shuts down randomly

Sorry if this has been covered somewhere before (I've searched the forum but couldn't really find any answers) but my black macbook from about october '06 seems to be shutting down randomly when the power drops below 50%.

Plugged in it works fine, but it's just a bit annoying when I need to be mobile. I have to admit i did install some third party memory but changed it back when I noticed the problem. Have I permenantly damaged her?

any help would be great, or if someone can point me in the direction of a previous thread with some answers! Thanks.

Sounds like it's a battery problem. Mine does it now that it's getting old too. Replacing the battery is about all you can do really, they don't last forever.

do you know if black and white macbook battery's are interchangeable? so that I can try out my brothers (fully working) white macbook battery in my black one to see if it really is the battery that needs replacing.

I have no idea which MacBook model you use or the OS X version you run on it... So if this is redundant, it isn't my fault.

MacBook: Shuts down intermittently

Also look into this article, MacBook and MacBook Pro Battery Update 1.2. Follow the steps with the battery update install and if it doesn't solve your problem, you will have to register with an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider to get it looked at and, maybe, replaced free of charge.

This isn't the same as the original problem. I have found mine just starting to do this too. 1st of all it would shut down at about 8% charge, in fact hut down is too kind, it just blinks off immediately. No sleep, no shutdown or anything.

Now it can do it as high as 40% charged, if the machine is under full load. The battery LEDs still indicate a good charge. Incidentally my battery has 82% health and OS X considers it to be in 'good' condition.

I'm at 523 cycles and 83% health. Yeah I've noticed it doesn't like having lots of things running at once, it just packs in and dies. Useless for video streaming and things like that.

To be honest this does sound pretty much like the original random shutdown issue:

That was caused by excessive heat buildup around one of the wires at the back of the logic board, which would cause something to come into contact with something else and a shutdown (I forget the details, but the Apple tech repair guy at our company showed me when he took mine apart).

The SMC update basically told the fans to come on sooner...


I don't see why the battery would effect this though, so maybe it is unrelated.

Aptmunich said:

To be honest this does sound pretty much like the original random shutdown issue:

That was caused by excessive heat buildup around one of the wires at the back of the logic board, which would cause something to come into contact with something else and a shutdown (I forget the details, but the Apple tech repair guy at our company showed me when he took mine apart).

The SMC update basically told the fans to come on sooner...


I don't see why the battery would effect this though, so maybe it is unrelated.

Click to expand...

It only happens when running on battery power, not if the power cord is connected. And yes, it always seems to be at full load, like watching the ABC HD player.

Zoolook said:

It only happens when running on battery power, not if the power cord is connected. And yes, it always seems to be at full load, like watching the ABC HD player.

Click to expand...

That's why I figured original Shutdown issue: That also mainly happened under full load...