16" MacBook Pro Not Turning ON-Should be Recalled by Apple

[bonged68]

I have already followed all the reset steps that can be offered and have brought to apple store and they have tried that DFU reset in case it's the T2 chip. The T2 Chip was not the problem. The only solution is replace the logic board.

I bought mine (refurbished) about May or June 2020 as a graduation gift for my son. November of 2020 it stopped working. Just completely stopped working. No liquid damage. Still under the 1 year warranty apple replaced the logic board. It happened again on June-July 2021. Same exact thing. No liquid damage. Solution is the same, replace the logic board but no longer in warranty ($675 dollars I believe is the price quoted). I could barely afford this MacBook Pro. Hence, I bought it refurbished and did not want to pay for extended warranty. So, to have to pay again for a logic board that I believe should be recalled is too much. I hope everyone experiencing this will at least comment so apple will take notice and this would be recalled. There's no way we pay for something at such a price that the logic board should be replaced 2 times in just about a year. There must be a design issue here, I know because I'm not the only one having this problem. Meanwhile, my son has a laptop as a graduation gift that cost us so much money but is now being used as a paperweight. I could have bought an actual paperweight for less than $5.00 I believe.

Please comment on this if you have the same issue and may we get help in getting this recalled. I know some might not care because they can afford the extended warranty but don't forget that the extended warranty has a time limit and it's not the solution to a design problem.

 

[Falhófnir]

Recalls/ repair programmes are for very widespread issues, such as the butterfly keyboard failure. In this case it sounds more like you unfortunately got a lemon (an individual defective unit that slipped through QC). I haven’t heard of this as a widespread issue, the model is old enough by now (on sale for coming up 2 years) it would have come to light and Apple would have probably already responded otherwise.

I think the first logic board replacement might have its own warranty, maybe worth further investigating that route to see if Apple will replace it under that.

 

[Ifti]

Havent had this issue with my late 2019 purchased MBP16 - although I purchased the Applecare+ so its cover until Dec 2022 anyways - I haven't heard of such a logic board failure as being common enough to warrant a recall TBH.
Did they tell you exactly what the issue with the board was?

 

[bonged68]

Recalls/ repair programmes are for very widespread issues, such as the butterfly keyboard failure. In this case it sounds more like you unfortunately got a lemon (an individual defective unit that slipped through QC). I haven’t heard of this as a widespread issue, the model is old enough by now (on sale for coming up 2 years) it would have come to light and Apple would have probably already responded otherwise.

I think the first logic board replacement might have its own warranty, maybe worth further investigating that route to see if Apple will replace it under that.

I believe others have posted with similar problem and may have something to do with the USB-C port design because it is used for both power and data. This is happening to other MacBooks that have this port not just the 16" MacBook Pro.

I forgot to mention that we, my son and myself, have brought this back to apple 2 twice but no offer to replace the logic board under warranty. But I'll try your suggestion to see if they will still replace the logic board for free emphasizing this is the 2nd one that was put in in November 2020.

 

[bonged68]

Havent had this issue with my late 2019 purchased MBP16 - although I purchased the Applecare+ so its cover until Dec 2022 anyways - I haven't heard of such a logic board failure as being common enough to warrant a recall TBH.
Did they tell you exactly what the issue with the board was?

They did not tell me exactly what is wrong but I believe it has something to do with the USB-C design that has the power and data lines together. I'm glad for anyone like yourself that does not have this issue but I'm not the only one experiencing this. I'm glad you can afford the Extended Warranty but that doesn't solve the issue so I hope your MacBook never experiences it. It is happening not only on the 16" MacBook Pro but other MacBooks that has the USB-C ports.

 

[Waragainstsleep]

Replacement parts come with a 90 day warranty so thats not going to help. Its curious that you have had the exact same failure twice on two different boards. To me it suggests that some other part may be causing the issue.
Did you buy it refurbished from Apple or somewhere else? I've seen 3rd party refurbs supplied with 3rd party power supplies before and these are not worth the savings.

