After Yosemite Upgrade, my mid-2011 13" MacBook Air suddenly turns off while I'm working.

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After Yosemite Upgrade, my mid-2011 13" MacBook Air suddenly turns off while I'm working.

About 10 times in the past 12 hours it has suddenly turned itself off while in the middle of a task. This is not a logout, or sleep issue, the machine is simply not powered on anymore.

I believe I have isolated the issue to some sort of networking problem. I have only had this occur when Airport is connected to a network with a web browser open (Chrome 40.0.2214.115). I was able to reproduce the issue using these steps:

1. Airport is turned on but not connected to a network; browser is open.

2. Attempt to connect to a network

3. Machine suddenly powers down upon successful connection to the network

This happens when both the computer is operating on battery as well as if it is charging.

I'm running OSX 10.10.2 on a 13" 4,2 MacBook Air with a dual core i7 1.8GHz proc, 4GB of RAM with full disk encryption turned on.

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 25, 2015 11:29 AM

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Answer 1

my ginger

Level 5

4,904 points

Feb 25, 2015 12:11 PM in response to owenaar

Hi does this only happen in chrome? There is an issue reported where google chrome helper uses to much CPU. If so. in chrome settings/advanced/ systems, uncheck use hardware accelerator. Or check what extensions you have for chrome. You may have to disable some to find the one that causes this.

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Answer 2

owenaar Author

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Feb 26, 2015 4:06 PM in response to my ginger

I've experienced this today twice without Chrome open. I'm beginning to think it's a battery issue with my machine instead of a software issue.

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Answer 3

my ginger

Level 5

4,904 points

Feb 27, 2015 9:47 AM in response to owenaar

Hi. If you have the mag safe plugged in, it should not shut down even if the battery is a problem. If it does it with battery only then it is possible to be a battery problem.

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Answer 4

owenaar Author

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Feb 27, 2015 11:13 AM in response to my ginger

It does indeed power off when charging / using AC power. I'm also only at 750 charging cycles and this machine is rated for 1000, so battery issues are unlikely. Pointing the finger back at the OS. Anyone from Apple care to chime in?

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Answer 5

my ginger

Level 5

4,904 points

Feb 27, 2015 12:00 PM in response to owenaar

Hi. A good place to look right after a random shutdown is the crash logs. Utilities/console/crash logs. If you see something, but don't understand it you can post it here. Things you can do.Pram reset.Command/Option/P/R keys at startup for three chimes. SMC reset.http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295 Utilities/Disk utilities/ disk- repair permissions. Command R at startup to recovery screen and use the utilities option to check and repair your drive. Download Etrecheck and run it and post results here. http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck

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Answer 6

John Galt

Level 10

141,060 points

Feb 27, 2015 2:01 PM in response to owenaar

Power or other problems related to unexpected system sleep, shutdown, lights or fans call for anSMC reset. Read all the steps.

Before Resetting the SMC

Try each of the following steps in this order before you reset the SMC. Test the issue after completing each troubleshooting step to determine if the issue still occurs.

Press Command + Option + Escape to force quit any application that is not responding.
Put your Mac to sleep by choosing the Apple () menu from the upper-left menu bar and then choosing Sleep. Wake the computer after it has gone to sleep.
Restart your Mac by choosing the Apple () menu from the upper-left menu bar and then choosing Restart.
Shut down your Mac by choosing the Apple () menu from the upper-left menu bar and then choosing Shut Down.

Resetting the SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own

Shut down the computer.
Plug in the MagSafe power adapter to a power source, connecting it to the Mac if it's not already connected.
On the built-in keyboard, press the (left side) Shift-Control-Option keys and the power button at the same time. The power adapter indicator light may cycle off / on once.
Release all the keys and the power button at the same time.
Press the power button to turn on the computer.

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Answer 7

owenaar Author

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Mar 5, 2015 2:17 PM in response to John Galt

After trying a bunch of things, I took it to Apple for a hardware diagnostic test and it was indeed a bad battery. Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Hardware failure = 😟

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