my two day old 2015 rMBP shutting down

[kofman13]

hey all,

just picked up a apple certified refurbished 2015 13 inch rMBP from microcenter on tuesday. Today twice during the work day. I left my macbook pro open and idle on my desk doing other stuff. i have screen to turn off after 1 minute it did that normally. 10-15 minutes later, i touch the keyboard to wake it up to use it and it was off, like it shut down by itself. an hour later, i go back to it again after leaving it alone, lid open, and the screen is black again and wont respond, but the apple logo on back is lit up so its definitely on. had to hold power to do hard shut down.

through all of these situations, battery was above 94%. I read I should reset pram or SMC or something? I wonder why this would happen on a two day old computer (refurbished but still).

On a side note, I got a 3 year protection plan for it at microcenter, but apparently there was a confusion as I wanted actual apple care from apple. But they said that in the next 15 days i can request them to switch it to actual apple care through apple directly because its the same price. Should i switch? I had really good tech support and repair coverage experience with microcenter with my windows desktop..

since tuesday getting this laptop, this issue has not happened once on tuesday/wednesday during idle or while me using it. only twice today when leaving it idle

 

[Sanpete]

Yes on the Apple Care--be sure you get the real thing.

Might be a bug in Sierra that causes these sleep issues. If you'd like to try the usual things, here are the instructions:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

 

[kofman13]

Yes on the Apple Care--be sure you get the real thing.

Might be a bug in Sierra that causes these sleep issues. If you'd like to try the usual things, here are the instructions:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201295
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204063

will try those in a few minutes, it just froze with beachball mouse cursor when clicking Compose in Mail. and then completely froze, trackpad not clicking etc. had to hard restart

 

[lambertjohn]

hey all,

just picked up a apple certified refurbished 2015 13 inch rMBP from microcenter on tuesday. Today twice during the work day. I left my macbook pro open and idle on my desk doing other stuff. i have screen to turn off after 1 minute it did that normally. 10-15 minutes later, i touch the keyboard to wake it up to use it and it was off, like it shut down by itself. an hour later, i go back to it again after leaving it alone, lid open, and the screen is black again and wont respond, but the apple logo on back is lit up so its definitely on. had to hold power to do hard shut down.

through all of these situations, battery was above 94%. I read I should reset pram or SMC or something? I wonder why this would happen on a two day old computer (refurbished but still).

On a side note, I got a 3 year protection plan for it at microcenter, but apparently there was a confusion as I wanted actual apple care from apple. But they said that in the next 15 days i can request them to switch it to actual apple care through apple directly because its the same price. Should i switch? I had really good tech support and repair coverage experience with microcenter with my windows desktop..

since tuesday getting this laptop, this issue has not happened once on tuesday/wednesday during idle or while me using it. only twice today when leaving it idle

Certified refurbished by who? The only refurbished Apple products I trust are the ones purchased directly from Apple. Other places do nothing more than clean them up, reformat the hard drives, then sell them as refurbished. I think you got a defective return that Microcenter boxed back up and sold to you as refurbished. It happens all the time. And never buy a three-year protection plan from anyone other than Apple. Definitely switch your protection over to Applecare, then take that thing up to your nearest Apple store and have them give it a good once-over. Either that or take it back to Microcenter and get your money back. Seriously.

 

[Sanpete]

Good point by @lambertjohn about who refurbed it. If it isn't refurbished by Apple, it may not be such a great deal. Should be priced like a used machine in that case. But if Apple Care is available for it, then it's backed by Apple. Make sure that's what you're getting.

 

[ZapNZs]

You could try the reset of the PRAM/SMC, or you could just take it back and ask they exchange it for another model. If they do not have another refurbished model in stock, ask for a MOD and explain the situation - if they do not have another refurb in stock, they will likely replace it with a new one.

The replacement plans offered are different from Apple Care (for example, some include accidental damage, and may include a buy-out option where you have the option of store credit at full purchase price without depreciation - allowing you to put that money towards a newer Apple product or a product of another brand - and managers that are competent with customer retention are quite liberal in their buy backs [which they can also charge to the local store as a good will credit independently from an underwritten policy] because they understand this usually benefits business in the long run.) Some people prefer them, where as others prefer Apple Care. Most people I've interacted with who buy them are mostly-to-very satisfied with the outcome if they need to use the warranty. It really depends on what you want in the warranty and which terms you like more. I personally prefer Apple Care simply because there are more locations, I get a bigger selection of Apple Authorized Service Providers if I want a part replaced ASAP, I don't personally purchase accident protection, and I've always had good experiences with Apple Care.

