MacBook emitting smoke...

Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
Macbook (unibody) 2.4, 2gb RAM, 250gb HD
This is my first post, I needed some advice on this so just signed up.

Last night, the smoke alarm went off in my house. I put it down to some errant candles and left it at that. This morning though, when I went to turn on my Macbook, I found this:

DSC_0001.jpg

DSC_0002.jpg

DSC_0003.jpg

DSC_0005.jpg


It was running last night when it did this. Strangely, it still works perfectly, and smcfancontrol isn't reporting anything out of the ordinary.

It's a year-and-a-half old, and spends most of the time whilst I'm at home plugged into an LCD tv, but I always keep the lid open. The battery is still fine too.

Anyone have any suggestions?
 
Joined
Dec 2, 2008
Messages
145
Reaction score
3
Points
18
Location
Sacramento
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro
Might take it to an Apple store. They may want to fix it for free as this is a fire hazard.
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
It was running last night when it did this. Strangely, it still works perfectly, and smcfancontrol isn't reporting anything out of the ordinary. It's a year-and-a-half old, and spends most of the time whilst I'm at home plugged into an LCD tv, but I always keep the lid open. The battery is still fine too. Anyone have any suggestions?

A filtering capacitor may have burned open either in the power supply or possibly elsewhere. Typically when this happens, it emits a good amount of smoke until the capacitor opens and no longer conducts.

Depending on where it's located in the PS circuitry, it may or may not impact on the operation of the machine. However, without knowing what caused that to happen (might just have been component failure) or if something else may have been damaged, I would take it on in to Apple and let them look at it. If the machine is still under warranty you probably won't be charged for the service.

Regards.
 
OP
P
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
Macbook (unibody) 2.4, 2gb RAM, 250gb HD
If the machine is out of warranty, then that scenario is highly unlikely.

It's a year and a half old, so I suspect that this is correct. I'll keep an eye on it, and see if it behaves. Is it worth getting someone to take it to bits and see what happened? Could be as simple as some dust getting caught. As I said previous, it still works perfectly, so it's not like any important components have failed.
 
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
1,115
Reaction score
43
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
Unibody MacBook Pro 2.26, 4gb RAM, 500gb HD
(Note to self...Do not buy any any used Macbooks on ebay from PauliePower.) :D
 
OP
P
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
Macbook (unibody) 2.4, 2gb RAM, 250gb HD
A filtering capacitor may have burned open either in the power supply or possibly elsewhere. Typically when this happens, it emits a good amount of smoke until the capacitor opens and no longer conducts.

Depending on where it's located in the PS circuitry, it may or may not impact on the operation of the machine. However, without knowing what caused that to happen (might just have been component failure) or if something else may have been damaged, I would take it on in to Apple and let them look at it. If the machine is still under warranty you probably won't be charged for the service.

Ooops, totally missed this. I've cleaned the smoke damage off now, but will take it to the local Apple Store this weekend and get it checked over.

Why does this have to happen when I'm broke??? :[
 

dtravis7


Retired Staff
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
30,133
Reaction score
703
Points
113
Location
Modesto, Ca.
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
Apple sued for a machine way out of warranty. Did it catch on fire? Did it burn down the house?

To the OP, do have it checked. That does not sound very good and I feel that chscag is on the right track as to what happened.
 
Joined
Feb 15, 2008
Messages
173
Reaction score
5
Points
18
Location
Knoxville Tn.
Your Mac's Specs
15" MacBook Pro | 2.8Ghz C2D | 4 Gigs Ram | 512 Meg 9600 GT | 320 Gig Hdd
To the OP, do have it checked. That does not sound very good and I feel that chscag is on the right track as to what happened.

I agree completely. I would also like ot add, that ANYTIME any electronics smoke... or burn.. you should STOP using them right away. At least until you have it checked out. The risk of it catching on fire later on is too great.

Just 2 months ago, a regular client of mine noticed some smoke coming from his power supply in his tower. He turned off the computer and looked everything over. It seemed ok, so he powered it back on. All was working fine, so he decided to continue using it. That weekend he left town with his wife for a couple days. On Saturday night, they received a call.. Their house had burnt to the ground. The computer was later determined to be the culprit.

