Hubbs Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 So, I got my first Mac about three years ago. It's a regular Macbook, and I've been very happy with it so far. I doubt I'll be buying a PC for a while. But all computers age, and mine's recently been showing a few signs. A few weeks ago, a couple programs started to crash out of nowhere (Word has been the worst). Just this weekend, the computer itself began to shut down without warning - no rainbow wheel, no freeze at all, just perfectly fine to a black screen in a split second. I ran software update just last week, and I can't think of any major changes I've made that would be doing this. My computer doesn't give me any information after I boot it back up; it acts like nothing went wrong (as opposed to the program crashes, when it will at least give me an "Oh ****, Microsoft Word just went bananas" message and a bunch of technical data). Do any of you Mac "Geniuses" out there have any suggestions as to how I can figure out what's wrong? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeysc23 Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Randomly shutting down is usually a power supply problem. Does this problem happen when plugged in and on battery? Did you get the applecare extended warranty? I think it would be best to take it to the Genius bar and let them diagnosis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boofMcboof Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 What kind of video card is in there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnhay Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Just a guess, maybe something's overheating? A fan could have crapped out or maybe there's too much dust trapped somewhere. Just putting another possibility out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanCollins Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 have you done a reinstall of the os? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubbs Posted January 11, 2010 Author Share Posted January 11, 2010 Randomly shutting down is usually a power supply problem. Does this problem happen when plugged in and on battery?Did you get the applecare extended warranty? I think it would be best to take it to the Genius bar and let them diagnosis. Hmmm. What kind of power supply problem would we be talking about here. (And it randomly shuts down on both.) I think my warranty's expired. What kind of video card is in there? I don't know. How would I find that out? Just a guess, maybe something's overheating? A fan could have crapped out or maybe there's too much dust trapped somewhere. Just putting another possibility out there. I've had that happen twice before and gotten a fan replaced each time, but I always knew it was happening because the broken fan would make noise. There's nothing this time. have you done a reinstall of the os? That was suggested to me on the phone, but it sounds like a huge pain in the ass. How long does it normally take? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boofMcboof Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Click the apple logo, upper left > About this Mac > More Info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackest Eyes Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Are you running Snow Leopard or Leopard? What other programs aside from Word are crashing? If you do not have AppleCare, you should take it to an Apple Store near you anyway. I had a problem with my Powerbook not recognizing a stick of RAM...turned out one of the RAM slots was faulty. They fixed it free of charge even though I did not have AppleCare. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackest Eyes Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 That was suggested to me on the phone, but it sounds like a huge pain in the ass. How long does it normally take? Not too long. An hour maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boofMcboof Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Did a little digging: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1599?viewlocale=en_US http://www.macbookrandomshutdown.com/ Maybe these links might help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeanCollins Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Here's a page with mac troubleshooting/ regular maintenance that might help http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=196761 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chachie Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Randomly shutting down is usually a power supply problem. Does this problem happen when plugged in and on battery?Did you get the applecare extended warranty? I think it would be best to take it to the Genius bar and let them diagnosis. Hockey's right. Buy a new battery and/or power chord at the Apple store or online. You should be fine after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeysc23 Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Hockey's right. Buy a new battery and/or power chord at the Apple store or online. You should be fine after that. That or a fan problem. Some how your computer is either overheating or recognize something faulty like ram. Apple doesn't like cheap ram btw Honestly if you think reinstalling an OS is too much of a PIA then take it to the genius bar and let them diagnosis and pay for the repair. Computer problems aren't easy but you can learn a lot by trying to do it yourself and search forums. I suggest macforums.com. If you do a resintall (simply put in the disk and follow the prompts to reinstall, make sure you backup important files first) and that doesn't solve the problem you have a hardware problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterPinstripe Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Reinstalling the OS likely wont do anything. The kind of crash you are experiencing points to hardware. There is no point in reinstalling the OS until you have ruled out all hardware problems which is pretty easy to do. Sounds more like the computer is overheating, could be you need to replace the heat-sink on it rather than the fan. As long as you confirm that the fan is turning on and running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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