M1 issues: post them all here!

[vanasian]

I got my MBA on the first day when it was released. I had some crashes here and there. I didn’t really pay too much attention to it. I always thought it could be software problems. I got CVMServer crashes yesterday and I decided to run hardware test. It turn out that there was some issue with storage device. I chatted with apple support and made an appointment today. I went in the apple store, they run more tests and told me that there is something wrong with the logic board. They will replace it under warranty. Thank God. If it’s not under warranty, I would have to pay $700 Canadian dollars.

 

[osplo]

What did you do, if anything, to fix Photo Stream? I have a new M1 Air and mine is not working. I've turned it on and off, rebooted etc. Similar to you, it is working on my other devices without issue. It is only the Air where photos are not showing up.

Thanks!

I followed all the usual indications for the icloud/Photos settings and then plugged the Air. Apparently it will NOT work if the Air is unplugged, at least for me and at least on 11.2.3.

 

[Quackers]

Just got an M1 MBP 13 a few weeks ago, it's been fine software-wise but the lower part of the housing seems a tiny bit warped. It's not sitting completely flush on my desk and as I'm typing it's moving slightly.
No, it's not the desk, my older 15 MBP sits completely still.
Has anyone else noticed this?

Yes some other people have had similar issues. Some unscrewed the screws and tightened them again evemly and the problem disappeared. Others have returned them for replacement/repair.

 

[Crayo]

My #1:

Disconnecting USB-C Ethernet adapters when M1 Mac goes to sleep.

For me this is the most annoying issue and I'm getting tired of unplugging and plugging the dongle every time I wake up the Mac.

Adapter itself stays within the USB bus and is detected as plugged, also the ethernet cable is detected as plugged in but the DHCP loses ability to renew addresses thus leaving the connection dead. This can be resolved only by replugging the USB-C port, but not by replugging the Ethernet port.

This was not fixed in macOS 11.3.

 

[robjulo]

I followed all the usual indications for the icloud/Photos settings and then plugged the Air. Apparently it will NOT work if the Air is unplugged, at least for me and at least on 11.2.3.

Thanks. It eventually worked for me (woke up the next morning and the pics were there). Overall, photostream seems to be very flakey, at least initially with a new device. I've had to turn it off then back on a couple of times, but it seems to be stable now.

 

[edjusted]

Connect my Macbook Air to bluetooth headphones and/or Airpods. Play any sort of audio, either Music app or VLC. Launch an IOS app. The sound drops for a couple of seconds, then becomes "hollow" and the volume drops, like an AM radio in another room, then after maybe another 5 seconds, becomes normal again.

This doesn't happen if I'm using the internal speakers.

 

[BaggieBoy]

Upgraded from a 2011 Mac mini to a M1 Mac min (8/256). Installation and migration was smooth and quick.

Took the 2TB (media and music) second drive out of the old mini and put it in a decent external enclosure. Decided to start with new Music and TV libraries. Importing my music from an another external drive kept failing at random points with errors such as "file name too long" or "file not found", however retrying with the same files would work. Eventually finished and seems OK.

The TV library however wasn't so smooth, lots of lost artwork which I had to manually add.

Biggest issue is iFlicks, it seems to convert MKV to MP4 OK but adding to "iTunes" step never completes. I've had to turn off that option and manually import the converted files.

UPDATE:
It turns out it wasn't iFlicks fault at all. When I checked the transfer speed of the external hard drive where the TV library was hosted, I was only getting a shade over 30MB/s! After doing some troubleshooting it turned out that USB-C to USB-C cable (a brand new UGREEN flat cable) was restricting the speed, when I switched to another UGREEN cable the speed increased to over 130MB/s, not spectacular but a great improvement. This speed is limited due to the 2TB HDD I'm currently using, I put an old 250GB SSD in the enclosure (as a test), I could get close to 300MB/s.

After getting an 4 times increase in speed, iFlicks now seems to able to complete adding to the TV library.

So I've ordered a Samsung 970 EVO 1 TB PCIe NVMe M.2 blade and an ORICO USB 3.1 Type-C to M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure to host the TV library and I'll probably get a 1TB SSD for the existing enclosure to host the Music library.

UPDATE 2:
Copied the TV library to the new external disk and it flies when adding to TV library. I'm getting better than 900MB/s write speed now, a 30 times improvement!

 

[ljabuka]

Just got an M1 MBP 13 a few weeks ago, it's been fine software-wise but the lower part of the housing seems a tiny bit warped. It's not sitting completely flush on my desk and as I'm typing it's moving slightly.
No, it's not the desk, my older 15 MBP sits completely still.
Has anyone else noticed this?

Hi, I have this issue on my brand new MacBook Air M1 for which also replied to another dedicated threads on this and another forums where many other reported the same. Seems also replacement not good option cause many got same after replacement. This look like serious general manufacturing defect of enclosure to me on many sold MBA M1 units out there (I see now also on MBP based on your experience).

