M1 16 inch MacBook Pro failure after 18 months

[makeitrainnaren]

I had THREE “infant mortalities” of M2 16 inch MBP’s in eight days. That in addition to the original M1 failure this thread was started about. The problem almost certainly seems to be an unfortunate interaction between a bad Mac OS bug and one particular display setting, as noted in detail in the other MacRumors discussion that I linked previously.

I used to fix electronics at at independent repair shop and the problem with Apple even before Apple silicon is the only way to do repairs is through donor boards. If one part fails on the soc the whole board is toast unless you know microsoldering. Rossman is correct the voltage lines for the the ssd controller should not have the ability to fail easily and they still haven’t changed that.

 

[magbarn]

After reading this thread, I'm very close to extending my AppleCare for my 2021 MBP 16 M1max given the ridiculous prices Apple is still charging for memory and storage.

 

[mecloud]

I brought back the M2 16” MBP that had bricked most recently and was able to “revive” (but had to install Sonoma), and then ordered a new M3 16” MBP. My reasoning was that since I “revived“ the M2, I’d seen some odd GUI hesitations in one of the main pieces of software I use…not sure if that is due to Sonoma, or if the “brick”/“revive” process has caused some firmware issues that may affect the graphics. There was one other anomaly, and that was when raising the screen brightness with the function keys, there would be a couple subtle “flashes” immediately after making the adjustment. The M2 16” MBP I have that is running its out-of-the-box-no updates Ventura 13.5 does NOT do that. The chance of the firmware being screwed up in some non-obvious way greatly reduced my trust in the “bricked/“revived” machine. And replacing it with the M3 (aside from getting what should be a faster computer) will help inform me whether the software GUI issues I saw were actually due to Sonoma or not.

 

[Supernovaibiza]

The other day I experienced a strange problem with my 16 inch M1 MacBook Pro. It was the high-end CPU configuration, and had 64gb RAM and 4TB internal SSD. I had purchased it one day short of 18 months ago and, until several days ago, had never experienced any issues with it. It was running Mac OS 12.6, with the most recent OS update to 12.6 having been done several days previous. I had used the MBP quite a lot after doing that last OS update, so I tend to think that doesn’t factor into what happened. ***(EDIT 11/14/23 it was actually 12.7 that I had recently installed at the time of this post)***

The other day, I worked with that MacBook Pro without any issues for several hours. About 30 minutes later, I powered it back up and…got just an Apple logo for a few seconds followed by a black screen. It was not bootable into “recovery” mode. I *did* successfully connect to it in DFU mode running Apple’s ”Configurator” from another Mac, but my numerous attempts to “revive” it were unsuccessful. I brought it to the Apple Store the following day, and they *were* able to do a restore (meaning that all data on the drive was lost of course). Not a huge deal, since I’m pretty good about keeping backups. But, having no idea why the computer had basically killed everything on its internal drive to the point of “recovery mode” not even being accessible, and considering that it still had considerable trade-in value in “working order” but none at all if “dead”, I made the decision to trade it then and there and get an M2 MBP.

I’ve read some reports of the M1 16 inch MBP’s experiencing catastrophic failures that basically destroy the internal SSD, and have watched the rather dramatic Louis Rossmann YouTube video on that subject. But this was apparently something different, as the Apple Store Genius Bar was able to “Restore” it.

Has anyone else experienced, or heard of, any other such failures?

Hi There, I just had the same problem, mine is a two year old 64gb ram 16inch M1macbook pro.
Had it plugged in to 3 monitors since over a year with no problems. Then yesterday I came back from a walk to see all the monitors in mirror mode and I could see the resolution wasn’t right, so did a restart only to see a Mac logo and then a black screen.
I’m still trying to find out what is wrong.
So it could be only an SSD problem and not the motherboard?

 

[EzisAA]

My Macbook Pro 14 inch M2 Pro also after update brick, but with old MacBook Air and Apple Configurator 2 I Resolved Mac. No more problems.

 

[mecloud]

Hi There, I just had the same problem, mine is a two year old 64gb ram 16inch M1macbook pro.
Had it plugged in to 3 monitors since over a year with no problems. Then yesterday I came back from a walk to see all the monitors in mirror mode and I could see the resolution wasn’t right, so did a restart only to see a Mac logo and then a black screen.
I’m still trying to find out what is wrong.
So it could be only an SSD problem and not the motherboard?

If you had recently updated the OS, and if you had ProMotion turned off in System Settings/Display, it’s likely you ran into the same issue I had.

