MacBook's Shut-Down Issues Adddressed

[picch]

MacBook shut-off addresed

A vocal minority of MacBook owners experiencing intermittent shut down issues with their systems for the last two months will be pleased to hear that Apple is acknowledging and addressing the issue.

Apple recently notified service providers that customers who report experiencing the random shut-down problem should submit their systems for evaluation and that Apple will replace the faulty parts in systems deemed affected by the flaw. Parts affected by the issue are said to include the logic board and heatsink.

Affected MacBooks span the serial number range 4H617-4H635. Apple expects repairs on affected MacBooks to begin early next week.

[Unregistered]

Have you insider knowledge about the number of MacBooks affected by random shut downs? Only Apple can tell how wide-spread the problem is and they are very very silent...

[picch]

I haven't herd any numbers.

[mjones1]

My macbook Pro is about three months old, and I occsaionally experience this as well...


Just for statistcal purposes. ;)

[amccabe]

My Macbook started randomly shutting down. I tried clean installing it before taking it in and it didn't help (I wanted to clean install anyway).

The La Encantada Apple Store said it would be one day to fix, but it ended up being 4 days (because they got busier than expected). I got it back Friday and have been using it extensively with no problems since then.

They are replacing the heatsink on these early Macbooks because apparently a heat sensor on the heatsink is malfunctioning and sending incorrect temperature information - sometimes going above the shutdown temp and causing it to immediately shutdown without warning.

I also just read a good article about it on Macworld here:

http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/10/20/macbook/index.php

and apparently there is a classaction suit organizing:

http://www.appledefects.com/?p=129

[dcv]

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macbooksmcfirmwareupdate11.html

Supposedly, this 1.1 Firmware update addresses the random shutdown issue. Anybody with a Macbook willing to give it a try and report back?

[amccabe]

I ran the firmware update and I am pleased to say that my temperatures dropped by 10 to 20 degrees Celsius idle and 5 to 10 degrees under load. So they probably made the fan spin faster, although it isn't noticeably any louder.

It says that the update should be done by all macbooks, including the ones that have been serviced.

[dparm]

Control your fan speeds & monitor your temps with this utility:


http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/10/27/howto_macbook_fan_cooler/

[efischle]

The firmware update was also rumored to increase the maximum volume in the macbooks. I have to say, mine was a lot quiter before the update. I can actually hear my music from across the room, I used to have to bend over the keyboard to hear anything. And I think my computer is also about 10 degrees celcius cooler, too.