MacBook Pro Shuts down randomly

I had this issue on a mid 2014, 15” MacbookPro (11,2), under OS X 10.11, 12 and 13.

Both renaming the kernel extension and running the python script worked.

However, just inactivating the service also worked for me.

In the Network control panel, select the thunderbolt bridge connection(s) and make the service(s) inactive from the options drop-down menu, at the bottom of the frame.

Whenever you need a wired connection through thunderbolt, activate the service and do your work (running the python script at these times to avoid crashes). When done, inactivate again.

BTW if you boot to recovery partition (CMD+R), renaming AppleThunderboltNHI.kext does not require inactivation of the system integrity protection through csrutil or issuing commands as sudo (since you run as root). I you just need to navigate (with the `cd’ command) to your main HD extensions folder (usually /Volumes/Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/Extensions/) and rename (with the `mv’ command) AppleThunderboltNHI.kext . If you can boot your mac from another partition, internal or external, you can do that through the Finder.

MacBook Pro 15 - Retina - 2014 MID - CATALINA OSX

1. Reboot with CMD + R

2. Open terminal In Utilities

3. csrutil disable

4. Reboot in normal mode

5. Terminal: cd /System/Library/Extensions

6. In order to turn off read-only in Catalina in / catalog run in terminal: sudo mount -uw /

7. Open this catalog in finder /System/Library/Extensions

8. Find file AppleThunderboltNHI.kext and right click Get Info than click Sharing & Permission

9. Instead of read-only change to read & write

10. In terminal: mv AppleThunderboltNHI.kext AppleThunderboltNHI.kext.BAK

11. After that Instead of read & write change to read-only

12. Reboot with cmd+R

13. csrutil enable

14. Reboot in normal mode and forget about the problem :)

BEWARE!

Driver fix will not be applicable with Catalina. When you install Catalina, It partitions the disk into 2 and save the OS on a Read Only partition. You can’t change driver to .bak. I will try disabling or removing Thunderbolt on Network and let you guys know.

Let's take a very hard look at that battery, There are known issues on your machine with it. https://www.macrumors.com/2017/10/13/app...

Please download, install, run and post your findings.

Coconut Battery

http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutba...

Guys!

I've replaced the AppleThunderboltNHI.kext with one from El Capitan (it's version is 4.0.4), and now my MBP15 late 13 stopped shutting down.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gDWF65... — here is the link.

Hope it'll help you too!

You can prevent the random shutdown by connecting any device to the Thunderbolt port. Don't have one, then do the following:

Boot to recovery:

1. Click on Apple logo at the top left of the screen.

2. Select Restart.

3. Immediately hold down the Command and R keys until you see an Apple logo or spinning globe. You will see the spinning globe if the Mac is trying to start macOS Recovery via the internet because it is unable to start from the built-in recovery system.

Open Terminal :

1. Type csrutil disable and press return.

2. Reboot

3. Open terminal

4. go to /System/Library/Extensions

5. sudo su

6. enter the user pwd

7. type "mv AppleThunderboltNHI.kext AppleThunderboltNHI.kext.BAK"

8. Reboot to recovery

9. Open the terminal

Ok Guys So Here’s the FIX with BIG SUR

I did few modifications with whatever was available on internet to solve this problem

Step 6 & 7 are few modifications which I did.

Here it goes

Reboot in recovery mode (CMD+R)

1. Utilities -> Terminal
2. csrutil disable
3. csrutil authenticated-root disable
4. mount - uw /Volumes/Macos (Enter WHATEVER YOUR MACOS DRIVE NAME IS, my macOS drive name is Macos)
5. cd /Volumes/Macos (Enter WHATEVER YOUR MACOS DRIVE NAME IS, my macOS drive name is Macos)/System/Library/Extensions
6. rm -rf AppleThunderboltNHI.kext
7. rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/*
8. Kmutil install -u --force --volume-root /Volumes/Macos (Enter WHATEVER YOUR MACOS DRIVE NAME IS, my macOS drive name is Macos)/System/Library/Extensions
9. bless -folder /Volumes/Macos(Enter WHATEVER YOUR MACOS DRIVE NAME IS, my macOS drive name is Macos)/System/Library/CoreServices —bootefi --create-snapshot

FORGET THE PROBLEM :-D

You’ll need to perform these steps every time you update Big sur with their security updates n all.

No need to enable SIP

Have a good life :-)

This article lists some possible fixes.

There is also a lot of discussion about what the problem was, possible solutions, attempted solutions, etc in this thread: MBP turns off Randomly Without Warning. You might find other options in there if nothing in the first link works.

Good luck!

Okay ladies and gentlemen after 4 months of testing I have isolated the issue.

