Catalina bricked my 2015 MacBook Pro. What to do now?

I am curious if the Logic-Board-Exchangers in the Apple Store want money from me or Tim gave the green light and the whole thing is waved through.

I left my iMac at the Apple Store last Saturday and haven't heard anything yet. It should be repaired by Friday. Maybe a good sign...

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Having been through the exact same, I spoke to a senior advisor at Apple today and put forth all the evidences of this not being an isolated incident and that it should be considered under Apple’s extended warranty program. The advisor said that as Apple haven’t recognised this issue to be manufacture-caused (as yet let’s hope), my only choice is to have the logic board replaced at the ghastly figure quoted.

What I honestly feel is happening is that Apple realise the issue, yet don’t want to undertake the financial implications of having to replace hundreds of logic boards. Yes they’re pricy, but that’s no excuse not to step up and accept when you’re at fault.

Is it less than six years old? If so, print out a few URLs in this support forum and claim that the defect was either in the product from manufacture or was created by the OS update. The key piece of legislation is the Consumer Rights Act that gives you six years of protection from manufacturing faults. I suspect the logic board will then be replaced for free (as it doesn't cost Apple UK anywhere near that much)

It has a fix for this;

Fixes an issue that prevented Setup Assistant from completing during some installations

That might prevent the issue?

I've got a couple of other Macs that I have disabled the automatic update and I'll leave them until the 10.15.1 comes.

This happened to me as well on a 2014 MBPro. I could NOT recover using standard internet recovery options.

However, I was able to get back to Mojave by using a bootable USB drive with Mojave installed.

You are not alone. Your computer is probably going to be ok. It is a pain.

I brought in my 2019 MacBook Pro to the Mac Shack for a defective screen. I did the Catalina update and I got a call a few days later and they said that the new update doesn’t allow the logic board to communicate effectively with the other components in the computer. They are currently replacing my logic board. They have been trying to fix my computer for almost 2 weeks now. There is supposed to be an update coming out on Monday to fix this issue but we’ll see I guess.

I had the exact same thing happen to my Late 2012 Mac Mini. I also got the same response from Apple, claiming that software cannot damage hardware! The machine worked perfectly before the update and not at all after the update. The body of the Mac Mini was very hot after the failed update. In my case, the machine is not even chiming when I turn it on. Only the LED in the front comes on and I can hear the mechanical drive and fan spinning up. But no display output and unresponsive to any key combinations. This is completely unacceptable and Apple should assume responsibility for rendering our machines useless.

I want to apologize afterwards for my iMac in the Macbook Thread:

Hello, I got a call from the Apple Store today: my iMac would not be repaired yet and ready to be picked up, they have not found the cause yet and are now in contact with "Engineering" and waiting for their call back.

No more words about Logicboard exchange!

New pick-up date is the middle of next week, if the "Engineers" get in touch with the Apple Store as soon as possible.

That would be the second working week in the Apple Store. I'm not happy that this will be delayed so long. Not everyone can pull out their tasks for a long time. There are enough of us who depend on functioning hardware for professional reasons. Therefore we also bought a product from Cupertino and nothing from Redmond. And not everyone has a spare computer.

And not to forget all the private users who don't have the possibility to deduct any costs that might arise from the tax.

Greets from Munich

Fred

I have exact same problem. My MacBook Air Early 2015 is bricked.

Same symptoms for me: folder icon with question mark.

Computer isn't responding on any commands.

Worst thing is that service partnered with Apple requested motherboard change, and wanted to charge me 550$.

Thats really shame.

Same thing happened to me on my 2015 27" iMac. I started the update to Catalina on Saturday night and woke up Sunday morning to a grey screen. No boot chime and no startup key combinations worked. I took it to my local Apple store and they said my system board failed. They also said a software update cannot cause a hardware failure so my board failing on the exact night that I upgraded is just a coincidence. I now have to pay $625 CAD for a new board.

Sorry to hear that. Quite a coincidence, though it may be that the stress of the upgrade tipped over a previously unknown condition (if the logic board really is trashed).

$625 CAD is reasonable for that repair -- I'm comparing logic boards available on eBay, which seem costly to me, to those available through (I)fixit (more reasonable). I know from experience that disassembling an iMac is not easy the first time you do it. If the Apple Store will repair for that price, I'd say go for it. LOL, and make sure they upgrade to Catalina before they return it to you!

Best of luck!

@Lycoming360. Thanks. They're ordering the part as we speak. I should have my machine back by the end of the week. And yes, I'll make sure it's fully functioning on Catalina before I take possession.

@jaygrow. Thanks for the advice. I let Apple know via their feedback page.

I'm not technically advanced enough to judge whether the failure was caused by the upgrade or that the upgrade just exposed a pre-existing flaw that regular reboots did not. If this does turn out to be an issue on their end, I'll have my receipt.

My MacBook Pro 2014 also got non responsive after Catalina update. It worked fine for about 3/4 days then suddenly it started becoming extremely hot. Now whenever I try to on it, there is nothing on the display but I am only able to hear fan noise constantly running. Any suggestion from Apple side will be most welcome.

That sounds like a totally separate issue. I had that happen to my 2007 iMac. Almost traded it in. Search for fan stuck on high speed. I think resetting the PRAM did the trick. That machine is still working as a basic web surfer.