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Q: MBA 13 Mid 2013 crash Black screen

Has anyone else encountered an issue where they are using their Mid-2013 MacBook Air (13in) on battery when the machine suddenly goes to sleep or appears to, but it has actually crashed. The screen is dark, keyboard and trackpad are not responsive and the keyboard backlight is on. You have to force it off to restart by pressing and holding the power button? It is completely random, not a kernel panic, and nothing I can see in any logs. After the recent firmware update the symptoms changed such that the display is still active since the Apple logo is lighted. I've never had it happen when I'm on a/c power. Unfortunately its random and infrequent too. The recent firmware indicated it helped with battery issues, etc. didn't fix mine apparently.

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 4:36 AM

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Q: MBA 13 Mid 2013 crash Black screen

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  • by Dr5baitso,

    Dr5baitso Dr5baitso Dec 5, 2013 12:53 AM in response to chrisk52
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 5, 2013 12:53 AM in response to chrisk52

    I've had this same issue on my mid 2013 13" 8/256Gb MBA bought in august. I've called apple support, and been through the motions (SMC reset, PRAM reset, repair permission, repair disk) but the problem remains. It was happening both with mountain lion and after upgrade to mavericks.

    I have now sent it in for repair, but I expect it will be fruitless. It is expected to take 1.5 weeks, so I'll let you know how it goes. I demonstrated the problem to the technician, so they know what to look for. I was, however, unable to reproduce the crash on their own MBA which gives me some slight hope.

    On my own computer I can hang it using the wait-until-fade-then click, the manual-sleep-click, and the close-and-open-lid tricks.

    Interestingly, both times I repaired the disk there were errors that needed repairing (and were repaired succesfully). Also, both times I spoke with apple care the sent me a link to a service notice regarding the flash drive (though only affecting 2012 MBA and flash drives with 64 or 128Gb capacity). Then again I was also asked if my 2013 MBA was specified with a flash drive, so I may not have spoken with the brightest of the bunch.

    I was also unable to reinstall the OS ("contact apple care"), and have therefore been unable to test with a clean OS. Then again the computer hangs in the lock screen as well, so it probably doesn't affect anything.

     

    I referred to the bug report. Thanks everyone for all the effort put into this, and I'll keep you posted.

  • by shyannlindy,

    shyannlindy shyannlindy Dec 7, 2013 11:05 AM in response to yoganinja
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Dec 7, 2013 11:05 AM in response to yoganinja

    Thank you, yoganinja for sharing all your diligent work on the BSOD secondary to sleep!!!

     

    My 11" Macbook Air Mid 2013 always reproduced the Black Screen of Death with Energy Savings set to default while running on the battery or power adapter following your steps:

     

    shortened version:  Immediately after screen turns black, tap any key or keys; keyboard lights stay on but device will not wake. Must perform hard boot to restart.

     

    SMC P-RAM, EFI and SMC firmware updates produced "no joy".

     

    Called Apple Support today and started a case number.  The engineers got a Capture_Data.dmg file of the failure.

     

    Dec 7th the tech called me and said the engineers want me to set up a disk partition to test my device to see if it is hardware or "software" (perhaps he meant "firmware"?) related.  I said I really didn't want to do that and spend another hour on the phone.  The tech said he will tell the engineers I "refused" and I said "whoa.....that's a little harsh, isn't it?   Why can't they test this on their mid 2013 MacBook Airs?  I've spent enough time on this--we showed them the problem and how to reproduce it."  The tech said he would relay that info and for me to make sure auto updates are "on". 

     

    Meanwhile using the suggested "bandaid" and it seems to work:

     

    apple/system preferences/energy saver/battery: 15 min and deselect box "put hard disks to sleep when possible/power adapter 25 min and deselect box "put hard disks to sleep when possible"

     

    If others wish to create a case here is the URL:  http://expresslane.apple.com

     

    Now it sounds like I wait and see.  At least they didn't deny a problem!

     

    Case No. 538481151

    MacBook Air 11" mid 2013, i5 processer/4gb RAM/256gb Storage

    Noticed problem occurred after upgrade to Mavericks.

  • by richard_vd,

    richard_vd richard_vd Dec 9, 2013 1:22 PM in response to shyannlindy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 1:22 PM in response to shyannlindy

    I called AppleCare for this 'sleep - immediate wakeup - crash' issue and was told to bring it in for a hardware repair, so I made an appointment at the Genius Bar.

     

    Last weekend at the Genius Bar, I mentioned yoganinja's case number 524999600 and demonstrated the issue, and also demonstrated it both in Recovery Mode and on their known good network booted Mavericks. Their diagnostics software could not find any hardware error. I also was able to reproduce the issue on 3 out of 7 MacBook Airs on display in the Apple Store, although it was harder to do than on my MBA.

     

    The Lead Genius at the Genius Bar told me that it's being worked on by the engineers. According to him, there was no point in replacing any hardware at this time. I was told to look out for firmware updates, but no time frame could be given.

