Macbook Keyboard - Shut down issue

You do not need to disable the internal key board when plugging in an external one. Are you getting a dialogue box warning that the computer is going to shut down and asking if you want to? Or does it just shut down with no warning at all? Does the end of the magsafe adapter glow a solid green or orange? Have you tried ether a pram reset or SMC reset. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295 You could also try starting up in safe mode to see if the problem goes away. Start holding down the shift key.

Does this problem occur if you perform a Safe Boot? (restart the Mac - press and hold the left shift key after the boot chime - keep holding the left shift key until there is indication of boot progress on the screen).

Have you attempted to do an SMC reset?

Reset the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

Have you attempted to reset PRAM/NVRAM (restart the Mac - press and hold COMMAND+OPTION+P+R after the boot chime) keep holding all 4 keys through 2 additional chimes - release the keys.

Have you checked the status of the battery? What is the cycle count of the battery?

~Scott

Hi Ananth - You might also want to take a look at this article. OS X: When your computer spontaneously restarts or displays "Your computer restarted because of a problem." - Apple Supp…

You could be encountering a kernel panic that is not necessarily displaying the typical grey screen (the kernel panic screen).

12.5 hour time difference here (middle of the night) - so I won't be able respond for another 6 hours or so.

~Scott

Hi Ananth,

I stopped by the Mac Repair Shop near my house late this afternoon and explained your problem to the technician. He said that he has seen this behavior on a few occasions - and the fix is typically to replace the keyboard (which also includes the power button). In some cases the problem was fixed by removing the keyboard cable and cleaning the contacts with 90% Isopropyl alcohol and reinstalling the cable.

He also indicated that this problem has not been detectable even when using advanced diagnostic tools that Apple provides to repair shops.

I asked how one would go about buying a replacement power button - and he indicated that it is not possible to buy a power button by itself - to get the button - you would also have to buy a keyboard.

Apple only ships parts to repair shops. Some repair shops will sell parts to end users - but the end user must sign an agreement that there is NO Warranty on the replacement part if not installed by the repair shop that ordered it.

The technician indicated that sometimes the replacement keyboards have issues as well - and have to be sent back to Apple - so there is risk of getting a defective replacement part (with no warranty) if not installed by the repair shop.

Here in the US - Apple no longer repairs products that are at or beyond End of Life. End of Life products must be repaired at a repair shop. The 2010 MacBook is most likely End of Life.

He did not give me a price for replacing the keyboard because the shop was closing. If you want to email me your serial number (I think you can just click on my user name to do that) - I can have the repair shop look up an approximate price (although that would be a US price and could vary greatly in India) - just so you have an idea of what it might cost (it is somewhat expensive from what I understand). You might be better off putting the money toward a new and more modern MacBook Pro.

I hope this information is helpful and hopefully you will be successful at cleaning the keyboard cable contacts - or possibly find that the power button is simply sticking in a pressed position.

~Scott

Hi my ginger - I realize that you are asking Ananth this question - but I too attempted to reproduce the shutdown message on my Mid 2010 MacBook "Pro" 15". What I discovered is this behavior:

Quickly Press and Release Power Button - The MacBook Pro goes to sleep.

Press and Hold the Power button for 2 seconds and release - a shutdown options window appears - where you can cancel the shutdown. I believe this is what he is seeing every few seconds.

Press and Hold the Power button for 4 seconds or longer - force power off.

I'm on El Capitan so my message may be slightly different than what Ananth is seeing on 10.6. Here is a screen shot.

Also - he mentioned earlier in this thread that he had initially updated to El Capitan - and has since gone back and clean installed Snow Leopard. I suspect that during the El Capitan upgrade process - that any required firmware updates would have also been applied to his MacBook. Thus he should still have the latest firmware even though he reverted back to 10.6.

Ananth - can you confirm this is what you are seeing?

~Scott

Since you are on 10.6 (snow leopard) you steps might be slightly different.