 

[mecloud]

My Macbook Pro 14 inch M2 Pro also after update brick, but with old MacBook Air and Apple Configurator 2 I Resolved Mac. No more problems.

You got lucky. I had mixed results in attempting to “revive” or “restore” the bricked computers with DFU mode and Apple Configurator.

 

[mecloud]

Placing this link here for reference:

macOS Sonoma Boot Failures

Hardware and software docs / wiki. Contribute to AsahiLinux/docs development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

Needless to say, setting your 14/16-inch MacBook Pro built-in display to any refresh rate other than “ProMotion” appears to be a very risky thing to do.

 

[macduke]

This is why I never buy the first generation anymore, especially for an unproven new platform and entire overhaul of the silicon.

 

[EzisAA]

You got lucky. I had mixed results in attempting to “revive” or “restore” the bricked computers with DFU mode and Apple Configurator.

It not work from first time, but I know, how Apple work - I must just try again and again, then it complete "Resolved". After that Recovery mode start work, and I reinstall OS. If after "Resolved" I try rebot mac, it's again brick. Only work - "Resolved + Recovery mode + Reinstall OS. And all data is safe. Now I have paranoia - need another mac at home, for backup, if agan after update it's brick. 😄 So I now live without updates, waiting when announce a next Mac Studio with M3 Max.

 

[Supernovaibiza]

If you had recently updated the OS, and if you had ProMotion turned off in System Settings/Display, it’s likely you ran into the same issue I had.

yes I had recently updated the OS 😫 and i've no idea if I had
ProMotion turned off. that in display settings can't do DFU as it goes to lock mode?
don't know what to do!!!

 

[mecloud]

yes I had recently updated the OS 😫 and i've no idea if I had
ProMotion turned off. that in display settings can't do DFU as it goes to lock mode?
don't know what to do!!!

If you are close enough to an Apple Store, bring it to a Genius Bar and tell them to attempt a “revive” (which will not cause lost user data, but will update the OS to Sonoma). if they’re not able to do a “revive”, a “restore” (which DOES erase all user data) may work. My personal experiences with a total of five MacBook Pros and this particular Mac OS bug were that DFU mode was tricky to get into, and when successfully connected via DFU mode to another computer with Apple Configurator, I was getting varying results with attempts to “revive” and “restore”.

 

[4743913]

This is why I never buy the first generation anymore, especially for an unproven new platform and entire overhaul of the silicon.

Everyone should just buy AppleCare+ whether its first gen or third. No excuses.

 

[Supernovaibiza]

You got lucky. I had mixed results in attempting to “revive” or “restore” the bricked computers with DFU mode and Apple Configurator.

tried various methods to put in to DFU mode and all failed. goes to lock mode

 

[Fishrrman]

A "Fishrrman dumb question™":

With Sonoma, where is the option to enable/disable Pro Motion?
I looked in "displays", and can't find it.

 

[mecloud]

A "Fishrrman dumb question™":

With Sonoma, where is the option to enable/disable Pro Motion?
I looked in "displays", and can't find it.

You’d only see that setting on M1/M2/M3 14 or 16 inch MacBook Pros.

 

[mecloud]

Everyone should just buy AppleCare+ whether its first gen or third. No excuses.

AppleCare has nothing to do with this Mac OS bug.

 

[4743913]

AppleCare has nothing to do with this Mac OS bug.

how do we know it was a macos bug? he traded it in..

my advice still stands.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote (regarding Pro Motion):
"You’d only see that setting on M1/M2/M3 14 or 16 inch MacBook Pros."

I have a MacBook Pro 14" m1pro.
I still can't find where to change the setting (in Sonoma).
Can anyone help?

 

[OrenLindsey]

OP wrote (regarding Pro Motion):
"You’d only see that setting on M1/M2/M3 14 or 16 inch MacBook Pros."

I have a MacBook Pro 14" m1pro.
I still can't find where to change the setting (in Sonoma).
Can anyone help?

It's in Settings > Display > Refresh Rate

 

[Supernovaibiza]

If you are close enough to an Apple Store, bring it to a Genius Bar and tell them to attempt a “revive” (which will not cause lost user data, but will update the OS to Sonoma). if they’re not able to do a “revive”, a “restore” (which DOES erase all user data) may work. My personal experiences with a total of five MacBook Pros and this particular Mac OS bug were that DFU mode was tricky to get into, and when successfully connected via DFU mode to another computer with Apple Configurator, I was getting varying results with attempts to “revive” and “restore”.

