MacBook Pro 2018 issues 2019-07-16

Summary
With so many hardware issues, crashes, freezing, computer failing to wake from Sleep, missing Microphone in Mac OS X, Audio playback stopping, keyboard keys jamming, and Power Adaptor failing, long delay after restarting Windows since the upgrade to Mac OS X 10.14.5, I consider MacBook Pro 2018 to be a flawed by design device which I no longer wish to use. Therefore I would like either to be refunded in full, or to negotiate replacing my device for equivalent model 2019 at Apple’s expense. I might opt-in for more powerful graphics. I also wish to receive some compensation for the lost months I have spent into troubleshooting all these issues and documenting them while working with Apple support, since they should have considered returning the device to service much earlier. I have several open cases on that regards: 20000049090583, 100853115713, 100799819780, and 100692136576 starting 2018-12-03, which is just a few days after receiving the device. My first case was open well within the 30 days free return right, which I am willing to exercise now.


This document provides links to files and directories on the desktop left as a proof documenting the issues which I experience. Please view all materials I have provided, as well as any opened tabs inside the Google Chrome web browser. I have removed any personal data from both Windows and Mac OS X. Both operating systems are configured to have no password for your convenience and all updates are installed. On Windows, WinDBG can be started from the taskbar, to view crash dumps .dmp from the BSOD directory. Drag and drop a .dmp file to a new WinDBG window, to open it. Click the !analyze -v link which appears in blue, to show an additional report regarding the cause of the crash and the driver which caused it. Multiple crash dumps are provided.




Issue: Microphone not showing in Mac OS X
After restarting from Windows to Mac OS X, the internal Microphone of MacBook Pro 2018 does not show. Attempting to use Siri or start a phone call fails. The Microphone will appear again after restarting from Mac OS X to Mac OS X. Resetting the SMC also helps: at the password prompt before starting Mac OS X, hold the power button until the laptop turns off. At that point powering on seems to be very hard, as the laptop does not start when the power button is pressed or held. Sometimes I need to disconnect and reconnect power and try to power on multiple times. Eventually it starts and the microphone works again.

Steps to reproduce
1. Boot into Windows (BOOTCAMP)
2. Optionally open Control Panel, All Control Panel Items (View by: Small icons)
3. Click Sound, Recording, the indicator for Internal Digital Microphone will show activity, when noise is made. The internal Microphone works properly.
4. Click the Bootcamp icon in the tray, and select: Restart in macOS…
5. The laptop restarts and Mac OS X asks for administrator password.
6. There is no password set. Press ENTER to boot.
7. Mac OS X starts, Open the System Preferences, Sound, Input.
8. The Internal Microphone is missing: No Input devices found.
see No input devices found.png in No Microphone in Mac OS X
9. Click on the Siri icon: Siri Not Available
see: Siri - No microphone was found.png in No Microphone in Mac OS X
9. Restart the computer into Mac OS X again.
10. The Internal Microphone is shown and works properly.

I was advised by Apple Support, see case 20000049090583 and 100853115713, to erase the laptop and reinstall Mac OS X and Windows, without restoring any settings. I performed this 4 times, and the issue still persists. Presently there is a fresh install of the latest Mac OS X 10.14.5, without any software or settings changed and the laptop is left into Sleep mode with the internal microphone missing as a proof.
See the screenshots in No Microphone in Mac OS X.




Issue: Multiple hardware devices are causing kernel panic or BSOD on MacBook Pro 2018
See .dmp, and .txt files inside BSOD, as well as web links.

Crash caused by Built-in USB hub
Affected platforms: both Mac OS X and Windows
See 2019-05-12 AppleUSBVHCI.txt, 2019-03-23 usbaapl64.sys.txt, USBHUB3-20190127-1936.dmp and Screenshot 2019-07-01 at 9.17.33 AM.png in BSOD.

Symptoms
Laptop’s keyboard and trackpad stop working. Sometimes this occurs after waking from Sleep, other time during normal work. It is still possible to connect an external keyboard or mouse to control the laptop. Soon after that (up to a few minutes) Mac OS X will kernel panic, Windows crashes with a blue screen. Since two separate operating systems are affected, this indicates hardware failure. Possibly the T2 chip.
I have submitted a kernel panic report from Mac OS X to apple around 9:17 AM on 2019-07-01.
It may also happen to external ports, I was able to reproduce it a few times with Impacto from Beyerdynamic: https://europe.beyerdynamic.com/impacto.html
In this case, when connecting the headphones (Impacto) to Mac OS, Impacto was not recognised, and Mac OS X started freezing and being unresponsive until it crashed.