Sometime if you make a big enough fuss, Apple will issue you an exception for a free repair. Sometimes they won't. I had one they refused to fix under a recall program because there was evidence of liquid on the optical drive. Which was still working fine.
Its best to lay it on thick. Mention its a graduation present, tell them you, your son and your whole family love Apple and Apple products and your opinions of their quality, reliability and service has been severely impacted by this incident.

If they still won't help you, talk to Rossman Repair Group in New York. If the issue is common, they'll have seen it before. They are also able to repair logic boards instead of just replacing them, though its getting harder to get certain parts on the newer models. If they can it should be much cheaper than $675.

I would consider replacing the power supply (including the cable) just in case thats whats killing the boards. You might also ask Rossman if they are able to look into that for you. If you can provide evidence the power brick is faulty then Apple might reconsider a free repair on the basis they failed to correctly diagnose it first time around.

 

[bonged68]

Replacement parts come with a 90 day warranty so thats not going to help. Its curious that you have had the exact same failure twice on two different boards. To me it suggests that some other part may be causing the issue.
Did you buy it refurbished from Apple or somewhere else? I've seen 3rd party refurbs supplied with 3rd party power supplies before and these are not worth the savings.

Sometime if you make a big enough fuss, Apple will issue you an exception for a free repair. Sometimes they won't. I had one they refused to fix under a recall program because there was evidence of liquid on the optical drive. Which was still working fine.
Its best to lay it on thick. Mention its a graduation present, tell them you, your son and your whole family love Apple and Apple products and your opinions of their quality, reliability and service has been severely impacted by this incident.

If they still won't help you, talk to Rossman Repair Group in New York. If the issue is common, they'll have seen it before. They are also able to repair logic boards instead of just replacing them, though its getting harder to get certain parts on the newer models. If they can it should be much cheaper than $675.

I would consider replacing the power supply (including the cable) just in case thats whats killing the boards. You might also ask Rossman if they are able to look into that for you. If you can provide evidence the power brick is faulty then Apple might reconsider a free repair on the basis they failed to correctly diagnose it first time around.

I bought this from Apple directly and was received by mail through a nearby apple store.

I am hesitant to go to a non-authorized repair store because it will still cost money that apple will not reimburse even if they end up recalling this problem.

I can’t go to an authorized repair store because that most likely will cost more than going through apple directly.

you could be right that there’s another issue causing the death of a logic board.

but I do see a lot of posting on line of MacBooks not turning on with the USB-C port.

I’ll try to plea my case again with apple when I have the time.

for now I have a very expensive paperweight

 

[Waragainstsleep]

There is likely several chips that could have failed to cause your issue. These will vary from MacBook to MacBook. Apple does not like issuing recalls if they can help it. As mentioned, they likely would have done it by now if the issue was as widespread as you think with the 2019 16" specifically. I wouldn't hold your breath on that.
If you want to get a free repair you need to convince Apple to issue you an exception. Or claim it on your insurance maybe.
If you can't do that, then your best bet for a cheaper repair is Rossman or someone like them doing component level repair.
I would think its still worth fixing even at $675 given the price of these Macs.

 

[Aunducky]

I have already followed all the reset steps that can be offered and have brought to apple store and they have tried that DFU reset in case it's the T2 chip. The T2 Chip was not the problem. The only solution is replace the logic board.

I bought mine (refurbished) about May or June 2020 as a graduation gift for my son. November of 2020 it stopped working. Just completely stopped working. No liquid damage. Still under the 1 year warranty apple replaced the logic board. It happened again on June-July 2021. Same exact thing. No liquid damage. Solution is the same, replace the logic board but no longer in warranty ($675 dollars I believe is the price quoted). I could barely afford this MacBook Pro. Hence, I bought it refurbished and did not want to pay for extended warranty. So, to have to pay again for a logic board that I believe should be recalled is too much. I hope everyone experiencing this will at least comment so apple will take notice and this would be recalled. There's no way we pay for something at such a price that the logic board should be replaced 2 times in just about a year. There must be a design issue here, I know because I'm not the only one having this problem. Meanwhile, my son has a laptop as a graduation gift that cost us so much money but is now being used as a paperweight. I could have bought an actual paperweight for less than $5.00 I believe.

