Magsafe 3 power cables failing

[Calaveras]

Didn't see any other threads on this so I thought I'd start one.
It seems the Magsafe 3 power cables do not last more than a few months in gentle usage.
I've a 2021 MBP I bought a little more than a year ago.
I've had 3 Magsafe power cables since then!
Spent a about 4 months in the middle of that using a long USB C cable for power, as I was traveling and not near any Apple stores when the first one failed.
So basically 3 months is the longest they last.
I was an audio engineer when I was younger. One of the things you learn is how to properly roll up a cable so you don't damage it. Microphone cables can get expensive, especially multiconductor cables that go with tube and stereo microphones. So I am pretty adept at letting the cable coil itself by it's own material memory.
I also secure my cables with velcro and keep them organized in a little bag. That way they aren't getting thrashed by the other contents of my laptop bag.
I'd also add that there is no visible physical damage to the cables when they fail. Aside from being slightly dirty (as white cloth dragged through the Starbucks of the Southeast will be).
Anyone else experiencing such a large failure rate?

Got an appointment at the Apple store later today.
I'm going to hold it under their nose and so no, bad, you did that. Bad Apple.
No kidding, of course I don't treat customer service people like that. I don't take people for granted.
Will be interested to see if I get a replacement or need to buy another.
I can limp along on a cheaper USB C cable, but I need all of my USB-C ports when I am working.
A $50 cable should last longer than 3 months! Actually I bought the most recent one on Dec 6th, so it's less than 3 months!

 

[Conan86]

well.. I thought all accessories are covered under the same 1 year warranty as long as it failed without obvious signs of wear and tear or abuse? very likely you'll be able to get a replacement under warranty.

also, failed how? just can't charge one fine day?

 

[iMacDragon]

Should be replaced, I used to go fairly regularly to local apple store to replace lightning cables when I still had a local store.

 

[Calaveras]

Well the power cable is good after all.
The Apple guy did an SMC reset and it came back up green.
According to him the computer can just power manage itself in such a way that it turns off the power board. And to get it back you have to restart the computer or do an SMC reset.

That is just idiotic.

Remember "it just works".

 

[iMacDragon]

Interesting, thought I didn't think there was a seperate SMC reset on M class machines other than doing a full restart

 

[Calaveras]

Good catch, I did not see the exact button combo the guy did when he rebooted the machine.
He did say SMC, because I said "resetting nvram?".
So maybe the button combo did nothing, it was just the restart.
I pretty much never restart unless I am doing updates.
So maybe that is the root cause of power cables which stop working.
I also asked the guy if there is some kind of little chip inside the cable like they do with lightning cables.
He said there isn't.
But why then has a new cable worked when an old one didn't in the past?
I hate to think I threw away a good cable.
But then as now, the power cable had no visible damage or abrasions. It just quit working.
🤔

 

[iMacDragon]

There is definitely a chip in the magsafe cable, it's how the LED works, and how charging voltage is negotiated iirc.

 

[chrfr]

I also asked the guy if there is some kind of little chip inside the cable like they do with lightning cables.
He said there isn't.
But why then has a new cable worked when an old one didn't in the past?
I hate to think I threw away a good cable.
But then as now, the power cable had no visible damage or abrasions. It just quit working.
🤔

There is some sort of a chip in the cable as the cable just got a firmware update in the past week or so.

 

[MBAir2010]

Got an appointment at the Apple store later today.
I'm going to hold it under their nose and so no, bad, you did that. Bad Apple.

Bad Apple, BAD!
I love this, you should!
you can always tweet this expresion as well.


My MacBook Air 2010 needs a 5th Magsafe power chord soon, like next week
I might buy a MacBook 2015 install Mojave and box the MacBook Air instead of getting a $40 adaptor.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Could you describe in WHAT WAY the cable is "failing"?
Do you get an error msg?
Or... just nothing at all?

 

[Calaveras]

OP:

Could you describe in WHAT WAY the cable is "failing"?
Do you get an error msg?
Or... just nothing at all?

