XPost: comp.os.linux.advocacy
From: crude@sausa.ge
On Thu, 22 Jan 2026 04:33:44 -0000 (UTC), Gremlin wrote:
> CrudeSausage
> news:6970d94f$2$20$882e4bbb@reader.netnews.com Wed, 21 Jan 2026 13:49:04
> GMT in comp.os.linux.advocacy, wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 21 Jan 2026 03:14:38 -0000 (UTC), Gremlin wrote:
>>
>> Sounds wonderful for corporate clients.
>
> I would hope they have sound backups that they've actually tested and
> know for a fact are intact and not corrupted or otherwise unusable. This
> is a policy that should be followed on a routine basis regardless of the
> computer platform though. If they have a small fortune tied up in these
> machines, their IT dept should have done their research prior to
> purchase.
I would imagine that the tech department is ready for the inevitability
that data will be lost because of a power outage or corruption due to some
form of bit rot. I doubt that any of them are prepared for the eventuality
that a computer will commit suicide because the NVMe was used for an
extended period of time. They don't mind replacing computers, but the way
these MacBooks are built, it would mean that they would be forced to
replae _all_ of them at more or less the same time not because performance
is bad, but because the Apple hardware is depressive and feels the need to
cut itself before it blows its brains in.
>>> System Failure: Modern Macs (Apple Silicon/M-series and T2 Intel
>>> models)
>>> cannot booteven from an external driveif the internal NAND is
>>> non-functional. Critical firmware required for the boot process is
>>> stored on these internal chips.
>>
>> This basically destroys Anal's argument a few months ago that you can
>> just use an external drive if your main one dies. This one fact cooks
>> the zealot.
>
> It completely destroys their argument. They shouldn't have tried to be
> cheeky suggesting I do my research before commenting. I've done
> considerable research :) It's required in order to perform some repairs.
> Schematics aren't always easy to come by. You can't always trust that
> the ones you might eventually find are the latest and/or as accurate as
> you'd hope. So you have to resort to the old school ways of electronics
> troubleshooting when you have either no schematic at all or an
> unreliable one.
I've watched enough of the Apple repair videos to acknowledge that I have
no interest whatsoever in repairing any of them. I'm very happy to open up
my laptop and replace any part that is faulty, but I wouldn't be happy to
desolder certain parts after washing them with a specific liquid before
resoldering another part and flashing the chip and hoping for the best.
>>> Catastrophic Hardware Issues: In some models (like the 16-inch
>>> Intel
>>> MacBook Pro), a power rail failure can send high voltage (13V)
>>> directly into the NAND, physically "blowing" the chip and making data
>>> recovery extremely difficult.
>>
>> Ah, I thought it was 12V. Nevertheless, if you NVMe dies, your entire
>> unit dies. I'm sure Apple users will welcome this as they do all other
>> stupidity from Cupertino.
>
> Apple encourages continued purchases. In Apples case, the extended
> warranty options aren't a complete scam. They are something an Apple
> person should seriously consider based on their needs. A logic board
> (mainboard in the case of the Apple if it's out of warranty or Apple
> decides it isn't covered is not an inexpensive purchase.
There is no way I'd buy an Apple laptop without AppleCare for at least
three years. Of course, I don't believe that I would be happy to buy even
a PC laptop without extended coverage either. Anything can happen.
>> I'm sure businesses who made the transition to Apple will be overjoyed
>> by this reality.
>
> I don't think some of them are fully aware of the situation. They rely
> on their IT dept to make these decisions. Sometimes, IT depts make bad
> decisions which sometimes wind up being costly.
Going by what my wife said about her IT department, you have to contact
them and hope that whoever answers the phone doesn't have an Indian accent
if you expect your hardware trouble to be fixed. Does anyone know if the
people repairing Apple hardware worship cows?
>>> Micro-soldering Repair: Specialist independent shops can sometimes
>>> desolder the failed NAND chip and replace it with a donor chip.
>>> However,
>>> this is a highly complex procedure requiring specialized tools to
>>> re-pair the new chip with the Apple security processor.
>>
>> This is so much easier than the five-minute process of simply replacing
>> the dying NVMe with a new one, and the fifteen minutes it might take to
>> migrate the old drive's data to the new one.
>
> Isn't it though? Also, even if you have the required hardware to replace
> the components themselves, there's no guarantee that doing so will
> ressurect the dead mac. And, if it did, you'd be trusting used
> components that do sustain wear and tear. The rig might continue to
> operate for the length of time that's expected. It may only last a few
> months from the time the repair was completed. The components are
> hardware locked too, you'd need to do some very low level things to try
> to reset that effect and attempt to remate them.
The hardware lock is real. eBay has a ton of M1 and M2 laptops being sold
for a decent price. The reason they're so cheap is because the LCD is
damaged in one way or another. Either it cracked or became faulty on its
own, or is it dented in some way. If this were a PC, people would
willingly buy the device for the low price and replace the LCD. Heck, I've
replaced the LCD on my old Vaio before and it wasn't so painful. However,
in Apple's case, doing so will result in an image that has an annoying
pattern on it. The reason is because, as you said, the hardware is locked.
You can't just replace the broken LCD with another, identical one because
the serial numbers don't match. I've never seen a company be so adamant
about preventing people from fixing their hardware.
>>> Professional Data Recovery: If the data is critical, labs like
>>> DriveSavers or Ontrack (Apple-authorized) may attempt a "chip
>>> transplant" to a donor board to temporarily power the system and
>>> decrypt the data.
>>
>> I'm sure this costs no more than $20.
>
> The success rate is horribly low when this is attempted due to the
> encryption in play and the chips being keyed to the board they are
> originally soldered onto. There's just some things that many tricks of
> the trade won't help with in these situations. That transplant isn't a
> very fast process when done by hand, either.
This might be why they're pushing us to use the cloud. They know that
[continued in next message]
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
|
