MacBook Pro sudden shutdown

JBrown · 02-02-2007, 07:04 PM

Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a pretty serious problem with my MacBook Pro Core Duo. Here's the situation:

I recently wanted to resize my Boot Camp Partition, so I had to defrag my hard drive to do so. The problem was that iDefrag (the program I used) could not move the "sleepmage" file in /var/vm. This file is the "Safe Sleep" RAM image that your Mac makes when you put your computer to sleep (for those who don't know). So, I changed my SafeSleep settings so that the Mac would delete the file. It worked, and I resized my partitions. I then changed the Safe Sleep settings back to what they were before. Or so I thought.

The problem is that now, my Mac will just randomly shutdown when using battery power. Not when it gets low on battery power necessarily, just randomly. It gives no warnings about low battery power at all now.

The sleep image is there (confirmed by navigating to /var/vm) but when the computer shuts down, the restart does not read from this image, but from a cold boot.

The command that I used to change my sleep settings was of the "default.write.something" variety. I got it from MacFixIt's forums, which also included instructions on reversing the procedure. Unfortunately, someone over there decided that it would be best to delete the post before I could reverse it, and I had to find another means to restore my settings. What I used is:

sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 7

I used option 7 because I have encrypted my swap files.

Has anyone else heard of this happening? Any suggestions?

Thanks.

beaverhyde · 03-11-2007, 03:26 PM

You are certainly not alone.

Your problem may not be related to your Sleep settings... it may just be a coincidence that you were modifying those settings when your MacBook Pro started exhibiting the infamous random sudden reboot/shutdown problem, which appears to have existed in some form with both MacBooks and MacBook Pros, although maybe not for all the same reasons. Mine started doing this so now I'm researching known problems.

The problem, at least for many users, seems to be related to:
1) heat and/or
2) improperly seated hardware.

Check out:
http://www.macintouch.com/readerrepo...topic4139.html
And if there's not enough there, search for:
http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22mac...+OR+unexpected

Try systematically trouble-shooting your laptop and documenting what you find. Here's what I'm doing to trouble-shoot mine right now:

- disable all sleep settings
- disconnect all peripherals
- run it on only external power (unplug battery) for many hours, well into the time period where it's running hot
- keep on external power but plug in battery and keep running for many hours while hot
- unplug external power and run on only battery for as many hours as it last while hot
- if you're not seeing the sudden restarts during any of the above, repeat with processes running, like doing a backup of thousands of files to an external drive
- shut off, remove and reseat internal hard drive, then repeat problematic cases above
- shut off, remove and reseat memory card #1, then repeat problematic cases above
- shut off, remove and reseat memory card #2, then repeat problematic cases above
- shut off, remove and reseat memory card #3, then repeat problematic cases above

Apple Support may ask you to do some of these same things anyway (or they should, given the history of known problems with their laptops), although you obviously can't wait many hours on the phone while your laptop runs hot. It may be better to know these answers before you call them.

Good luck!

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02-02-2007, 07:04 PM	#1
JBrown Prospect Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: San Francisco, CA Posts: 46	MacBook Pro sudden shutdown Hi everyone. I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a pretty serious problem with my MacBook Pro Core Duo. Here's the situation: I recently wanted to resize my Boot Camp Partition, so I had to defrag my hard drive to do so. The problem was that iDefrag (the program I used) could not move the "sleepmage" file in /var/vm. This file is the "Safe Sleep" RAM image that your Mac makes when you put your computer to sleep (for those who don't know). So, I changed my SafeSleep settings so that the Mac would delete the file. It worked, and I resized my partitions. I then changed the Safe Sleep settings back to what they were before. Or so I thought. The problem is that now, my Mac will just randomly shutdown when using battery power. Not when it gets low on battery power necessarily, just randomly. It gives no warnings about low battery power at all now. The sleep image is there (confirmed by navigating to /var/vm) but when the computer shuts down, the restart does not read from this image, but from a cold boot. The command that I used to change my sleep settings was of the "default.write.something" variety. I got it from MacFixIt's forums, which also included instructions on reversing the procedure. Unfortunately, someone over there decided that it would be best to delete the post before I could reverse it, and I had to find another means to restore my settings. What I used is: sudo pmset -a hibernatemode 7 I used option 7 because I have encrypted my swap files. Has anyone else heard of this happening? Any suggestions? Thanks. __________________ Get busy living or get busy dying.

03-11-2007, 03:26 PM	#2
beaverhyde Prospect Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 1	RE: MacBook Pro sudden shutdown/restart You are certainly not alone. Your problem may not be related to your Sleep settings... it may just be a coincidence that you were modifying those settings when your MacBook Pro started exhibiting the infamous random sudden reboot/shutdown problem, which appears to have existed in some form with both MacBooks and MacBook Pros, although maybe not for all the same reasons. Mine started doing this so now I'm researching known problems. The problem, at least for many users, seems to be related to: 1) heat and/or 2) improperly seated hardware. Check out: http://www.macintouch.com/readerrepo...topic4139.html And if there's not enough there, search for: http://www.google.ca/search?q=%22mac...+OR+unexpected Try systematically trouble-shooting your laptop and documenting what you find. Here's what I'm doing to trouble-shoot mine right now: - disable all sleep settings - disconnect all peripherals - run it on only external power (unplug battery) for many hours, well into the time period where it's running hot - keep on external power but plug in battery and keep running for many hours while hot - unplug external power and run on only battery for as many hours as it last while hot - if you're not seeing the sudden restarts during any of the above, repeat with processes running, like doing a backup of thousands of files to an external drive - shut off, remove and reseat internal hard drive, then repeat problematic cases above - shut off, remove and reseat memory card #1, then repeat problematic cases above - shut off, remove and reseat memory card #2, then repeat problematic cases above - shut off, remove and reseat memory card #3, then repeat problematic cases above Apple Support may ask you to do some of these same things anyway (or they should, given the history of known problems with their laptops), although you obviously can't wait many hours on the phone while your laptop runs hot. It may be better to know these answers before you call them. Good luck!