Filed under: Hardware, Surveys and Polls, Bad Apple, MacBook
Results of the SMC Firmware Update 1.1 Random Shutdown Poll
I know the suspense has been killing you. Here are the informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific results of the equally informal, unofficial, thoroughly unscientific poll in which I asked you whether the SMC Firmware update resolved your MacBook's "Random Shutdown Syndrome" (RSS) -- assuming your MacBook had RSS to begin with.
Of those who actually have a MacBook (64% of you who took the poll), only 10% of you have reported that the Firmware Update resolved your problem, with 6% of playing coy and waiting it out before confirming your results. 2% of that 64% group insisted the update was of no help and a whopping 40% were thrilled to report their MacBook has
So what does this mean? Nothing. There is absolutely no scientific value to the above numbers at all. It's a random sampling taking from an already skewed respondent pool. Except that we really really love polls and at least 3420 of you love them to.
The poll is still open - for those of you who can't get enough of clicking those little radio buttons. Go ahead and knock yourself out.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Concerned Citizen said 10:10AM on 11-01-2006
I don't know how to 'send in information' to you guys, but i noticed that all video links on the iT(M?)S are gone!
No TV? No Movies? I need The Office!
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Debbie said 10:27AM on 11-01-2006
I checked out itunes store and saw same thing...no movies or tv shows...but at the very bottom of the page, I had to change selection to United States in choosing store...and they were back. Wonder why it changed to Switzerland or something?
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Trojan said 10:33AM on 11-01-2006
The text in this article doesn't jive at all with the image of the poll results.
You say that 10% of the 64% of people who have a Macbook reported that the problem was solved, but that's incorrect, 10% of the total respondants did (327 out of 3420 votes) In fact, 16% of people with a MacBook, reported that it fixed their problem.
All of the remarks in the post indicate that the precentages are of the 64% of users who have a Macbook, when they are infact the percentage of total poll respondents. So your 40% of people who didn't have a problem is in fact, 69% of respondents with a MacBook do not have a problem with Random Shutdown Syndrome.
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Eric said 10:38AM on 11-01-2006
So, here is the result:
31% of the MacBook Users who voted in this Poor has/had RSS problem. (18%/(18%+40%)
Although that figure that be lower as many "Problem Free" macbook owners might prefer remain silent. We can still expect at least 10%-20% of Macbook on the market are defective.
I believe that any consumer electornic that has over 3% defective rate deserve a mass recall from their manufacturer.
You say whatever you want, I believe Apple simply fucked a lot of macbook users.
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Neil said 10:45AM on 11-01-2006
Well, I've got a Macbook that was experiencing RSS, but I took it in for repairs. I received it a couple of weeks before this firmware update was released. So far no RSS, but who's to say it was the repair or the firmware update?
I couldn't answer the poll, since this situation wasn't an option.
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Laurie said 12:06PM on 11-01-2006
Yeah, Trojan, early morning math was never my thing. English I struggle with before noon as well. At least in this case the correct information still won't make the poll any more meaningful :)
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Phil said 12:39PM on 11-01-2006
"Of those who actually have a MacBook (64% of you who took the poll)"...
You're seemingly having some problems with statistics...
So 10% of participants owning a MacBook or 10% of all participants? If latter is the the case - as your graph suggests - it's plain wrong. The percentage of RSS problem cases should be calculated from the total number of MacBook owners. Right now you also count the iBook owners.
Total votes 3420 - iBook owners 1466 = 1 954 MacBook owners
So about 70% of MacBook owners (1355/1954*100) never experiencend RSS
About 18% of MacBook owners (355/1954*100) accomplished to cure their RSS with the update while about 30% of MacBook owners have experienced RSS at least once, so Eric's right.
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Sherman Homan said 1:08PM on 11-01-2006
82.73% of all statistics are made up.
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mark said 1:34PM on 11-01-2006
You wrote:
"at least 3420 of you love them to."