Well it is working now, but previously I would plug into a power supply, and teh cable would not light up, and the battery icon did not have a lightning bolt.
I plugged a plain USB C cable into the same power supply, and then to the Mac, and this had the lightning bolt show up.
Tried a power brick to double check and it was same result.
When I took it to Apple the support guy did what he called a SMC reset and it worked afterwards.
Not sure what 3 finger combo he used, I failed to take note.
But he did some kind of specific button press.
Someone here did point out that SMC reset doesn't work on M1 Macs because they don't have the SMC that Intel Macs have. I did ask him about NVRAM and he said that isnt on these. So I am stumped as to what he actually did beyond rebooting my Mac.

 

[dmccloud]

You can do a hard reset on Apple Silicon Macs similar to how you would do it on an iPhone. It is true that Apple Silicon Macs lack both SMC and NVRAM, but the Mac OS shutdown routine on these machines will check the PRAM data and reset it if needed at that time.

 

[Conan86]

FWIW, my charging light from Dell dock does turn off after certain amount of time in sleep or powered off state. It doesn’t do the same thing for any other laptop including Dell itself. So I’m tempted to believe any shutting off of charging is happening on the MBP itself

 

[Fishrrman]

I have a 2021 MacBook Pro 14" (with MagSafe3).

I've noticed something lately (with increasing frequency).
Goes like this:
a. Plug the MagSafe into the MBP's MagSafe port
b. I get "the tone" indicating that the cable is now connected, BUT
c. Looking at the menu bar, the "state of charge" icon now shows a "mini icon" for the cable connector plug (and NOT a "lightning bolt" mini icon that indicates charging is in progress).
d. If I UNplug the MagSafe connector and then reconnect it, things "go to normal", and the lightning bolt mini-icon is now displayed and charging begins.

I don't see anything obvious when looking at the end of the MagSafe or the port on the MBP.

This is just an annoyance.
But if you don't take a moment to check to see exactly what mini-icon is being displayed after you connect the MagSafe, you MIGHT end up with the MagSafe connected, but no charging going on (with the "plug" icon in the menu bar)...

 

[dmccloud]

I have a 2021 MacBook Pro 14" (with MagSafe3).

I've noticed something lately (with increasing frequency).
Goes like this:
a. Plug the MagSafe into the MBP's MagSafe port
b. I get "the tone" indicating that the cable is now connected, BUT
c. Looking at the menu bar, the "state of charge" icon now shows a "mini icon" for the cable connector plug (and NOT a "lightning bolt" mini icon that indicates charging is in progress).
d. If I UNplug the MagSafe connector and then reconnect it, things "go to normal", and the lightning bolt mini-icon is now displayed and charging begins.

I don't see anything obvious when looking at the end of the MagSafe or the port on the MBP.

This is just an annoyance.
But if you don't take a moment to check to see exactly what mini-icon is being displayed after you connect the MagSafe, you MIGHT end up with the MagSafe connected, but no charging going on (with the "plug" icon in the menu bar)...

The recent firmware update for the Magsafe 3 cable might resolve those issues. It's the type of update that automatically installs without user intervention, so it doesn't pop up under system updates like OS updates would.

 

[Fishrrman]

"The recent firmware update for the Magsafe 3 cable might resolve those issues"

The user has no control as to when this update gets installed.
Having said that, since the problem seems to have manifested itself recently, I'm wondering if my MBP has HAD the firmware update not long ago, and that the firmware update is THE SOURCE of "the new problems" ???

 

[dmccloud]

"The recent firmware update for the Magsafe 3 cable might resolve those issues"

The user has no control as to when this update gets installed.
Having said that, since the problem seems to have manifested itself recently, I'm wondering if my MBP has HAD the firmware update not long ago, and that the firmware update is THE SOURCE of "the new problems" ???

'The update came out within the last week, so unless the issue started later than last Monday/Tuesday, it's likely not related to that update.