 

[ljabuka]

Yes some other people have had similar issues. Some unscrewed the screws and tightened them again evemly and the problem disappeared. Others have returned them for replacement/repair.

I saw/found the same infos. Btw, I do not think it is and option to loose/tighthen screws in order to “fix” the case (I think that way somehow force evenness of enclosure/case) because I think this may I would say cause possibly even more damage to internal micro components. Better to return back accordingly I think.

 

[ljabuka]

Besides the issue with enclosure (enclosure seems bent, see my previous reply) I experienced another which is undesired rattle or vibrating when played piano music (some tons, from noticing some higher frequencies). Also this noticed by some other (indicated by other user with their brand new MBA M1 on this and some other forums in related threads) and this seems resonating of sound with keyboard seems (or with overal enclosure/frame which seems not desired/good quality). Besides these issues, this is amazing machine, but these issues bother a lot and are annoying and especialy I am concerned long term with additional issues that could occur during time as consequence of these issues.

 

[rsr]

I'm on my second Mac mini (M1 - 16GB, 1TB, macOS 11.4). Two issues with both units: 1. The Mac mini can only see USB A devices connected to a hub in my HP U28 4K monitor (connected to the Mc mini via USB C) if the monitor mains plug is disconnected and reconnected while the Mac mini is running; 2. Bluetooth connection from my Apple Magic wireless keyboard (A1843) is unreliable (e.g. repeated phantom keypresses) when waking the Mac mini after a day or two asleep.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I'm on my second Mac mini (M1 - 16GB, 1TB, macOS 11.4). Two issues with both units: 1. The Mac mini can only see USB A devices connected to a hub in my HP U28 4K monitor (connected to the Mc mini via USB C) if the monitor mains plug is disconnected and reconnected while the Mac mini is running; 2. Bluetooth connection from my Apple Magic wireless keyboard (A1843) is unreliable (e.g. repeated phantom keypresses) when waking the Mac mini after a day or two asleep.

I don’t think Apple is going to be able to fix the current BT problems. The same problems have been an issue for the mini and iMac for years. Very frustrating indeed.

 

[ljabuka]

Question for m1 owners.

Issues in this videos are true?

Cannot see videos. I am new owner of MBA M1. I would like to see which issues are you refering to.

 

[ljabuka]

Has anyone reported any of these issues to Apple so they get addressed?

Hi. I am brand new user of brand newcMacBook Air M1 I bought weeks ago. Do you know what is best channel to report and get attention from Apple so that they solve , well in my case I want return/refund due to enclosure defect (enclosure seems wobble on table, seems bent, reported by many other owners as well). Thanx!

 

[ljabuka]

I tried to do a quick-search of this thread and couldn't find anything specific to my issue. I'm sorry if it's been solved already. Feel free to re-route me.

I'm having sound issues. Cracking/buzzing/static sounds while playing music. The kind of sound you get when your speakers have reached their limit. Only, I'm not blasting music. This shouldn't be happening. For reference, I have an M1 MBP. I've had it less than 2 weeks.

I've tested the sound on many different tracks and still dealing with the issue. It isn't happening all the time, but it is happening consistently on every single track.

Thoughts?

I experienced same on my brand new MBA M1 and to me also does not sound normal. Moreover, another issue that I have is wobbling the MBA M1 on table (seems enclosure bent/warped, seems manufacturing defect) - the sound issue and that one I beleive can have same root cause and that is manufacturing defect in enclosure - it seems specific sound ton/frequency (higher freq) resonate with keyboard/enclosure seems. The same issue with sound (incl. bent enclosure) reported by many other owners as well on other threads of this and some other forums. Yes, this should not happening neither on MBP M1 or MBA M1. I think this is not normal for these pricey machines, which are (if we ignore such issue, but we will not) amazing machine to me.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Man my MBA M1 has none of these issues...sorry guys.

 

[imdog]

I don’t get how a casing could cause so many issues but..

I got an M1 Mac mini at launch which had a plethora of issues; constant screen tearing, Bluetooth dropping, wifi dropping, screen resolution randomly changing to 720p, keyboard & mouse lag, and took forever to wake from sleep.

And now I got the M1 iMac and it’s by far the best computing experience I’ve ever har

 

[Apple_Robert]

I don’t get how a casing could cause so many issues but..

I got an M1 Mac mini at launch which had a plethora of issues; constant screen tearing, Bluetooth dropping, wifi dropping, screen resolution randomly changing to 720p, keyboard & mouse lag, and took forever to wake from sleep.

And now I got the M1 iMac and it’s by far the best computing experience I’ve ever har

I remember your mini saga. Glad to see you are happy with the new iMac.

