MBA 13 Mid 2013 crash Black screen

I'm in Sweden, but the laws are similar here.

I agree, it's a shame. It's not to idolize Jobs, but it fells like it's gotten worse, too.

Well depending on what kind of hardware issue it is, it could certainly be possible to "work around" it in a software update. as long as they can effectively fix the black screen issue with an update I'll be happy. I'd much rather have a software update than have to replace hardware in a machine that otherwise works fine.

You're joking.

What kind of world is it if we accept flawed products as long as the manufacturer can mask the flaw!

Apple need to resolve it by find the root casue and addressing, not wriggling their way out of it. Besdies, how are they going to account for the failures I've had when not even touching the machine both on mains and battery power? Or when the machine was in my laptop bag?

The MacBook Air should work and keep on working. We're all used to software crashes - not a good thing by any means - but this is very different.

Apple have started deleting posts for arbitrary reasons so please join us on Fa ceb ook, search for MacBook Air Screen Goes Black. I don't expect this post to last for long but I'll keep coming back to get as many over to a public forum as possible.

We all know the problem, CNET have reported on it again.

Get a refund quick folks, I have, before Apple conjour up a BS reason to stop you.

Hi,

My MBA had given me the BSOD once, in random, not during a sleep/try to wake cycle. It appeared to go to sleep while I was browsing on Safari, with my fingers on the trackpad! My fingers apparently were not detected at all by the machine which was determined to go to sleep. However, the keyboard lights stayed on, and the Apple logo on the lid stayed on. After repeatedly pounding on the keyboard/trackpad to no avail, the only thing I could do was to press the power button and make it restart.

This is the brand new MBA which Apple replaced for the first one which exhibited the exact same behavior, twice. So far, the second MBA had done it just once since I got it 1 week ago.

However, I was not able to reproduce the problem using the procedure suggested by Yoganinja. I tried it over 20 times repeatedly and every time it was able to wake up after I touched the keys after the screen went black, but before the keyboard light went out. I tried varying the timing a little bit, but it did not matter. There is one difference I observed: people say there was just 2-3 seconds between dimming of screen and blackout, on mine, it was about 10 seconds. Perhaps it was a difference in our respective settings, but I could not see where in System Preferences it could be adjusted.

MDN64 wrote:

As for not letting you check the MBAs in the store, I'm surprised Apple aren't doing this themselves.

Indeed, I went into a local branch of Currys/PC World (in UK) and saw they had an 11" and 13" MBA on display - so I said to the sales assistant - "watch this" as I put each into sleep mode and then immediately double clicked the trackpad - causing them both to freeze to the black screen (btw I was there for a different reason not just to do this). I then invited the assistant to wake them up (which, of course didn't happen). He was amazed and said he had never seen this before. I was sorely tempted to leave them like that but couldn't bring myself to - so I powered them down and restarted them. I asked the sales assistant to pass it on to his bosses, but I doubt that he will. Perhaps as well as the Facebook Page, we should go aroung putting as many of them to sleep as we can!!!

Same black screen/spinningball crash when trying to wake from sleep, but with mid 2012 MBA 13" i7 8gb/512.

Never had this issue, only for last couple of weeks, when still on 10.8.5...

So indeed I'm also fearing this being a sensitive hardware component failing (caused/triggered by heat?)

Hi guys,

It is my first post in the forum here, and I tought it would be good to share my experience with you. I am having the exact same problem (sleep then wake immediately to black screen) as you guys and am trying to get an exchange for a different model of macbook, and would gladly pay the difference to do so.

So far i've been to the store where I bought the computer and to the apple store. People at Future Shop were fairly helpful, but can't do much since i'm past the 14 days exchange policy, and should be under warranty by apple. At the apple store, I presentend them the problem, they did run hardware scan to confirm the computer is "in good working condition, as designed" and then proceeded in explaining me I am not using my computer the way it was deseigned to be by waking it up from sleep right after closing the lid or pressing the power button...so I did quit the store explaining them this is now way for a 1000+$ laptop to behave, and that I will try getting real help from the applecare program over the phone.