Crash caused by bcmpciedhd63.sys on Windows
By default Windows comes with Wi-Fi drivers for Broadcom 8.02.11ac Network Adapter that have a bug and cause frequent crashes. The affected drivers are version 100.10.459.0 from 2018-12-13. A workaround is to manually install the older driver 100.10.200.18 from 2018-06-25, which does not appear to crash.
The crash usually occurs while running on battery. I experience it frequently (every few minutes) while watching YouTube videos, while connected to a 5 GHz AC network on channel 100, width 160 MHz. My access point is WRT3200ACM from Linksys.

As a proof, inside Wi-Fi drivers which come with Windows 10, both Wi-Fi drivers have been provided. bcmwdidhdpcie.inf_amd64_7386d8a927aaf443 is stable, unfortunately by default the newer driver bcmwdidhdpcie.inf_amd64_95b2d31323bb2fde is installed with Windows, which is causing frequent blue screens. I was able to obtain the older driver from the previous release of Windows 10. Installing it seems to prevent crashes related to bcmpciedhd63.sys.
At the present state I have left the system with the new driver which was installed as part of Windows. Crashes are expected while running on battery, as described above. Apple should contact Broadcom to investigate and correct the crash.




Issue: Ambient Light Sensor crash

The Ambient Light Sensor on MacBook Pro 2018 becomes unresponsive while Bootcamp.exe is accessing it. Note that Bootcamp.exe is reading the Ambient Light value, to adapt the keyboard backlight to Ambient Light changes.
As a result, the Bootcamp.exe process becomes unresponsive, and it is either not possible to open the Bootcamp Control Panel or click on the context menu, or the response to user clicks might be delayed for several minutes. Attempting to end the Bootcamp.exe process fails. The process becomes a zombie process, since it is waiting for a driver call. Other applications accessing the HID Ambient Light Sensor also freeze. These include Windows Settings, and the DXDiag utility on the Input tab. In addition to that, the ability to wake from Sleep is impaired. This is because the entire OS freezes waiting for the HID Ambient Light Sensor to return data. The computer remains unresponsive for several minutes, until the driver crashes. Putting the computer to sleep and waking it, usually reduces this time. It still takes a few minutes to wake from Sleep. After the computer wakes, events 10110, 10111, and 10116 are logged in the System Log: see the .evtx and .txt files in eventlog. Once the driver has crashed, applications and the operating system become responsive again. Note that due to the driver crash and restart, the handle to the HID Ambient Light Sensor that is open by Bootcamp.exe becomes invalid, and the keyboard backlight is no longer adapted to light changes, see: Issue: The keyboard backlight no longer adapts to ambient light changes after Hibernate.

Please see this link for additional discussion related to this issue:
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/7198ddbc-bee9-413b-975e-586eff4d82ad/installing-windows-10-on-macbook-pro-2018-using-boot-camp?forum=win10itprohardware

Video demos are inside Ambient Light Sensor crash\video demo
MacBookPro 2018 - HID Ambient Light Sensor crash - Boot Camp tray icon unresponsive.mp4
bootcamp-unresponsive.mp4
cannot-kill-bootcamp-tray.mp4
2018-12-12 DXDIAG input tab frozen.avi
2019-01-18 settings frozen.avi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2gqd9GNB0Q

Related issue
Cannot wake from Sleep, caused by waiting for the unresponsive HID Ambient Light Sensor
win10-cannot-wake-from-sleep.mp4

Full video installing Windows and reproducing the issue on the first boot
Please use Windows 10 October update
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po9pxaurnv4
bootcamp-unresponsive-after-fresh-win10-install.mp4

This issue had severe performance impact before the update from February 12 2019. It was re-introduced with smaller effect with the next update in March, with reduced impact. Currently the freezing in Bootcamp.exe is still present.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Click on the Bootcamp icon in the system tray.
2. A context menu appears.
3. Move the mouse quickly over the menu.
4. Expected behaviour: menu items should be highlighted instantly.
5. BUG: menu items are highlighted after delay, sometimes very short, sometimes long.
6. Caused by unresponsive hardware: HID Ambient Light Sensor.




