Please help: MacBook shutting down after 20mins of HD video

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I have a MacBook 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, running OSX 7.4. I have a 159+ GB capacity in my hard-drive and have nearly 45GB available.

My problem/issue: It shuts down after 20 mins of HD video playback (in mp4 format) even when only running the video & no other programs other than iAntiVirus. Shouldn't it be better than this? (By shut down, I mean it just shuts off).

It's about 3.5 years old, but when I bought it I maxed it out expecting to hold onto this one a long while.

I've deleted a lot of programs that I was no longer using to add to the GB space in hard-drive in an attempt to improve performance, but that hasn't worked.

I would appreciate feedback and/or ideas. Thanks so much!

Cheers,
-Eric;)
 

dtravis7


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Your Mac's Specs
MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
By shuts down, you mean it powers off after watching 20 Min of HD video?
 

chscag

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Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
I had that same MacBook for three years before I sold it. Never once had a problem playing HD video or anything else for that matter. Your MacBook could be overheating causing the machine to shut down.

Go to the ifixit web site and look up the instructions for taking the machine apart. Once apart, clean the fan and generally around the CPU and heat sink. Buy a can of compressed air to do the cleaning. Hold the blades of the fan while blowing air around it. Also clean out the vents between the case opening and the back under the display.
 

pigoo3

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I'm thinking the same thing as "chscag". Your MacBook may be overheating due to a non-working part...or just plain dirt/fuzz build-up...reducing cooling efficiency.

The MacBook may be able to cool itself fine when doing less cpu & gpu intensive tasks...but HD video is pretty much as demanding as it gets...so the computer will get very hot even when the fans are working 100%. If the computer is dirty...then the MacBook WILL overheat...and automatically shutdown.

- Nick
 

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