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New MacBook Airs Experiencing Logic Board Issues?

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Over the weekend, Cult of Mac noted that there appears to be a rising number of complaints from users of the new MacBook Air regarding kernel panics, video distortion and other issues that could be related to defective logic boards.
Apple Discussion forum user, DanRyb, basically stated that his 11-inch model would randomly display "weird colors in vertical lines" extending across the entire screen and the machine would freeze. He was forced to power cycle the computer in order to recover.

Another forum user, Hobokendippy, reported that his 13-inch model had crashed three times twice with a blank screen and once with the screen distortion reported by DanRyb.
Click to expand...
One user has posted a video to YouTube showing a display issue with the new 11-inch MacBook Air.

In addition to the video distortion, Cult of Mac staff have reported several kernel panics experienced on both the 11-inch and 13-inch models, although the extent of the problem is not yet known.

Macworld chimes in today with its own report on the issue, offering a firsthand experience with similar issues:
Sadly, I can personally confirm these issues: Just two days after unboxing my 11-inch Air - the base model with 4GB of RAM - the notebook randomly cut to a gray screen during Screen Sharing and only a reboot could cure it. In the ensuing days, I've seen my Air's screen turn a variety of colors: gray again, tan, gray-black, and - on Monday - blue! (Let's everyone get their Blue Screen of Death jokes out of the way now, please.)

As I was working on something different in every instance, it was hard to say exactly what triggered the crashes, though Screen Sharing has been the culprit at least twice. Neither a PRAM nor SMC reset did much to help.
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While the issues do not yet appear to be affecting all MacBook Air machines and some number of defective units is to be expected, the growing number of complaints suggests that the new machines may be experiencing a higher-than-normal rate of failure. Apple did issue a software update addressing graphics issues on the new MacBook Air just as it was released, but several users have reported experiencing these graphics-related problems even after applying the update.

Article Link: New MacBook Airs Experiencing Logic Board Issues?
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/11/02/new-macbook-airs-experiencing-logic-board-issues/
zap2

zap2

macrumors 604
Mar 8, 2005
7,252
8
Washington D.C
I had the same issue, random power downs, random graphic issues and sometimes the screen would turn green or blue.


I look some pictures, took it into the Genius Bar, showed them the pictures, and they replaced it right on the stop.

(This was on an 11'' model, 4GB with 1.6Ghz CPU...also the fan never seemed to speed up on mine, unless I manually made it do so)
 
L

lilo777

macrumors 603
Nov 25, 2009
5,144
0
Unstable motherboards in a super thin laptop. Should anyone be surprised? Go with MBP. The hardware is somewhat outdated but at least it's stable.
 
thetaylor13

thetaylor13

macrumors regular
May 14, 2010
148
0
Work
zap2 said:
I had the same issue, random power downs, random graphic issues and sometimes the screen would turn green or blue.


I look some pictures, took it into the Genius Bar, showed them the pictures, and they replaced it right on the stop.
Click to expand...

Props to Apple on their return policy. Both times I've had issues that any other company would have blamed me for, I've walked out of the store with a brand new (probably not "brand new" but new to me) device.

Sucks for the MBA though, hopefully this doesn't cause a Logic Board-gate....

:apple:
 
domness

domness

macrumors 6502a
Jan 14, 2008
651
26
Sheffield, UK
Yeh this happened to my 2009 13.3" MBP quite a number of times! All I did was a full reinstallation of Mac OS X to fix it.

Although, it still happens sometimes during games like Starcraft.
 
iStudentUK

iStudentUK

macrumors 65816
Mar 8, 2009
1,439
4
London
So last six months-

iPhone 4- proximity issues and grip-off-death
iPhoto '11- there go your pictures
iOS- alarms going off at wrong time
MacBook Air- suffering panic attacks

Go Apple.

My guess-

"We don't see functioning logic boards taking off right now.

-Sent from my iPhone"
 
A

acurafan

macrumors 6502a
Sep 16, 2008
615
0
that's not a glitch, that's a feature. it's the mba distortion field, it comes up when it detects a mac fanboy.

jaydub said:
brave souls buy Rev. A Apple products.
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werd. looks like there hasn't been a recent product rollout they haven't fubar'd.
 