I even tried DFU blaster and still no DFU mode

 

[Fishrrman]

Oren wrote:
"It's in Settings > Display > Refresh Rate"

Thanks for pointing the way.

I looked in MY display settings, and I had that same popup menu set to "60hz".

BUT... with 60hz selected, there's no indication of "Pro Motion" to be seen anywhere else, nor any cluse how to make it active.

Only if you "mouse down" on the popup does it become visible or choose-able.

Thanks again.

 

[Chuckster26]

Hello everyone..

I’ve just received a second call from the Apple Store that neither the Revive or the full Restore solved my M1Max MBP black screen.

I’ve been reading this thread today, hoping for a miracle, but it appears that my MBP is dead and unusable, and to fix it — Apple is asking my to pay $750 (+tax), even though it is clearly their chip’s problem, because I am out of my 1-year warranty. This is a 2-year old M1Max, upgraded to the maximum specs. My last MBA was upgraded to the maximum specs and lasted 8 years. I did not expect this $4500 machine to die within 2 years..

Does anyone thing there is any other solutions to try? I’m seeing a pattern here and it looks like I’m not the only one with this problem.. If Apple’s chips fail this quickly, there is clearly something wrong with them. If it was due to misuse, or damaged caused by me, I wouldn’t have even looked it up online, but there seems to be a bigger issue here.

Does anyone else feel like there are grounds for a class action lawsuit for a malfunctioning product?

 

[magbarn]

Hello everyone..

I’ve just received a second call from the Apple Store than neither the Revive or the full Restore solved my M1Max MBP black screen.

I’ve been reading this thread today, hoping for a miracle, but it appears that my MBP is dead and unusable, and to fix it — Apple is asking my to pay $750 (+tax), even though it is clearly their chip’s problem, because I am out of my 1-year warranty. This is a 2-year old M1Max, upgraded to the maximum specs. My last MBA was upgraded to the maximum specs and lasted 8 years. I did not expect this $4500 machine to die within 2 years..

Does anyone thing there is any other solutions to try? I’m seeing a pattern here and it looks like I’m not the only one with this problem.. If Apple’s chips fail this quickly, there is clearly something wrong with them. If it was due to misuse, or damaged caused by me, I wouldn’t have even looked it up online, but there seems to be a bigger issue here.

Does anyone else feel like there are grounds for a class action lawsuit for a malfunctioning product?

Welcome to Tim Cook's Apple where everything is soldered. This is scary as this is the reason why I sold my 2019 MBP 16 i9 right when the applecare ran out. Depressing to see that Apple Silicon isn't immune. Sorry, you're stuck paying that $750 as it's otherwise a dead weight.

 

[Fishrrman]

chuckster wrote:
"I’ve just received a second call from the Apple Store that neither the Revive or the full Restore solved my M1Max MBP black screen.
I’ve been reading this thread today, hoping for a miracle, but it appears that my MBP is dead and unusable, and to fix it — Apple is asking my to pay $750 (+tax), even though it is clearly their chip’s problem, because I am out of my 1-year warranty."

Just some thoughts.

Is there ANOTHER Apple Store that is within reasonable driving distance?

If there is, I suggest you take it to THEM, and see what THEY say, before you spend the $750 for a new logic board.

More...
Do you have another Mac at home, or perhaps one "close by" that you could use?

REASON WHY I'm asking:
If you have another Mac that "qualifies" (must be either Apple Silicon or Intel with a t2 chip, and must be running latest Sonoma), you could try using Apple Configurator yourself.

If the "revive" option doesn't work, and if the "restore" option doesn't work either, perhaps you could get it completely erased and start over.

Be comforted in the fact that you are far from the "only one out there" having problems like this. I had a similar failure on a 2021 MacBook Pro 14". Nothing but a quick Apple logo on boot, then "went black".

At the local Apple Store, at first they could neither "revive" nor "restore" it to the state is was previously in (running Monterey).

The only way they got it going again was to install Sonoma. It's running now, but still seems "just a bit quirky" at boot sometimes.

Research on the net seems to indicate that one could kill a MBP 14" or 16" if one tried doing an update with "Pro Motion" switched off. I think that's what happened to me, but can't be certain.

For more on using Apple Configurator (make sure you download the latest version before using it), try the "Mr. Macintosh" pages.

Also, some youtube links:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=get+mac+into+dfu+mode+quickly

Hope this helps. I, too, was confounded by this quirk.