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Possible fixes for a MacBook Pro sudden shutdown issue
Authored by: pmanster on Jan 11, '11 04:37:02AM

I just went through this whole process and took many suggestions from various forums. My issue was that my 15" Mac Book Pro was functioning fine when connected to power. But using my battery, the power would work for a very short time, with the battery life showing anywhere from 40-80 percent and then suddenly my laptop would shut down. No warnings or other indicators. I would recharge the unit and see that the battery register was still showing a high percentage of charge.

As possible fixes I tried a free anti-virus that found several Trojan horse programs that would be an issue if I was using a PC but nothing Mac related. I also installed and ran AppleJack but it did not help my issue.

I took my Laptop to an Apple store where the Genius showed me that my battery was holding less than 1/2 the charge of its original capacity. It also showed 356 charge cycles which my battery was rated for a life limit of 300. I already knew this from checking the system profiler. But I was still surprised at the fact that the laptop shut down without warning with what appeared to be a decent charge.

So my advice to anyone experiencing this same thing is to check the Power section of the System Profiler before doing all the things I did. If it shows that your cycle count is above the total number of charges for your battery is rated for (my Sony battery was 300) and or the charge capacity was well below the original capacity of a new battery (mine was at 2456 when the capacity of a new one is at 5455 mAh), then you should simply bite the bullet and buy a new battery. I did and my issues vanished. I bought the 90 day warranty version which takes your old battery in exchange instead of a boxed battery with the 1 year warranty. This saves you $30.

Another thing I learned is that my wife has a regular MacBook (not a Pro) and her power charger / supply looks just like mine but is slightly smaller and lighter. It is a 60 Watt power supply and my Pro uses an 85 Watt. I was using her power supply at times and vice versa. Apparently it is not good for the battery for me to use the lower rated power charger. She can safely use a larger power supply but my Pro is not supposed to use a lower power supply. So bigger is no issue bit smaller is. At least that's what the Genius and my wife tells me.

I see plenty of issues regarding this but did not see anyone post a real conclusion. I hope this helps anyone with a similar issue using a Mac laptop.



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