What is keeping my MBA from turning off?

[RxMacX]

My i7 Macbook Air, aka My Precious, won't shut down about 85% of the time. When I tell it to, the screen goes gray and I get the spinning gear-wheel, but it does not shut down until I force it to by holding down the power switch. I've let it sit for long periods (10+ minutes) while spinning. It just sits there until I force it off.

I have tried killing various processes and utilities I use (I suspected SugarSync, but that doesn't seem to be it), and I've run Repair Permissions, but nothing works reliably and I can't seem to find out what's stopping the shut-down. How can I find out? Is there a log file created during shut-down that might help me troubleshoot this, or something? Would a Genius Bar tech be able to help? All ideas welcome, and thanks.

 

[simsaladimbamba]

Have you tried an SMC reset yet?
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

 

[RxMacX]

Provisional success. Thank you! Will try again later after Mac has been on for a while. (Reliability of shut-down command gets worse over time.)

 

[snorkelman]

console system log might give you a hint if you can plow through it

Take a note of the time when you click shutdown and home in on events in the log after that thru to when you get to the next set of system restart entries

Probably easier to wait five mins or so after forcing the shut down before starting back up again, all the log entries are time stamped and will make the shutdown entries in the log easier to separate out from the ones for the next restart.

 

[RxMacX]

Thanks for the tip, snorkelman. I ran console, scanned the system log, and found it polluted with hundreds of entries from the Fitbit dock, which I recently installed (and forgot about). I have removed the software and unplugged the device.

Making progress...