  • by richard_vd,

    richard_vd richard_vd Dec 9, 2013 2:16 PM in response to yoganinja
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 2:16 PM in response to yoganinja

    Not all Mid-2013 MacBook Airs have this 'sleep - immediate wakeup - crash' issue. In my office, there are 3 MBAs. All have the same specs: 13" / Mid-2013 / i7 / 8GB / 512 GB / 10.9 / all updates installed. One of these three cannot be crashed, no matter how hard we tried!  Intriguing!


    I tried to find the difference between the good one and the two bad ones, and found a single difference: the two bad MBAs have memory made by Hynix, and the good one has Elpida memory!

     

    I would like to ask all of the Mid-2013 MacBook Air users that are having this issue to check the memory manufacturer of your MBA's memory and report it here.

     

    Here's how you can find it:

     

    1. click the Apple icon
    2. click About this Mac
    3. click More Info...
    4. click System Report...
    5. click Memory


    There you will see a field named 'Manufacturer' with a value of 0x80AD (Hynix) or 0x02FE (Elpida).

    Screen Shot 2013-12-09 at 23.09.18.png


  • by Pascal Heijnen,

    Pascal Heijnen Pascal Heijnen Dec 9, 2013 2:44 PM in response to richard_vd
    Level 1 (70 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 2:44 PM in response to richard_vd

    I have the same setup i7 8GB en 512Gb WITH the Elpida chips

    Screen Shot 2013-12-09 at 23.40.14.png

     

    I DO have the problem. I have another thread on this issue. It startede after the move to mavericks. No issue with ML.

     

    Pascal

  • by MohammedaliH,

    MohammedaliH MohammedaliH Dec 9, 2013 2:49 PM in response to Pascal Heijnen
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 2:49 PM in response to Pascal Heijnen

    Yeah i also have Elpida memory, so don't think thats the issue. as i have the same screen going blank issue.

  • by richard_vd,

    richard_vd richard_vd Dec 9, 2013 2:54 PM in response to MohammedaliH
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 2:54 PM in response to MohammedaliH

    Thanks Pascal Heijnen and MohammedaliH.

    No relationship to the memory manufacturer then, it's not so easy after all.

     

    Back to the drawing board...

  • by eli77057,

    eli77057 eli77057 Dec 9, 2013 3:36 PM in response to richard_vd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 3:36 PM in response to richard_vd

    I have had the same problem as recently as Saturday 12/07 for 90 minutes. My MBA (mid 2013) has 2 x 2MB of Elpida memory. Hmm!

  • by bwat47,

    bwat47 bwat47 Dec 9, 2013 3:38 PM in response to eli77057
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 3:38 PM in response to eli77057

    Yeah in my experience bad memory would not cause such a specific and easily reproducible bug.

  • by MDN64,

    MDN64 MDN64 Dec 9, 2013 3:41 PM in response to richard_vd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 3:41 PM in response to richard_vd

    It's good news they don't all do it.

     

    The issue first appeared on 2011 machines.

     

    My first 2012 MBA did it with ML.

     

    It'll probably turn out to be a combination of tolerances they didn't test for or a supplier who isn't meeting a tolerance. If it's a combination of components it could take a while to find.

  • by shyannlindy,

    shyannlindy shyannlindy Dec 9, 2013 3:51 PM in response to richard_vd
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 3:51 PM in response to richard_vd

    My macbook air has the 'sleep - immediate wakeup - crash' issue.  Here is the manufacturer code:

     

     

    0x802C

  • by yoganinja,

    yoganinja yoganinja Dec 9, 2013 7:18 PM in response to richard_vd
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 7:18 PM in response to richard_vd

    I'm also on Elpida. Too bad there was no correlation there.

  • by richard_vd,

    richard_vd richard_vd Dec 10, 2013 4:26 AM in response to MDN64
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 10, 2013 4:26 AM in response to MDN64

    MDN64 wrote:

     

    My first 2012 MBA did it with ML.

     

    Was it ever resolved with your 2012 MBA?

  • by richard_vd,

    richard_vd richard_vd Dec 10, 2013 4:31 AM in response to shyannlindy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 10, 2013 4:31 AM in response to shyannlindy

    shyannlindy wrote:

     

    My macbook air has the 'sleep - immediate wakeup - crash' issue.  Here is the manufacturer code:

     

    0x802C

    For the record, 0x802C is Micron.

  • by JamesWildDev,

    JamesWildDev JamesWildDev Dec 10, 2013 4:34 AM in response to richard_vd
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 10, 2013 4:34 AM in response to richard_vd

    How about SSDs?  I've moved on now and ordered a Thinkpad, but both of my defective Macbooks had Sandisk SSDs.  Somebody noted that the problem seemingly went away if a power management setting to do with disks sleeping (which would surely be meaningless with SSDs) was unchecked.

     

    http://macgateway.com/help-and-support/find-out-if-your-macbook-air-ssd-is-a-sam sung-or-toshiba/
    SD = SanDisk.

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