Had a 2018 MacBook Pro come in with a totally dead SSD, thought it was toast for sure.

Customer said it just died one morning. No chime, no recovery mode, nothing. I was about to quote them a whole logic board replacement, which is pricey. Then I remembered reading about a known issue with the T2 chip and SSD communication on some of those models. I tried a full SMC and PRAM reset, holding the keys for way longer than usual, like a full minute. It actually booted! The drive was fine, just a weird chip handshake failure. Saved the customer about $800. Has anyone else had a T2 Mac just pretend to be completely dead like that? What's your go-to reset sequence?

3 comments

3 Comments

jana_hernandez1mo ago

Totally dead" seems a bit much for a reset fix. That's just a glitch, not a real hardware failure. Calling it toast was jumping the gun.

the_wesley20d agoMost Upvoted

Jumping the gun"? Come on. A device that shows zero signs of life, won't take a charge, no lights, no sound, is pretty much toast until you prove otherwise. A glitch that makes it look completely dead is the same as being dead for any normal user who doesn't want to mess with reset procedures. Most people don't have the patience to hold down random buttons for 30 seconds when the screen is black. So functionally, it's dead to them. Why is a software lockup somehow less of a problem than a blown capacitor? If the user can't tell the difference, it's the same outcome.

adams.faith1mo ago

Well, a glitch that kills all signs of life is functionally dead until you fix it.