Guys, I love tuaw, but it's "too." And you're missing a comma. "At least 3420 of you love them, too." :-)
I've seen this particular error several times on your blog. If you're going to publish something, you've got to pay attention to spelling and grammar. :-)
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Aleks said 2:42PM on 11-01-2006
In my case, I was receiving the random shutdown maybe 2-3 times a day. After applying the fimware update, it resolved the issue completely!!
I'm pretty stoked about this, I thought I was to be computerless for a week if I had to take in my Macbook into the Apple Store!!
Thanks Apple! 5 Years being a mac user (3 laptops + 1 desktop) and not one issue at all (besides the moo then now the random shutdowns which both were solved with firmware updates)
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Daniel Cheung said 3:08PM on 11-01-2006
I want to point out another problem raised by installing the SMC 1.1 firmware update: killing the battery.
After I installed the firmware, I noticed that the battery indicator kept fluctuating between "Calculating..." and "Charged". Naturally, I thought it was an issue to do with a non-calibrated battery; therefore I recalibrated my battery in the hopes of eliminating this problem.
To my surprise, after I drained the battery completely, it WOULD NOT CHARGE anymore!
Evidence that this is happening to many people:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3099980�
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3177288�
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Daniel Cheung said 3:23PM on 11-01-2006
Fixed the links:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3099980
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=3177288
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Ross said 3:27PM on 11-01-2006
I should have come back and admitted my mistake earlier, but I suppose now will do.
My "random shutdown" problem started to occur at the same time TUAW started to heavily report on it. I assumed I had the same unknown problem as everyone else. But for me it only happened when running on battery power, which always left a question in my mind.
Well it turns out the problem was with the battery. It became VERY clear after a few weeks and the battery really started to swell (it wasn't noticeable at first). New battery, no more shutdowns.
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Ed T said 4:12PM on 11-01-2006
I have a macbook with no issues for 2 months running near 24 hours 6 days a week.I will NOT be installing b/c I don't need this screwing up what i have running properly now.
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John Laur said 5:37PM on 11-01-2006
My mom called me a couple days ago complaining that her macbook was shutting down randomly. The machine is a week 22 machine purchased in June. The problem just started happending a couple of weeks ago and began increasing in frequency. By the time I got to it yesterday to install the update it shut down three or four times trying to get it to even install.
1) Boot computer and use it for a few minutes to confirm problem. Random shutdown.
1) Boot computer, set up wireless SSID and WPA. Random shutdown.
2) Boot computer, (it auto joins the wireless), load safari, download update. Random shutdown.
3) Install update. Random shutdown.
4) Boot computer, run update which reboots it and installs..
5) Reboot computer. Work for 30+ minutes. No random shutdown.
The SMC update in this case appears to have completely fixed the issue. I still wish I knew what was the root cause of the problem or why a firmware update fixes it. It's kind of unsettling to think that something is horribly wrong inside there and some software workaround is the only thing keeping the machine from eating everything...
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desert woman said 8:34AM on 11-02-2006
The Firmware update fixed the RSS shut down I experienced and I had no problem with the battery.
So I'm a happy girl now..
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Baz said 8:51AM on 11-02-2006
I've not (yet) experienced RSS/RSD on my Week 29 MacBook and though I've installed the firmware patch, I'm not convinced that this will resolve the issue for good.
Releasing a patch that simply seems to turn off or adjust upwards the sensitivity of a sensor that may report singeing wires and or internal heat damage to your MacBook sounds like good news to Applecare and a whole lot of bad news to users.
Perhaps Apple is hoping this will simply get the MacBook through its warranty period before permanently kacking.
Meanwhile, what with Apple not being proactive and offering repairs to MacBooks sent in before RSS'ing, its hard to imagine what sort of resale value the affected (and un-repaired) range of MBs will eventually have come trade-in time.
For may part (and well before the firmware update) I've have - when at home - the back corners of my MB propped up on a couple of erasers, giving the MB some additional ventilation at a fraction of the cost of a coolmat - and probably saving Apple the aggravation of a visit from me at the local Apple Store Genius bar and the cost of a heatsink/logic board.
I expect their eternal thanks for that....
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