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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Mac Notebooks > MacBook Pro Power Connector Burns Up

MacBook Pro Power Connector Burns Up
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baw
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Mar 15, 2006, 08:17 PM
 
     
MacG33k
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Mar 15, 2006, 10:08 PM
 
Originally Posted by baw
I was just about to order one, but I'm waiting for Rev.B!!!
     
Enigmaaron
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Mar 15, 2006, 10:10 PM
 
I'll just make sure I don't put a wad of cat hair in my magsafe, or let cats piss on the connector, or I'll keep my computer on a surge protector in an electrical storm, etc. Clearly he did something to help cause an arc in the connector, that doesn't just happen.
     
n8236
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Mar 15, 2006, 10:18 PM
 
That post is ludicrous, there is no way to know what he did w/ it. I could post a picture of a MBP on fire and say it caught fire by itself. His cat probably spilled water or some sort of liquid on his Magsafe. I don't buy it unless that guy can prove anything.
     
Peligro
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Mar 15, 2006, 11:50 PM
 
....dont forget this is ONE instance. ONE!! This is an isolated incident! The MBP's have been out for a month and this is the first one. I wish people wouldn't freak out about this type of crap! Seriously. If this turns out to be an issue Apple will recall anyways. Defective units will pop up regardless if its REV A or REV G. They are anamolies! Have you ever worked at a factory? Have you ever been on a production line?

C'mon people use your brain.
     
chrisutley
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Mar 16, 2006, 12:11 AM
 
I don't think anybody is "freaking out", not even the dude with the melted power adapter. Strange people these Mac users, can't seem to imagine any scenario where Apple is wrong about anything. Blame the dude with the melted connector, had to be his fault - no way Apple shipped something with a defect.
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aristotles
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Mar 16, 2006, 12:49 AM
 
Guys, look at the other pictures and read the comments. It does not sound like a defect but rather some cat faeces or cat pee caused the short. On the one hand, the supposedly the cats pulled the plug out but on the other hand, there are burn marks on the macbook and cat hair.

Why just wait for Rev B? Why not C, D, E, or F?
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mrmister
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Mar 16, 2006, 01:03 AM
 
Truth is, we don't know what this is. I tend to doubt that a cat somehow made the MBP combust, but it is true that we don't know what happened here...except that it *looks* like a power adapter ran too hot, shorted or melted somehow.

I don't really understand how all the flickr people *know* it was cat piss that did it--maybe they all have nasty cats and are more familiar with cat fu than I am.

Very interesting.
     
onlykaria
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Mar 16, 2006, 01:34 AM
 
i find it highly unlikely this "just happened" and the lack of details from the original poster just makes it more than likely...

and its not just because its apple, if someone posted a picture of a burned up gamecube or ps2 and said "it just happened on day" i would not believe it either.
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analogika
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Mar 16, 2006, 05:45 AM
 
I call bullsh¡t.
     
ben.mcguire
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Mar 16, 2006, 09:54 AM
 
Originally Posted by analogika
I call bullsh¡t.
Well said
     
Mr. Blur
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Mar 16, 2006, 10:06 AM
 
I call BS too.

*IF* this really was the case, there will certainly be a recall, just as has happened with laptop batteries and power supplies in the past (in the last few months I have had them at work from Compaq/HP and Dell....and of course Apple has had one too)...so even *IF* this is true there is no reason to panic and not buy and fall into this whole 'wait for rev B' business again.

And nobody is saying the Apple never ships anything with a defect - of course they do, they do not manufacture every part inside the computers they sell and are at the mercy of those companies that supply them the parts sometimes....it happens....they hve to deal with it. What people are saying is just what I said - one *possible* incident (and a questionable one at that) is no reason to condemn a whole product line.
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity...
     
dec
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Mar 16, 2006, 12:02 PM
 
*contents deleted*
     
dec
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Mar 16, 2006, 12:03 PM
 
Originally Posted by analogika
I call bullsh¡t.
no, catshit
     
dec
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Mar 16, 2006, 12:05 PM
 
apologies for double post, browser went a bit weird.
     
john h
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Mar 16, 2006, 01:46 PM
 
Originally Posted by mrmister
Truth is, we don't know what this is. I tend to doubt that a cat somehow made the MBP combust, but it is true that we don't know what happened here...except that it *looks* like a power adapter ran too hot, shorted or melted somehow.

I don't really understand how all the flickr people *know* it was cat piss that did it--maybe they all have nasty cats and are more familiar with cat fu than I am.

Very interesting.
There have been reports of people spontaneously bursting into fire. Why not a Macbook Pro?
     
Mr. Blur
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Mar 16, 2006, 02:42 PM
 
Originally Posted by john h
There have been reports of people spontaneously bursting into fire. Why not a Macbook Pro?

Perhaps if the Macbook Pro also happens to be the drummer for Spinal Tap
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity...
     
dec
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Mar 16, 2006, 05:11 PM
 
keep an ear out for an mbp that has choked "on vomit"
     
fadercraig
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Mar 16, 2006, 07:57 PM
 
haha, i just went to have a look and the pics are essentially gone...replaced by some big blocky pixels.

Insert consiracy theory!

from the link, caution, copyright infringment

"I am sorry if you do not see the image(s) you might have expected to see.

The reason for this is that Apple, after dealing with this issue, kindly requested me to remove the pictures at least until their engineers had a change to investigate this issue. Since Apple support has been very helpful and already is getting me a new Macbook asap, I'm happy to answer their request.

For those whose immediate reaction is along the lines of 'censorship' and other big words: I don't care."
     
baw  (op)
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Mar 16, 2006, 08:03 PM
 
     
mduell
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Mar 16, 2006, 09:34 PM
 
It looks like the cats peed on the connector, shorting it.
     