Heilage

Heilage

macrumors 68030
May 1, 2009
2,592
0
jav6454 said:
Yes indeed, but I'd say this for the 11" one. The 13" has had it's revs already, so I'd be surprised.
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Well, they kinda completely redid it internally, so I would still call it RevA. Like the Unibody MBPs.
 
Small White Car

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,966
1,463
Washington DC
In my experience there's been logic board issues with a small number of users of EVERY MAC at ALL TIMES.

It only generates news when it's a new product and people think "Oh, this must be because it's new!"

Remember, Correlation does not imply causation.

When I had to exhcange my iMac for logic board problems I didn't say "That's why you never buy a revision C products!" No, I got it exchanged and that was that. It happens.
 
R

rot@ti.org

macrumors newbie
Jan 21, 2005
29
0
Video problems

I have a new 13-inch MBA and immediately installed the software update. I recently had to reboot for other reasons and noticed the horizontal lines similar to those in the angrychinesedriver video. I thought I would have to reboot, but after quitting several programs the lines went away. I'll keep a watch to see what programs might be associated with the lines. Except for new software that came with the MBA, I am not running any programs that aren't on my MBP, which doesn't have any problems.

BTW, I find the 13-inch MBA to be an almost perfect replacement for my MBP. The only drawback is the lack of a backlit keyboard.
 
A

aajeev

macrumors regular
May 7, 2008
111
0
This is why I have decided to hold on all new products. The new iPhone 4 screwed me once, then jump to some new htc phone got screwed again. Now days, I learn to stick to my working stuff and only upgrade until they have fixed everything. I'm simply not rich enough and don't have enough time to be somebody's experiment...
 
Nicky G

Nicky G

macrumors 65816
Mar 24, 2002
1,148
1,284
Baltimore
probably a non-issue

Fact: Apple has by all accounts been selling the new MBA like hotcakes -- I would guess over 100K units sold already

Fact: Some number of people on the internet are having what seem to be hardware problems -- looks like a dozen or two reports at most so far

Fact: Every single consumer electronics product manufactured has a certain number of bad units that go out the door, and this is of course more obvious when so many units are sold, and the people with problems post online for all to see

Fact: Apple seems to be taking care of customers who have the issue, and is generally known to stand behind their products -- highest consumer satisfaction rating in PC industry by far every year for years and years, yadda yadda

Conclusion: For now, appears to be in-line with every other consumer electronics product release in history. Why is this news again? Because there are some faulty units? When is this NOT the case? Anyway -- back up your data, and definitely consider AppleCare.
 
Heilage

Heilage

macrumors 68030
May 1, 2009
2,592
0
Nicky G said:
Fact: Apple has by all accounts been selling the new MBA like hotcakes -- I would guess over 100K units sold already
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They are, according to the sales department where I work. They seem to be really popular.
 
Nicky G

Nicky G

macrumors 65816
Mar 24, 2002
1,148
1,284
Baltimore
Heilage said:
They are, according to the sales department where I work. They seem to be really popular.
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Mine should be arriving tomorrow! :D Fully-loaded 13", YES! It will be my only computer -- in addition to my employer-provided 15" MacBook Pro, of course.

I'm not too worried -- no Apple hardware can be as bad as the eMac -- man those things sucked! Early G5 flat-screen iMacs, too. Damn you, crappy capacitors!
 
emotion

emotion

macrumors 68040
Mar 29, 2004
3,186
3
Manchester, UK
Meh. I don't buy the rev A arguments. I've had lots of rev A machines that have been fine.

I also have two genuine Apple Stores with 5 miles of here and customer service is second to none. ;)
 
Consultant

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
Could be a bad batch, otherwise reports would be more widespread.


emotion said:
Meh. I don't buy the rev A arguments. I've had lots of rev A machines that have been fine.

I also have two genuine Apple Stores with 5 miles of here and customer service is second to none. ;)
Click to expand...

Exactly. I've never had any problems with the first gen iPhone, and I've sold plenty of it. Some are still using the v1.x iOS 3 years later, with no problems.
 
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