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Powerpack killed Macbook

M

MagSafeDisaster

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 25, 2021
2
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Yesterday my wife was hosting a zoom class on her 2016 Macbook 12 inch retina. The battery was on 20% so she plugged in the USBC and then turned on the power socket switch. There was a loud pop and the Macbook died. The MagSafe failed and must have surged the battery. Now the Macbook doesn’t turn on or charge. Clearly out of warranty but anyone know how Apple might respond? The MacBook should have protection from this. I’m hoping this might have just broken the battery but worried the logic board might have been affected. Found a company that claim they may be able to get the data off as the 2016/7 models may have a console port of sorts.
Of course the last time the drive was backed up was over six months ago so interested if anyone has had any success recovering data?
 
That model doesn't use MagSafe. So I think you are saying the plug-in unit has blown and damaged the computer. I would take to an Apple Store for evaluation. Unfortunately I suspect a new motherboard is likely needed and this is likely to be beyond economic cost, but if the data is very valuable it would be an option.

You might like to change your title
 
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ssmed said:
That model doesn't use MagSafe. So I think you are saying the plug-in unit has blown and damaged the computer. I would take to an Apple Store for evaluation. Unfortunately I suspect a new motherboard is likely needed and this is likely to be beyond economic cost, but if the data is very valuable it would be an option.

You might like to change your title
Click to expand...
Thank you ssmed. Yes, it is not a MagSafe. Have changed the title as suggested.
I’ll try Apple but probably safe to assume they will give all the reasons not to recognise the flaw. And anyway, if it did surge the logic board then I guess it is what it is with no recent backup
Much appreciated.
 
MagSafeDisaster said:
Yesterday my wife was hosting a zoom class on her 2016 Macbook 12 inch retina. The battery was on 20% so she plugged in the USBC and then turned on the power socket switch. There was a loud pop and the Macbook died. The MagSafe failed and must have surged the battery. Now the Macbook doesn’t turn on or charge. Clearly out of warranty but anyone know how Apple might respond? The MacBook should have protection from this. I’m hoping this might have just broken the battery but worried the logic board might have been affected. Found a company that claim they may be able to get the data off as the 2016/7 models may have a console port of sorts.
Of course the last time the drive was backed up was over six months ago so interested if anyone has had any success recovering data?
Click to expand...
Your best bet at this point is with 3rd party repair shops – those who can play with soldering iron and replace your MacBook’s I/O board or segment thereof. I’ve yet to see any Apple 1st party repair center willing to do this anywhere.

In any case, logic board replacement implies changing the SSD drive too, so it won’t get your data back.
 
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To add to what others have said here, basically yes the motherboard is most likely toast in one way or another.

Out of curiosity, were you using a third party charger? I can absolutely see a poorly designed one causing this to happen.

With that said, it may be possible for a third party repair shop (i.e. not Apple) to recover the data via the console port, and it also (depending on what was fried) be straightforward enough for them to repair the motherboard.
 
adib said:
In any case, logic board replacement implies changing the SSD drive too, so it won’t get your data back.
Click to expand...
I had a feeling that the 2016 and 2017 models had a data recovery port whereas after this they did not - that may be the pro rather than the MacBook though.
 
1) Not sure what Apple design flaw you are referring to.
2) You may have only damaged the battery. But it will likely cost some $$ to confirm/diagnose.
3) In the future, assuming it is an option, iCloud synch for the Documents folder is a nice safety feature if you are not regularly doing a full backup.
4) I support the recommendation to look into a 3rd party repair.
 
It's out of warranty so if it were me I'd whip the back off and have a good look at it.
The chances of fixing it yourself are almost nil but it's likely there will be telltale signs of whatever has gone 'pop'.
There will likely be charring somewhere. You might see something has splashed, bulged, exploded....
You may even get a clue by smell. It's rare something dies catastrophically like that and leaves no trace.
You've nothing to lose just examining it carefully. Really have a good look.
You can refer to a teardown like this to identify parts:
www.ifixit.com

Retina MacBook 2016 Teardown

A year after release, Apple just announced its first update to the 12" MacBook with Retina Display. It's sort of a baby update, so we decided to...
www.ifixit.com www.ifixit.com
With a bit of luck you'll have some idea what's happened. It might well just be the power module.
There may even be a fuse on the power side but you won't know until you've had a look. Doesn't look like there is but there might be.
If so it'll give you a better idea of if it's worth sending it into someone for repair.
You might learn nothing of course in which case it'll be half an hour or so of your life lost.
(Make sure you don't lose the screws).
Sorry for you and good luck
 
The "flaw" here is likely that, despite the strong likelihood that there is in-built protection against various power faults, there will always be a limit to those protections. The cost of protecting against extremes may not be justifiable. If a power incident/surge exceeds the designed limits all you can do is argue over whether the designed limits were reasonable or insufficient. Nothing is truly water-proof, nothing is truly fault-protected.

There's an old corollary to Murphy's Law: "In a circuit protected by a fuse, the circuit will blow to protect the fuse."
 
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My observation is, that when I am plugging in non Apple USB-C chargers capable of powering Air into AC, non-brand chargers throw spark - or when I switch power bar it makes a noise like spark flew somewhere. This is for the new GaN chargers, I have three different brands and all do this. I suspect the right thing is to power the charger first, let it settle down for few seconds and only then plug USB-C cable and computer. I have not seen original Apple charger do this.
 
Honza1 said:
My observation is, that when I am plugging in non Apple USB-C chargers capable of powering Air into AC, non-brand chargers throw spark - or when I switch power bar it makes a noise like spark flew somewhere. This is for the new GaN chargers, I have three different brands and all do this. I suspect the right thing is to power the charger first, let it settle down for few seconds and only then plug USB-C cable and computer. I have not seen original Apple charger do this.
Click to expand...

It can happen with a lot of things if you insert a plug into an AC outlet in a wonky way. Your suggested steps aren't meaningfully testable for safety purposes though. You would be better off skipping the use of off brand chargers.
 
Off brand Apple knockoff charges can be very dangerous. I was using an off brand iPhone charger when lightening hit the building. The charger exploded, the case came off, and flew about 15 feet, leaving a hole in the wall. Thankfully the phone wasn't plugged. I also had an original iPad charger plugged into another wall, and it was just fine, and the iPad and the charger I was charging had no damage.

Moral of the story: Do not use knockoffs.
 
JustAnExpat said:
Off brand Apple knockoff charges can be very dangerous. I was using an off brand iPhone charger when lightening hit the building. The charger exploded, the case came off, and flew about 15 feet, leaving a hole in the wall. Thankfully the phone wasn't plugged. I also had an original iPad charger plugged into another wall, and it was just fine, and the iPad and the charger I was charging had no damage.

Moral of the story: Do not use knockoffs.
Click to expand...
Moral of the story: you need better circuit breakers in the building. The UK solved this out of necessity in World War II.
 
adib said:
Moral of the story: you need better circuit breakers in the building. The UK solved this out of necessity in World War II.
Click to expand...
Sadly, like most people in the world, I'm living in a country with very little building codes.
 
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