Filed under: Hardware, Surveys and Polls, Bad Apple, MacBook
TUAW Poll: Did the SMC Firmware Update cure Random Shutdown Syndrome?
I'm seeing mixed results in the field as to whether or not SMC Firmware Update 1.1 actually resolves, once and for all, the Random Shutdown Syndrome (RSS) affecting many MacBooks, but more than a handful of comments on the original post indicate that it has solved their problem. Now that 24 hours has passed, I'm curious about what the rest of you are seeing.So, MacBook owners, did the firmware update work for you or are you still struggling to keep your MacBook powered up?
Update: Revised poll option added for MacBook owners that had no problem to begin with.
Update: Oops! Picture corrected. Grabbed a MBP pic from the file inadvertently.
Get a WordPress.com Blog
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Dway said 10:13AM on 10-27-2006
I have never had RSS.. :S
Reply
Sam said 10:18AM on 10-27-2006
Missing Poll Option: My MacBook has never had any Random Shutdown problems.
Reply
apt said 10:13AM on 10-27-2006
How about an option for those of us who never had the issue in the first place - i.e probably the majority of macbook owners...
Reply
Justin said 10:20AM on 10-27-2006
Nope, it didn't solve my problem. Although, I guess my Macbooks shutdown isn't random. Everytime the CPU starts to get hot (like dvd encoding) it shuts down. The apple store has already replaced the heatsink... not sure what to do next.
Reply
wackybit said 10:58AM on 10-27-2006
That's not a MacBook in the picture, isn't that a recolored MacBook Pro?
Reply
Douglas F Shearer said 10:33AM on 10-27-2006
Where's the 'My Macbook hard drive failed yesterday, so I haven't tried the SMC Update yet due to Apple having said Macbook?'.
Two weeks man! Too long!
Reply
okto said 10:30PM on 11-04-2006
Secret Option C: It turned my MacBook into a black MacBook Pro from Colorware.
Reply
table said 10:47AM on 10-27-2006
I wasn't even having the random shut downs and this fixed my problem.
My MacBook seemed to have some sort of logic issue where it would power on only like 30% of the time without turning off after five seconds. It was also incapable of waking up from sleep.
I even had the box Apple sent me to ship my laptop in for repair. Now I don't need to do that.
Reply
Bill said 10:51AM on 10-27-2006
any word on if this fixes the issue with screen flickering/brightness problems?
Reply
Martin Lee said 11:34AM on 10-27-2006
Well I thought it was a hardware issue. I took my MB into my local Apple Store (Regents St), they kept it and swapped out a heat sink part that was a fix for a 'know issue'. So I have no idea how a firmware update would make any difference.
Reply
Sebastian said 3:43PM on 10-27-2006
I can't install the update. I get the message: "An unexpected error occurred (0). Your firmware can not be updated."
Damn! :(
Reply
totoro said 11:37AM on 10-27-2006
Had my MacBook heatsink/logic board replaced after RSD-its worked fine for a month since-not sure if this firmware is added insurance or what.
Reply
Joel Heflin said 11:39AM on 10-27-2006
It fixed my RSS! Before the firmware update I was having to run a program that would keep my fan going full blast all the time to keep my processor from getting too hot and then causing the shutdown. I knew the exact temperature that would cause it to shutdown. After the update it soared past that temp and hasn't shut down once!
I don't know exactly what they did to get this to work but I am glad I didn't have to send my MacBook in!
Reply
Karita said 2:14PM on 10-27-2006
I don't know yet. I only started experiencing RSS a week or so ago almost time after start-up. It just shut down a few minutes after starting up. Then, when I try to turn the macbook on again, it shuts down instantly or almost intantly. Until it starts working again.
I guess I'll wait a day or two and see if the firmware update solved my problems, or if my macbook has a completely different, un-RSS problem...
Reply
Tomb said 12:07PM on 10-27-2006
I'm no engineer but when problem A is fixed by replacing a hardware component n'th % of the time. Why would a piece of software solve the problem? Unless the software turns off a fail safe that shuts down the laptop when bad hardware causes overheating?
My two cents? Apple's firmware raises the threshold for hardware overheating before the laptop shuts down. This might solve the RSS but in the long run your laptop is getting "micro"-damage because it's dancing on the edge of overheating (like you would with over-clocking a CPU). Who knows, it might even seriously decrease the life-expectancy of your macbook. But when problems arrive it will be out of warranty and no-longer Apple's problem.
Reply
Will said 12:17PM on 10-27-2006
Come on, Laurie... as a TUAW contributor, I'd expect you to be reading other contributors' posts:
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/10/17/new-macbook-heatsinks-exposed/
As some other people here have said, if you take your Macbook into the Apple Store, have them take a look at your crash log to verify the problem, and they'll take it in and replace your old heatsink with the newly designed one.
Reply
Boris Shubinsky said 1:07PM on 10-27-2006
How bout an option for us that had it, didn't fix it, got a new logic board and heatsink, and now have no problems?
Reply
Debra said 2:03PM on 10-27-2006
I already had my heatsink replaced and I downloaded this update and not quite sure why - mine has been tooling along fine since the heatsink replacement (3 weeks ago).
Reply
wilson britman said 1:45PM on 10-27-2006
It didn't fix my random shutdown problem (had to have a new heatsink for that), but it got rid of the mooing.
Reply
Jeff said 4:03PM on 10-27-2006
This seems to have fixed my screen dimming/flicker problems- fingers crossed, but my brightness issues have thus far disappeared.
Reply