 

[A Computer User]

PLEASE ADVISE ASAP! Short story I am wondering if I need to upgrade from anemic 2 port iMac to 4 ports. Full story:

Got m1 iMac base model with upgraded RAM and storage. Mainly used in Logic X. I had to wait a few days for a USB c to USB A hub to arrive (usb 3). I then plugged in my two USB 2.0 hard drives, one which is set for time machine and other for external storage. I was able to transfer files to the external storage, and also to back up to the time machine at the same time. Everything seems fine. Then the next day the hard drive with time machine doesn't show on desktop. I find the setting in disk utilities to make it appear and it passes first aid but time machine won't detect it. So I decide to erase it and start fresh: but Mac OS refuses to erase it even after I try ever possible thing in Terminal. So I plug it into my PC and erase it no problem in windows, then plug it into the Mac and it works again. Erase it in disk utility and set it up as time machine, it works fine, does backups. Next day it once again disappears from the desktop. It shows in disk utility but once again can not be erased on the Mac and cannot be detected by Time Machine.

So my first thought is get rid of the USB Hub and buy another one. Excuse my ignorance but until now I was unaware that you could not plug external HDs (let alone two of them together) into many USB hubs. I've never had this problem before because I used to have more than enough ports. The "better" usb hubs are $100!!?!?!? Is this a problem I can solve with a USB Hub and is it going to be worth it?

Am I going to be able to solve this problem without it costing a lot? And if it costs that much am I just better off trading in my new computer and upgrading to the model with more ports? I've only had it for one week but apparently the return policy is now two weeks so I need to decide quickly. Time is of the essence because if I order a USB Hub to test another hub there could be a delay in getting it. 4 ports would be enough for me. One for audio interface, two for external HDs, sometimes one more, that's all I need.

SECOND OF ALL: obviously USB 2.0 hard drives are not very good. I was planning on buying new hard drives but there are a lot of things on the list of things to buy so I had put it off. Either way these ones can be kept as further archive. I am considering SSD as an option for one or both if the price is right. Is there a way to solve this problems with a cheap USB Hub if I used one SSD (less power draw?)

Once again forgive my total ignorance. This is a problem Apple just had to create isn't it?

 

[Ev0d3vil]

I'm having 2 of my WD HDDs randomly ejected. Those 2 HDDs work perfectly fine on Mojave and on my Windows machine.

 

[gank41]

I'm having 2 of my WD HDDs randomly ejected. Those 2 HDDs work perfectly fine on Mojave and on my Windows machine.

I’ve got a few WD external drives, and one of ‘em has a long delay when I reboot/login until it’s mounted. Finder basically hangs until it does mount, and then all the rest of my startup apps continue opening all at once..I have no issues with this same drive on my other Catalina MBP. I’ve ran A repair on the drive, too. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Ev0d3vil]

I’ve got a few WD external drives, and one of ‘em has a long delay when I reboot/login until it’s mounted. Finder basically hangs until it does mount, and then all the rest of my startup apps continue opening all at once..I have no issues with this same drive on my other Catalina MBP. I’ve ran A repair on the drive, too. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'm suspecting this is a Big Sur issue because how can the drive work perfectly fine on my older Mac and Windows PC but not my new M1.. Beats me.

 

[A Computer User]

I'm having 2 of my WD HDDs randomly ejected. Those 2 HDDs work perfectly fine on Mojave and on my Windows machine.

My issue was also with a WD drive. Toshiba and Sangate no problems...

 

[Ev0d3vil]

My issue was also with a WD drive. Toshiba and Sangate no problems...

Big Sur and M1 Mac? Seems like WD and Macs do not go along well.

 

[A Computer User]

Big Sur and M1 Mac? Seems like WD and Macs do not go along well.

This is really interesting. Apple support did not know about this problem yet, according to them. Since it’s a new computer, troubleshooting is complicated. I would never have gone to a gen 1 iMac but my last iMac died and needed to be replaced at the exact timing.

Add in the complication of a USB hub and I was going to need to try multiple hubs, cables etc. Along with software fixes. I already spent hours on this and while I do have spare time now I need to limit how much frustration I get from troubleshooting, especially the long phone calls. It seemed like if I can at least remove needing to run the HD through a hub it’s at least one less thing to deal with.

Apple support and I agreed that since I do music production (where you never want to lose a take!) that I don’t want to be reliant on USB hubs even if it might work there is a risk. Sure I could buy a very expensive hub but then It’s not saving anything. Cheaper midprice hubs like Anker get good reviews but then they also have customers talking about major issues they had due to them. You can influence reviews with money so I don’t know when I can trust it. The $200 hubs you would expect to be rock solid but then how do I know I don’t get a counterfeit one from Amazon, etc?

Just thinking about it starting to get a headache. Hopefully the additional two USB ports will lessen the headache. Luckily Apple have been fair with extending the return beyond 14 days to over a month due to the covid shutdowns and supply shortages. I tried to do an exchange but every apple store in Toronto was completely sold out and back ordered. Shipping mid July.