I now have a case open (number 547900479), i've been able to speak with 3 different representatives, who acknowledge the situation is indeed a problem, but they only offered me a workaround (basically turning the sleep timer to "never", which is unacceptable) and could not get me any information as when there will be a fix on this problem.

This said, I am waiting for them to call me back around 5PM today and will keep you updated regarding their verdict.

In some ways it's a shame you didn't leave them crashed, then PC World would have been calling Apple and returning the laptops, they'd take that far more seriously than us.

Meanwhile, I've left a review on Amazon. Only 13 people have bothered reviewing the MBA, I guess because the reputation is so good. If all of us post reviews, that would give a significantly different rating on a major retail site, which could make Apple sit up and pay attention.

The more public we make the issue, the greater the pressure on Apple to admit there's an issue and recall current stock until it is resolved.

As for not using the MBA the way it was intended, how often have any of us tapped a key when we see our screen starting to dim and go into sleep mode? It's a legitimate way to force the failure but it's only one example of what we're all experiencing.

In my case, the MBA deteriorated and someone here has posted about an older machine developing this issue.

Any MBAs that don't have a problem now could well have an issue in future or simply degrade to a point of complete failure.

Great idea about the Amazon review. I left my own review and posted my bug report details, which has been closed as a duplicate report.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R3MPLGSXR5V13K/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0074 6YMHA&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=

The Fac ebook group may help but a public display of our experiences will too.

htt p:// www.ciao. co.uk/Apple_MacBook_Air_Core_2_Duo_1_6_GHz_13_3_TFT__Rev iew_6107556 for example, leaving out the spaces - so it doesn't appear as an external link in a text search.

I've left reviews on the two Amazon listings too.

No point moaning to each other, let's warn an unsuspecting public what they're letting themselves in for.

There's enough of us to really make a difference as few people post reviews but loads read them.

So, I decided to go back to Apple's "Genius Bar" (since I was already there with my wife to replace her iPhone 5 that constantly went into "Searching..." mode) to discuss any progress on this issue. Before my appointment, I tested the six MBA's on the floor for the BSOD sleep/wake bug. To avoid re-explaining, I'll simply paste in the same feedback I gave Apple in their follow-up survey.

"I brought my MacBook Air into this store on 11/2/2013 after talking to phone support. Phone support could not help, so I brought it in to demonstrate how to reproduce an error I got by accident twice earlier. Many people on the Mac forums had the same problem as well.

"On this visit, 12/26/2013, I demonstrated the issue again. The tech asked me why I would use the machine like that. I told him that I don't usually; I did it to show him the problem was reproducible, but it happens by accident. He told me to disable my power saving settings, but I told him that would not give me the advertised battery life. He repeatedly told me I was using the machine wrong when I showed him four ways to reproduce the error. I showed him 3 of 6 machines in the showroom that I crashed in the same way. I told him I want to exchange my machine for one of the working models. He said that was not possible. I told him I didn't like the way my machine was designed to crash under normal use. He suggested I sell my defective machine to someone else and buy a machine I liked better. He even suggested a Windows machine or something with a different keyboard layout. I told him that none of his suggestions were acceptable and to just give me a working machine. He said I was outside my 14-day return period. He disappeared in the back room for a while. When he came back, he told me there was still nothing he could do for me, so we were done. He repeated his suggestion that I sell my (2-month old) machine (at a loss) and buy something I liked better.

"I am beyond dissatisfied with my first ever Mac experience, and will not refer anybody to this company if this is how the company deals with widespread design flaws. I have already left a negative review on Amazon, and will continue to leave them on other sites."

I got a call from a manager a couple hours later who told me about a firmware update they would like to install at the store, and if it did not work, they would replace my machine. We'll see what happens Sunday...

An Apple Sr. Advisor called me December 24th regarding the sleep/failure to wake problem (100% reproducible). He consulted the engineers after they had two of my captured data files (one after the MBA was erased and a clean install of 10.9.1 reinstalled).

