MBP Charger is Burning, Best Course of Action? [PICS]

[NovemberWhiskey]

I, unlike you apparently don't get embarrassed by the internet.... but thanks for trying. Anything else teacher? I love e-badasses, pathetic.

My 1 year old Macbook Pro charger got stuck on a chair leg and the casing was sliced. It sparks if moved in a certain way. But I am glad you got a replacement because now when mine breaks I will get one too. Was it my fault? Totally, but since Apple doesn't care I will take advantage of that.

So because you messed up your own charger, everyone who has this problem caused it themselves?

Good luck--in life.

BTW, thanks for using the word "badass". LOL. It was pretty funny. "ethug" was nice too, although I was slightly confused since it's pretty obvious you came in here to bully the OP.

 

[wesrk]

get a new one, either paying for it or having apple sending you one, either way, you need another one.

 

[stainlessliquid]

Yeah but if its old, and is a result of stress they won't necessarily replace it for free. I cant bend the heck out of a cable then when the shielding comes off expect a replacement. Thats normal wear and tear.

Because somehow people gain something by doing that? Its a charger. No one is going to scam apple out of chargers by going without a computer for a week so they can get a new looking cable.

 

[Macmel]

I, unlike you apparently don't get embarrassed by the internet.... but thanks for trying. Anything else teacher? I love e-badasses, pathetic.

My 1 year old Macbook Pro charger got stuck on a chair leg and the casing was sliced. It sparks if moved in a certain way. But I am glad you got a replacement because now when mine breaks I will get one too. Was it my fault? Totally, but since Apple doesn't care I will take advantage of that.

It's well known that this chargers were defective. It's not a question of tear and wear. It shouldn't look like that with normal use and, in any case, it shouldn't be a fire threat to your house. Apple has acknowledged the problem and replaces the charger at no cost.
And, no, you won't get a new one, because you broke yours. OP didn't and that's why he's getting a new one.

 

[henry72]

Don't listen to these guys. They are giving you a particularly hard time because they have no idea how the real world works when it comes to product liability.

Call Apple, and be polite and firm about them sending a replacement.

It does not matter how long you have had your computer. They should not be burning like that. If any damage was done to anything else, let them know about it.

This is grounds for a lawsuit. Apple knows it, and they have been very cooperative with remedying the situation to my knowledge.

If they are unwilling to work with you, call your local attorney.

There is already a class-action suit against Apple for this very problem.

Yes... Totally agree with u~ What the hell you need to buy a new one
I mean it's Apple problem~ Do not think is your problem or how long u use it etc... WTH ~~"

 

[John89]

There in lies the problem. After 2 years of twisting, bending, etc the internals in the charger may have gotten messed up. Then a tear in the casing could have caused something to happen that caused it to melt. I find it hard to believe one day it suddenly started looking like that, to me it looks like stress may have fractured the outer casing causing the wires inside to malfunction. Like I said, if I had a multi-year old cable that was used frequently and was wrapped up, bent, etc constantly, I would monitor it closely for any signs of wear.

Maybe Apple will replace it for you, but I am trying to be realistic. Any cable that goes through two years of wear is bound to splinter somewhere and if it does and something inside gets messed up it can create those problems. But call and plea your case by all means, I personally don't think they will cave.

They are designed to last longer then 2 years.

 

[uberamd]

My god people, I said I personally didn't think they would cave. That was my personal opinion and you all jump all over me for it. Want some background?

I work at my college doing systems repair (along with other stuff). Faculty and staff are very busy people, so needless to say they don't always treat their computers in the best way. It happens. I have seen countless cases of the same situation as the OP. Professor brings in a power cord that they ran over with their chair, got stuck in their car door, that their cat chewed on, the list goes on and on and on. And while these were not Apple chargers but Gateway, Dell, and Lenovo we were never able to get them replaced under warranty. Not once. We now have learned to just throw them away, replace it if we have any left, or bill the owner and buy a new one.

I think its great that he got his replaced for free. But as someone who has encountered this many times, and it has been the fault of the user every single time, I didn't see it happening. If you put yourselves in my shoes instead of being so attacking you would have drawn the exact same conclusion as me.

So because you messed up your own charger, everyone who has this problem caused it themselves?

Good luck--in life.

BTW, thanks for using the word "badass". LOL. It was pretty funny. "ethug" was nice too, although I was slightly confused since it's pretty obvious you came in here to bully the OP.

