MacBook Pro Mid 2014 Randomly Shutting Down

[aeckzz]

Hi,
I'm a complete newbie but recently my mac has been experiencing random shut downs for no reason. This problem appeared from the beginning of 2021 and has become more frequent. Symptoms observed before shutting down are loud fan sounds and the laptop itself heating up. It doesn't seem to be a problem with the apps I'm opening because even if I'm on safari for a few minutes it would shut down. Some things I've tried are replacing the battery (battery cycle is now 1 and normal), clearing up storage space (276.56gb of 500gb available) and resetting the SMC. I've also read on the internet that this is a common problem for the 2014 MBP, so is there any solution to this problem?
Thank you guys in advance

 

[KeesMacPro]

Could be a thermal shutdown.
The CPU/GPU paste probably is original (7years old) and dry as a cookie and/or there's too much dust accumulated inside.
There are free apps to control the fans e.g. MacsFanControl you could install to check the Temps.

 

[aeckzz]

Could be a thermal shutdown.
The CPU/GPU paste probably is original (7years old) and dry as a cookie and/or there's too much dust accumulated inside.
There are free apps to control the fans e.g. MacsFanControl you could install to check the Temps.

ah so you're saying I should replace the paste? Where would I get that done?

 

[KeesMacPro]

ah so you're saying I should replace the paste? Where would I get that done?

I'd first check the Temps to see if this causes the issue.
MacsFanControl (free app) shows all Temps .

It is very likely that your MBP is dusty and the CPU/GPU paste is dry.
There are lots of howto's on e.g. YouTube , MacRumors ,iFixit .
If you think it's too risky/complicated I'd ask an experienced person/professional to do it for you.

 

[mikzn]

Yeah I agree with @KeesMacPro it could be a temperature / thermal issue (MacsFanControl is a great app 👍 )

That Said, It could also be caused by an app that "gets hung" and causes the CPU to run out of control (you can check this in activity control when you hear the fan) look for an app that is "using the CPU a lot" - Microsoft Update Agent can cause this among many other Apps (if it is an app maybe there is an update?)

Another issue that I had - was the battery was beginning to fail - expanded and pushing the mother board against other components - causing it to heat up and randomly crash and got more frequent as time went on
it is easy to pop off the back cover and take a look at the battery pads - see my post here - pictures

Hope that gives you a few more things to check

 

[aeckzz]

I'd first check the Temps to see if this causes the issue.
MacsFanControl (free app) shows all Temps .

It is very likely that your MBP is dusty and the CPU/GPU paste is dry.
There are lots of howto's on e.g. YouTube , MacRumors ,iFixit .
If you think it's too risky/complicated I'd ask an experienced person/professional to do it for you.

Yeah I agree with @KeesMacPro it could be a temperature / thermal issue (MacsFanControl is a great app 👍 )

That Said, It could also be caused by an app that "gets hung" and causes the CPU to run out of control (you can check this in activity control when you hear the fan) look for an app that is "using the CPU a lot" - Microsoft Update Agent can cause this among many other Apps (if it is an app maybe there is an update?)

Another issue that I had - was the battery was beginning to fail - expanded and pushing the mother board against other components - causing it to heat up and randomly crash and got more frequent as time went on
it is easy to pop off the back cover and take a look at the battery pads - see my post here - pictures

Hope that gives you a few more things to check

Thank you guys.

The photo I have attached is right before my mac suddenly shut down. Also @mikzn, what do you see when an app "gets hung" in the CPU section of the activity monitor.

I don't think battery is a problem because i just replaced it.

 

[KeesMacPro]

Thank you guys.

The photo I have attached is right before my mac suddenly shut down. Also @mikzn, what do you see when an app "gets hung" in the CPU section of the activity monitor.

I don't think battery is a problem because i just replaced it.

IMO the CPU and GPU Temps are indeed a bit high if this is at idle/ low load , but a thermal shutdown is at ~100-105 Celsius.
When there's bad contact between the CPU and the heatsink, the main problem is not that the CPU gets hotter, but the spikes in Temp of the CPU dont get stabilized, so if it (even shortly) peaks to ~105 , the Mac will shutdown.

Although not adressed to me :
When you open Activity Monitor and set it to "show all processes" you can see all CPU activity.
Might be interesting to post a screenshot of that too, if possible.

Nevertheless, with a CPU "going crazy" , the common symptoms are freezes/slow respons and/or a restart of the system , not a shutdown.

Another thing you could test is to boot your MBP from a clean installed OS on a USB drive, to exclude the internal drive as the culprit.

 

[madrich]

My recommendation to you is for you to take your computer to the Apple store and have them run some on site tests. Since the problem has gone on for awhile I think the motherboard could be failing.

There is also an Apple hardware test you can run on your own. You need to search in this forum for it or google it.