Incident: Premiere Pro CC Update Causes MacBook Pro Speaker Damage.

Published Date: 2019-02-22

Postmortem Analysis
Timeline 1. The software failure incident with Adobe Premiere Pro CC causing issues with MacBook Pro speakers happened as early as November, with new reports surfacing up to February [81405]. 2. The article was published on February 22, 2019. 3. Estimating from the information provided, the software failure incident likely occurred in November 2018.
System 1. Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2. Late-model MacBook Pros, specifically the 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro speakers [81405]
Responsible Organization 1. Adobe [81405]
Impacted Organization 1. Late-model MacBook Pros' speakers [81405]
Software Causes 1. The glitch in the previous version of Adobe Premiere Pro CC that affected the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros [81405].
Non-software Causes 1. Hardware compatibility issues with the 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro [81405]
Impacts 1. The software failure incident in Adobe Premiere Pro CC caused a glitch in the previous version that resulted in killing the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros [81405].
Preventions 1. Implementing thorough testing procedures before releasing updates to ensure compatibility with different hardware configurations could have prevented the software failure incident [81405].
Fixes 1. Adobe released a patch via the Creative Cloud app to address the issue. Users were advised to update to version 13.0.3 of Adobe Premiere Pro CC [81405].
References 1. Adobe Community thread tracking the situation [81405] 2. 9to5Mac Twitter account comments [81405]

