Help! Updated to macOS 10.12.4, MBP randomly shuts off

[Aaron Morris]

I've just ordered a new ssd (mac compatible pins) and I'll update on my findings, it should be here tomorrow.

INDMEM NVMe PCIe SSD 512GB Compatible for Macbook Pro 2016 and 2017 13 inch A1708(EMC 3164/2978) Non-Touch Bar

INDMEM NVMe PCIe SSD 512GB Compatible for Macbook Pro 2016 and 2017 13 inch A1708(EMC 3164/2978) Non-Touch Bar

www.amazon.co.uk

this was the one I ordered (I'm in the UK)

 

[DJSimonR]

I'll be interested to see what your results are. I bought a standard m.2 ssd and an adapter. I'm in the UK too.

 

[Aaron Morris]

I was thinking about doing that and I probably will if this is a fix, I just didn't want to introduce any other compatibility issues. did you use a crucial p2? I see that their 5112gb model is only £60 at the minute. Although I might do a 1tb upgrade if I can get the machine working reliably.

 

[DJSimonR]

I'm using the P1 with an adaptor from Ebay.

 

[Aaron Morris]

The first whole day with the new SSD, not a single crash. I'm going to get a 1tb drive and an adapter I think. So in my case, I can definitely put it down to either a hardware fault with the SSD or more likely some kind of software incompatibility with that specific SSD module.

I'm glad to have a working MacBook! hope this helps anyone else still struggling. For only £60ish you can get a permanent fix

 

[DJSimonR]

That’s excellent. If it is an SSD issue I am very disappointed that apples hardware diagnosis test didn’t pick anything up.

 

[Aaron Morris]

I'd run some more tests and hopefully use the drive externally but I'm finding it difficult finding an external enclosure for the apple proprietary socket they use. Have you done anything with your old drive?

 

[DJSimonR]

I haven’t no, I’ve just wrapped it up and put it away.

you might be able to get an adaptor for the Apple ssd.

 

[DJSimonR]

another issue that seems to have disappeared for me too is my machine getting really warm. when I first got it I noticed it was getting very warm quickly and because this was my first retina Mac I just thought that it was a trait. I installed Mac fan control and use to ramp up the fans a bit more to bring the temps down. I never got any throttling.

Now though, with or without Mac fan control, I am not getting any heat issues. the machine runs cool most of the time unless I put it under stress which is understandable.

I still use Mac fan control and set it ramp up more than stock and I let it idle at 2500rpm and the Mac is cold to the touch under general use.

 

[michaelafcadio]

Just thought I would let people know my experience since changing the drive. Has anybody else changed their drives and are still having the issues?

I have not tried it yet, but others have posted about similar experience with replacing the SSD and having success with this issue:

Help! Updated to macOS 10.12.4, MBP randomly shuts off

Hello! I can confirm Hardware fix of this problem. MBP 15 mid-2014 with 1tb ssd Was problem with 'random-shutdown' (it worked OK with the Thunderbolt-Ethernet-Driver removed) SSD was original MZ-KPU1T0T/0A6 - 1tb - 'random-shutdown' After installing MZ-KPV1T00/0A4 - 1tb - problem is gone. All...

forums.macrumors.com

@DJSimonR could you please post the exact model SSD with part number?
[automerge]1594586318[/automerge]

For clarity, I have an Apple SM0512F in my machine. It would be interesting to see if this is a common trait with affected machines

Yes, I also have 500 GB Apple SM0512F in my mid-2014 15" MacBook Pro Retina (MacBookPro11,3). There have been other posts in this thread about success after switching out the SSD.

 

[DJSimonR]

@michaelafcadio

So my original drive is a Samsung S4LN053X01 Model MZ-JPU256T/0A6 256GB.

I have replaced it with a Crucial P1 500GB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD CT500P1SSD8

I hope those details help. I would be very interesting to see if it's a batch of drive that are faulty or if its just random.

 

[rlf613]

I still cannot believe Apple has not acknowledged this issue at all given how widely it's been reported.

 

[DJSimonR]

That’s Apple for you.

 

[michaelafcadio]

I still cannot believe Apple has not acknowledged this issue at all given how widely it's been reported.

I agree and am frustrated by the lack of acknowledgement, let alone a fix from Apple.

However, the reality of the situation is that this issue primarily affects older hardware and therefore Apple sees little benefit from spending time investigating the issue and addressing it.

Does anyone have any ideas about predictions of how many users are actually affected by this?