I think you got a defective return that Microcenter boxed back up and sold to you as refurbished. It happens all the time. And never buy a three-year protection plan from anyone other than Apple. Definitely switch your protection over to Applecare, then take that thing up to your nearest Apple store and have them give it a good once-over. Either that or take it back to Microcenter and get your money back. Seriously.

Not sure if you have seen that happening elsewhere, but I've never once seen anything even resembling this, at Micro Center or at any other Apple Authorized Service Provider, for that matter.

 

[kofman13]

You could try the reset of the PRAM/SMC, or you could just take it back and ask they exchange it for another model. If they do not have another refurbished model in stock, ask for a MOD and explain the situation - if they do not have another refurb in stock, they will likely replace it with a new one.

The replacement plans offered are different from Apple Care (for example, some include accidental damage, and may include a buy-out option where you have the option of store credit at full purchase price without depreciation - allowing you to put that money towards a newer Apple product or a product of another brand - and managers that are competent with customer retention are quite liberal in their buy backs [which they can also charge to the local store as a good will credit independently from an underwritten policy] because they understand this usually benefits business in the long run.) Some people prefer them, where as others prefer Apple Care. Most people I've interacted with who buy them are mostly-to-very satisfied with the outcome if they need to use the warranty. It really depends on what you want in the warranty and which terms you like more. I personally prefer Apple Care simply because there are more locations, I get a bigger selection of Apple Authorized Service Providers if I want a part replaced ASAP, I don't personally purchase accident protection, and I've always had good experiences with Apple Care.



Not sure if you have seen that happening elsewhere, but I've never once seen anything even resembling this, at Micro Center or at any other Apple Authorized Service Provider, for that matter.

It was definitely apple certified refurbished. it came in sealed box and packaging and everything inside looked like brand new retail. the laptop had protective film protection like the iphone comes new, all the original pamphlets and micro fiber cloth and all original chargers and cables sealed. the problem might have been an app i use, Polymail. because one of the times the laptop completely locked up, was the moment i clicked "compose" in polymail earlier today. i am trying to recreate the issue but the computer has been working fine today (after coming home from work i did SMC/NVRAM reset).
i might not replace the machine (i still have 10 more days to do that).
but i feel like switching to applecare tomorrow. on the phone today they offered for me to come to the store tomorrow and they will refund their warranty and activate applecare since it is the same price.
I have their same protection plan on my powerspec windows desktop and have had wonderful experience with it. the graphics card in my machine died and they gave me original value credit for the graphics card which came to almost $400 and it paid for a Strix GTX 1070 8 GB.
but i feel like maybe Apple could be better at repairing apple products than the guys at microcenter since repairing a macbook retina for example is much trickier than a windows desktop where you easily just swap out parts.
thinking......

 

[thekev]

It was definitely apple certified refurbished. it came in sealed box and packaging and everything inside looked like brand new retail. the laptop had protective film protection like the iphone comes new, all the original pamphlets and micro fiber cloth and all original chargers and cables sealed.

Those are tertiary details. They don't really mean anything.

 

[kofman13]

Those are tertiary details. They don't really mean anything.

what i mean is the packaging looked brand new. preowned/microcenter wiped laptops usually come in a lame white box ducked taped up with the laptop wrapped in layers of bubblewrap

 

[bartvk]

I would immediately bring it back.

Why would you ever risk this stuff with a brand new machine?

 

[thekev]

what i mean is the packaging looked brand new. preowned/microcenter wiped laptops usually come in a lame white box ducked taped up with the laptop wrapped in layers of bubblewrap

Sure. I get that, but I wouldn't infer anything from it. I have a somewhat low risk tolerance for new machines. If a has problems right after it arrives, I will most likely return it.

 

[kofman13]

Sure. I get that, but I wouldn't infer anything from it. I have a somewhat low risk tolerance for new machines. If a has problems right after it arrives, I will most likely return it.