Software Taxonomy of Faults

Category Option Rationale
Recurring one_organization (a) The software failure incident of Adobe Premiere Pro causing glitches that affected the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros has happened again within the same organization. Adobe pushed out an update via its Creative Cloud app to fix the glitch that was damaging the speakers on MacBook Pros [81405].
Phase (Design/Operation) design, operation (a) The software failure incident in Article 81405 can be attributed to the design phase. Adobe pushed out an update to Adobe Premiere Pro CC via its Creative Cloud app to fix a glitch in the previous version that was causing issues with the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros. This glitch was identified as affecting the speakers in the latest MacBook Pro, and Adobe released a patch to address this issue [81405]. (b) The software failure incident in Article 81405 can also be linked to the operation phase. Users reported that the issue with Premiere Pro causing damage to MacBook Pro speakers seemed to occur when an effect was applied to the audio clip while it was still playing. This indicates that the failure was triggered during the operation or use of the software, leading to the undesirable outcome of speaker damage [81405].
Boundary (Internal/External) within_system (a) within_system: The software failure incident in this case, where Adobe Premiere Pro CC caused a glitch that affected the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros, is an example of a failure within the system. The glitch was related to an issue within the software itself that led to the malfunction of the hardware (speakers) of the MacBook Pros [81405]. Adobe acknowledged the problem and released a patch via the Creative Cloud app to address the issue, indicating that the root cause of the problem was within the software system.
Nature (Human/Non-human) non-human_actions (a) The software failure incident in this case seems to be related to non-human actions. The glitch in Adobe Premiere Pro CC that caused the issue with MacBook Pro speakers was not intentionally introduced by human actions but rather was a result of a bug in the software itself. Adobe released a patch via the Creative Cloud app to address the issue, indicating that the problem originated from the software itself [81405].
Dimension (Hardware/Software) hardware, software (a) The software failure incident in this case occurred due to hardware issues. Adobe Premiere Pro CC was causing a glitch that seemed to kill the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros, specifically the 15-inch 2018 MacBook Pro. Users reported that the issue occurred in conjunction with "an awful noise" and seemed to happen when an effect was applied to the audio clip while it was still playing. The glitch was causing physical damage to the speakers of the MacBook Pro devices [81405]. (b) The software failure incident was also related to software issues. Adobe acknowledged the problem and released a patch (version 13.0.3) via the Creative Cloud app to address the issue. The glitch in the previous version of Premiere Pro was causing the hardware issue with the MacBook Pro speakers, indicating a software bug or fault in the application [81405].
Objective (Malicious/Non-malicious) non-malicious (a) The software failure incident described in the articles is non-malicious. Adobe pushed out an update to Adobe Premiere Pro CC via its Creative Cloud app to fix a glitch in the previous version that was causing issues with the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros. The issue was not intentional but rather a bug that needed to be addressed to prevent further damage to the hardware [81405].
Intent (Poor/Accidental Decisions) poor_decisions, accidental_decisions (a) The software failure incident related to the glitch in Adobe Premiere Pro CC that caused damage to the speakers of late-model MacBook Pros seems to be more aligned with poor_decisions. This is because the issue was not widespread, and it was notable for software to physically damage hardware. The incident was not intentional but likely resulted from poor decisions in the software development process that led to this unexpected consequence. Adobe acknowledged the issue and released a patch to address it, indicating that there were factors introduced by decisions made during the development of the software that caused the problem [81405]. (b) The incident could also be attributed to accidental_decisions as there were reports of the glitch causing damage to MacBook Pro speakers when an effect was applied to an audio clip while it was still playing. This unintended consequence suggests that the failure was a result of accidental decisions or mistakes made during the software development process that led to the unexpected behavior and damage to the hardware [81405].
Capability (Incompetence/Accidental) accidental (a) The software failure incident in Article 81405 seems to be more related to accidental factors rather than development incompetence. The glitch in Adobe Premiere Pro CC that caused the issue with MacBook Pro speakers was not intentional and was not a result of incompetence on the part of the development team. Adobe acknowledged the issue and released a patch to address it, indicating that it was an unintended consequence of the software update [81405].
Duration temporary (a) The software failure incident in this case seems to be temporary. Adobe pushed out an update via its Creative Cloud app to fix the glitch that was causing the issue with the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros [81405]. The issue was specifically addressed with the release of patch 13.0.3, indicating that the problem was not permanent but rather a result of specific circumstances related to the software version.
Behaviour other (a) crash: The software failure incident in this case does not involve a crash where the system loses state and does not perform any of its intended functions. Instead, the issue reported with Adobe Premiere Pro CC causing damage to MacBook Pro speakers is more related to a glitch or bug that affects the hardware [81405]. (b) omission: There is no indication in the articles that the software failure incident was due to the system omitting to perform its intended functions at an instance(s). The issue reported specifically involves a glitch that caused damage to the speakers of late-model MacBook Pros [81405]. (c) timing: The software failure incident is not related to the system performing its intended functions correctly but too late or too early. The issue reported with Adobe Premiere Pro CC causing damage to MacBook Pro speakers is more of a glitch or bug that affects the hardware [81405]. (d) value: The software failure incident is not characterized by the system performing its intended functions incorrectly in terms of providing incorrect outputs or results. The issue reported with Adobe Premiere Pro CC causing damage to MacBook Pro speakers is more of a glitch or bug that affects the hardware [81405]. (e) byzantine: The software failure incident does not exhibit a byzantine behavior where the system behaves erroneously with inconsistent responses and interactions. The issue reported with Adobe Premiere Pro CC causing damage to MacBook Pro speakers is more of a glitch or bug that affects the hardware [81405]. (f) other: The behavior of the software failure incident in this case is more related to a glitch or bug in the software that led to physical damage to the speakers of late-model MacBook Pros. This behavior is not specifically categorized under the options provided but falls under a scenario where a software issue has unintended consequences on the hardware [81405].

IoT System Layer

Layer Option Rationale
Perception None None
Communication None None
Application None None

Other Details

Category Option Rationale
Consequence non-human The consequence of the software failure incident described in the article is related to option (f) non-human. The software glitch in Adobe Premiere Pro CC caused damage to the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros, which are non-human entities [81405].
Domain entertainment (a) The software failure incident reported in Article 81405 is related to the entertainment industry. Adobe Premiere Pro CC, the software that caused the glitch affecting the speakers on late-model MacBook Pros, is a video editing software widely used in the entertainment industry for editing and producing videos [81405].

Sources

Back to List