Filed under: Hardware, Bad Apple
Too much XP may melt your brain and power cord
Ever have one of those Tim (The Tool Man) Taylor "More Power!" moments? Ryan Tomayko did last week, while using two instances of Parallels Desktop on his MacBook to do site testing against Internet Explorer.
After about ten minutes of running two virtual machines, Ryan detected the unmistakable odor of burning plastic. He later determined that about 1/2 inch of his power cord had melted (a symptom noted by some very ticked-off Canadian Apple Store customers), which led him to reconfigure Parallels for lean running to lower his CPU load and hence his power consumption.
Now, a good power supply should never melt -- ever! -- and you can't really blame IE for this one, as it's likely any CPU-hungry app would have triggered the same flaw. Still, Ryan is justifiably annoyed about the whole thing. Check out his post, and also his explanation of REST to his wife: downright Hofstadterian.
[via digg]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Samuel McConnell said 10:27AM on 12-30-2006
The power adapter has problems melting...I've gone through two already. Mine have melted by the magsafe adapter. The latest one I got seemed slightly redesigned, so I have high hopes that it won't happen again.
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Evan Hindra said 11:07AM on 12-30-2006
I'm on my 3rd Magsafe. And I am from Canada.
Is it a Canadian batch adapter only issue or something?
Mine varies from melted cable, to frayed cable tho.
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jason said 12:04PM on 12-30-2006
I have not had this happen to my Macbook Pro yet (crosses fingers) and I use XP with Boot Camp to play some CPU intense games.
I have the latest 2.33ghz 15.4 inch model, perhaps it is fixed in the new model.
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LittleJoe said 12:21PM on 12-30-2006
Using XP on my MBP for an hour running BF2... my power brick, which was sitting next to me on the couch, actually started to MELT to the leather sofa. My brick has a rawhide pattern on one side now.
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mtw300 said 12:37PM on 12-30-2006
Any problems with the normal macbook power adapter? Haven't had any problems yet but this message sort of freaked me out a bit.
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Marcus said 1:30PM on 12-30-2006
It seems to have been one of those great design ideas but poorly manufactured. There are reports all over the internet concerning problems with the magsafe including apples own support forum.
I just wish apple would do the right thing and hold their hands up and admit the flaws and do an official recall for anyone whos had these problems.
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Guy LeDouche said 1:39PM on 12-30-2006
I am on my second adapter since my first one melted near the magnetic piece. I run XP occasionally for games but other than that I am in OS X. Worst part of the ordeal was waiting in line at the Apple store for over an hour for one of the 'geniuses' to hand me a new power cord for free.
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J Belb said 3:22PM on 12-30-2006
Well i'm also on my third adaptor, they melt at the magsafe tip and apple refuse to accept it as a fault so I am left having to fork out some more cash. I wish someone would organise a class suit because i'm getting sick of being treated like a liar each time I try to get it replaced under warranty. My third one is also on its last legs
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Rick Prather said 5:46PM on 12-30-2006
Do you suppose the cause of the melted Power Supply on the input side may have something to do with crummy splice repair he did to the output side?
Seems like we are talking about at least two different problems here.
One, overheating power supplies and two, damaged cords at the magsafe end.
My personal feeling about the Magsafe ends is that too many people yank their cords out by the cord instead of tilting the head out of the MB/MBP.
Personally I have had no problem with either failure and have had my MB since just after they came out.
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Travis L. said 5:03PM on 12-30-2006
I've had my magsafe end start to fray and Apple replaced it for free for me.
@J Belb; Call AppleCare on the phone and see what they say.
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ryan said 4:44PM on 12-30-2006
Thats BS, when you design a power supply and size wiring you do so for the maximum current that the computer could draw (and plus a bit) - and then add safe guards in the way of fuses or breakers so if the computer draws to much current, they break the circuit and not melt.
Is it going to take a house burning down for this to get fixed?
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Guy LeDouche said 4:39PM on 12-30-2006
I got my new one free of charge with no issues from the genius bar.
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J Belb said 7:52PM on 12-30-2006
Well mine happens at the magsafe end and after having to replace two of them I have been extremely careful with them and I never ever pull the tip away by the cable I always make sure I grab the head and tilt it to remove it, furthermore they are used in quite a static environment barely being moved.
When I called applecare all I got was being passed around on the phone for an hour then I was made drive to the nearest apple center which was over an hour drive each way only to be told that they have never heard of this problem and told that I broke the cable by "getting it caught in a drawer" they didn't seem worried about the burn marks or melted plastic.
That was it they said I have to buy a new one and they would call apple to let them know that it shouldn't be replaced as it happened under their "fair ware and tear" policy.
It is a complete load of BS and obviously someone is going to get electrocuted before they act on it.
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James Whited said 10:33PM on 12-30-2006
I don't know how related mine is, but my MacBook Pro 17" Core Duo 2.16 GHz likes to shock me, and will quit when I disconnect the power from it. I have talked to Apple about it, they basically said just ignore it.
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elbertc said 10:48PM on 12-30-2006
On my PowerBook, the power adapter automatically shuts itself off when it gets too hot. It has happened to me several times already. It'll only start functioning again after it has cooled down a bit, but it isn't automatic. I need to re-insert the plug into the wall outlet to get it running again.
I wonder if Apple failed to include this feature in the new power bricks.
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People Geek said 4:22PM on 1-01-2007
WOW!?! That is crazy! I have 2 toasted white ac adapters in the closet. The Apple folks did nothing for me. My sister lives across town and uses an Dell XP machine. Damn her eyes!!
This is just another example of bad software ruining good hardware. It is so sad that people don't understand what other OS's do to our lives.
GET OFF THIS!!
Apple AC adapters have been trash since, since, always. If this was a PC AC adapter burning up running Mac, which it is not designed too, this would be a story about bad hardware. This should be, and is, a story about bad hardware.
Now lets enjoy our PBs, MBPs and iBooks without having to blame Ubuntu for our 18 month batteries and lids that don't close very well.
What in the hell is wrong with you?
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brad eshbach said 1:39PM on 12-31-2006
i am pretty sure that is a power brick to a mac book pro not a mac book.
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joelypolly said 12:22AM on 1-01-2007
OMG... This happened to me as well... they should have made both side of the cable mag safe so its cheapers to replace the melted cables
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William said 1:29AM on 1-01-2007
My standard 60w Macbook brick aso experinced heating issues which resulted in the magsafe side of the cord aquiring heat damage, the cord either melted due to heat or urnt while I was in another room.
I have an applcare plan on my Macbook and they say that they are sending me a new adapter free of charge as is expected under my plan. I called on the 25th and have yet to recieve a product that claims to have 24 hour shipping. I smell a rat, if the shipping is taking that long it must be fairly widespread and if Apple knows this they should issue a recall. I like apple products but sometimes things like this give me reason to be very angry with apple.
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PMDR said 3:47AM on 1-01-2007
My 85w adapter sort of quit working. I was getting neither the green or orange lights. Plugged in another one and it worked fine -yes, I have two.
So I took the broken one to the Genius bar and for them, the thing worked fine. They sent me away saying they'd never heard of ANY problems with the magsafe adapters and anyway, they had none in stock to give out as replacements.
I always thought Apple's "none in stock" meant they had a new revision on the way. hmmm
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