MacBook Random Shutdown – Fixed!

For many MacBook owners, the acronym “RSS” had a different meaning for the past 6 or so months.  The most commonly accepted definition refers to the syndication protocol Really Simple Syndication (for version 2.0, with slight variations on the theme for previous versions), as popularized through blogging.  But for the past 4 or so months since I purchased my MacBook, “RSS” has meant Random Shutdown Syndrome.  Yes, believe it or not Ripply, not all Macintosh devices are immune to faults.  So popular yet unrecognized was this problem that there’s even a dedicated support group.

After murmurings of a law suit by other RSS-affected MacBook owners, Apple seems to have put a few more resources behind resolving this annoyance and released a firmware update fix.  I installed it this weekend, and I am happy to report that this entry is being blogged from a MacBook which miraculously did not require the startup screech of death (by holding down the power-on button for about 30 seconds) after waking up from sleep-mode and passing out roughly two minutes later.

So all of you who couldn’t stomach the idea of being without your MacBook for a week to 10 days during its repair, I highly recommend installing this firmware update.  I can now put my MacBook back on the Best Laptop Ever pedestal.

Digg! delicious
Posted on Monday, October 30th, 2006 at 10:36 am and filed under geekery, macnuttery. Subscribe to RSS 2.0. Leave a comment or trackback.

2 Responses to “MacBook Random Shutdown – Fixed!”

  1. shu
    October 30th, 2006 at 12:24 pm

    i’ve never had mine shutdown on me (i applied the update this weekend anyway). was it really a firmware issue? the early titaniums had the issue where the battery contact would separate when flexed..

  2. matt
    October 30th, 2006 at 4:55 pm

    There are a number of reasons floating around out there, and while the most detailed explanation I’ve seen included photos of how the heat-sink wiring contacted the logic-board, I’ve also heard of people who had everything internal replaced and yet the RSS continued. So maybe it’s a mix – perhaps some threshold value in the firmware was set too low. I would like to think Apple is smart enough not to just provide a hack that turned some precautionary measure off – potentially leading to an even worse situation later on (i.e. melted wiring, for example). The fact that many MacBooks didn’t emit this problem until months of use definitely makes it a curious issue.

    But I’m just happy it’s over (at least for now! :)

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