• Updated to Mojave problem still persisted
• Removed Thunderbolt port in Network Preferences problem still persisted
• Reset PRAM problem still persisted
• Reset SMC problem still persisted
• Took my MBP to the genius bar, all hardware passed diagnostics problem still persisted
• Took my MBP to mac specialist, said it was a software issue or logic board issue. roll back OS to previous state problem still persisted.
• Rolled back to previous state problem still persisted
• Rolled back to Mavericks original factory OS problem still persisted

3 things that could be wrong after this troubleshooting:

1. CPU Core voltage is causing the random shutdown
2. iGPU is bad (requires logic board replacement)
3. Logic board needs to be replaced

Before throwing in the towel to replace the logic board I attempted to try to code the python script posted by Anders Wiggers myself with no success as I ‘ not a coder and spent 3 hours wrecking my brain. so I decided to use the Mac-Mods software for $10 and ran the software which creates a gear spinning on the bar and voila the laptop no longer randomly shuts down!

Updated to Mojave and just an FYI the gear is no longer in the bar but the laptop does not randomly shut down.

The problem is CPU core voltage related which is corrected by the python script or the Mac-Mods software for $10. if this does not work it is most likely a logic board issue.

Good Luck

Hi. Guess I get to join the party. My late 2013 MBP 15 has been shutting down. Using High Sierra.

I tried a lot of the suggested fixes I could find online with no success.

It would run ok and not crash if I had my audio hardware plugged into thunderbolt. If I unplugged, it would crash in a matter of minutes. I turned off the Thunderbolt /Ethernet ports in Sys Pref, and that seemed to work for a while. But, instead of entering sleep mode, it would shut down. Thought it was working enough to bring it to work (where I dont have a TB device) and it shut down within minutes of turning it on. UGH!

Currently, I have the TB/Ethernet ports set back to “using DHCP”, but I decided to shut off my wifi (I’m currently typing on my work PC). My Mac is currently not shutting down, until I turned the wifi back on, then it shuts off in minutes.

So, no TB plugged in and wifi OFF and machine acting stable. I’m curious if anyone else has had things stabilize by turning off wifi. And further, what this means for me and my MBP.

Thanks

For whatever reason putting my flash drive in the USB slot fixes the problem. o.0 I havn’t tried the wifi thing yet, but that sounds interesting.

I do not think the issue resides with the battery at all. Apple products are know to do stupid $@$* to "protect " their devices. Sometimes your computer does stupid things from the humidity being a little to high for this delicate expensive device and trips a fuse. That being said a fuse in your motherboard could be fried and it keeps get tripped and it shuts down your computer. So this might need a full replacement of the mother board but I do not know for sure. Get a reliable repair person to check if this the case. This repair might cost half as much of the computer so I think it might be in your best interest to buy a new computer if this is the case. This repair could be very cheap though if the person just needs to replace the fuse and nothing else.

In reply to the past comments about random shutdowns with MacBook Pro late 2013, I also have this experience and I think I have solved it, at least on my MacBook. . My MacBook Pro experiences this random shutdown, and has been for many months, however only in High Sierra. I also boot camp into windows this shutdown does not occur when in Windows in Bootcamp. I erased the entire drive and installed El Capitan and I have not had a random shutdown since then.

Any updates on whether this problem was fixed in Mojave or not?

i guess not… seems they have forgotten about us

there might be a lot of reasons for that.

It might be due to physical power cord or motherboard or power supply.

Better to visit and consult some local support shop.

If you want to figure out this on your own, then you have to diagnose the problem, you will have to try different things.

You have to try to Reset your MacBook (follow this decent article on the internet for that https://www.experthoot.com/how-to-reset-...)

You have to try to pull out and pull in the battery(yes you will have to open your MacBook)

SOLUTION FOUND! I have a MacBook pro with the same issue. I found connecting and external monitor or TV with the HDMI cable corrects the issue. Then I purchased a CompuLab Display Emulaor on Amazon for $8.50. It's a small dongle you connect to your HDMI port. It fools the laptop into believing it has an external monitor connected. Better than an $1100.00 board. I put the link below. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FLZ...

P.S. I tried all of the solutions out there and none of them worked for me.

Best Wishes to you all,

Port

My Macbook Pro 2013 had the same problem. But then I found this free python scripts with explanation:

https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/9p...

and after some month of terrible problems and an increasing frequency of random shutdowns my mackbook runs the first time without charger and any shutdown. I almost cannot believe it...

Now since 20 days it works absolutely well. I can use it as before the problem appeared. Even the weak battery (from permanently charging for a few month) works very well again.

I can really recommend this simple solution.

Jens

Hi everyone.

Im running Mojave on my MacBook Pro 13” Mid 2014.

Im still having random shutdowns, even though that I have tried all the following solutions:

NoCrashMBP (RealMacMods) as well as another 3 level no crash python script, from a German Mac/computer specialist workshop.

Pythonscript from Anders Wigger

Moving the AppleThunderboltNHI.kext file

I have even put in a new fan with new thermal paste on.

I’m now using Macs Fan Control as I noticed that the fan ran at 1399rpm as a default, and It didn’t increase in speed when I did CPU heavy tasks.

