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Released June 2009 / 2.66, 2.8, or 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo Processor

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MBP turns off Randomly Without Warning

Every now and again my MBP will just shut down. It's become quite annoying. My only theory for the issue is that it's somehow over heating or drawing to much power and is trying to protect it's self and so it just shuts down. It will do it while plugged in or on batter, more times on battery though than plugged in. I've ran multiple hardware tests and everything comes back fine. I opened case up and checked for loose wire, especially the seating of the Battery as i replaced it about a year ago from ifixit. Any suggestions would be helpful. I've saved most crash logs but have no idea how to read them to begin discovering the issue. can post here if someone knows how to. Thanks!

Update (06/05/2018)

Hello, thank you for the help!

Screen shots from both apps you recommended:

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http://i66.tinypic.com/vifkgj.jpg

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http://i65.tinypic.com/2mc7h1c.jpg

I know the battery is in bad shape, but is that the cause of the shutdowns?

I've manually turned on fans, but still shuts down. I'm reduced to moving my laptop around the desk to find cool spots.

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Hi there, I got the same MacBook and last year

I start having troubles with the fan that sound very loud with the spinning, down load a free app to control the fans and temperature and look that don’t move faster than 2000 like yours, so I order a new pair, and changed, now the really got a great speed, forgot about the super high temperatures, or shoot down with no other reason.

so, tear down my computer to clean, removed the old thermal paste, and apply a new one, change the fans, both. New ssd, ram to the double than apple factory recomend, got 8 Gb

Split the hard drive and got Linux with Ubuntu go very well, hack the macbook and install Catalina.

Problems with iMovie, but don’t care, use a newer model or my iPad for the edition, I work with affinity apps, and go rey well, use hand break, QuickTime, zoom, and work great for me. Hope try the fans are cheaper, before star to fail in minutes, so

I stop working on the computer until I got the new fans. Hope this help you, I love the screen

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It sounds like you may have multiple problems here:

Now with the better diagnostic software running what is it telling you? Is the battery worn out? Is the charging circuit having problems? Is the temp running high and the fans not working?

Given the age of your system you may need to clean & reapply thermal paste on the CPU & GPU chips heat sink and clean out the dust buildup thats in the system. But for now lets see what the new tools are telling us.

Snap a few screen captures and post them here so we can see whats up.

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Ok so here is what i have done since. I decided to jump the gun and re apply some thermal paste just for some maintenance. During the tear down i found a Huge dust bunny in one of the fans so i'm sure my computer will be happy that i got rid of it so it can hopefully breath a little bit better. Next enjoyed applying the thermal paste As of right now it hasn't seemed be loud with the extreme use of the fans but i haven't used it off power supply yet and moving it around from 1 place to another to see if i can recreate random shut down. Right after applying thermal paste i also reset the SMC. BatteryHealth report reads: Current Max 6784 Original Max 6500 Cycles 140 Age 2.4 Temp 30.4 celc years says: Xscan current temp reads 50-60 degrees Celsius. (side note what temperature is considered bad?).

Would you know how to decipher this code? It seems to be repeating quite a bit

Feb 27 14:31:30 "Computer Name" kernel[0]: SMC::smcReadKeyAction ERROR F1Sf kSMCBadArgumentError(0x89) fKeyHashTable=0x0xffffff802f843000

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You'll need to check with ADNX support on their Xscan application on the odd behavior. I'm not sure what you're reading here on the temp as you have a few sensors. It's possible your reading is not correct as you have an error condition within the application. Why don't you give Temperature Gauge Pro a try and paste a screenshot of the screen. Click on the blue URL link above to get the free demo version.

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Looking at your snapshot it appears the fans are not working. Do you hear them? If not then I would start looking at the fan blades to see if they are running free and the fan cable harness to the logic board. Follow this IFIXIT Guide to step 10 MacBook Pro 15" Unibody Mid 2009 Logic Board Replacement to take the fan units out to clean them and make sure they are correctly mounted.

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They weren't running at the time of that screenshot right now they are running and i can hear them. Like i said above when i stripped the whole computer down to reapply thermal paste i took a huge dust bunny chunk out of one of the fans so hopefully that'll help it. here is another screen shot http://tinypic.com/r/j5y3c5/8

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Okay ladies and gentlemen after 4 months of testing I have isolated the issue.

