Chosen Solution
I have a big problem with my Macbook Pro 15" Retina from late 2013! It crashes randomly. Showing a black screen for 10 seconds and then turning off. When i turn it back on it mostly crashes again after 30 seconds. I was not able to reproduce this problem manually. I tried to bring the Macbook to its maximum with 4k video, games, 4x yes-command, ssd-stress-test, etc etc … but still it wont crash. And sometimes its working for 6 hours with no problem. But then another day suddenly it crashes when i just have Mail and Firefox opened! Also it doesnt matter if battery is empty or full or cable is connected. I was in an Apple Store today and all of the hardware tests showed no abnormality and were fine. Battery is very fine too. I dont have any more warranty (2 years, 2 month) and they said they can replace the Logicboard for about 500€. Im desperate cuz the Macbook is my life, my work(-> income!), my studies, just everything.
It time to go to an ASP instead of the Apple Store. Apple has no incentive to tell you about this or the Genius may just not know. The ASP gets paid by Apple to do the repair so they will be interested enough to help you. Have this test run: https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro… Remember, Apple is no longer run by a real man like Steve Jobs but by a corporate money grubbing !$$&*, Tim Cook. Tim Cook’s Total Pay For 2014 Was Over $100 Million http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how…
I would start by clearing the log files and then reviewing them after the next event. Hopefully it caught something there. Black screen crashes are one of the hardest to nail down, often it’s a hardware issue. I would still go back to the Apple Store and have them review thier recall list. There where a few issues with this series related to the graphics.
Time to head to the Apple Store, recall time!
Short story: check and replace the thermal paste over the CPU and GPU. Long story: I had the same problem, notebook freezing and after a few seconds a black screen (most of the times a regular shutdown). Took it to the Apple Store for a diagnostic and everything seemed normal to them, although they offered a continuous test during several days, which I declined. I needed the machine and the freezes weren’t that often. I installed smcFanControl and that seemed to alleviate the problem. Things got worse and I noticed the crashes were happening when the notebook switched from the discrete to the integrated GPU (used gfxCardStatus for that). For example, if I ran an html game on Chrome (with hardware acceleration enabled) and that switched to the discrete GPU, after 5 minutes and closing the tab I would get the freeze almost every time. Before going to the Apple Store again and be told that the logic board needed to be replaced, I removed the heatsink to see the state of the thermal paste. It was dry and cracked, so I bought some Arctic Silver MX-4, cleaned the old paste and put the new one. Fixed the issue and the notebook has been working with no problems so far.
guys lets be realistic, dont you think that apple kinda send bugs in the new updates to make go buy a new computer as long as well are all experiencing the same issue?
Same model, same problems. https://xkcd.com/979/ In fact, my MBP crashed twice while writing this answer. Edit: Brought my MBP to an ASP. They diagnosed this to be an issue related to WiFi. They couldn’t reproduce crashes when connected over Ethernet. Even when they replaced the AirPort card with a new one, the crashes would persist, suggesting they had something to do with the logic board. So, they offered to replace the logic board for 800€, uncertain that it will even resolve the problem. Great job, guys! Now I have to decide whether to sell it broken or repair it before selling. Edit2: Brought it to an Apple Store for a second opinion. They found out that the crashes relate to a defective RAM module. Treatment is the same though: Replacing the whole logic board for 650€. I found some independent site which replaces RAM only for 100€, let’s see how that turns out… Edit3: Well, big surprise: They’ll actually return my device right away, since RAM is (very obviously) soldered onto the logic board. Why even bother to offer that kind of service? This means I’ll have go with (an independent) logic board repair (350€ max).
I had this problem with random crashes. Read through all your past posts and figured I Best Buy me a new logic board. Got the board and opened up the guide to start the tear down. I got my matchbook pro 15” 2.3 dual graphic 16 gm ram all taken apart to realize I had accidentally ordered a logic board with integrated graphics. Frustrated I put the whole computer in the closet and decided to give it a break. The more I thought about it I realized one major step in replacing the board is to remove the thermal paste clean it up real well, and apply new paste. The paste on the old board was dry and cracked. So because I needed to get back to work and was tired of ordering parts, I cleaned it up, put the paste on and installed the old board. I have never had a problem since. I believe the machine is shutting down because it is overheating, it has a built in safeguard to stop it from becoming damaged. But with dry paste the heat can’t displace properly causing it to overheat. I think that is why on a cool start it would certainly last me longer, but in the end I could tell it was overheating, but buy no means would I believe the board was bad as the computer always returned to good working condition once it cooled. Anyhow, I hope this saves someone a lot of hassle.. Good Luck.
try to format the Mac after making a backup, then try it without putting up to see if from the problem. you may also try installing Windows with Bootcamp and see if it has the same problem with another system operated
Try downloading a virus scan and see if there is any viruses
I have same issue and Apple store didn’t find anything. I have already formatted my Mac book pro 3 times. Did you find a solution ?
Yes: I sold it on eBay and bought we new one… :/ Update (21.03.2019) Exactly the same happened to my Macbook Pro, 15”, 2015. The Apple service provider changed the logic board 3 times. The third time i didnt took the Macbook home, we could reproduce the issue immediatly. In the end Apple gave me a brand new 2015 Macbook Pro.
Hello, I went to Apple store 20 times and they did all tests on my MacBook pro. They found out nothing. I insisted so much that they accepted to change my motherboard (650€) Since then, no more reboot and my MBP is stable….
Hello, same problem, went to the genius bar, they did hardware test but found nothing. I reinstalled the os in all available options (original, latest upgrade) but nothing changed. Today I have noticed that maybe it happens only without the charger connected, but I can’t figure out the connection between crashes and battery problems.
As answered in “MacBook randomly goes to sleep then shuts down” as well, I have the same problem but NOT when I have an external display connected.
I had the same issue. I called support first. The gent had me reset the PRAM, no fix. He had me re-install High-Sierra over the top - no fix. Next I reformatted and re-installed High-Sierra. During the re-install setup steps it would crash when I would enter in my AppleID information. Coming back in to re-do the setup it started crashing when setting up the wifi connection. Next I made an appointment with the Genius Bar. They bypassed the AppleID and sped through setup and ran hardware tests. All passed…..ugh. They were suspecting it was a High-Sierra issue so they downgraded to Sierra and couldn’t reproduce the issue and sent me on my way. When I got it home the crashing started again (exact same random black screen for several seconds then total power shut down on Sierra this time. I made another trip to the Genius Bar. On this second trip I left it with them to run extensive diagnostics. They reformatted the HD (which I had done already 3 times) and re-installed Sierra with a generic AppleID then ran it for 48 hours straight streaming looping videos - no crash. I took it home, plugged it in and all good……..until I unplug it. I have just left it plugged in for now but that random shutdown is looming for me next time I go mobile with it. They offered to ship it off and have all the internals replaced for $575 US which isn’t bad. I bought it refurbished so no warranty. Hope this helps someone. I have no hair left after dealing w/this thing.
The integrated gpu was the problem in my case. With an external display connected it never crashed. So I bought a dummy hdmi plug to fool my macbook that there’s an external display connected. It never crashed again….