Moral of the story, never EVER trust electronics that have smoked. $200 today, could save you THOUSANDS tomorrow.
 
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
233
Reaction score
7
Points
18
Location
Maryland
Your Mac's Specs
2.66Ghz Penryn C2D iMac
You got lucky, it's a filtering cap. Sometimes when they blow, they SHORT, then your MacBook will become a brick, unlucky scenario. If it blows OPEN, your OK, essentially what a cap is an open in a circuit, it will not filter as well but the unit will usually work OK. This will add noise into whatever it was filtering though, have Apple check it out!!
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Macbook might still be under a warranty, not apple but through your credit card. I charge everything on either my AMEX and VISA and pay it off in full each month. Both my AMEX (Costco) and Visa double the warranty on anything I own up to an additional year for free. I bought a digital camera with a one year warranty, when the flash stopped working I called Visa. They told me to go get a repair estimate and fax them the estimate to. The camera cost $225 and to repair the estimate was $200. I faxed it in and they offered me the $200 repair estimate credited back on my card. I took them up on the offer and I was able to buy a better camera for the $200 at Costco using one of their coupons. So, if you charged your purchase of your Macbook you should contact them and determine if they will cover the repairs. I've used this two times now, digital camera and a Linksys router that developed a short. They didn't even ask for an estimate and just refunded my $110 for the router. Even crazier is they let me keep the digital camera, works great in the day just no flash at night so it's good for day hiking trips etc.
 
Joined
Oct 24, 2008
Messages
49
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Atlanta, GA
Your Mac's Specs
Unibody MBP
I would not have cleaned it up before going to the Genius Bar. He/she must not be paid by the letter for that description;)
 
OP
P
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
Macbook (unibody) 2.4, 2gb RAM, 250gb HD
Think they just wanted rid of me.

What happened:
Them: Is it still in warranty?
Me: No, it's a year and a half old.
Them: *Condescending* Didn't you take the extended warranty?
Me: *Annoyed, and rather loudly* No, I DIDN'T EXPECT IT TO CATCH FIRE.
(Bearing in mind it's a very busy store the week before Christmas).

I will report on developments as it goes. Last question: if this happened to anyone else, even though it's not in warranty, would anyone expect to have to pay out?

I know I shouldn't really have cleaned it, but they should see the extend of the damage when they get the lid off, there's black soot coming out of the keyboard.
 
Joined
Dec 1, 2006
Messages
1,495
Reaction score
34
Points
48
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.4/2GB/200HD/256 8600gt
speak directly to a manager, but be prepared to take "no" for an answer.

Take your photos in with you, that is key now that you have cleaned it.

Def would not have cleaned it before I took it in.

good luck! you may get some work, you may not. They dont really owe you much out of warranty, smoking machine or not.
 
OP
P
Joined
Dec 18, 2008
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Your Mac's Specs
Macbook (unibody) 2.4, 2gb RAM, 250gb HD
UPDATE!

All's well that ends well.

I received a phone call (actually, three, from various parts of the company) on Tuesday lunchtime. The gist of it is that something HAD gone wrong inside my Macbook (didn't tell me what, though), but it was fixable, but they weren't going to. Instead, they wanted to sent it back to Cupertino for 'further analysis'. Since I'll never see it again, they've given me a spanking new unibody Macbook, better spec, and actually more expensive than the original one. This I really can't complain about, and thank Apple for their excellent customer service, even though the original machine was out of warranty.

The End.
 

dtravis7


Retired Staff
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
30,133
Reaction score
703
Points
113
Location
Modesto, Ca.
Your Mac's Specs
MacMini M-1 MacOS Monterey, iMac 2010 27"Quad I7 , MBPLate2011, iPad Pro10.5", iPhoneSE
WOW, That is so great to hear! What a Christmas gift from Apple! :D

Thanks for the report.
 
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Messages
17
Reaction score
0
Points
1
WOW! That's impressive, very impressed with not only the customer centric focus with this solution but also helps them from a liability, reliability and quality assurance perspective. Corporate karma at its best and far too rare in this economic environment. I'll be buying more AAPL shares tomorrow for my IRA.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top