Issue: The keyboard backlight no longer adapts to ambient light changes after Hibernate
See Bootcamp.exe.debug.txt in Ambient Light Sensor crash

Steps to reproduce
1. Attach WinDBG to Bootcamp.exe or preferably kill the existing process and
   run Bootcamp.exe inside WinDBG.
2. Hibernate the computer: Start, Power button, Hibernate, then wake it;
   or as a shortcut, disable and re-enable HID Ambient Light Sensor from Device Manager, Sensors.
3. The following error is logged multiple times in WinDBG:
   ERROR SensorGetCurrentReadingV2:Invalid handle!:0x00000006
4. The keyboard backlight no longer adapts to ambient light changes after Hibernate.

TODO: fix Bootcamp.exe
When the HID Ambient Light Sensor handle becomes invalid, close and reopen it.




Issue: Audio stops working in all applications
In rare occasions, while playing video in YouTube or audio in iTunes, the audio from the laptop speakers suddenly stops. At that point no applications can play audio, it appears silent. To recover from this condition, playback has to be stopped in all applications that are currently playing audio. After a few seconds, playback can be restarted and the audio will work again. More often than not, the audio may stop again within a few seconds. After a few retries, it may work properly.

Please see this link for additional discussion related to this issue:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8466406




Issue: noise from MacBook Pro 2018 speakers when apps play silent audio
When an application plays silent audio, noise is heard from the Speakers on MacBook Pro 2018 laptops.
Steps to reproduce
1. Open Camtasia Recorder
2. Noise can be heard from the laptop speakers
3. Reduce the volume to 0
4. Noise is still observed
5. Exit Camtasia Recorder
6. The noise stops

1. Open Audacity
2. Create a blank file and press play
3. Noise can be heard from the laptop speakers
4. Connect headphones to the 3.5 mm jack
5. Noise is still observed
6. Exit Audacity
7. The noise stops

Video demo inside noise from MacBook Pro 2018 speakers when apps play silent audio
noise-in-camtasia-recorder.mp4




Issue: Power Adaptor failing and jammed key
Two mounts after receiving the device, the power adaptor failed. It was replaced by the service. A couple of weeks earlier, I had a jammed key. Hitting the key hard made it work again. It’s been several years since the keyboard design used by this device was acknowledged to have this issue, and Apple is still selling laptops with flawed keyboards. Just one more reason why I consider MacBook Pro 2018 to be flawed by design and I do not want to use this model anymore!




Issue: Long delay after restarting Windows since the upgrade to Mac OS X 10.14.5
Until Mac OS X 10.14.4, Restarting Windows was very fast, almost instant. After updating to Mac OS X 10.14.5, just as the laptop is expected to restart, the computer freezes for about 20-30 seconds with keyboard back-light on, then it restarts. I would expect this to be a failed attempt to resolve the other issue: Issue: Microphone not showing in Mac OS X, by performing some sort of SMC or T2 reset. Please revert these changes in the firmware, since they do not resolve the microphone issue in Mac OS X, but rather make the laptop experience much worse!




Issue: Overheating on Windows
While this issue cannot be fully resolved, the effect can be reduced by disabling Turbo Boost. As a side effect, the laptop will be slower, but much more silent, and the battery will last longer. I suggest creating two Power profiles: Balanced and High performance. By default, I use Balanced, where Turbo Boost is disabled. In High performance mode, I set Turbo Boost to enabled if running from charger and disabled if running on battery.

1. Click Start, type regedit [ENTER]
2. Navigate to
Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\54533251-82be-4824-96c1-47b60b740d00\be337238-0d82-4146-a960-4f3749d470c7
3. Change the value for Attributes to 2
4. Open Control Panel, All Control Panel Items (View by: Small icons)
5. Power Options, Change plan settings, Change advanced power settings
6. Processor power management, Processor Performance boost mode: Disabled

To verify that Turbo Boost is disabled
1. Open Task Manager, Performance, CPU
2. Monitor the Speed; it should not go above the Base Speed while Turbo Boost is disabled.




2019-07-16  Georgi Valkov