MBA 13 Mid 2013 crash Black screen

I agree it's the best system but it's unreliable.

My MBA let go during a presentation to a board of directors bidding for a £200k project whilst operated remotely. It refused to come back to life - which also happened when I took it in to be repaired - so we adjourned for lunch. I was fortunate as it woke up afterwards but by that time they'd all had a good laugh over how many of their laptops they could buy for one of mine.

I've never had an issue like this with any other computer. Sure I've had crashes with Windows PCs but I have a 12 year old laptop that still works, it's just too slow for modern software.

Apple initially refused to acknowledge there is a problem, do not understand the problem, have no resolution in sight or a timeline to resolve it. Apple have not informed current customers of the way in which they will deal with repair or replacement if they do find a solution.

I advise anyone new to this thread to get a refund, get something else or wait until Apple fix it but it could take years.

UPDATE

I talked on the phone with the technician (official priemium reseller of Apple) that is going to check my MBA. I explained the problem to him and he was aware of it. He had already faced the same situation with another MBA, where he replaced almost everything (logic board, ssd, screen, battery) and the problem was still there. He had also replaced this MBA with a new one and again the problem was there.

He told me that his supervisor instructed him not to make any changes on MBAs with the specific problem. They took their commands from Europe's technical center of Apple. Apple is officially working (according to them) on a hotfix that will be released soon.

I've also informed him regarding the new Boot ROM Version ( MBA61.0099.B07) but he couldn't find it in their technical internal server.

He offered me to run their diagnostics routine on my MBA, in order to create a unique registered diagnostics result in Apple's service server. This is all that he could do.

Tomorrow I'm going to take it back from service. I have to decide if I will keep it or just take the refund.

It is a really great machine, but I'm a bit furstrated.

I was going to wait, but since the reseller failed to get back to me regarding an extension of the warranty my patience took a bit of a hit. I returned it in favor of a MBPretina (which they forgot to order), which is still a small and light computer.

I had issues with the wifi (which might be due to the time capsule, which I am also returning), as well as poor fitting of the parts that were exchanged during service and other minor problems/bugs, so it's nice with a fresh start.

Having recently gotten a new work computer I must say that at the moment I have real trouble seeing myself with anything but a mac. The small anoyances of a mac are nothing compared with the trackpads, power connectors, low viewing-angle screens, fan noise, power bricks, etc, of the everyday PC.

I just wanted to mention that I have a 2012 configure to order that I bought this October and I had the problem as soon as I opened it the first time. After I upgraded to mavericks it still existed but I can never make it happen on command. It only happens here and there after it sits asleep for a while. Has anyone else had the problem in this way? My BSOD looks and does the exact same thing but it's not on command. I posted this before but nobody responded. If there is fix I hope it works for my situation as well.

i7 2.0ghz

512 SSD

8gb Ram

13 inch screen

I *think* mine did that too. I remember i crashing on occasion while I was working on it, or watching a movie. I presume it is a related issue, but didn't wait around to find out.

Hi Casmino

I had the issue on a 2012 MBA but it only happened when it was in my bag going to or from the office and train and always recognised that it had recovered from a serious error, sending an error report to Apple - which is why I find it so strange that Apple took forever to admit it was happening. They had a pile of reports from just that one laptop.

The 2013 MBA was fine to start with, then began to do the same by crashing in my bag. Then it began crashing whilst I was working on it, which deteriorated to crashing whilst looking at it.

It is interesting that you cannot crash it on demand as Yoganinja has just been given a new one which seems harder to crash, so Apple seem to be busy masking rather than resolving the issue, i.e. running scared of a full blown product recall.

yoganinja, any news from the last posting?

Your journey is getting more and more interesting, providing more hope and disappointment for the rest of us. 😎

I agree with you Wes that the problem does not render the MBA useless (a "paperweight" as MDN64 put it), but how problematic the issue is depends on its impact.

As MDN64 described, it let him down in an important business context, for me it kept freezing when I was referring to documents on the screen during a court case and during important investigatory interviews. As I simply could not afford to be let down in these situations, I changed to a retina MBP.

It is likely that there are many for whom this is a modest inconvenience - for them, putting up with the problem until a fix is available is acceptable. I wish I had been in this camp since in all other respects, I really like the MBA.

Guys,

I have said it before but you can prevent your screen from freezing in the middle of important work by installing 'caffeine' (search for caffeine for mac).

You can click the icon in the top toolbar when you want to activate it and then again to deactivate. Its simple.

It is a sticking plaster but does stop you from missing out on all the other benefits of the MBA.

Yes, this was suggested to me by Apple, but I was so pi**ed off with the issue by this time, I decided to go for a different Macbook instead. Had it not been such a pain, I would probably have accepted this as a viable temporary solution.

No regrets though - the rMBP is a spectacular piece of kit (although a bit pricier).

I posted a while ago on this.....for the last 2 months I have my MBA power management set to never sleep and have had zero problems since. When I want it to sleep, I either close the screen or manaully select sleep. Since I affirmatively put it to sleep, I do not have a problem trying to wake it too soon. I have not had the other problems others have posted with random crashes while working or while sleeping. My only problem was the crash initiated by hitting a key or swiping the trackpad within a second or so of the sleep cycle starting. I have NOT upgraded to Mavericks and do not intend to. I do not want to tempt fate and make it worse or incurr the issues with accidentally tapping the power button.

I agree its annoying and dissappointing. If I had to do it all over again, I would get a 13 inch retina MBP, but its working for me for now.

Kimgood, I haven't had time to get back into the store to retest the "good" machines yet, or to show them my new bad machine. I'm trying to get in today. I'll post here when I visit next.

spencer289, you are still in the Mountain Lion, and you have this issue that we believed it was Maverick-specific?

Sorry if I was not more clear. My only issue, so far, is the black screen of death if I try to wake the MBA within a second or so of it entering sleep. If you look back in this discussion you will see this is an issue on Mountain Lion and Mavericks. Since Mavericks did not solve the problem and may have caused more problems, I do not intend to upgrade.

I wouldn't worry about avoiding Mavericks. I first noticed this on Mountain Lion, then went to Mavericks on day one of release. I never had any problems other than the reproducible BSOD. Just do it. You'll be fine. ;-)