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My MacbookAir tried to kill itself

FuNGi

FuNGi

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 26, 2010
1,122
33
California
I left the sleeping beauty charging until full. Grabbed it and put it in it's plush feathery padded sleeve for transport to the lab where I gently set it down until needed roughly 4 hours later. When I took the thing out of it's padded case it was burning hot and the fans were on full speed. I opened up the mac and it had gone into some emergency hibernation grey-scree mode. Then started up fine but only had 20 minutes of battery left and the fans were going at nearly 7000 rpm's! WTF happened? I couldn't help but think that this could have fried the battery or internals but all seems well a week later. The battery health is at 96% etc. etc.

Any ideas? Again, it was just a normal close the lid sleep, charge and unplug procedure.
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,031
7,872
It might have had a kernel panic. Did you have anything running when you put the lid down? Either way, it should have gone into sleep mode, so if it does it again, have it checked out.
 
onthecouchagain

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
I kind of wish the Air had a light on its exterior that told you it was fully asleep, kind of like the Pro does. I worry about putting my Air in a bag on the move too for this very reason. I know if it sleeps, it's a-okay, but what if it doesn't sleep. That's alarming.

Let us know what you discover, OP. I'm sure many--myself included--are interested in hearing more. Was it a particular program that kept it awake?
 
S

scarred

macrumors 6502a
Jul 24, 2011
516
1
As a matter of course, if you care about your computer, shut it down before throwing it into a bag or sleeve or whatever for any extended amount of time.

Often times, my work computer has woken up in the middle of the night to perform some defrag or whatever (windows 7, pre-configured by IT), and fries itself because it is in an insulated bag with no ventilation. Luckily I couldn't care less. =)

My new mac though, it gets shutdown before going into the bag. Shutdown and startup is so fast anyways. I'm new to OS X, so not sure these scheduled wake ups occur or not, but might as well be safe then sorry.
 
FuNGi

FuNGi

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Feb 26, 2010
1,122
33
California
That's right - the bag was most certainly blocking the fans. The question remains as to why it "awoke" from sleep in the first place. I had no unusual program running at the time that I don't normally run (Papers, Office, Endnote, JMP, Preview,iTunes, Dropbox,Endnote) and I almost never turn the little bugger off. Wake, sleep, wake, sleep, wake, sleep. I just restart it when updates roll out.

So far, as I've said, this week it has been functioning fine. I have been wary to put it in it's bag all alone however. I've got the jitters of a parent who's child has tried to hurt themselves inexplicably :eek:
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,031
7,872
Maybe it needs counseling? :)

I'd just watch it and see if it does it again. Restart it, just in case whatever caused it to wake up is still running.
 
onthecouchagain

onthecouchagain

macrumors 604
Mar 29, 2011
7,382
2
This has always been a. Concerned for me too. I guess I'll start shutting it down when on the move. As someone said the start up time is so fast anyway.
 
Cynicalone

Cynicalone

macrumors 68040
Jul 9, 2008
3,212
0
Okie land
Being an old laptop user, I've always been in the habit of shutting down before I travel.

I've had old Windows and Mac laptops that would wake themselves up in the bag and run dead.

They say the newer ones sleep better but old habits die hard.
 
bobr1952

bobr1952

macrumors 68020
Jan 21, 2008
2,040
39
Melbourne, FL
Sometimes my iMac awakes for no reason so I guess it is reasonable that can happen to new Macs as well. It may be a one in 100 or 1000 sleeps but it can happen and if it is in a bag--well it would get really hot for sure--seems reasonable to shut it down before it goes into the bag just in case.
 
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