Would you grow up, I was not bullying the OP I was instead sharing my opinion like we are all entitled to do on public forums. You sound like a little kid, grow a pair and realize I wasn't being a 'bully'. If you think I was being a bully, good luck in life to you. I don't really need the approval of someone on a forum to lead my happy life....

Seriously novemberwhisky, go back and read every single post I made in this thread. Read them and comprehend them, then tell me I was being a bully. Seriously, do so. I was NEVER bullying the OP and I specifically stated I was giving my opinion that Apple wouldn't replace it for free. What the heck is your problem? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or what, my god. Please, underline the bullying parts of my posts so I can see where I offended you.

 

[..Ryan..]

this happened to mine last year, i just went and bought a new one, as i had bought my macbook pro 2nd hand at that time (got a new one this time )

once i had the replacement, i had another look at the burnt one, only to discover it was the lower powered macbook charger, and i had been using it with my macbook pro, i probably should have checked that when i bought it off the guy, oh well, i was happy to know my carpet wasn't about to be set on fire once i bought the replacement.

 

[OutSpoken]

I can't believe what I'm reading..

I'm with you on this NovemberWhiskey!

To the OP, I know you've sorted it now... But this was a no brainer imo...

You had a product which was BURNING!!!.. which potentially could catch ALIGHT! which potentially could BURN down your house/flat/condo etc and possibly even cause DEATH.

YET, there were people actually defending Apple and saying the fault lies with you and apple probably wouldn't do anything about it!

God forbid I ever smelt my mac or any apple equipment burning, to me thats a manufacture defect..First thing Im doing is going straight on the phone to apple to complain/report it. For me to accept responsibility they would have to show me strong evidence the problem was caused by me.

 

[uberamd]

I'm with you on this NovemberWhiskey!

To the OP, I know you've sorted it now... But this was a no brainer imo...

You had a product which was BURNING!!!.. which potentially could catch ALIGHT! which potentially could BURN down your house/flat/condo etc and possibly even cause DEATH.

YET, there were people actually defending Apple and saying the fault lies with you and apple probably wouldn't do anything about it!

God forbid I ever smelt my mac or any apple equipment burning, to me thats a manufacture defect..First thing Im doing is going straight on the phone to apple to complain/report it. For me to accept responsibility they would have to show me strong evidence the problem was caused by me.

Woah there skipper, slow down. We aren't defending Apple. If this really just happened on its own it deserves to be replaced, hands down. He never said that this suddenly happened, so nobody here knew the circumstances of the problem.

And you are playing the "what if" game, which is a dangerous game. Your right, what if it burned his house down and killed someone. That would be horrible, but lets be realistic here. If my brake line gets cut when driving through rough terrain and my brakes give out, I could die. My car could go off a cliff. I could crash into a nuclear power plant and blow up a 50 mile radius. See what I am saying, you can what if all day. That game is better not played at all.

You are 150% right, if it suddenly started burning, that is without a doubt a manufacturer defect and should be replaced. But like you said, if there was evidence you misused it, you would need to take responsibility. We had no evidence this suddenly happened one day, we didn't know the background, etc. So its very hard for internet people to draw opinions on the topic. That is why I was asking how long he had it, etc. I was trying to visualize the situation.

 

[OutSpoken]

Woah there skipper, slow down. We aren't defending Apple. If this really just happened on its own it deserves to be replaced, hands down. He never said that this suddenly happened, so nobody here knew the circumstances of the problem.

And you are playing the "what if" game, which is a dangerous game. Your right, what if it burned his house down and killed someone. That would be horrible, but lets be realistic here. If my break line gets cut when driving through rough terrain and my brakes give out, I could die. My car could go off a cliff. I could crash into a nuclear power plant and blow up a 50 mile radius. See what I am saying, you can what if all day. That game is better not played at all.

You are 150% right, if it suddenly started burning, that is without a doubt a manufacturer defect and should be replaced. But like you said, if there was evidence you misused it, you would need to take responsibility. We had no evidence this suddenly happened one day, we didn't know the background, etc. So its very hard for internet people to draw opinions on the topic. That is why I was asking how long he had it, etc. I was trying to visualize the situation.

Ok, I somewhat agree with what you're saying...

but quite honestly the OP question was clear enough to be understood, and in my view didn't really need all the analysing.

His charger was burning through the plastic/harness...to me that is not normal behaviour for any electrical equipment regardless of age. It wasn't like the charger went dead after a few years of use...again I understand electricals can fail but that shouldnt really be expected. However in this case; we are talking about a serious health and safety situation.