Updated to Mojave problem still persisted

  • Removed thunderbolt port in Network Preferences problem still persisted
  • Reset PRAM problem still persisted
  • Reset SMC problem still persisted
  • Took my MBP to the genius bar, all hardware passed diagnostics problem still persisted
  • Took my MBP to mac specialist, said it was a software issue or logic board issue. roll back

OS to previous state problem still persisted

  • Rolled back to previous state problem still persisted
  • Rolled back to Mavericks original factory OS problem still persisted

3 things that could be wrong after this trouble shooting

  • CPU Core voltage is causing the random shutdown
  • iGPU is bad (requires logic board replacement)
  • Logic board needs to be replaced

Before throwing in the towel to replace the logic board I attempted to try to code the python script posted by Anders Wiggers myself with no success as i am not a coder and spent 3 hours wrecking my brain. So I decided to use the MacMod software for 10$ https://realmacmods.com/product/macbook-... and ran the software which creates a gear spinning on the bar and voila the laptop no longer randomly shuts down! Updated to Mojave and just an FYI the gear is no longer in the bar but the laptop does not randomly shut down.

The problem is CPU core voltage related which is corrected by the python script or the macmods software for 10$. If this does not work it is most likely a logic board issue.

Good Luck

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Then you have a bad cap in the PPBUS or PP5V lines.

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WOW! After 3 years of absolute frustration, anger and irritation with my Macbook Pro Late Model Retina Late 2013, finally a solution that works!!!! My computer shut down literally every 5 minutes for 3 YEARS! It also turns out this is a "known" issue with this Mac with Apple and they even had a recall because of it, although my "late" model had the issue, it didn't fall under Apple's recall. Total BS.

After being told I had to replace the motherboard by Apple, just after my year warranty expired due to a 'Loose Screw" for a cost of $1200.00 (I paid $1500.00 for it the year before), replacing the battery for $350.00, and running a myriad of tests, fixes, etc. over the last 3 years, this software took 2 min to install and my Mac works wonderfully since then!

If anyone is having the random shutdown issue, this is the fix plain and simple, for $10.00 and 2 minutes of your time. It absolutely works!!!!!

Here is what I did over the last 3 years to try and solve the issue, to no avail:

Reset PRAM problem still persisted

Reset SMC problem still persisted

Took my MBP to the genius bar, all hardware passed diagnostics problem still persisted

Took my MBP to mac specialist, said it was a software issue or logic board issue. roll back

OS to previous state problem still persisted

Rolled back to previous state problem still persisted

Rolled back to Mavericks original factory OS problem still persisted

Replaced Battery

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I would have spent $50+ for this fix. I did all the useless PRAM and SMC and other suggested fixes found on the Internet; nothing worked. I was about to tear into it and remove and reinstall the memory board(s), thinking it may be a marginal chip seating. Then I finally found Rvu’s post. I went to the website, paid my $10 and downloaded the app. NO MORE RANDUM SHUTDOWNS!

I’m so dang happy. RealMacMods are angels sent by God.

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I made a website while back (https://josefdolezal.github.io/whyismyma...) with description of the problem and links to the possible solutions. Take a look at fourth solution - it’s free and you don’t have to run some unknow software on your mac. There is one disadvantage though, you have to redo it every time your system updates (few times a year).

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Laz - I've moved your stuff to its own question so others could see it. Lets see what others say here as well.

Here's a link to yours: MBP turns off Randomly Without Warning

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Forget about the fans. Here is the cause, and cure:

https://realmacmods.com/product/macbook-...

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2 Comments:

this worked for me saved me a logic board replacement

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Thank you so very much, realmacmods. $10 solved the problem that had me driven out of my mind. I would have spent $50 easily to get this fix.

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Several good fix options in this thread: Randomly shuts down when not connected to an external display.

Two software fixes and two hardware fixes.

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There’s a macos rumors forum which says it has to do with cpu usage. I did notice that the problem started when I disabled spotlight, which chews the heck out of my cpu. Anyway I also ran your suggestion (disable thunderbolt ethernet)

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bballen023 will be eternally grateful.
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