 

[aresilop]

Hi, I signed up just to say thank you. I was doing the whole applethunderbolt thing but I saw that if you do change the ssd the problem goes away. I tried 1 week ago with a 512GB SSD from a macbook pro 2015 (so the speed is 3 times as fast as mine, macbook pro 15 late 2013) and I had no shutdown whatsoever !! I think it's well worth the 140€ thait I paid and I gained 256GB too. I hope this mac will last me 2years because of that !! And it will be way easier to sell too if it doesn't like crash everytime someone does an update. So swapping the SSD does really work!​

 

[s!deshow]

Letting everyone know that Big Sur will require an alternative strategy:
- The system partition can longer be mounted as root/written to without disabling "root protection" and file vault (and cryptographically signing a snapshot)
- The ThunderboltHNI.kext files are no longer at the same location where they used to be, likely its functionality is now sitting in a different driver completely
- The new kmutil utility could be helpful deactivating kernel extensions without deletion of files, but I have just started digging here.

Don’t upgrade to the Public Beta unless you’re fine with running one of the python based CPU exhausting scripts.

 

[timelessbeing]

Does anyone have any ideas about predictions of how many users are actually affected by this?

Well there's all the users in this topic. All the commenters on the dedicated random shutdown site (https://outluch.wixsite.com/rmbp-crash). And then there's the countless reports on the Rossman group forum. So I'd say it's a widespread problem. Any mention of it on the Apple discussion site gets 'cleansed' so we don't know how many people tried there and gave up.

I agree and am frustrated by the lack of acknowledgement, let alone a fix from Apple.

Oh Apple has a fix for you alright. They'll sell you a new logic board for $800. But the catch is that the replacement board has the same flaw which will pop up again when you least expect it. This is my second board and I've decided to just live with it. (and 4th charger). I'm sure they'd be happy to sell you a new laptop (with new problems).

 

[timelessbeing]

Letting everyone know that Big Sur will require an alternative strategy:

That's bad news. Do you have a faulty machine that you can test this workaround with?

 

[timelessbeing]

I wonder if anybody has tried a board-level repair service like iPad Rehab, or Rossman Group to get that faulty power chip replaced?

 

[owenchristian]

I wonder if anybody has tried a board-level repair service like iPad Rehab, or Rossman Group to get that faulty power chip replaced?

I did email Rossman Group about potentially having this fixed, and the response was "This is most likely related to CPU MOSFETs causing VCORE to drop out which can be fixed on average 2/10 times by replacing all CPU MOSFETs. Low success rate makes this repair unviable. I'm sorry "

 

[timelessbeing]

Hmm. Sounds like someone on the email didn't know what they were talking about. The problem chips are buck converters, not mosfet transistors.

I did some more research into it. I read that for macbooks with dedicated GPU, the success rate for replacing the chips is abysmal (~10%) and most end up coming back. However, for integrated graphics macbooks the success rate is 70-80%. So there is hope. But I can see how Rossman would refuse, since taking a customer's money for something that might not work is shady. In cases where it doesn't help, it means the CPU is permanently damaged.

What is still a mystery to me, is how CPU voltage and the Thunderbolt extension are connected.

 

[aresilop]

They'll sell you a new logic board for $800. But the catch is that the replacement board has the same flaw which will pop up again when you least expect it. This is my second board and I've decided to just live with it. (and 4th charger). I'm sure they'd be happy to sell you a new laptop (with new problems).

Ah man I'm not the only one who had to buy charger after charger because they just all burned out and it was long before the random shutdown !! Since I used the thunderbolt thing I never had this problem anymore but I had to buy 3 OEM charger for 80€ each, absolutely insane ... And before they propose to change the logic board they will propose to change the battery for more than 200€, guess what it doesn't fix the shutdown and then "well you can pay 800€ for the logic board" they drove me insane I'm glad I don't have this pb anymore. The genius bar is **** nowadays it is what it is.

 

[timelessbeing]

The chargers are garbage. They run so hot you could use it as a hotplate to cook your breakfast. I bought one this year that didn't even last a month.

 

[Tobs56887]

Has anyone had experiences with changing the ssd and then updating to Big Sur?

 

[Tobs56887]

Hi, I signed up just to say thank you. I was doing the whole applethunderbolt thing but I saw that if you do change the ssd the problem goes away. I tried 1 week ago with a 512GB SSD from a macbook pro 2015 (so the speed is 3 times as fast as mine, macbook pro 15 late 2013) and I had no shutdown whatsoever !! I think it's well worth the 140€ thait I paid and I gained 256GB too. I hope this mac will last me 2years because of that !! And it will be way easier to sell too if it doesn't like crash everytime someone does an update. So swapping the SSD does really work!​

Which state of software are you currently using? And did you still rename the files or did changing the ssd fix it?