John Cowan

Q: MacBook Pro shutting down randomly and difficult to restart

MacBook Pro 17" early 2009, 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

750GB ST9750420AS hard drive, 8GB RAM

Yosemite 10.10.5

 

Randomly shutting down - eg when sleeping, sometimes will shut down rather than wake - sometimes will simply shut down on its own (both happened when only power cable and ethernet connected). Sometimes when, for example, accessing iPhoto library on USB connected disk, as soon as Photos tries to start up - shut down. Sometimes when left at night (not sleeping) it's off in the morning.

 

Then can be hard to restart. For example, this morning...

 

Was sleeping overnight, pressed space bar - shut down

Refused to start a number of times (sometimes just a slight noise from the hard drive, then nothing, sometimes the grey screen and the Apple logo for a few seconds, then nothing).

Tried selecting Recovery Disk instead of Macintosh HD. Same as above.

Tried connecting usb cloned boot disk. Same again.

Reset SMC (have done this many times in the past, by the way). Same again.

Reset NVRAM (also done many times in the past). A much longer attempt to start up this time - progress bar under Apple logo almost half way, then shut down.

Reset SMC and NVRAM. Started!

 

The hard drive is a bit clicky and I have a replacement SSD drive on order, but I suspect this may well not be the problem. I live a few hours drive from the nearest Apple Centre so can't just pop in to ask the Genius Bar. Also it is my work computer, so can't really afford to be without it. Many years of software and files on board (although well backed up) so reluctant to erase disk and re-install. Trouble is though, if I fit the new drive and clone the existing one, will I be cloning the problem too!

 

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sep 15, 2016 3:30 AM

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Q: MacBook Pro shutting down randomly and difficult to restart

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  • by leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Sep 16, 2016 8:27 AM in response to John Cowan
    Level 7 (23,640 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 16, 2016 8:27 AM in response to John Cowan

    John Cowan wrote:

     

    but would the SMS still work if the power had been interrupted?

     

    when you are unplugged and mobile your HD would want the security of  SMS.

     

     

    In or out of warranty you can get a free over the counter 'Apple Service Diagnostics' test

     

    Go from there to make an informed decision of how to proceed.

     

    Genius reservation http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

     

    on-line https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action

     

    check warranty https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

  • by John Cowan,

    John Cowan John Cowan Sep 16, 2016 8:52 AM in response to leroydouglas
    Level 1 (103 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 16, 2016 8:52 AM in response to leroydouglas

    Hi Leroy

     

    It would be great to get an Apple Service Diagnostics check but, unfortunately, we are some hours drive away from the nearest Apple store, which is why I'm trying to figure the problem out with the fantastic help of guys like you in the discussions. It is sounding to me like there is an issue with the power - a (probably non-genuine) battery showing only 24 cycles after three and a half years indicates that perhaps all is not as it should be. The fact that the computer fails to restart from the main hard drive, or the Recovery disk or a USB connected cloned disk would seem to indicate that it's not software causing the problem. It seems most likely that something is causing an occasional interruption between the power supplies and the motherboard. It happens even when the battery is showing 100% and the magsafe connector is showing green.

     

    Do you happen to know if the mains power goes via the battery (in which case that could be where the problem might be), or are they two independent supplies to the motherboard (in which case the problem would be somewhere on the motherboard itself.... I'm guessing)?

  • by John Galt,Helpful

    John Galt John Galt Sep 18, 2016 12:28 AM in response to John Cowan
    Level 8 (49,226 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 18, 2016 12:28 AM in response to John Cowan

    24 cycles does appear to be a bit low for a three and a half year old battery. So maybe therein lies the problem?

     

    It's low, but a battery failure usually manifests itself in a very short run time, and should not be a factor at all if the power adapter is connected.

     

    User-installed batteries have had a very inconsistent record of success on this site, for reasons that are not clear. Maintaining battery QC from end to end is a major concern — consider Samsung's problems right now. Apple does not make internal batteries available to anyone other than Apple Stores or AASPs, so claims of "original Apple" or "OEM" batteries should be regarded with extreme prejudice. Since Apple does not sell them on the open market, where did they come from? Perhaps they were rejected by Apple. Perhaps they were stored improperly, perhaps they were subject to damage, or perhaps they just "fell off the truck" on their way to the factory. Perhaps they're simply counterfeit. eBay is a popular dumping ground for such things.

     

    In any event I doubt this is something you will be able to fix with software. Have Apple evaluate it.

  • by leroydouglas,Helpful

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Sep 18, 2016 12:27 AM in response to John Cowan
    Level 7 (23,640 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 18, 2016 12:27 AM in response to John Cowan

    It is a single route to the logic board. Is it simply a change of battery. Maybe spend the money buy a new one and report back.

     

    The DC-in board, associated circuits and traces, fuses, resistors and sensors—any of which could be failing.

     

    I agree with John Galt, highly skeptical this is something you can fix on your own and would bite the bullet and take it in.

     

    The early 2009 could be slightly different however  the scenario would be similar If you check your charging fuse F7040 on the board, use a multimeter and see if you have continuity. If you do not replace it with a 8A 24V 1206 SMC fuse.

    Charging is controlled by U7000 which is a ISL6258A It is a 28 pin QFN package,7 solder pads each side. It communicates with the SMC to activate charging and then uses a push-pull FET circuit to generate the charging voltage. There is a current sensing resistor R7050 just at 3 o'clock position from the fuse that feeds back the charging current information to U7000. It is a 0.01 ohm 0.5% 1W sensing resistor in a 0612 package.Check those components first and see what you get. You want to check the components around the charging IC U7000.

  • by John Cowan,

    John Cowan John Cowan Sep 18, 2016 12:54 AM in response to leroydouglas
    Level 1 (103 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 18, 2016 12:54 AM in response to leroydouglas

    The problem isn't solved yet although, thankfully, it hasn't happened again since Thursday. I'm waiting for my new SSD to arrive and when I open up to fit that I will check the battery connections (disconnect and reconnect) and the F7040 fuse. After that I shall do a clean install and, if the problem recurs, then bite the bullet and make an appointment with Apple. But at least I now have an idea of the likely whereabouts of the problem and will know what information to give them.

     

    I just want to say a very big thank you to you and to John Galt and Ogelthorpe for your very kind and expert advice. It is really, really appreciated and I will report back with any developments or results. Thank you!

  • by leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Sep 18, 2016 7:33 AM in response to John Cowan
    Level 7 (23,640 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 18, 2016 7:33 AM in response to John Cowan

    Did you run the Apple Hardware Test?

     

    AHT  http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509 Not definitive by any means, but may kick out an error code.

  • by John Cowan,

    John Cowan John Cowan Sep 18, 2016 7:52 AM in response to leroydouglas
    Level 1 (103 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 18, 2016 7:52 AM in response to leroydouglas

    Yes, I did the extended version - no errors showed up.

  • by John Cowan,

    John Cowan John Cowan Sep 25, 2016 2:45 PM in response to leroydouglas
    Level 1 (103 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 25, 2016 2:45 PM in response to leroydouglas

    I've just done another pair of Apple Hardware tests, which showed nothing wrong. The replacement battery is due in a couple of days so I shall be trying that but, wondering if it might be one of the RAM modules (2 x 4GB) at fault... can I safely take one of them out and run the MacBook Pro 5,2 with only one, to see if the problem still occurs? Or does it have to have both memory slots filled?

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