I was told the engineers said to tell me "it is the customer's fault because she was touching a key too soon after sleep." I explained it was accidental when typing (sometimes hit the power button instead of the delete key and theunit freezes causing data loss) and this is not a problem with my other Apple computers.

The advisor said to "change the energy settings to never turn off display". I then explained I purchased the air because of its outstanding battery life and using these settings is not a fix. His reply: "Turn it back down when you are finished." (This "solution" did not fix the problem anyway.)

I said I was very disappointed that the laptop is not performing as designed and was sorry to hear they refused to repair the flaw and worse yet to blame it on the consumer not using the laptop properly.

Apple customer care went from denying a problem to blaming the problem on the consumer.

A few days later I started a sixth case number. This time the Sr. Advisor said a software update should fix this. (Haven't we heard this before?)

Yes, we have, but since my machine works well other than the reproducible problem, I'd rather get a firmware update than a new machine that may have more issues. The manager said that some machines are shipping with the update and some without. I'm doubtful, but I'll play the game a bit longer.

Well, I did try to put a post here that a) explained I was having a similar issue and b) showed how I responded. However the moderators removed it, as it had either a "suggestion or feature request". I think what I posted was actually relavant to the community so I will try a variant of what I posted before...

I also experience this issue. It is reproducable. I have tried all of the listed solutions to no avail. I've tried various software that tries to disable the power button functionality, but this apparently cannot be done in Mavericks. (e.g. powerkey)

I type a lot - and quickly. I use several different computers besides my MBA w/various sized keyboards. The "power" button is very clearly in the "zone" where many other keyboards place "delete". Because it is not flush or recessed - like in the older Macbook Pros, it's extremely easy to hit even if you only partially overshoot the delete key. I have large, long fingers so this is frequent for me. As a result, I'll regularly crash my system, often while in the middle of writing something, which means for several apps that I'll lose whatever work hasn't been saved or autosaved.

This is NOT a user issue - this is a minor design flaw compounded by a software issue, and possibly a hardware issue. For Apple service staff to tell anyone that they're "using their computer incorrectly" when encountering this issue is unacceptable.

I sent an email to Tim Cook, which flagged the crash as well as the customer support issues mentioned here. My prior post had the email text, but I'm guessing this is what the moderators considered a "suggestion" - although I had mostly posted it as a reference in case others wished to also send him an email. His "public" address is easy to find with a google search.

Good luck... I'll be checking back here in hope that someone learns of an upcoming fix for this issue.

I had planned to wait up to 4 weeks for Apple to release a fix, but having had more problems with the "sleep freeze to black screen" issue, I decided a visit to my local Apple Store was in order.

I booked a genius bar appointment and turned up with my MBA, receipt, box and accessories. I also produced a typed summary of the problem including my Case Number and the URL's of the facebook page and YouTube video of this issue.

The genius knew about the problem and saw me produce the freeze twice by mimicking trying to wake the machine from sleep by putting it to sleep and then immediately double clicking the spacebar - it froze to black screen twice out of 3 attempts! I then replicated it on 2x 11" and 1x 13" MBA's in the store (interestingly there was one 13" MBA I could not do it on, suggesting there may be some out there which do not have the problem).

He was immediately convinced of the problem and recognised that, as I do a lot of reading off the screen, I will need to wake it regularly. He also accepted that disabling sleep was not appropriate due to its impact on battery life. Went to see the manager who authorised a refund/exchange, despite it being 9 weeks since I originally bought an MBA (and had already exchanged it once due to same problem after a fortnight of ownership).

As I need a portable Mac (to integrate with my iMac and iPhone), I opted to use the money towards a new 13" retina MBP. They even refunded me for my 11" MBA case (which was bought to go with the MBA and was no longer any use).

Though I have had to spend more money, I could not be happier with the outcome and cannot fault the way I have been treated by my local Apple Store.