I now simply have no clue, to what my next step should be to resolve this quite annoying issue. 

I’ve tried to get a crash report, when it shuts down, but as far as I am concerned I can’t get any or find the location of it. 

Does any of you have any experiences to share regarding my situation?

SOLUTION FOUND! I have a MacBook pro with the same issue. I found connecting and external monitor or TV with the HDMI cable corrects the issue. I then purchased a CompuLab Display Emulator on Amazon for $8.50. It's a small dongle you connect to your HDMI port. It fools the laptop into believing it has an external monitor connected. The dongle eliminates the need for the external monitor. Better than an $1100.00 board. I put the link below.

P.S. I tried all of the solutions out there and none of them worked for me.

Best Wishes to you all,

Port

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FLZ...

Hi All,

I have the same problem on a MacBook Pro 15’’.

I used a thunderbold cable for patching back to back the 2 thunderbold ports on the mac .

This is working fine as well.

this solution is not working with Catalina 10.15.6 update, any other solution, please?

Hello, for all the people who have this problem, replacing the motherboard for 600€ solved this issue

guys I have a huge FIX TO THIS AND TRUST ME IT WORKS BETTER THAN I THOUGHT. IF YOU HAVE NO USE FOR A THUNDERBOLT PORT LIKE ME, YOU CAN ACTUALLY DELETE THE THUNDERBOLT .KEXT FILES IN FINDER. FOLLOW THE STEPS PROVIDED BY OTHER PEOPLE ABOVE AND REDIRECT TO THE EXTENSIONS FOLDER AND DELETE ALL THUNDERBOLT FILES. THIS MADE SURE THAT MY MAC NEVER CRASHED AND FOR ME IT WORKED PERFECTLY

Hi all,

I recently started experiencing random shutdowns similar the the ones other folks have described here (opening the laptop from sleep to find it shutdown, shutting down randomly even when on wall power, etc.).

Before finding this thread, I tried a bunch of other troubleshooting steps (testing w/ different SSD, different battery, re-installing OS, etc.), and nothing seemed to work.

After following the advice here and removing the ethernet network preference thing and changing the .kext to .BAK, I was super happy to find everything working as normal.

Unfortunately, after about a week of no shutdowns, I had another random shutdown.  I check the network preferences, and somehow the thunderbolt ethernet preference had reappeared.  Does anyone know why/how this would have happened (no software updates in that period, automatic update off)?

Anyways, I was hopeful that that was the issue, but deleting it did not solve the issue.  I checked the extensions, and all the .kext were still renamed to .BAK.

I bought the NoCrashMBP app that other people have had success with, but that also did not do the trick, and my machine is shutting down very frequently.

Unfortunately seems like I’m running out of things to try - has anyone else had a similar issue with reoccurrence of this problem?  Was anyone able to solve it?

——

A bit of extra information that may or may not be helpful - if I check for previous shutdown cause, the code is always either -60 (bad master directory) or -74 (battery temperature exceeds limits).  This was also the case when I initially had the problem, and since changing the .kext fixed it, I don’t think these shutdown codes are accurate, since it shuts down even when things are very cold and battery temp is room temp (per temp monitor).  I suppose it’s possible I had two problems show up at once (thunderbolt bug and battery problem), although that seems unlikely since I also tested with another battery and the problem persisted.

I am running Mojave 10.14.6 on a mid-2012 rMBP.

UPDATE:

Turns out my issue was actually the CPU overheating - after replacing the thermal paste (and heat sink since I had to cut it away because all of the screws holding it in stripped out..), I haven’t had a shutdown in 5 days!

If you’re looking at this thread and none of this is working, I’d encourage you to check your CPU temps and if they’re high think about replacing the thermal paste. I think the only difference in symptoms (and I wish I’d paid more attention to this initially and realized my problem might be different) is that the fans did not spin up after the computer died as others here are mentioning. The machine just shut off and went silent/dark instantly. Other than that very similar to what others are describing, so a bit tricky to identify the problem.

More info can be found in my comments on this post: MacBook Air shuts down suddenly

I have had trouble in the past when updating the OS and the machine hanging and then shutting down. When it first happened I thought that the machine was finally done. But plugging in devices, particularly a Thunderbolt cable to an external hard drive (though I think I may have also used regular USB for other external drives on other occasions) kept the machine from going through it’s random shutdown and got me through to being able to use NoCrashMBP. As you may have read people use HDMI cables plugged in and have had good experience. Don’t know if this will help you.

I finally gave up on the renaming, just too painful now with Big Sur and just use NoCrashMBP and pay the price in shorter battery life. This has been a very painful exercise for a few years now for me. It’s hard to believe Apple has never acknowledged the problem or provided a real solution.

I think, battery too hot and unknown battery fault can be causes.

NoCrashMBP works like a charm been using it for several years now, never needed to updated it it just carries on in the background. Legendary fix.

https://realmacmods.com/product/macbook-...