MacBook Diagnosis

Follow up to More Macbook Weirdness

I found a nice write-up on the Apple Support forum for Macbooks concerning the random power off problem. I’d already tested most of these things, but I tried them a bit more methodically today.

Having found that an iDVD render could consistently cause the machine to shut down (after an unknown length of time), as could VisualHub running a transcode of a video file, I began to systematically eliminate everything I could.

I used multiple terminal windows running the ‘yes’ command to crank the CPU utilization up to maximum for hours, and the system didn’t shut down.

I reset the PMU and PRAM and the system still shuts down.

I created a new user account and was able to run both iDVD and VisualHub to successful conclusion, but then the system shut itself off while idling.

I’ve also run the Apple Hardware tests successfully – but on the second pass, the system shut down, which, to my mind eliminates the possibility that it is my OS install, since the hardware test boots a distinct OS environment on the DVD.

Tomorrow, I’ll re-seat my RAM and HDD. Fortunately, I have another set of RAM which I can try swapping out.

After that, it seems undeniable that this is a solid gold hardware failure of something core to the MacBook itself.

I’ve been putzing along on this diagnosis in the hopes that Apple will solve this problem – or at least acknowledge it – and come up with a suitable replacement program.

I really cannot afford to send my MacBook for a logic board replacement – even with the random failures, it’s my primary computer system with all my critical data and programs on it.

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