Logic Board - Damaged

aleborbasevero wrote:

1. What can cause or what are the most common/WORST reason to have a damaged logic board?

Any connected device has the potential to damage the Logic Board by overloading the protective safety circuitry. It doesn't help that the laptop is now powered by the same ports used for data and peripherals. While I've only worked on one 16" MBPro, the 13" & 15" models are basically the same I've only had to replace a couple of Logic Boards in our organizations MBPros that were not directly related to accidental liquid damage. The Logic Boards on these USB-C Macs contain so much integrated items that it is hard to say for sure.

2. Would it be possible that the use of an external monitor and consequently the heating damaged the logic board?

3. Again, how can a laptop like this warm too much just because there is an external monitor connected to it?

Yes, any connected device can potentially damage the Logic Board, so make sure to use good quality devices.

You are assuming the issue is heat related. There were multiple posts on these forums just after the launch of the 16" where people found that using the USB-C charger on the left ports would cause the 16" MBPro to run the CPU at 100% and have the fans run at high speed, but simply using the charger on the right side ports corrected the issue. If this can happen, then we have no way of knowing what was causing your symptoms without knowing a lot more details such as installed software and connected devices and seeing the issue first hand. From troubleshooting our own organizations USB-C MBPros I can tell you it isn't easy to figure out what is going on with them.

4. What should I do related to Apple? Is not acceptable to have a big problem like this on a new laptop, right?

You can have someone else troubleshoot your system to see exactly what is going on. Just like anything else a second opinion may give you more answers especially if you can find someone who is very knowledgeable about these USB-C MBPros (it isn't an exact science and it does require lots of direct personal experience which most techs likely won't have -- these laptops make that little sense when troubleshooting them). I've been troubleshooting them since 2016 and I still don't consider myself an expert because they make absolutely no sense compared to troubleshooting older Macs or PCs in general (this even includes macOS). I will no longer recommend any Apple computer to anyone from what I've personally seen and experienced with the hardware and with macOS.

You can provide product feedback here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/

You can also contact Apple corporate to voice your displeasure plus you can also check your local consumer protection laws.

5. I read here (https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2560839) that a problem in the logic board can cause many other problems, for example in the SSD. So, in the service order they wrote “logic board replacement”, what can I expect after the service? Will I have problems soon? Will they change the SSD as well?

The SSD is integrated into the Logic Board of most MBPros since 2016. While the 2016-2017 models with the T1 chip had a special connector on the Logic Board to directly access the SSD using an Apple service tool in case of a Logic Board failure, unfortunately the 2018+ models with the T2 security chip no longer have this special connector. If you needed to have your data retrieved, then Apple should have offered to send the bad Logic Board to a professional data recovery service such as Drive Savers or Ontrack to attempt recovery of your data. I don't even know if it is possible to recover data from a 2018+ board with the T2 chip unless the data recovery service actually fixes the Logic Board so the T2 chip can decrypt your SSD since the SSD is hardware encrypted. Personally I would have insisted on having the Logic Board sent to Drive Savers to attempt data recovery.

I would definitely check the health of the SSD on the replacement Logic Board using DriveDX. Our organization just had an SSD failure on a Logic Board 90 days after the laptop had its Logic Board replaced (luckily we were within the 90 day part warranty so we got the Logic Board replaced for free). The SSD went into read-only mode where I was able to access the data one time, but the next time I went to access the SSD it was impossible to mount the SSD. It seems the SSD on the replacement Logic Board was already worn out when the Logic Board was installed in our laptop so now I test each SSD that Apple replaces to make sure it is not worn out (each Logic Board is refurbished -- aka used). This is one of the dangers of having an SSD integrated into a Logic Board.

Otherwise generally you should not have any problems with the replacement Logic Board assuming it was properly refurbished (most are, but occasionally I have seen some very poorly refurbished boards from Apple over the years).

They are the worst laptops Apple has ever made and it doesn't help that macOS is also deteriorating in quality as well.

Precisely because of that, I recently bought both a refurb 2017 iMac from Apple with Applecare and a brand new in the box 2017 Macbook Air from a third party seller with Applecare (original buyer never took it out of the box). I should be set for quite a while.

Apple is not here. We are users like you.

Check your Warranty Coverage: Check Your Service and Support Coverage - Apple Support

Contact Apple Support and ask them your questions.

I've never experienced overheating. Your computer will shut down before it suffers damage due to overheating.

Checking your warranty was of no value?

Knowing that your computer will shut down before it is damaged by overheating was of no value? Your whole premise is that the computer was damaged by overheating.

Knowing that only Apple can help you with your acqusations or assertions was of no value?

Of course, I will ask Apple but again, I believe people here can help or give suggestions and information.

We cannot solve hardware problems. And, all electronic parts fail at some point - some sooner, some later. Unless Apple publishes an article explaining why it is failing (which they do not routinely), there is no way an end user would be able to have an answer for you. The only person who could give you an answer would be the technician who took out the failed logic board and tested it in a professional lab for the cause of the failure.

aleborbasevero wrote:

But, if I sadly encounter an SSD problem, would it be an Apple issue as well? Like the logic board was damaged and it causes the SSD problem, so will it be under warranty?

It is rare an SSD fails due to being damaged. SSDs usually just fail on their own for multiple reasons. Since Apple now integrates SSDs directly onto the Logic Board it means any Logic Board failures or damages will mean losing all data that is not backed up.

And I am also really frustrated with this MacBook Pro. I can't understand how a computer at this price and specifications can have some problems like this one or something simple like I can't have an external monitor connected to it without overheating, really really bad.

I can understand your frustrations as I am equally frustrated in supporting these USB-C Macs. They are the worst laptops Apple has ever made and it doesn't help that macOS is also deteriorating in quality as well.

The SSD looks Ok.