Hey everybody,
Alright, so yesterday I came home to my MacBook Pro (I had left it plugged in and powered on) shut down with the power cord unplugged. When I looked at the MagSafe part of the adaptor, I discovered that part of the insulation around the cord had melted, allowing me to see a bit of the copper power cord! When I looked at my computer, I found that my MBP had completely drained its battery and had gone into Safe Sleep Mode (I was gone for about 5 hours). I tried to plug the MagSafe back in so I would have just enough juice to swap batteries and then shut down my MBP, but the computer wouldn't continuously recognize the presence of the MagSafe connector for a minute or so (perhaps because there wasn't any power getting through for a consistent amount of time?), but after that minute I got a steady amber light on my MagSafe cord. Clearly, my MagSafe Power Adaptor needs to be replaced, and it will be. Unfortunately, I'm studying abroad in a country which doesn't have any Authorized Apple Repair Centers or Authorized Apple Resellers (I'm in Israel), so would it be possible to use some black electrical tape to re-insulate the exposed part of the cord so that I can continue to use my power adaptor until the replacement part arrives?
I can't stop thinking about what might have caused this to happen. The only application I had left running was iChat (with an away message), and I had even completely dimmed the display before I left! It seems to me that something odd had caused my MacBook Pro to draw the amount of power that it did (therefore causing the cord insulation to melt).
I've also noticed something odd regarding my MBP's battery. My first battery was eligible for the MBP Battery Recall, so this is my second battery (I haven't yet returned the first; I figure Apple will tell me when they want it, after all, it wasn't defective or anything). I'm looking at Coconut Battery right now, and it's telling me that (in accordance with my saved data) from June 10, 2006 to October 31, 2006, my battery lost 3% of its charge (it went down from 5507 mAh to 5372 mAh), and that from October 31, 2006 to November 16, 2006, my battery lost a full 5% of its charge (going from 5372 mAh to 5065 mAh). This battery has gone through 36 loadcycles, and it has lost 8% of its charge, while my first battery has gone through 49 loadcycles and has only lost 5% of its charge. What's going on here? Is this connected to my power adaptor / power draw problem?
Now, I'm sure you're thinking that I should reset my SMC (the equivalent to the PMU for Intel Macs). I pretty much agree with you, however, I have some reservations about resetting my SMC. What, exactly, will be reset? Will any of my settings be changed? Will I lose any data, preferences files, caches, histories, album data, etc? I want to know all about it before I do it...
As of yesterday evening (when the whole debacle occured), I've also noticed that the part of the speaker grille right above the MagSafe connector is, well, almost swollen upwards. It's protruding up in a soft bump by a few millimeters, and the grey plastic trim that goes around the MacBook Pro is protruding up from the lower casing by a few millimeters in the same spot. Could some defect or fault have caused my battery to draw an extreme amount of power, therefore melting the insulation of the MagSafe connector AND causing some heat to be dispersed upwards through the speaker grille, thus causing the disfiguration of the grille? If so, would Apple cover it, and how can I get them to cover it if I'm in a country (Israel) without an Authorized Apple Reseller or Service Repair center?
Thanks in advance for all of your help!
EDIT I'll post some pictures of the MagSafe cable and the speaker grille as soon as I can (probably within the next few hours or so).
EDIT x2 Could this problem have been caused by the recent MBP firmware update? I installed it and everything, and the installer said it was successful...
Alright, so yesterday I came home to my MacBook Pro (I had left it plugged in and powered on) shut down with the power cord unplugged. When I looked at the MagSafe part of the adaptor, I discovered that part of the insulation around the cord had melted, allowing me to see a bit of the copper power cord! When I looked at my computer, I found that my MBP had completely drained its battery and had gone into Safe Sleep Mode (I was gone for about 5 hours). I tried to plug the MagSafe back in so I would have just enough juice to swap batteries and then shut down my MBP, but the computer wouldn't continuously recognize the presence of the MagSafe connector for a minute or so (perhaps because there wasn't any power getting through for a consistent amount of time?), but after that minute I got a steady amber light on my MagSafe cord. Clearly, my MagSafe Power Adaptor needs to be replaced, and it will be. Unfortunately, I'm studying abroad in a country which doesn't have any Authorized Apple Repair Centers or Authorized Apple Resellers (I'm in Israel), so would it be possible to use some black electrical tape to re-insulate the exposed part of the cord so that I can continue to use my power adaptor until the replacement part arrives?
I can't stop thinking about what might have caused this to happen. The only application I had left running was iChat (with an away message), and I had even completely dimmed the display before I left! It seems to me that something odd had caused my MacBook Pro to draw the amount of power that it did (therefore causing the cord insulation to melt).
I've also noticed something odd regarding my MBP's battery. My first battery was eligible for the MBP Battery Recall, so this is my second battery (I haven't yet returned the first; I figure Apple will tell me when they want it, after all, it wasn't defective or anything). I'm looking at Coconut Battery right now, and it's telling me that (in accordance with my saved data) from June 10, 2006 to October 31, 2006, my battery lost 3% of its charge (it went down from 5507 mAh to 5372 mAh), and that from October 31, 2006 to November 16, 2006, my battery lost a full 5% of its charge (going from 5372 mAh to 5065 mAh). This battery has gone through 36 loadcycles, and it has lost 8% of its charge, while my first battery has gone through 49 loadcycles and has only lost 5% of its charge. What's going on here? Is this connected to my power adaptor / power draw problem?
Now, I'm sure you're thinking that I should reset my SMC (the equivalent to the PMU for Intel Macs). I pretty much agree with you, however, I have some reservations about resetting my SMC. What, exactly, will be reset? Will any of my settings be changed? Will I lose any data, preferences files, caches, histories, album data, etc? I want to know all about it before I do it...
As of yesterday evening (when the whole debacle occured), I've also noticed that the part of the speaker grille right above the MagSafe connector is, well, almost swollen upwards. It's protruding up in a soft bump by a few millimeters, and the grey plastic trim that goes around the MacBook Pro is protruding up from the lower casing by a few millimeters in the same spot. Could some defect or fault have caused my battery to draw an extreme amount of power, therefore melting the insulation of the MagSafe connector AND causing some heat to be dispersed upwards through the speaker grille, thus causing the disfiguration of the grille? If so, would Apple cover it, and how can I get them to cover it if I'm in a country (Israel) without an Authorized Apple Reseller or Service Repair center?
Thanks in advance for all of your help!
EDIT I'll post some pictures of the MagSafe cable and the speaker grille as soon as I can (probably within the next few hours or so).
EDIT x2 Could this problem have been caused by the recent MBP firmware update? I installed it and everything, and the installer said it was successful...