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My macbook pro 2019, 16 inch is not starting up without any external damages

I bought my macboook pro, 2019, 16 inch on Feb 2020. Now it is not starting up without any external damages. I tried all the steps that I got on the internet but nothing worked out. I took it to an Apple authorized service center in Bangalore, India. But even the technicians there not able to help. They are not able to fix the issue and even not able to say what is the issue. I tried contacting Apple support several times but they are least bother about my situation as the warranty of the laptop is over just before 4 months.. I still have no clue how the most premium and expensive laptop stops functioning as of sudden.


I am vlogger. I travelled all over India to capture videos and photos for my projects. Now all my data are in the laptop and the laptop is in dead state. My last one year hard labor is in vain.


Is there any suggestion from anyone here or give some leads so that at least I can recover my data. I hope you will understand my situation and help me.


Regards,

Chandan Khosla

Posted on Jul 23, 2021 6:07 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 23, 2021 10:55 AM

Recover your data from a backup you made before the laptop failed. You should always have multiple copies of any important data stored on external media.


There are only four major components in a 2019 MBPro -- Display, Top Case Assembly (Keyboard, Trackpad, Touchbar, Speakers, Battery), Logic Board (CPU, GPU, Memory, SSD, WiFi), and the I/O Boards (aka USB-C connectors). Even so it can sometimes be a bit difficult to narrow down the issue unless the tech has access to known good parts for testing & troubleshooting. Otherwise it is just an educated guess on which part to try to replace first. These USB-C Macs are not easy to diagnosis as they have a lot of unusual behaviors not seen on any other computer or older Mac.


Now here is the real tricky part. A 2019 Mac uses a T2 security chip which automatically encrypts the data on the SSD using hardware encryption. The T2 security chip has the encryption keys so if anything happens to the T2 security chip, then there is no way to ever recover any data from the hardware encrypted SSD. In fact some normal troubleshooting procedures involve "Restoring" the T2 firmware which destroys all stored information in the T2 chip thereby permanently losing access to any data on the hardware encrypted SSD. Plus a simple OS update may even potentially corrupt the T2 chip causing you to lose access to the encrypted data.


If the Logic Board has failed, then it is hard to say whether an expensive professional data recovery service such as Drive Savers or Ontrack will even be able to access any data on the SSD. If the Logic Board is bad, then most likely someone will need to repair the Logic Board just enough so that both the T2 security chip and the SSD function to access the data.


It is up to Apple or the AASP to determine which part or parts are bad. An AASP (not sure about Apple) does have access to a service utility to attempt to retrieve data from the SSD, but like I mentioned the computer must function enough to be put into DFU Mode. If the Logic Board is bad, then you will need to make decision on whether to have a professional data recvoery service attempt data recovery before the shop replaces the Logic Board and completing the repair.


You should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and any external media which contains important and unique data. The more important the data the more copies of the data you should have. Also if you don't have another Mac, then you need to make sure your backup solution allows you to access the data on the backup drive. Plan ahead the best you can before disaster strikes to minimize data loss.


Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 23, 2021 10:55 AM in response to scion999

Recover your data from a backup you made before the laptop failed. You should always have multiple copies of any important data stored on external media.


There are only four major components in a 2019 MBPro -- Display, Top Case Assembly (Keyboard, Trackpad, Touchbar, Speakers, Battery), Logic Board (CPU, GPU, Memory, SSD, WiFi), and the I/O Boards (aka USB-C connectors). Even so it can sometimes be a bit difficult to narrow down the issue unless the tech has access to known good parts for testing & troubleshooting. Otherwise it is just an educated guess on which part to try to replace first. These USB-C Macs are not easy to diagnosis as they have a lot of unusual behaviors not seen on any other computer or older Mac.


Now here is the real tricky part. A 2019 Mac uses a T2 security chip which automatically encrypts the data on the SSD using hardware encryption. The T2 security chip has the encryption keys so if anything happens to the T2 security chip, then there is no way to ever recover any data from the hardware encrypted SSD. In fact some normal troubleshooting procedures involve "Restoring" the T2 firmware which destroys all stored information in the T2 chip thereby permanently losing access to any data on the hardware encrypted SSD. Plus a simple OS update may even potentially corrupt the T2 chip causing you to lose access to the encrypted data.


If the Logic Board has failed, then it is hard to say whether an expensive professional data recovery service such as Drive Savers or Ontrack will even be able to access any data on the SSD. If the Logic Board is bad, then most likely someone will need to repair the Logic Board just enough so that both the T2 security chip and the SSD function to access the data.


It is up to Apple or the AASP to determine which part or parts are bad. An AASP (not sure about Apple) does have access to a service utility to attempt to retrieve data from the SSD, but like I mentioned the computer must function enough to be put into DFU Mode. If the Logic Board is bad, then you will need to make decision on whether to have a professional data recvoery service attempt data recovery before the shop replaces the Logic Board and completing the repair.


You should always have frequent and regular backups of your computer and any external media which contains important and unique data. The more important the data the more copies of the data you should have. Also if you don't have another Mac, then you need to make sure your backup solution allows you to access the data on the backup drive. Plan ahead the best you can before disaster strikes to minimize data loss.


Jul 26, 2021 3:31 AM in response to HWTech

Hi,


Thank you for your suggestions.


Just to let you know my situation well, I had have never imagined that the most premium and expensive laptop will be dead in just 1 year and 5 months. I had enough trust on Apple product that is what somehow kept me away from taking regular backups. But I was wrong. Apple cheated me by selling a defective product to me. Even Apple knows their 16 inch Macbook has many issues, still they are selling and playing with customer's career. Even though I didnt have enough money, somehow I managed to buy this laptop hoping it will be good investment for my career and I will be benefited from it. But Apple has destroyed my projects and career in just one go. Many clients had sponsored my visits so that I can make videos for them. Now I lost all the data and I need to return a huge amount to them. right now I am in a terrible situation and too much trust on Apple product has nullified me.


Right now I am the most dissatisfied customer of Apple. But I am helpless. I will try my best to let as many as people I can to stay away from Apple product. With the help of their brand value now they started cheating their faithful customers.


I request all of you to please stay away from new Apple Macbook pro. These are defective and under testing product. Still apple selling it. You never know tomorrow you might be in my shoe. Its just a suggestion. Rest, its up to you. dont waste your hard earning money on Apple's product.


Regards,

Chandan Khosla

My macbook pro 2019, 16 inch is not starting up without any external damages

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