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MBA 15" dead already

MacaroniCheese

MacaroniCheese

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 3, 2023
9
13
United Kingdom
I was using it this afternoon in clamshell mode and plugged in via MagSafe, when it suddenly went *pop*, sizzled, then died. Burning smell came from the back towards the ports. No visible signs of damage on the exterior of the device, nor on the cables or stock charger.

Very disappointed as you can imagine. That being said, Apple's customer service has been fantastic, even without AppleCare.

Just curious if anyone else has had this, or if I'm just the unluckiest guy in the world that lost the silicon lottery?
 
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Wow! What an unsettling experience. Haven't seen any other people comment about that, but your post may generate some other data points. Let's hope it was a complete fluke and not something relating to clamshell mode!

By the way, you are covered for at least one year (two in other countries) without getting Apple Care. So, your 15” MacBook came with a year or more warranty against such problems. (Not accidents or drops, mind you, but Apple definitely stands by product failures.)
 
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DHagan4755 said:
Oh no! Sorry to hear. That's gotta be a fluke. Hopefully you get a trouble free replacement.
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Thank you! I hope so - promising that this hasn’t come up elsewhere.

Saturn007 said:
By the way, you are covered for at least one year (two in other countries) without getting Apple Care. So, your 15” MacBook came with a year or more warranty against such problems. (Not accidents or drops, mind you, but Apple definitely stands by product failures.)
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Very useful to know, thank you.

h.gilbert said:
clamgate?
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I preffered Bendgate
 
Nothing's perfect. You got a lemon; it happens. Apple got you taken care of and life goes on. You want real problems, buy another brand of computer and get ready for poor quality and abysmal customer care. Lenovo, HP, Dell; they're all crap. Apple computers are the absolute best in the industry!!
 
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MacaroniCheese said:
I was using it this afternoon in clamshell mode and plugged in via MagSafe, when it suddenly went *pop*, sizzled, then died. Burning smell came from the back towards the ports. No visible signs of damage on the exterior of the device, nor on the cables or stock charger.

Very disappointed as you can imagine. That being said, Apple's customer service has been fantastic, even without AppleCare.

Just curious if anyone else has had this, or if I'm just the unluckiest guy in the world that lost the silicon lottery?
Click to expand...
of course you got no photos, no serials, nothing of evidence, right?
 
MacaroniCheese said:
I was using it this afternoon in clamshell mode and plugged in via MagSafe, when it suddenly went *pop*, sizzled, then died. Burning smell came from the back towards the ports. No visible signs of damage on the exterior of the device, nor on the cables or stock charger.

Very disappointed as you can imagine. That being said, Apple's customer service has been fantastic, even without AppleCare.

Just curious if anyone else has had this, or if I'm just the unluckiest guy in the world that lost the silicon lottery?
Click to expand...
why would you use it in 'clamshell mode'?
did you have it attached to an external display or something?
if so, why?
 
I had this happen once on a 2012 pro. Used it for maybe 2 days. I plugged in a USB cord to charged my iPhone and there was an electric shock. The laptop was completely dead. Thankfully Best Buy didn't give me a hard time and just swapped it out for a new device. But these things happen. I can only imagine that the entire board was fried given the shock between the USB cord connector and the board. Never seen anything like that happen.
 
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StoneJack said:
of course you got no photos, no serials, nothing of evidence, right?
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I don’t understand? There’s nothing to see other than a dead MacBook Air - no dramatic burn marks. It’s now with Apple.

halledise said:
why would you use it in 'clamshell mode'?
did you have it attached to an external display or something?
if so, why?
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Yes. I have a much larger screen at my office desk.
 
magicschoolbus said:
I had this happen once on a 2012 pro. Used it for maybe 2 days. I plugged in a USB cord to charged my iPhone and there was an electric shock. The laptop was completely dead. Thankfully Best Buy didn't give me a hard time and just swapped it out for a new device. But these things happen. I can only imagine that the entire board was fried given the shock between the USB cord connector and the board. Never seen anything like that happen.
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I initially thought that it was something to do with the electrics but no other devices were fried, just the poor MacBook Air. Weird. As you say, these things happen…
 
They’ll make good. I had my first Mac, an SE less than a day and the logic board fizzles. Just a day or two to get a new one.
Good luck to you.
 
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Apple devices aren't infallible. I'm just happy that the OP was able to have the situation resolved with Apple and that there wasn't more extreme damage and no other devices was affected.

Hopefully his new MBA will arrive soon.
 
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MacaroniCheese said:
Nope, nothing. All other devices absolutely fine, even the screen connected. Power cable and brick is back with Apple too just in case.
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A similar incident happened to me with the original MacBook from 2015. I contacted Apple about it and they did a CRU of the unit at the time. Since it was a new debut, they stated their engineers wanted to look at what was going on and sent me an expedited replacement.
 
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