I guess I was more shocked towards peoples relaxed attitude..


cue sarcasm..
oh shoot... my 52" LCD TV is smoking from the back...ahh well these things happen, i'll just go out and buy another without cause for concern

 

[uberamd]

Ok, I somewhat agree with what you're saying...

but quite honestly the OP question was clear enough to be understood, and in my view didn't really need all the analysing.

His charger was burning through the plastic/harness...to me that is not normal behaviour for any electrical equipment regardless of age. It wasn't like the charger went dead after a few years of use...again I understand electricals can fail but that shouldnt really be expected. However in this case; we are talking about a serious health and safety situation.

I guess I was more shocked towards peoples relaxed attitude..


cue sarcasm..
oh shoot... my 52" LCD TV is smoking from the back...ahh well these things happen, i'll just go out and buy another without cause for concern

Well heck a little smoke never harmed anything, has it? I guess I interpreted what he was saying differently. Like I said my job has conditioned me to see a powercord malfunction and immediately assume it was end-user abuse. Oops.

 

[Warranty Voider]

I called, they sent me a replacement. No matter how you look at it, regarding bending or the like. There is no excuse for something like this to happen. I don't and didn't do anything besides unwind it to charge my laptop and wind it back up.

Thanks to those of you who provided constructive feedback, especially NovemberWhiskey

It's good to hear that they replaced it for free. I don't know why, but there seems to be more and more posts about their charger catching fire recently.

 

[harcosparky]

It's good to hear that they replaced it for free. I don't know why, but there seems to be more and more posts about their charger catching fire recently.

It could be we are discovering the lifespan of these chargers.

How long has Apple been using Magsafe?

How old are the ones we are seeing damaged?

I know that these posts have caused me to me more cautious in my use of the charger. For one I no longer wrap the cord around those little "L" shaped cord holder as I can see they stress the cord at the brick.

 

[stainlessliquid]

I work at my college doing systems repair (along with other stuff). Faculty and staff are very busy people, so needless to say they don't always treat their computers in the best way. It happens. I have seen countless cases of the same situation as the OP. Professor brings in a power cord that they ran over with their chair, got stuck in their car door, that their cat chewed on, the list goes on and on and on. And while these were not Apple chargers but Gateway, Dell, and Lenovo we were never able to get them replaced under warranty. Not once. We now have learned to just throw them away, replace it if we have any left, or bill the owner and buy a new one.

I think its great that he got his replaced for free. But as someone who has encountered this many times, and it has been the fault of the user every single time, I didn't see it happening. If you put yourselves in my shoes instead of being so attacking you would have drawn the exact same conclusion as me.

If you knew about magsafe problems youd know that they start burning right where the cord connects to the magsafe connector is or right where the cord connects to the power supply. Theres a difference between accidental damage that happens in random spots and damage that happens in the exact same spots for thousands of people, the latter implies a defect and should be replaced for free.

I give you exhibit A: http://images.google.com/images?hl=...7&um=1&q=magsafe&ndsp=18&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

 

[UltraNEO*]

Cor Blimey!!
Sup wit those flaming Macs??

What's this, thread number 900 this year?

 

[uberamd]

If you knew about magsafe problems youd know that they start burning right where the cord connects to the magsafe connector is or right where the cord connects to the power supply. Theres a difference between accidental damage that happens in random spots and damage that happens in the exact same spots for thousands of people, the latter implies a defect and should be replaced for free.

I give you exhibit A: http://images.google.com/images?hl=...7&um=1&q=magsafe&ndsp=18&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Do you know why I didn't think about the burning magsafe issues? Because every case *I* have seen here about that involves the end with the magsafe connector, this is the first case *I* have seen here that involves the end going into the brick. Your exhibit A only shows magsafe ends, not brick ends. Wise guy.

 

[nizmoz]

In my eyes you were the one being the bully here. This is a documented problem that Apple has had for a while. That type of problem would not be caused by abuse. It shouldn't even be coming undone in that same spot on both ends of the charger unless their is a defect in the design which obviously there is.

So my suggestion to you is back down. I have worked in computers for 25 years. I have seen many things more than you. Yes people abuse products like you said, but there is a difference between abuse and a bad design flaw. This is a design flaw. Learn more.

My god people, I said I personally didn't think they would cave. That was my personal opinion and you all jump all over me for it. Want some background?

