Solution to my random shutdown syndrome

[rcronin]

I was having an increasing problem with my new MB shutting down randomly when I closed the clamshell. It would close all apps and even reset my desktop to default settings.

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53276

I called apple support about 3 weeks ago and they had me repair the disk permissions. It was okay for about 2 weeks and then it happened again. I called them back and spent a good deal of time with them on the phone. But it seems like it was the same thing. Disk permissions. So he had me fix them again. He said things just get out of "alignment" so to speak. That the speed at which the HD is spinning is like flying a 747 10 feet from the ground and counting blades of grass while you're at it. And that doing repairing/fixing (I don't know which is the right term) the disk permissions is a good idea to do 1 - 2 times a week. Now I just need to learn how to do it myself. I'm sure there's a link to it on Apple's site, right?

So was it a software issue? Or is that firmware? I don't quite know the difference. other apple cust serv reps I talked to were convinced that I hadn't downloaded updates. But that wasn't the case at all.

The guy that helped my was AWESOME BTW. I was very pleased.

Hope that's helpful info for someone.

 

[dadsgravy]

Repairing the permissions is in the disk utility. You can search for it in spotlight or find it in applications, utilities folder, disk utility. Apple.com/support is freaking amazing! You can search for and find thirty years worth of apple help articles. And There has to be more to your problem then just disk permissions. But I don't know what it is.

 

[cazabam]

I'd be tempted to reinstall the OS using the 'Archive & Install' feature (search the apple knowledgebase or this forum for more info on that). Basically its a way of reinstalling the OS without destroying anything.

On the subject of it turning off when it's asleep - does it literally just power down so it is 'off', or does it just not wake from sleep so you need to force a power cycle? That could be a problem with the battery.

I'm not sure about that analogy about the 747 - he seems to be implying that hard drives go so fast that they sometimes miss things. If that were the case, hard drives would be unreliable and unusable. The real reason permissions sometimes need to be repaired is because OS X keeps a list of 'ideal' permissions for certain directories and sometimes software changes permissions when it really shouldn't. Repair permissions just fixes what the badly behaved software broke.

 

[rcronin]

And There has to be more to your problem then just disk permissions. But I don't know what it is.

That's interesting. I wonder what it could be then. This is still very new. Not quite 3 months. Should I be talking to Apple again?

I'd be tempted to reinstall the OS using the 'Archive & Install' feature (search the apple knowledgebase or this forum for more info on that). Basically its a way of reinstalling the OS without destroying anything.

I might consider doing that. If someone holds my hand, lol.

On the subject of it turning off when it's asleep - does it literally just power down so it is 'off', or does it just not wake from sleep so you need to force a power cycle? That could be a problem with the battery.

It totally powers down with the shut down sound and everything and all my programs close w/o saving any data.

I'm not sure about that analogy about the 747 - he seems to be implying that hard drives go so fast that they sometimes miss things. If that were the case, hard drives would be unreliable and unusable. The real reason permissions sometimes need to be repaired is because OS X keeps a list of 'ideal' permissions for certain directories and sometimes software changes permissions when it really shouldn't. Repair permissions just fixes what the badly behaved software broke.

That makes sense. I like that explanation better, too.

 

[caribiner23]

The "747 ten feet off the ground" analogy is the one we used to use 'way back in the day to talk about why you shouldn't smoke near a data center where there were disk drives in use. Smoke particles are supposedly like a boulder on the disk's surface.

I agree with cazabam's assessment that the way the tech was using the analogy would tell me that hard drive technology is all wrong.

I would also suggest an archive-and-reinstall if this is causing that much trouble.