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MacBook Pro randomly shutting off.

B747Man

B747Man

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 10, 2020
13
0
So I am having an issue which just started today where my MacBook pro is randomly just shutting itself down and I don't how to determine what might be causing it and need your help. The only thing I could think it might be is the temps so I downloaded Istat and here is what the temps were.
Macbook pro Temps
https://imgur.com/a/QiUOhV4
Also I made sure to use some compressed air to make sure the vents were clear but didn't help.
So are these normal temps or is it getting too hot? If not what else might be causing the problem that I can check?
Thanks
 
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simonmet said:
What is your battery cycle count and health?
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly the battery had a cycle count of 260 and the battery health was around 88 percent.
 
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Battery is likely the issue - how many years old is it?

it's not uNcommon for a "healthy" battery to die when placed under heavy load
 
robvas said:
Battery is likely the issue - how many years old is it?

it's not uNcommon for a "healthy" battery to die when placed under heavy load
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help. It is a mid 2014 15" with pro Retina display.

Just out of curiosity how do you know its the battery? Is it because of the cycle count and battery health? If so how much does it usually cost to have someone put a new one in or how easy is it to do yourself?
 
B747Man said:
I'm not sure but I don't think so. Its just says Macintosh HD APFS Volume and is an SSD with a 500GB capacity.
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You may have to remove the drive to see. I ask because I was asked to have a look at a mid-2014 15" i7 that would shut off randomly. Turns out changing the drive from a ssuax to ssubx stopped this from happening.
 
You can’t rush to conclusions about anything. I asked about the battery because I noticed it was an older model (with GeForce GPU) and the screenshot was on battery, but that cycle count and capacity seem ok. Also, if it happens on charge then that confirms it’s unrelated to the battery.

So it could be any number of things, sadly.
 
B747Man said:
I'm not sure but I don't think so. Its just says Macintosh HD APFS Volume and is an SSD with a 500GB capacity.
Click to expand...
Actually, look at the SATA option of system report and look at the link width. If it's 4, it would probably be an SSUBX.
 

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Audit13 said:
Actually, look at the SATA option of system report and look at the link width. If it's 4, it would probably be an SSUBX.
Click to expand...

The link width is 2. The model shows as Apple SSD SM0512F.
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It's a Samsung SSUAX as I don't think Apple used Toshiba or SanDisk for their 512 GB SSD.

I know it seems strange but, as I said, I had a mid-2014 15" i7 16 GB and it would randomly shut off. It did not matter how full the battery was or wasn't, whether the charger was or was not connected, or whether it was running High Sierra, Mojave, or Catalina. I could install the OS and it would not power off. Once I boot to the desktop, start using Safari, or just look at my preferences, it would power off. It could be anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes after logging in that it just powers off.

Switching from an SSUAX to SSUBX stopped this from happening and has worked perfectly for weeks since the drive swap.

www.ifixit.com

Mid 2014 Retina MBP random shutdowns - MacBook Pro 15" Retina Display Mid 2014

About 5 days ago, I started getting random shutdowns. It isn't really going through a shutdown sequence I don't think, as there is no "dial". The screen goes dark, but there is still a glow to the screen. The keyboard light stays on for maybe 10 seconds, and then the computer turns off. When...
www.ifixit.com www.ifixit.com
 
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I have similar problem with MacBook Pro 13" 2015. MBP randomly shutts down. It happened on battery but on the charger as well. It happened with different ssd too... I am worried that it could be mainboard. Would not change it in that case...
 
souko said:
I have tried with Sintech adapter and ADATA SX8200 Pro ssd.
Click to expand...
I would have thought this would fix the problem if the MacBook did not support ultra-low voltage CPU states.

Did you try running the MacBook without the battery connected. I know it will be slow but it could be a battery issue.
 
Battery has 86% and 449 cycles. Can it happen because of battery even if it happened with charger connected? Problem for testing without battery is that it happens irregularly and sometimes not in 3 weeks.

I tried SMC and PRAM resets and it did not help...
 
souko said:
Battery has 86% and 449 cycles. Can it happen because of battery even if it happened with charger connected? Problem for testing without battery is that it happens irregularly and sometimes not in 3 weeks.
Click to expand...
I am not 100% sure that it should or should not happen with the battery connected. I'm just guessing here and trying to help isolate the problem by removing as many variables as possible. Maybe use it for a couple of hours without the battery to see what happens? If it shuts down, you know it's not the battery and you'll have to look elsewhere for the problem.
 
Audit13 said:
I am not 100% sure that it should or should not happen with the battery connected. I'm just guessing here and trying to help isolate the problem by removing as many variables as possible. Maybe use it for a couple of hours without the battery to see what happens? If it shuts down, you know it's not the battery and you'll have to look elsewhere for the problem.
Click to expand...

Yes, thank you for your help. Maybe I will try it. But there is low probability that MBP will shut down itself in that time. But I guess it is one of things I can try...
 
Someone recommended this app but I read that the app didn't work for everyone so I didn't buy it: https://realmacmods.com/product/macbook-pro-nocrash-utility/

Forgot to mention that I have a mid-2014 13" Pro that also has a weird power problem where it would start to boot and, before it gets to the login screen, it would power itself off. This happens regardless of the battery level, OS (High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina). If I connected a charger, same thing happens except it powers itself back on. I enter the file vault password, starts to boot, powers off, chimes, enter password, start to boot, and powers off. This can go on for 3 to 20 cycles before it gets to the desktop. Once on the desktop, it functions perfectly.

Now that I installed the beta release of Big Sur. The MacBook usually boots to the desktop on the first try regardless of battery level and whether a charger is connected.
 
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Audit13 said:
Someone recommended this app but I read that the app didn't work for everyone so I didn't buy it: https://realmacmods.com/product/macbook-pro-nocrash-utility/
Click to expand...

How the app works?
"The CPU has several power states and voltages. Some CPUs have become unstable at the extremely low voltage on one of it's cores. The CPU will sometimes briefly dip into that power state, and if it happens to be on the core wherein it is unstable you will see the “silent” crash. Screen goes black, a few seconds later it dies completely. This condition was observed with external test equipment, as well as through internal cpu voltage monitoring."

I have tried it. No problem since. It looks like for me was problem with stability of CPU.
Thank you for the link.
 
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souko said:
How the app works?
"The CPU has several power states and voltages. Some CPUs have become unstable at the extremely low voltage on one of it's cores. The CPU will sometimes briefly dip into that power state, and if it happens to be on the core wherein it is unstable you will see the “silent” crash. Screen goes black, a few seconds later it dies completely. This condition was observed with external test equipment, as well as through internal cpu voltage monitoring."

I have tried it. No problem since. It looks like for me was problem with stability of CPU.
Thank you for the link.
Click to expand...
I never tried the app.

All I had to do was change the SSD from a 2-lane model to a 4-lane model. I already had a spare 4-lane drive so my fix was free :)

Glad it worked for you👍
 
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