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SSD Failed

J

jbstew32

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 15, 2007
146
1
Sorry in advance for the long winded story...

I bought a MBA in July 2012. My LCD developed annoying white bands across it. The apple store replaced it on the spot. Awesome service!

Then about 5 months later, my computer started turning itself off when it was asleep at night. That devolved into the system not booting at all; either the gray apple screen would spin and spin, or a folder with a question mark would pop up. However, I could still boot into the recovery partition (disk utility didnt help me out unfortunately) ....and then that even quit working. Attempting to boot into the mountain lion recovery resulted into launching internet recovery.

So I took it to the apple store. The genius guy thought its the SSD (as did I), but he was worried because he had trouble even loading the diagnostic program, so he was worried it might be a bigger issue with the logic board. No problem. I am all for being thorough. It was shipped to the repair center, and immediately the status updated to, "On hold - Part on order"

It's been 3 days since that status update, and two calls to AppleCare reps have yielded answers of, "I have no idea what is being replaced. Sorry..." and "Yeah, it looks like the SSD is being replaced I think.... let me call and check. *wait 10 minutes* oh ok, yea it's the SSD. it's on order and there is no estimate for when that will come in. We really don't have any idea when it will be fixed."



two questions:

1. am i just really unlucky by having these issues with my MBA?

2. why would the Apple repair center not have spare SSDs on hand?? that seems very bizarre to me. Has anyone else experienced this?
 
Yikes! Did you install your SSD on your own or did it come with the the MacBook? What is the manufacturer of the SSD?
 
KUNST said:
Yikes! Did you install your SSD on your own or did it come with the the MacBook? What is the manufacturer of the SSD?
Click to expand...

it's the original 128GB SSD that came with it; i'm not sure who made it.
 
Your experience is very unusual. I hope Apple makes it right for you having to wait for a repair.
 
Hmm. These 2012 128GB models are dropping like flies. Let's hope that model is an anomaly.
 
I have a Toshiba 256 SSD in a 2010 Air that has been going strong for 2.5 years, so it must be specific to a certain type or implementation of the Toshiba 128 module.
 
calvol said:
I have a Toshiba 256 SSD in a 2010 Air that has been going strong for 2.5 years, so it must be specific to a certain type or implementation of the Toshiba 128 module.
Click to expand...

Big difference as your 2010 uses a SSD controller designed by Toshiba whilst the 2012 uses a Toshiba SSD with a SSD controller designed by Sandforce.
 
My MBA has one of the Toshiba 128GB SSDs. So far there's been no problem with it, but all these stories about failures on this particular SSD make me glad I paid extra for Apple Care.

If it is a widespread problem though, I hope Apple extend the warranty period for those without Apple Care.
 
magbarn said:
Big difference as your 2010 uses a SSD controller designed by Toshiba whilst the 2012 uses a Toshiba SSD with a SSD controller designed by Sandforce.
Click to expand...

It is almost like someone flipped a switch two weeks ago and these things started dropping dead. :eek:

I don't recall a single failure reported in the forums until a week or so ago, then BAM!
 
What is needed is people to look at the health of their Toshiba SSD drives and report back the last known health % to see if this has anything to do with these failures.

I have looked at several of the 2012 64GB toshiba drives, the health condition on these drives that have anywhere from under 100hrs to under 200 hours total power on time, low 90's% seems to be the norm health that i have came across.
Seems rather low for ssd devices that have about seven days +/- worth of total power-on time
 
Weaselboy said:
It is almost like someone flipped a switch two weeks ago and these things started dropping dead. :eek:

I don't recall a single failure reported in the forums until a week or so ago, then BAM!
Click to expand...

Reports started coming in the first week of June, I know because I bought AppleCare after reading them and had to get a special waiver because I was 4 days past 1 year.

Considering the number of threads has exploded between June and now, I guess it was a good investment, although these things shouldn't be failing just after the warranty expires.
 
well, I can only assume there are a LOT of drives that need replacing because I am still waiting....

still on hold.


thanks for the insightful and amusing responses :)
 
Update: Apple says the SSD is backordered and it could be another week or longer, but at this point there is no estimate for when the repair will be completed.

terrific.

at some point it seems like it would be better to just give me a new computer and let them fix and resell my old one as refurbished.
 
It's only a matter of time before it happens to mine

**** Apple for shipping MBAs with that piece of garbage SSD

I remember even when I got it, I was so pissed off
 
Once in a while there is a bad apple.

My old iMac had been trouble free to 5 years before I sold it.

On the other handle I had a MacBook Pro that needed constant repairs. After the third repair, Apple replaced it with a new one and that one was trouble free until I sold it for the next model.
 
alphaod said:
Once in a while there is a bad apple.

My old iMac had been trouble free to 5 years before I sold it.

On the other handle I had a MacBook Pro that needed constant repairs. After the third repair, Apple replaced it with a new one and that one was trouble free until I sold it for the next model.
Click to expand...

The occasional bad apple is expected. But in this case the majority of failures are a particular model of MBA specifically the 2012 MBA's with Toshiba/Sandforce SSDs. This isn't typical as you also expect to see 2010/2011 and 2012 MBA with Samsung drives failing too over time which hasn't happened anywhere to the same degree. There's a saying 'When there's smoke, there's fire'
 
just to give you all an update on my situation:

I received my laptop back after 1.5 weeks of waiting. The SSD has been replaced and everything is tip top. My 128GB Toshiba was replaced with a 256GB Samsung.


I take back all complaints and skepticism :)
 
That is the way it should be, the SSD prices have dropped since mid 2012 Apple needs to step up to ALL those that suffered failure in/out of warranty.

jbstew32 said:
just to give you all an update on my situation:

I received my laptop back after 1.5 weeks of waiting. The SSD has been replaced and everything is tip top. My 128GB Toshiba was replaced with a 256GB Samsung.


I take back all complaints and skepticism :)
Click to expand...
 
jbstew32 said:
just to give you all an update on my situation:

I received my laptop back after 1.5 weeks of waiting. The SSD has been replaced and everything is tip top. My 128GB Toshiba was replaced with a 256GB Samsung.


I take back all complaints and skepticism :)
Click to expand...

Wow... You're very lucky! Could you tell me why they upgraded your flash drive? Is it because they don't have any 128GB in stock? My friend's MacBook Air 2012 128GB have a samilar problem as you, will take it to a authorized store to get it check and replace. Hopefully he can get an upgrade too :D
 
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