Random Shutdown in Big Sur (ThunderboltNHI) driver problem

Hey guys,
I have the problem that my 2013 MacBook crashes frequently since upgrading to Big Sur. This means that all of a sudden the screen freezes, the fans turn up and all of a sudden the MacBook is off. In Catalina, through research I found out that it's because of the Thunderbolt driver (AppleThunderboltNHI.Kext etc.), which I had always renamed in Catalina using recovery mode (... .kext.BAK). This solved the problem. But now since Big Sur I can't rename the Kext files anymore because I'm only in read-only mode. So I wanted to ask here if there is a possibility to rename the files again? Otherwise the MacBook still runs really well!

Hi, I have recently updated my MacBook to MacOS Big Sur and have been experiencing random shutdowns. I had similar experience since last 2 MACOS but I was able to fix it by either removing or disabling the below 2 files-
AppleThunderboltNHI.kext
IOThunderboltFamily.kext

I was able to make changes to the OS files on MacOS High Sierra and Catalina but I am not able to make the same changes in the new OS.
Where it is mentioned to follow the below steps- Reboot in recovery mode (CMD+R)
Utilities -> Terminal
csrutil disable
csrutil authenticated-root disable
mount - uw /Volumes/Macos (Enter WHATEVER YOUR MACOS DRIVE NAME IS, my macOS drive name is Macos)
cd /Volumes/Macos (Enter WHATEVER YOUR MACOS DRIVE NAME IS, my macOS drive name is Macos)/System/Library/Extensions
rm -rf AppleThunderboltNHI.kext
rm -rf /System/Library/Caches/*
Kmutil install -u --force --volume-root /Volumes/Macos (Enter WHATEVER YOUR MACOS DRIVE NAME IS, my macOS drive name is Macos)/System/Library/Extensions
bless -folder /Volumes/Macos(Enter WHATEVER YOUR MACOS DRIVE NAME IS, my macOS drive name is Macos)/System/Library/CoreServices —bootefi --create-snapshot
FORGET THE PROBLEM :-D
You’ll need to perform these steps every time you update Big sur with their security updates n all.
No need to enable SIP

But even after following the above process I still fave the random shutdown. Moreover when I go to the /System/Library/Extensions and look for the the above mentioned 2 files. They are not changed which wasn’t the case into the earlier OS.

I am sure I am not the only one facing this issue. Hence requesting to share the solution to this issue so it can help other users too.
I am also experiencing this issue on my late 2013 MacBook Pro Retina running macOS Big Sur. Apple could not diagnose it and suggested that I replace the logic board for a cool $500.

I would love to learn how to fix this without shelling out that kind of money.
UPDATE

One week later and no random shutdowns. Solution posted by @sf98723 works. If you get startup problem after implementing solution then follow steps I outlined in my earlier post.

by the way:

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)


This is a widespread bug affecting tens of thousands of MacBook Pros all over the world.

This utility is guaranteed to solve this problem on any affected unit. It’ll cost you $15.00 as a permanent solution. You can even update the software and never worry about writing terminal code ever again.
email me for more info - amanjeet.arora@icloud.com

Simply click to run the app and crashes will be gone. If you are are satisfied, add it to your log in items and it will start automatically and run silently in the background to prevent these annoying crashes.

This is absolutely ridiculous. This issue has been around for years now and every time there's an update it requires a hack to sort it out. What about the poor people who don't even know what Terminal is. Time to fix this Apple!!!!!

It almost seems with every new version of Mac OS that they make it harder and harder to fix the problem. I've been at it for 3 hours now and still no joy. Lots of success and then a fail at the end. This is with the bless command which wasn't required for earlier versions. Getting a Permission Denies/Couldn't mount the volume mounted at/

So frustrating!!!
I have the same Mac pro and the same problem, i took it to Apple dealer and he told me its the problem for all similar users

Did anyone fix it ?
SOLVED

Hello from Russia, comrades!
The solution posted earlier by @sf98723 helped me with my MacBook Pro 15" mid 2014.
I had this problem since I've updated to Mojave, but it was much easier to cope with this issue renaming AppleThunderboltNHI.kext to AppleThunderboltNHI.kext.BAK, but unfortunately it does not work with Big Sur.
I am really grateful to @sf98723 and @HSODHI for finding out and posting the solution.

I tried the post by amanjeetarora, but it did not work for my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013, the sudden shutdown started with big sur update Apple must fix this.
Same thing here. I’m disappointed with Apple’s approach to taking care of older machines support.
Hey guys, 

I keep getting an error that says:

mount: unknown special file or file system /Volumes/...

I would really appreciate any feedback as my computer is unusable right now 
The best thing that worked for me was to reinstall Catalina (just Google “install older Mac OS”) then rename the thunderbolt extensions. However, today I did a security update, and now my laptop is shutting down randomly again, even with the kext files renamed and on Catalina.

DON'T FORGET to create another system snapshot to take these modifications under account at next reboot : bless --folder /Volumes/[MacOS <your custom stuff here>]/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot

I followed the instructions by sf98723 on Catalina while trying to update from 10.15.4 to 10.15.7 but when I try this part:
bless --folder /Volumes/[MacOS <your custom stuff here>]/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot

... it doesn't work. it works if I leave off "--create-snapshot" but then when I finished the process my system had reverted to 10.15.4 without the update.

So my question is can someone give more detail about the part where you create a snapshot, and why might --create-snapshot not work? It said something about not a valid command.

I followed the instructions by sf98723 on Catalina while trying to update from 10.15.4 to 10.15.7 but when I try this part: 
bless --folder /Volumes/[MacOS <your custom stuff here>]/System/Library/CoreServices --bootefi --create-snapshot

I think the snapshot might be new for Big Sur, so if you're on Catalina, I think there may be a different set of instructions to get around the AppleThunderportNHI issue.

I was having the random shutdowns after upgrading to Big Sur on my MBP mid 2014 this afternoon. I was running Mojave previously. I followed all the steps from sf98723 but was experiencing the same issues as mergenc with the 'Your computer restarted because of a problem" error. I restarted in recovery mode and ran both of the following:
Code Block
csrutil status
csrutil authenticated-root status

...both were enabled. Not sure how the authenticated-root got re-enabled, but I disabled the authenticated-root and rebooted and everything is working. So far no unexpected shutdowns.

Thanks for the solution.
@dstnrgrs That is true, the rebuild and snapshot were not necessary in Catalina, as I figured out.

Just today I finally decided to try Big Sur, and if I do the "bless" step, I am having the "restart" problem also. But if I don't, the change doesn't "stick."

Everytime I have gotten to the point where it is just restarting with the error, I have done a reinstall from Recovery Mode because I didn't know what else to do.

Is it really just as simple as doing another Recovery Mode and authenticated-root disable?

Did the AppleThunderboltNHI.kext file restore itself on your system?
Random Shutdown in Big Sur (ThunderboltNHI) driver problem
 
 
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