When's the last time you had a hardware failure, excluding moving parts?

[rbpeirce]

I got to thinking about this the other day. I had commented that 60 years ago car problems were common but not so much today. That got me thinking that since the days of my SWTP 4K computer I don't think I've ever had anything fail except possibly a disk drive. Years ago there was an idea that if a chip-based product got thru the first ninety days it might last forever. That seems to be the case but might isn't the same as certain. What's your experience?

 

[Jimmysb]

I got to thinking about this the other day. I had commented that 60 years ago car problems were common but not so much today. That got me thinking that since the days of my SWTP 4K computer I don't think I've ever had anything fail except possibly a disk drive. Years ago there was an idea that if a chip-based product got thru the first ninety days it might last forever. That seems to be the case but might isn't the same as certain. What's your experience?

So not really hardware per se, but Electronic Hardware as defined by RTCA DO-254

 

[rbpeirce]

So not really hardware per se, but Electronic Hardware as defined by RTCA DO-254

I don't know what that is!

 

[Rod]

I have had two MBP's completely replaced by Apple in the last 8 years. One a 2020 MBP because of a faulty keyboard; it kept repeating keystrokes eg. fffffffffff. After two failed repairs by Apple they replaced the whole thing under Consumer Protection laws in Australia. The other was a one year old 2015 MBP bought in 2016 that had a swollen battery that got so bad after a couple of weeks that the trackpad no longer worked.
Other than that I have had one 500GB HP EHD fail completely at about 2 years old.
No other issues. Considering my wife and I have 9 Apple devices between us and many other peripherals and standalone devices like Bluetooth speakers, mice, EHD's ect the rate of reliability is pretty darn good. I am still using a 2010 13" MacBook as a game machine.

 

[dotdotdot]

If aftermarket counts, RAM failure on my mid '11 iMac. I purchased from a well known and established vendor (not from an auction site) and it died shortly thereafter. They sent replacement sticks with no issue, and it ran perfectly ever since. On some level, I'm "happy" that my M3 is not upgradable because it was a huge issue dealing with that at the time when it happened.

 

[rbpeirce]

Rod, those are all non-chip issues and to be expected. The battery is a bit iffy. I did forget they can fail.
dotdotdot, how soon was the failure? After 90 days?

 

[dotdotdot]

Gosh, this was about 11 years ago, I'd say the failure was about a month in before I figured it out.
Basically...the iMac would randomly emit a loud buzzing noise like an MRI does, then promptly freeze everything. I don't know the source (speaker or other?) every couple of hours or so, just doing regular surfing, maybe 5 tabs open...how this a symptom of bad RAM is crazy, but the replacement sticks worked. Yes, I did reseat and shuffle around the sticks, but pull them out fixed the issue.

 

[MacInWin]

I had a line of dead pixels develop on my 3 month old MBP. Apple replaced it under warranty. That was about 4 years ago.

 

[rbpeirce]

Gosh, this was about 11 years ago, I'd say the failure was about a month in before I figured it out.
Basically...the iMac would randomly emit a loud buzzing noise like an MRI does, then promptly freeze everything. I don't know the source (speaker or other?) every couple of hours or so, just doing regular surfing, maybe 5 tabs open...how this a symptom of bad RAM is crazy, but the replacement sticks worked. Yes, I did reseat and shuffle around the sticks, but pull them out fixed the issue.

I don't know what that's called now but we used to call it Infant Mortality. My point was stuff that got thru the first 90 days seemed to be good forever, but I don't know if that's actually the case.

 

[rbpeirce]

I had a line of dead pixels develop on my 3 month old MBP. Apple replaced it under warranty. That was about 4 years ago.

Do you know if it was the display or the underlying hardware? I don't know if a display fits what I'm wondering about.

 

[MacInWin]

It was probably be the screen, but it was a MacBook Pro, so also integral. And hardware. I don't know what you are trying to get at with the thread. Failure is failure.

Are you trying to make some point about CPU/GPU/RAM reliability? To be honest, CPU/GPU chipsets have been pretty robust since the 80's. And even before that, as long as they didn't get hit by heat or static, integrated circuit chips have been pretty solid since the '70's.

