Question

Mac OS 10.5.1 system (Mac Book Pro) won't shut down. It won't restart. The only way to get it to shut down is to turn it off

Asked by: PatrickDoman

I have some issues with a Macbook Pro system. It use to operate quite cleanly. It was fast, printed well, interfaced with the 2003 server with little issue. Now, when we get done with it at the end of the day the computer won't restart, the computer won't shut down, Finder appears to close but the system just hangs until I launch finder again. Then the desktop icons all close. I don't have any applications open at that point except for finder.

The screen goes blank.
The bottom bar is there with all of the applications listed.
It's like with Windows explorer when that closes. That seems to be where it is hanging. The only way to get the unit to power off is to manually shut it down with the power button.
I have run permissions repair on the disk.

It finds things everytime I scan. I will try to go through and document what it is finding for this incident. Is there somewhere I can start with this? It is the CEO's computer. I am more of a windows guy but I have a Macbook without these issues.

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Asked On
2007-12-18 at 18:07:10ID23032556
Tags

macbook

,

pro

,

shut

,

down

,

mac

Topics

Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard)

,

Mac OS X

,

Apple Operating Systems

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
3

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Answers

 

by: pheidiusPosted on 2007-12-18 at 18:59:02ID: 20497257

This problem is well documented (complained about) in the Apple forums.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6039737&tstart=0
 So much that I suspect it may not really be fixed until the 10.5.2 update.
In the meantime here are the instructions for resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)

MacBook, MacBook Pro

If the computer is on, turn it off.
Disconnect the AC Adapter and remove the computer's battery.
Press and hold down the power button for 5 seconds and then release the button.
Reconnect the battery and AC Adapter.
Press the Power button to restart the computer.

*taken from http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319

Hope this fix works for everyone.

Paul

P.S. Applecare also mentioned resetting the NVRAM instructions here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=2238

I reset the NVRAM however I have no idea if this made any difference with solving the problem"

I've reset my SMC just a moment ago, and the "blinking led after shutdown" problem has went away. Will post tomorrow to see if the fix really worked.

 

by: skisessionPosted on 2007-12-18 at 20:38:14ID: 20497529

A SMC reset, followed by a PRAM/NVRAM reset, followed by a safe boot may help clear things up. Command + Option + P + R held down during the Startup Chime and held down through another (2nd) chime will reset the PRAM. Holding down the Shift key during the whole startup process will bring you to the login window with "Safe Boot" in red lettering. Login to your account, then reboot normally. You may want to tell the Spotlight Prefs not to index EVERYTHING. You can check the activity monitor - especially after an update to 10.5 - your system will try to re-index everything in & attached to your Mac, greatly reducing the performance. Check your Activity Monitor or click on the magnifying glass in the upper right to see what it's up to.

 

by: PatrickDomanPosted on 2007-12-24 at 23:39:23ID: 31415938

Thank you both for your help!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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