Dead MacBook M1 after Using USB-C Multiport Hub Adapters/Docks

I agree with Sir Lancaster,

I was experiencing heratic problems when using the ethernet interface on my Belkin USB-C hub F4U092 .

Yesterday, I found that the problems ( well at least some of the problems) went away when I stopped powering the MacBook M1 via the Hub. So I will also never connect anymore a power adapter to the hub.

I have a Satechi hub with passthrough power that bricked my 13" M1 MBC for a second time today. After some online research, I'm fairly certain that it's the culprit. I'm still trying to figure out if any USB hub is safe to use - Apple support and website are not useful, peripheral manufacturers claim their devices should work, and I can only find customer reports for USB hubs that don't work.

I used a $100 Satechi USB hub, which is marketed specifically as a Mac hub, and is even made to perfectly match any of the three types of finishes of the MBP. That's what bricked my new M1 MBP. Twice.

So it's apparently not only Intel-specific devices that brick the new M1s.

Even if it were, I'd expect Apple to thoroughly test their new M1 hardware as they are the ones making, marketing, and selling it, and they have put an enormous effort into feeding our expectations that their relatively pricy products will "just work."

USB-C Power Delivery is pretty complex as the spec allows for

multiple voltages with varying amounts of power delivery

depending on the voltage.

It would have been much simpler if the USB-C PD spec said

that you can only deliver one voltage with some max capability.

Instead, the powers that be in industry decided that the USB-C connector

was to be a jack of all trades interface and obviously based on all

the USB-C based issues on all computers and devices (not just Apple

products) the master of none and even a demon. This is the result

of when specialization gives way to generalization.

My partner had her MBP M1 fail probably because of this Anker Dongle above. Problems charging, freezing and having to reinstall OS 3 times, because of boot loop after login.

Replacement logic board and usb board carried out by Apple under warranty. After only using an Apple HDMI dongle for a couple of weeks she seems to be now having freezing issues, won’t now charge from the standard MacBook charger - diagnostic codes PPP007 and PPP008, also problems with the track pad NDR005, NDR006.

It’s only 4 months old and Apple refuse to replace it with a new one. At the ‘genius bar’ the day we took it in I saw at least 3 other M1’s in for repair.

Apple have seriously messed up somewhere in design or production.

FYI...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211896

I think you received refurbished machine...

As long as you don’t power your notebook through a hub all will be ok i think.

The problem does not seem to happen to M1 macbook only. My daughter's late 2018 macbook air died last week after one month use of $100 USB-C dock from Caldigit. Apple's current two thunderbolt port design should be blamed because it is evitable for users to use USB-C / Thunderbolt docks / hubs to connect something.

FWIW, it is not happening with all MacBook Airs connecting via USB-C

hubs. There are many more that are not having any problems. This

leads me to believe that there are more than normal flaws with

USB-C ports. As a matter of fact, there have been a whole variety

of "flaws" with the USB-C ports across all M1 devices. There have

been several reports on the MacMini community of TB/USB-C ports

that have become non-functional. Several have been noted to

have various USB-C docks used with the port failure.

I guess this is what can happen when you try to have a single

interface support 4 different standards with 3-6 different variations

of each one and literal thousands of different devices from

a myriad of manufacturers with varying degrees of quality control

that plug into that port.

FWIW, reviews are a poor indicator. More people report

when they have a bad experiences vs. the number of

people with good experiences reporting them. That is

a generally known statistical fact, i.e. people are more

likely to complain than praise. The real number of "actual"

purchases of that product are likely 10-100 times higher

or more compared to the total number of reviews.

This doesn't just apply to the product you mention but

to any product on a retail site that has a review section.

Also, if it was truly a widespread problem, there would be multiple

threads with hundreds or more posts here which I have seen here

over the years when there was a widespread issue, i.e. I have seen

some "serious" issues with threads of upto a few thousand posts.

[2/25/21 follow up] The Big Sur update that's directed at this issue

came out today, but I'll hold off another few days from re-purchasing in

case any info about the update's success comes out. There have been

incidents with larger brands I'd expect would be USB-certified.

The thing is: I spoke to Apple support 1 week ago and they were still blaming 3rd party hub's and now there's an update solving the problem (is it?...). Transparency would haven been: "We're working on an update. In the meantime put your power supply directly in the notebook. Sorry for the inconvenience").

I'm glad to hear Apple solve the problem.

But, as you pointed out, Windows users do not seem to have this issue.

And it happens not only to M1 Macbook but also to Intel Macbook with thunderbolt 3 ports.

I upgraded My daughter's 2018 Macbook air to BigSur before using $100 USB-C Caldigit SOHO dock, which is not cheap and not from minor brand - Caldigit TB3+ is most acclaimed dock for Macbook with thunderbolt3 ports.

Therefore, in my opinion, Apple should admit that it is not 3rd party hubs but BigSur OS that causes this issue.

If it is not, BigSur update should not be able to solve the issue.

Since my daughter could not wait for repairing her 2018 Macbook air, I had no choice but to buy her M1 Macbook air. :(

I only asked because you sounded certain that the fault lies with the third-party manufacturers. I apologize if I misinterpreted your comment.

In the end, I think we would all agree we need a list of Apple-approved/certified/tested peripherals that are guaranteed to work with the new M1 products, or at the very least to not brick them. Apparently, a peripheral working fine with old Apple hardware is no guarantee it won't brick an M1 (I bricked my M1 MBP twice).

Apple has marketed itself in such a way that we, as customers, have come to expect their products to "just work," that's what we pay a premium for. In this case, they don't "just work," although Apple have given us no reason to doubt they would. I still think that's on them.

Logic tells me, the Intel based CPU using different Specs including Power requirements. Accessories designed for offer or draw Power based in Intel CPU power Apple computer has a way different Power providing - usage than on the New Apple Silicon based CPU. That is proven with the Bricking of M1 because the User was using Intel compliant accessories.