I work at my college doing systems repair (along with other stuff). Faculty and staff are very busy people, so needless to say they don't always treat their computers in the best way. It happens. I have seen countless cases of the same situation as the OP. Professor brings in a power cord that they ran over with their chair, got stuck in their car door, that their cat chewed on, the list goes on and on and on. And while these were not Apple chargers but Gateway, Dell, and Lenovo we were never able to get them replaced under warranty. Not once. We now have learned to just throw them away, replace it if we have any left, or bill the owner and buy a new one.

I think its great that he got his replaced for free. But as someone who has encountered this many times, and it has been the fault of the user every single time, I didn't see it happening. If you put yourselves in my shoes instead of being so attacking you would have drawn the exact same conclusion as me.



Would you grow up, I was not bullying the OP I was instead sharing my opinion like we are all entitled to do on public forums. You sound like a little kid, grow a pair and realize I wasn't being a 'bully'. If you think I was being a bully, good luck in life to you. I don't really need the approval of someone on a forum to lead my happy life....

Seriously novemberwhisky, go back and read every single post I made in this thread. Read them and comprehend them, then tell me I was being a bully. Seriously, do so. I was NEVER bullying the OP and I specifically stated I was giving my opinion that Apple wouldn't replace it for free. What the heck is your problem? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or what, my god. Please, underline the bullying parts of my posts so I can see where I offended you.

 

[nizmoz]

Do you know why I didn't think about the burning magsafe issues? Because every case *I* have seen here about that involves the end with the magsafe connector, this is the first case *I* have seen here that involves the end going into the brick. Your exhibit A only shows magsafe ends, not brick ends. Wise guy.

You obviously haven't looked hard enough as I have seen many.

 

[GodWhomIsMike]

Yeah but if its old, and is a result of stress they won't necessarily replace it for free. I cant bend the heck out of a cable then when the shielding comes off expect a replacement. Thats normal wear and tear.

Normal wear and tear does NOT lead to that. If it does, then obviously, they are selling a hazardous product, which could lead to significant property damage due to the risk of fire.

 

[Steve Jobless]

Again thanks to everybody, especially those that didn't jump down my throat about this issue.

This did randomly happen, I don't have any pets and I highly doubt there was anything abusive I could have done to the part of the cable coming out of the brick. I only noticed the plastic was burning after my charger stopped working properly (it began to work sporadically).

A quick search yielded me a few hits on the overheating issue of magsafes. Although the issue seems to revolve around the magsafe end, the result of what happened to mine and some of the ones I've seen seem to be identical.

I know that these posts have caused me to me more cautious in my use of the charger. For one I no longer wrap the cord around those little "L" shaped cord holder as I can see they stress the cord at the brick.

does this mean I should stop using the cord holder? Thats the only stressful thing I've done to my charger especially at that end.

 

[m85476585]

I've seen several Dell chargers with a similar problem. The insulation breaks from extreme or repeated stress and bending, causing the wires to short. Not one of them caught on fire or melted, though. It was annoying that the chargers stopped working (most of them were only around a year old), but that's better than having a fire. Apple really needs to add better short-circuit detection to their chargers.

Anyone who has has a Magsafe charger fire should fill out a report with UL.
http://www.ul.com/global/eng/pages/offerings/perspectives/consumer/fieldreport/
Be sure to give them as many details as possible (cord fails at stress point, melts or catches fire, etc).

UL tests electronic devices for safety, and if they get enough complaints they will be able to put pressure on Apple to make a safer product by threatening to decertify the Magsafe. I don't know if electronics sold in the US are legally required to be UL listed, but it would at least be bad press for Apple if they were delisted. The threat alone should be enough for Apple to make a safer product.

If you haven't had a house fire, trust me you don't want to experience it. Our oven caught fire while self-cleaning, and although the fire was small, the smoke did tens of thousands of dollars of damage. Every item in the house had to be cleaned, all clothes, curtains, bedding, etc had to be sent away to be professionally cleaned, the walls had to be scrubbed, sealed, and repainted, and the whole kitchen had to be rebuilt since there no way to get new cabinets to match the old custom cabinets. Most of our belongings were moved to the basement to be ozoned and to get stuff out of the way of the crews working. We spent about half the summer living in an apartment, and we had to drive 30 minutes each way almost every day to check up on the work/lock up/take care of things (the contractors did a really lousy job, especially the painters).