Melted MagSafe (soft of)

[atticus1178]

I was checking out my MagSafe thing today, and I saw this.

I was shocked, seeing as my charger NEVER moves. It is behind my desk, and the only time I move the cord is when I charge the laptop.

First I saw the gap in the wiring, showing exposed wires, then I saw the very small melted part on the other side.

Needless to say I have scheduled a Genius Bar meeting to see if they will replace it.

Do you think they will?

 

[macman2790]

yes it looks like it wouldn't have been your fault and your story sounds convincing. They have no reason not to give you a new one. Bring your computer with you in case it might have also damaged the connector on the macbook or pro. or your computer may have caused it, you never know. i'd just bring it to be safe.

 

[Counterfit]

They should take care of it, unless it smells like cat piss.

 

[atticus1178]

They should take care of it, unless it smells like cat piss.

haha, i remember that when the mbp's first came out, when that guy's supposedly caught on fire, w/e

and no, i dont have any cats, i am allergic, plus i dont like them!

 

[atticus1178]

yes it looks like it wouldn't have been your fault and your story sounds convincing. They have no reason not to give you a new one. Bring your computer with you in case it might have also damaged the connector on the macbook or pro. or your computer may have caused it, you never know. i'd just bring it to be safe.

do you think they will replace it on the spot?

 

[grahamtearne]

they should replace it, the same happened to mine but on a worse scale, i kept using it even tho it looked like that, until it started spitting sparks out!

you can get a new one sent to you via the apple support site, well its what i did at least. using the do it yourself replair program. they sent me a new one and then i had to return the old one withi 14days otherwise i would have been charged for the new one.

i cannot find the link i used, however im sure a simple call to applecare would sort it out if they wont change it at the genius bar.

 

[macman2790]

do you think they will replace it on the spot?

yes i dont see why they wouldn't replace it. unless they didn't have any new replacements by themselves.

 

[atticus1178]

took it in to the aple store, the main genius bar guy took one look at it and told that guy that was helping me to replace it immediately, he even asked me if it was arcing :/

they were very helpful

i am just glad i didn't have to buy a new one

 

[ChickenSwartz]

Random question: why are your pictures mirrored. Did you take them into a mirrior?

 

[atticus1178]

Random question: why are your pictures mirrored. Did you take them into a mirrior?

macbook pro = built in iSight

 

[ChickenSwartz]

macbook pro = built in iSight

Didn't think about that. Good call. Thanks.

 

[DwightSchrute]

and no, i dont have any cats, i am allergic, plus i dont like them!

Good man.

And if Apple doesn't want to replace something just find a different employee and tell them you are unhappy with their service and that you bought x amount of computers (or whatever) and after spending that much money you feel like you deserve better treatment. (after using the above method on broken iPod headphones I left the store with not one but two brand new pairs of iPod headphones).

 

[runninmac]

that is exactly what happened to mine, take it to the applestore and they will give you a new one

 

[risc]

The exact same thing happened on my MBP and according to Apple Australia it isn't covered by warranty.

Do a search on the Apple store for MacBook Pro AC adapter and you'll see heaps of complaints about the same thing happening.

Here are a few:

...

 

[anarchaeologist]

Oh, no. I was hoping the crap with defective power cords was finished when they moved away from the old G4 adapter design.

Those adapters were a major factor in my becoming disenchanted with Apple; I went through 3 of them and the last one split at the joint next to the plug and caught on fire, thank heavens I was at home and able to rescue the 12''. I bought a 3rd party adapter after that and I was so happy that there was a total redesign when the new notebooks came out...

If this is a common problem with the MagSafes I am going to reconsider my decision to buy a MBP on Tuesday.

 

[drake]

Took a look at mine. You can see by the design this would be an issue. I suspect that within a short time, mine will also split. I see either a recall, class action law suit or something more serious if this results in property damage due to fire. They need to move on this one.

In the mean time, being a good Canadian boy and Red Green fan, I grabbed some white "Duck" tape and rapped it around that troublesome end bit. Might help prevent it from coming apart.

 

[atticus1178]

the guy at the apple store told me that to prevent that from happening i should always keep the cord as straight as i could where the plug goes into the computer

he said that if the cord is bent at too much of an angle, that plus the heat, will cause the glue that holds the sheathing on to come off, and expose the wires, possibly causing a fire hazard

maybe that helps, but i still think they need to fix it

 

[Counterfit]

maybe that helps, but i still think they need to fix it

Absolutely. Leaving something like that isn't good.

Now if I could only figure out why the cover of the firewire plug on TWO iPod cables split on me.

 

[Makosuke]

It's a little sad that somebody overlooked such an obvious point of failure in the MagSafe design. They finally got the kinks worked out with stress points on the bricks, so they're REALLY solid now, and MagSafe is frankly a genius idea--it's saved my MPB at least three or four times already. But that connector part is just not built to handle the stress of the thing not going in straight.

I'm lucky enough that the thing I use mine on allows me to sort of "lock" it in a straight-in position, but it's obvious it wouldn't hold up to more standard use--design guys should know that power cords bend backward 95% of the time.

 

[StealthRider]

When did you buy your MacBook?

 

[atticus1178]

When did you buy your MacBook?

MacBook Pro

Our records indicate that your product is covered under Apple’s Limited Warranty and your estimated date of purchase was 17-Apr-06. Based on this data, your product will be covered by Apple service warranty for 204 more days.

 

[StealthRider]

Fairly recently - interesting. Does anyone with an August or September MBP have this problem?

 

[TheBusDriver]

pull on the adapter and don't yank on the cord and you'll prob be alright

 

[atticus1178]

pull on the adapter and don't yank on the cord and you'll prob be alright

that's the thing, i dont do that

i ALWAYS grab the hard plastic part (the actual plug adapter) and pop it upwards to release the magnet, i never pull on the cord part, as our parents taught us, dont pull out a plug by the cord

 

[bossass]

that's the thing, i dont do that

i ALWAYS grab the hard plastic part (the actual plug adapter) and pop it upwards to release the magnet, i never pull on the cord part, as our parents taught us, dont pull out a plug by the cord

Jeez, all I got was how to mow the lawn and how to take out the garbage.