Click on the apple menu - then click About this Mac - then look for an option to see additional information (I'm on El Capitan - so for me the option is System Report. You can also use Spotlight Search to open System Profiler. In either case find the option to show more information. In the Hardware section - click on Power. It will show you information about AC power and Battery Power. In the Battery Power area - there will be a cycle count and a condition. The "condition" should indicate "normal" and the cycle count should be less than 1000. If the cycle count is approaching or exceeding 1000 - then there is a good chance that the battery needs to be replaced.

Does this problem occur only if you are running on battery power - or does it happen when you are running on AC power as well?

Have you had this MacBook for a while - or did you recently acquire it from somebody else?

~Scott

Reformatting and clean installing definitely eliminates a lot of possibilities of the cause of the problem - but - a hardware problem could still cause a kernel panic. Have you checked the console logs - or tried to have console open when this problem occurs. Obviously - since the problem results in a shutdown - there would not be much opportunity to view the console right at the time the shutdown occurs. It does seem like a very unusual problem.

You could also try to run the Apple Hardware Test (insert the application DVD that came with the Mac. Press and hold the D key at the boot chime. Run the quick diagnostics to see if it reports an issue. Historically I have never seen the hardware test report any problems - even on a Mac that did in-fact have a logic board problem.

~Scott

Is the Mac actually shutting down and remaining shut down or is is restarting when the problem occurs? If it's staying off - then it's probably not a kernel panic - since a kernel panic restarts the Mac.

The keyboard shortcut to shutdown the Mac is CMD+OPT+CTRL+EJECT. Just out of curiosity - have you tried pressing these particular keys repeatedly (with the Mac powered off) - to see if there may be something stuck under them. It seems as if your Mac is behaving as if you are pressing these keys all the time. Have you tried using a can of compressed air to spray around and under all of the keys on the keyboard? I realize that this sounds very basic - but it does appear that something is failing with the keyboard itself.

Are you anywhere near an Apple Store or a trusted Mac repair shop. An Apple Store would typically have more advanced diagnostic tools than what can be achieved with the Apple Hardware Test on the Application DVD.

Since you have had this MacBook all along - when did this problem start happening?

Does the behavior change if you plug an actual USB keyboard into the MacBook (it could be any USB keyboard - such as a PC keyboard) - just to cause the Mac to think that another keyboard is installed. Might be worth a try.

~Scott

On the one had you say that if you press down any key and then let up the laptop shuts down. Then you also say, no problem with logic board, hard drive or ram and runs perfect when any key on keyboard is pressed. That has me confused. Have you tried using an external keyboard to see if the problem goes away?

Hi Ananth - I'm assuming you have the Mid 2010 MacBook "Pro" - Aluminum unibody - possibly the 15" with a Model Identifier of "MacBookPro6,2" under hardware information (system information). Can you check under Graphics/Displays to see if your MacBookPro has the dual Intel HD Graphics/NVIDIA GeForce card? There is a known problem with the Mid 2010 MacBook Pro with certain NVIDIA graphics cards. Apple was replacing the logic boards at no cost for up to 3 years. (The replacement program has now ended).

The graphics issue was causing a GPU Panic. If you are having the GPU Panics (which may or may not result in a Kernel Panic or may cause other strange behavior) - you will most likely find a message similar to the one below - if you search your console logs for "GPU Panic".

panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff7f93b65f63): "GPU Panic: [<None>] 5 3 7f 0 0 0 0 3 : NVRM[0/1:0:0]: Read Error 0x00000100: CFG 0xffffffff 0xffffffff 0xffffffff, BAR0 0xd2000000 0xffffff812d1f7000 0x0a5480a2, D0, P3/4\n"@/SourceCache/AppleGraphicsControl/AppleGraphicsControl-3.7.21/src/Apple MuxControl/kext/GPUPanic.cpp:127

If you are having the GPU Panics the - only remedy is to replace the logic board. The cost of logic board replacement may not be justified since the Mid 2010 MacBook Pro is at End of Life (or will be very soon).

Just out of curiosity: Does the MacBook Pro still have the shutdown problem if you boot up into the OS X Installer from the OS X Install DVD (restart while holding down the "C" key)?

~Scott