Please comment on this if you have the same issue and may we get help in getting this recalled. I know some might not care because they can afford the extended warranty but don't forget that the extended warranty has a time limit and it's not the solution to a design problem.

I have the same symptoms. that could not be turned on on September 28th I brought my phone to apple for repair and they said that logic board need to be replaced and due to logic board shock at nand flash area, replacement price + service fee is almost half of the purchase price.
And I'm not sure that if I change it, I'll face the same problem again or not.

I think it's due to the bad design of the internal circuit board. Putting the nand flash near the usb c port makes it easy to damage it.
And another thing is that Apple allows us to replace the whole logic board instead of replacing some parts, it's too much forcing. causing us to waste money on unnecessary parts

 

[Spacedinvader]

I have the same issue. Apple want £552 plus VAT to replace the logic board on my 1.5 year old device. I could cry!

 

[vivaqi99]

You're not the only one, I'm having the same issue and just reported it today. Same as Spacedinvader above, I've got my MBP 16" last July and it stopped charging this morning and I've been using MBP for the past 15 years, I still have my 2012 MBP that works perfectly fine. Went to the Mac store and the rep was telling me that I'm just giving you the options here to repair it cause it's out of the 1 year warranty, so you need to cough up $670 dollars before taxes to repair it. No, how about you fix your damn defects and you can keep me as a customer?

 

[HiVolt]

This is why it sucks that everything is soldered onto the logic board. Costs used to be cheaper, when you did not have to replace the ram and storage.

But people keep buying this stuff, even though its less and less repairable every year.

 

[dteman]

I have the same problem -- a DEAD, expensive, 2-year-old MacBook Pro (16" late 2019). Do others?
The authorized repair is over $1000 to replace the sudden and spontaneous failure of the logic board and touch ID sensor.
Apple refuses to take any responsibility. This is a component failure which they say is not common enough to warrant a service program. That, in my opinion, is the second Apple failure!

 

[bob_zz123]

Like other posters said above, repair extension programs are for widespread issues. It is unfortunate that your machine failed but it doesn't mean there should be a service program. It is simply the case that, sometimes, electronics fail, and you would have had the opportunity to purchase AppleCare / AppleCare+ to protect against this. If you live in some countries you may have additional consumer law coverage but if you don't, I don't think Apple should have to pay for this.

 

[Waragainstsleep]

If you are lucky enough to have purchased your Mac as a consumer (not a business) in the EU, its covered for 5 or 6 years by EU consumer law.

 

[phalgun27]

I have already followed all the reset steps that can be offered and have brought to apple store and they have tried that DFU reset in case it's the T2 chip. The T2 Chip was not the problem. The only solution is replace the logic board.

I bought mine (refurbished) about May or June 2020 as a graduation gift for my son. November of 2020 it stopped working. Just completely stopped working. No liquid damage. Still under the 1 year warranty apple replaced the logic board. It happened again on June-July 2021. Same exact thing. No liquid damage. Solution is the same, replace the logic board but no longer in warranty ($675 dollars I believe is the price quoted). I could barely afford this MacBook Pro. Hence, I bought it refurbished and did not want to pay for extended warranty. So, to have to pay again for a logic board that I believe should be recalled is too much. I hope everyone experiencing this will at least comment so apple will take notice and this would be recalled. There's no way we pay for something at such a price that the logic board should be replaced 2 times in just about a year. There must be a design issue here, I know because I'm not the only one having this problem. Meanwhile, my son has a laptop as a graduation gift that cost us so much money but is now being used as a paperweight. I could have bought an actual paperweight for less than $5.00 I believe.

Please comment on this if you have the same issue and may we get help in getting this recalled. I know some might not care because they can afford the extended warranty but don't forget that the extended warranty has a time limit and it's not the solution to a design problem.

I had the same issue. In my case it is not refurbished though. I doubt mine is liquid damaged after reading your post. Just like yours it got completely shutdown twice in an year. I had to pay more than $1000 to get it fixed second time.