Eriamjh
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Mar 17, 2006, 08:28 AM
 
Water (or cat piss) and Mag-Safe don't mix.

I'm a bird. I am the 1% (of pets).
     
Troll
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Mar 17, 2006, 10:20 AM
 
Originally Posted by baw
Which rev of the PowerBooks had the problem with power supplies catching fire?

Rev A's are no more unreliable than Rev. B's.
     
analogika
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Mar 17, 2006, 10:53 AM
 
Originally Posted by fadercraig
haha, i just went to have a look and the pics are essentially gone...replaced by some big blocky pixels.

Insert consiracy theory!

from the link, caution, copyright infringment

"I am sorry if you do not see the image(s) you might have expected to see.

The reason for this is that Apple, after dealing with this issue, kindly requested me to remove the pictures at least until their engineers had a change to investigate this issue. Since Apple support has been very helpful and already is getting me a new Macbook asap, I'm happy to answer their request.

For those whose immediate reaction is along the lines of 'censorship' and other big words: I don't care."
If it *does* turn out to be cat piss, I hope they send him the bill.
     
ohenry
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Mar 17, 2006, 03:09 PM
 
Originally Posted by mrmister
I don't really understand how all the flickr people *know* it was cat piss that did it--maybe they all have nasty cats and are more familiar with cat fu than I am.
If you've ever had a cat, you know that sometimes they can and will piss on things for all sorts of reasons.

When we got our Playstation 2, we played it like crazy for several days. Three times that week the cat either pissed or tried to piss on it (or rather the controllers), because he apparently didn't like the attention we were giving it (i.e. the cat would get in our lap and we would push them aside so that we could continue playing). He also tried to use the controllers as a scratching post.

I could easily see somebody getting a MBP and using it a lot for the first few days, and then leaving the house and the cat pissing on it. Easily.

As a matter of fact, when I heard the person owned a cat, that was my first thought.
     
mintcake
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Mar 17, 2006, 03:15 PM
 
That happens to me, the cat goes in the shredder. ;p

(no animals were harmed in the conception and execution of this post)
     
Sourbook
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Mar 17, 2006, 05:40 PM
 
     
SEkker
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Mar 17, 2006, 11:18 PM
 
I would bet that if the cat had pissed on an older powerbook model with a traditional connector, there would have been a problem, too.

My sister's cats eat the cords on her computer all the time. That's one reason she's going to buy a mac with bluetooth keyboard and mouse...
     
analogika
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Mar 18, 2006, 06:10 AM
 


NOBODY is going to convince me that those scratches are a result of an electrical fire, or the result of ten days of normal use.

No way.
     
phoenix78
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Mar 18, 2006, 09:12 AM
 
i look forward to seeing the end result of the tests done on the system by the engineers. i hope that the findings are not witheld for some legal reasons or other. If the guy is caught trying to pull one over apple then there will be a high price to pay i would assume. like... he done did got a new pc plus all the extra work that engineers had to do to suss it out. lol... would be in the many thousands to repay.

those pics look interesting... just by looking at it on the screen is difficult to deduce anything... i mean cat piss would be obvious smell wise so theres the test there. it also looks like it rusted/oxidised some of the metal parts nice and good. if it is sabotaged then he may have used some other liquid that would have caused that effect. acid+water?(dont know much more about chem... last i did was 8 years ago lol)

I just had to laugh when i saw this thread. Its funny because of a TV show i watched called Myth Busters. basically these guys go around and try to prove/disprove myths. well one of the myths was that a guy got electrocuted by pissing on railway lines lol. it turned out that you can indeed get zapped but your piss stream needs to be continuous (not broken) all the way from your spout to the charged source. it was difficult to prove that anyone can produce a continuous stream of urine so it possibly didnt happen but it is possible... so i guess the cat was safe if it was that.

keep the theories flying! its good entertainment.

cheers,
robM
     
jhonizzle
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Mar 18, 2006, 10:18 AM
 
looks like grease was some how involved in this fire not "cat pee" if you look around the connector there are orange marks....lask i checked metal on fire didn't produce orange residue...nor does white plastic.
     
mintcake
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Mar 20, 2006, 11:09 AM
 
It's one of the lead stories on Macworld UK this morning. Headline: "New MagSafe power adaptor ablaze" - I call that sensationalism.
     
jamil5454
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Mar 20, 2006, 11:17 AM
 
Originally Posted by jhonizzle
looks like grease was some how involved in this fire not "cat pee" if you look around the connector there are orange marks....lask i checked metal on fire didn't produce orange residue...nor does white plastic.
I noticed that too, but that could easily be burnt cat piss. Definitely some foreign orangish substance on the connector and the guy wasn't smart enough to clean it off.
     
inkhead
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Mar 20, 2006, 06:29 PM
 
This happens all the time with every kind of power adapter imaginable. The cause is cat urine with too high of a PH balance causes some sort of electrical problems. I've seem this on Dells, HPs, and Macs.

Animals are often attracted to electricity, and magnetism in strange ways. I'd say your best bet is to shoot the cat. :-)
     
mactopsuit
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Mar 21, 2006, 12:25 AM
 
Perhaps it's his own fault and it's coffee...! Everyone spills a coffee or 2 now and then!
[FONT="Trebuchet MS"]Celestine Collins, Realising Doodles | MacTopsuit | http://www.celestinecollins.com/[/FONT]
     
inkhead
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Mar 22, 2006, 01:50 AM
 
Well whatever the cause, the pictures certainly showed that the individual has disgusting hygiene habits
     
   
 
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