch, 12gb RAM

Posted on May 15, 2014 7:59 AM

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jellyberg

Q: iMac 2010 randomly shutting down, only reboots when power cable is unplugged and replugged

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  • Helpful answers

  • by jellyberg,

    jellyberg jellyberg May 15, 2014 12:53 PM in response to jellyberg
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 15, 2014 12:53 PM in response to jellyberg

    After further testing, it seems to only be powering back on if I leave it unplugged for about 20 seconds. Is this something to do with resetting the SMC?

  • by wartez,

    wartez wartez Feb 1, 2016 5:06 PM in response to jellyberg
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 1, 2016 5:06 PM in response to jellyberg

    did you ever find a solution to this issue? It seems as if I'm dealing with the same problem. Wondering if I should take the comp to the Apple Store tomorrow.

  • by clodo9,

    clodo9 clodo9 Feb 1, 2016 5:33 PM in response to wartez
    Level 2 (194 points)
    Feb 1, 2016 5:33 PM in response to wartez

    hi wartez,

    please post a question of your own, with more details, also on your computer, and problem.

  • by Akari A.,

    Akari A. Akari A. Feb 2, 2016 12:19 AM in response to jellyberg
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Feb 2, 2016 12:19 AM in response to jellyberg

    Hello Jellyberg,

     

    This sounds like it may be a kernel panic that is happening - as the below article link can help explain a bit further.

     

    OS X: When your computer spontaneously restarts or displays "Your computer restarted because of a problem." - Apple Supp…

     

    This can be software or hardware related, so trying to isolate which one is the key to getting this issue resolved. There are several ways to do this, as that above article will also go over too. The quickest way to see if it might be hardware related would be to boot the Mac into Recovery Mode and see it it randomly powers off when in this area of the computer.

     

    You can boot to Recovery Mode by powering off the Mac > pressing and holding the "command + R" keys before powering on the Mac. Keep holding down these keys until you see the option to select a main language or it will display four options: Restore From Time Machine Backup, Reinstall OS X, Get Help Online, Disk Utility. If you get the the main language, select your language and continue to see the four options. Leave it this was to see if it randomly powers off on its own again.

     

    If it does, than it will most likely be hardware related and a store would be the next step.

     

    If it has no issues when in Recovery Mode, making a Test User and booting into Safe Mode would be the next steps to help isolate further.

     

    - The Test User will isolate if it is an issue related to your specific user account or if its a system wide issue.

    - Safe Mode will isolate if the issue may be related to 3rd party software.


    Testing in each of these areas separately would be the way to get the best results to help isolate where the issue may be coming from if software related.


    A few questions that may help provide more answers too :

    1. When you unplug the power cord, are you doing so from the back of the iMac itself or from the wall socket?

    2. Have you tried another wall socket and/or power cable?

    3. What OS X version number is the iMac running on?

    4. How often and/or long does it usually take it to randomly power off? Ex : An hour, hours, at least once a day, days?

    5. Do you get any error messages, and if so, what do the errors say?


    As a side note too, if this happens again, try holding the power button for about 12 seconds, releasing it, and then trying to turn it on normally. This is to see if it might just be unresponsive in starting back up to the desktop but still was on.