 

[rbpeirce]

Are you trying to make some point about CPU/GPU/RAM reliability? To be honest, CPU/GPU chipsets have been pretty robust since the 80's. And even before that, as long as they didn't get hit by heat or static, integrated circuit chips have been pretty solid since the '70's.

Yes. That's been my experience and I just wondered if it was typical. Apparently it is.

 

[pm-r]

Yes. That's been my experience and I just wondered if it was typical. Apparently it is.

It seems to me that a fair number of members here have been hit with the bad CPU/GPU that seem to hit certain machines but they certainly managed to last more than 90 days which I would certainly hope so, all the same as the bad capacitors that affected some mac models for a good number of people, the latest I recall being affected where some of the iMac G5 Motherboards, but hopefully that has been fixed by using better made capacitors in the first place that affected the whole computer industry, not just Apple.



- Patrick
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[rbpeirce]

CPU/GPU failures fall into the category of interest. Must have missed the posts.

Capacitors aren't solid state devices. I've had a transistor based power amp for over 30 years. A few resistors have been replaced and I do worry about the large electrolytic capacitors, but the transistors seem solid.

 

[pm-r]

Capacitors aren't solid state devices.

I guess technically they aren't "solid state devices", but they can sure mess things up if and when they fail, just the same as cold solder joints can do that many of us suffered with when Apple and the world changed to lead-free soldering.



- Patrick
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[tewatson]

Power supply on a new 27" iMac about seven years ago. Random but frequent hard restarts. Apple's senior tech support buffoon diagnosed it as a Java issue and refused to consider anything else. Had to take it in to the local Apple Store and demonstrate. They replaced the PS.

Tom

 

[Jimmysb]

Apple and the world changed to lead-free soldering.



- Patrick
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Working in the aviation industry (before retiring) the biggest issue was bi-metal corrosion and spiders webs, where some components would arrive ready tinned and specification said lead free, but in fact were leaded. Due to contents of each solder being different, they do not mix, and life of joints were reduced from 10 years to 2 years.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Working in the aviation industry (before retiring) the biggest issue was bi-metal corrosion and spiders webs, where some components would arrive ready tinned and specification said lead free, but in fact were leaded. Due to contents of each solder being different, they do not mix, and life of joints were reduced from 10 years to 2 years.

In the very early years of the Macintosh (I'm talking about the original toaster shaped Macs) cold (cracked) solder joints were common due to heat cycling and poor cooling. A touch of a soldering pen to the solder joint would cure the problem. Also it wasn't uncommon to see a popped capacitor every now and then. These could be easily replaced for a few cents. I used to install fans in Mac Pluses for users and that would make them super reliable. But that was all about 35+ years ago.

Mostly the hardware problems that I've seen users have since were bad GPU's in some MacBooks (manifesting as an anomalous line or band dispaying on the screen), and, of course, a brief plague of swollen lithium MacBook batteries that usually first manifested themselves as keyboard keys that wouldn't work properly. Both happened about five to ten years ago.

That said, back when I used to do in-person consulting, it wasn't unusual to find that users/businesses had a closet piled high with old retired Macs that never failed. They just got so old that their users wanted a newer flashier Mac, and they couldn't bear to throw away a Mac that still worked and which had served them so well.

I remember one independent Macintosh store in San Francisco called me one day, and I dropped by and they led me to a back room where, upon opening the door I was confronted by a room full of. by then, very old toaster Macs. They wanted to know how much it would be for me to turn every one of them into a MacAquarium!

 

[JesseMorrison]

It wasn't me, but my wife got a hardware problem when she bought the new iPhone 15. The phone just blocked on the home screen without being able to do anything, except turning it on and off. Apple service tried to solve the problem, but they just gave up and after being unable to solve the problem got her a new iPhone instead.

 

[pm-r]

The phone just blocked on the home screen without being able to do anything, except turning it on and off.

Well, at least the problem wasn't due to old age but something never to be discovered.

At least the Apple Tech service staff realized that there can be a lemon in everything that's made.


- Patrick
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