My Mac just restarted itself!?!

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gavspen
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by gavspen »

mikehalloran wrote:Yep again. You set this in Energy Saver, if I recall.
Yeah I see that but it isnt checked. Would you guys still expect it to restart even if it's not checked?

I certainly hope the power supply isnt getting ready to pack it in, but I must say it seems very unlikely that Con-Ed had even the briefest power outage at this time of the year. Just doesnt happen. Maybe it is the outlet, as was suggested.

Now, the other weird thing that's happened here is that about the same time all this is going on, two RAM sticks died. (I cant really be sure when that happened but I just found out when DP started acting up.) Odd, or what? Can there be any connection? (Three cheers for OWC's lifetime warranty.)
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leigh
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by leigh »

gavspen wrote: Now, the other weird thing that's happened here is that about the same time all this is going on, two RAM sticks died. (I cant really be sure when that happened but I just found out when DP started acting up.) Odd, or what? Can there be any connection? (Three cheers for OWC's lifetime warranty.)
Bad RAM can cause a Kernel Panic which now causes a restart with a small window saying something unpleasant happened.

**Leigh
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by dix »

Check Apple Discussions. Spontaneous restarts by MacPros is a known, albeit mysterious, thing. It's happened to me maybe 4 times over the last 4 years - it didn't occur at all for the first 3 years I owned my MacPro. It's worse for others. Last time I checked Apple Discussions there wasn't a clear way to diagnose or resolve the issue.
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by gavspen »

dix wrote:Check Apple Discussions. Spontaneous restarts by MacPros is a known, albeit mysterious, thing. It's happened to me maybe 4 times over the last 4 years - it didn't occur at all for the first 3 years I owned my MacPro. It's worse for others. Last time I checked Apple Discussions there wasn't a clear way to diagnose or resolve the issue.
Well that's kinda good, sorta....may not be the power supply then. Ok, I guess :?
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by gavspen »

leigh wrote:
gavspen wrote: Now, the other weird thing that's happened here is that about the same time all this is going on, two RAM sticks died. (I cant really be sure when that happened but I just found out when DP started acting up.) Odd, or what? Can there be any connection? (Three cheers for OWC's lifetime warranty.)
Bad RAM can cause a Kernel Panic which now causes a restart with a small window saying something unpleasant happened.

**Leigh
Is that a precise quote? "Something unpleasant happened"? I rather like that wording :wink:
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by stephentayler »

my weird restart happened on a MacBook Pro - so nothing to do with power supply then….

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leigh
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by leigh »

gavspen wrote: Is that a precise quote? "Something unpleasant happened"? I rather like that wording :wink:
No. I was thinking of the Dorothy Sayers murder mystery book, "The Unpleasantness At The Bellona Club". "Something unpleasant happened" is a nice euphemism for "Kernel Panic".

**Leigh
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by Grigri »

Hello.

Last month, I had the same issue (macpro early 2008, 8x2.8Ghz). I did some research on the apple discussion forum, someone there mentioned that changing the lithium battery have solved his problem.
I have changed this battery and now I didn't have the problem at all. It's worth a try, this battery cost 2$...

When changing this battery, I have cleaned the dust on the video card and the RAM card.

I hope that you can fix this problem, it's really annoying when it happen... I wish you luck!!!
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by gavspen »

Grigri wrote:Hello.

Last month, I had the same issue (macpro early 2008, 8x2.8Ghz). I did some research on the apple discussion forum, someone there mentioned that changing the lithium battery have solved his problem.
I have changed this battery and now I didn't have the problem at all. It's worth a try, this battery cost 2$...

When changing this battery, I have cleaned the dust on the video card and the RAM card.

I hope that you can fix this problem, it's really annoying when it happen... I wish you luck!!!
Interesting, thanks for that. You were having this happen frequently? It's only happened to me once so far, but if it happens again I'll try that.
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Grigri
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by Grigri »

gavspen wrote: Interesting, thanks for that. You were having this happen frequently? It's only happened to me once so far, but if it happens again I'll try that.
You're welcome!
I had two series, the first one was two month ago. I had several restart in one day... I was mad...
Then it was good for a long while and it reappeared again recently. Same crap, computer restarting 10 times in one hour. That is then I've found this battery fix on the apple discussions.

Since I have changed the battery, it didn't happen again, finger crossing :-)

All the best
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by Prime Mover »

Try getting a really robust power conditioner/surge protector. I had a computer once with a dubious power supply, and the tiniest electrical anomaly would cause it to restart. I hadn't done it then, but I think I could have fixed it with a good power conditioner. I currently have a kitchen outlet that flips the breaker when more than two appliances are running, I threw a high class surge protector on it (not your average power strip), and suddenly everything's running great!

Everything you are saying points to power supply failure, I had exactly the same thing happen once. Maybe a good surge protector will help even out the voltage and keep your power supply from going out (at least for a while). Probably want to get that replaced eventually.
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by Thomas.B. »

That happened to me yesterday for the first time on my MacBook Pro 17''. However, I did get warning that the Mac had to shut itself down and reboot due to some hardware/software issues. I assume it's a new feature of OS Mavericks. :wink:
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Re: My Mac just restarted itself!?!

Post by Kubi »

So far for me it's always been fixed permanently by changing the Lithium battery on my MacPro 3,1 - well, permanently until the battery gets weak again. :) Maybe once every 18-24 months or so?

I also generally clean dust from the air intakes, fan etc. once I'm in there. Always a good idea.

:smash:
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