MacBook Air shuts down after a few minutes

[1_orange]

Hi Mac users,

Problem:
My MacBook Air shuts down spontaneously after a maximum use of 2 minutes, sometimes even while its booting up. It doesn't go to sleep mode, from one second to another black screen and my laptop is off.

Opinion from repair store:
In a repair store they told me the mainboard has to be changed out, and it's not worth the price for this model.

Solution:
I thought it could have to do something with overheating (since my MacBook Pro 2011 had this overheating problem with the graphic card). I tried putting the MacBook Air on some freezing bag and started it... and what a surprise... it runs perfect now for already 2 hours... so the problem is definitely "overheating", but I have no idea which hardware is overheating... is it really necessary to change the main board? And tips, suggestions, advices,...?!

Model:
MacBook Air 11'' Mid-2012
1.7GHz Intel Core i5
Memory 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4000 512 MB
Software OS X 10.8.5


I would really appreciate your help!!! Thanks in advance!

 

[niteflyr]

Possibly the fan is bad or needs cleaning. You might try something like 'Macs fan control' app to set fan speed higher. 'Istat Menus' is another good app to monitor internal temperatures.

 

[1_orange]

Possibly the fan is bad or needs cleaning. You might try something like 'Macs fan control' app to set fan speed higher. 'Istat Menus' is another good app to monitor internal temperatures.

I will give it a try, even though I am sure this is not the problem. It's not that the laptop is heating up... it still feels "cold" on the outside. When I made the test with the freezing bag it was really freezing cold. Normally it shuts down before getting not even a little bit hot.

 

[kiwipeso1]

It's more likely that you need a good case to increase airflow to the bottom of the air.
(This is a cheap fix for that problem.)