I think they have one left in stock same model as mine refurbed same price so i am going to go today and exchange for that one and switch to apple care

 

[ZapNZs]

It was definitely apple certified refurbished. it came in sealed box and packaging and everything inside looked like brand new retail. the laptop had protective film protection like the iphone comes new, all the original pamphlets and micro fiber cloth and all original chargers and cables sealed. the problem might have been an app i use, Polymail. because one of the times the laptop completely locked up, was the moment i clicked "compose" in polymail earlier today. i am trying to recreate the issue but the computer has been working fine today (after coming home from work i did SMC/NVRAM reset).
i might not replace the machine (i still have 10 more days to do that).
but i feel like switching to applecare tomorrow. on the phone today they offered for me to come to the store tomorrow and they will refund their warranty and activate applecare since it is the same price.
I have their same protection plan on my powerspec windows desktop and have had wonderful experience with it. the graphics card in my machine died and they gave me original value credit for the graphics card which came to almost $400 and it paid for a Strix GTX 1070 8 GB.
but i feel like maybe Apple could be better at repairing apple products than the guys at microcenter since repairing a macbook retina for example is much trickier than a windows desktop where you easily just swap out parts.
thinking......

Micro Center sells new, open box, refurbished, refurbished open box, and return-clearance items. If they labeled it as Apple-Certified, it's Apple Certified. You can always use this tool when in doubt to verify authenticity, but they will label the items clearly to differentiate.
https://checkcoverage.apple.com/

The comment about selling a used defective item as a factory refurbished unit is on the same level of silly as those that claim Apple steals personal User data when performing MRI & then uses it for their own financial benefit!

If you want to try troubleshooting, you could always go beyond the PRAM/SMC and you can use the Console to check for OS X diagnostic logs, as it may document what Application caused the fault. This could definitively show the App you were using in question caused this. You could also perform a reinstallation of macOS, and use it for a little while without adding third party software. If the computer functions well, then that's a good indicator this was software related.

Apple, or Micro Center or any other Apple Authorized Service Provider could perform MRI on the machine as well, to look for hardware issues. While no test is foolproof, MRI is fast, efficient, and effective, and can be a great tool for ruling out a higher probability of component failure. Any Authorized Service Provider will do this for free.

However, if it were me personally, I'd just exchange it for another unit.

The Micro Center warranty may cover some things that Apple Care does not, but with Apple Care you can still take the computer to Micro Center and still have an Apple-Certified tech work on it (with Apple OEM parts/tools). Apple Care also recently changed their policy in battery replacement, and I am not sure if the Micro Center warranty covers this or not. I believe they replace the battery as soon as it hits 80% capacity, regardless of cycle count, and Apple anticipates 80% capacity at around 1,000 cycles. For many Users, Apple Care's new battery terms mean a huge portion of people who buy Apple Care and use the battery daily can get a free battery (so actually a free brand new entire top case) out of it. That in and of itself pays for the Apple Care.

 

[kofman13]

Micro Center sells new, open box, refurbished, refurbished open box, and return-clearance items. If they labeled it as Apple-Certified, it's Apple Certified. You can always use this tool when in doubt to verify authenticity, but they will label the items clearly to differentiate.
https://checkcoverage.apple.com/

The comment about selling a used defective item as a factory refurbished unit is on the same level of silly as those that claim Apple steals personal User data when performing MRI & then uses it for their own financial benefit!

If you want to try troubleshooting, you could always go beyond the PRAM/SMC and you can use the Console to check for OS X diagnostic logs, as it may document what Application caused the fault. This could definitively show the App you were using in question caused this. You could also perform a reinstallation of macOS, and use it for a little while without adding third party software. If the computer functions well, then that's a good indicator this was software related.

Apple, or Micro Center or any other Apple Authorized Service Provider could perform MRI on the machine as well, to look for hardware issues. While no test is foolproof, MRI is fast, efficient, and effective, and can be a great tool for ruling out a higher probability of component failure. Any Authorized Service Provider will do this for free.

However, if it were me personally, I'd just exchange it for another unit.

The Micro Center warranty may cover some things that Apple Care does not, but with Apple Care you can still take the computer to Micro Center and still have an Apple-Certified tech work on it (with Apple OEM parts/tools). Apple Care also recently changed their policy in battery replacement, and I am not sure if the Micro Center warranty covers this or not. I believe they replace the battery as soon as it hits 80% capacity, regardless of cycle count, and Apple anticipates 80% capacity at around 1,000 cycles. For many Users, Apple Care's new battery terms mean a huge portion of people who buy Apple Care and use the battery daily can get a free battery (so actually a free brand new entire top case) out of it. That in and of itself pays for the Apple Care.

i exchanged for another refurb and switched to apple care. microcenter customer service was top notch! they waited with me through the whole thing and set up the laptop and confirmed through safari that everything was activated nicely and I have all the correct coverage