macOS Big Sur Reportedly Bricking Older 13-Inch Apple MacBook Pros

[zanderthunder]

 

Be it a new gaming console or even a laptop, no one likes to see their personal gadgets get bricked. However, it appears that owners of 13-inch MacBook Pro models that were released in late 2013 or mid 2014 have encountered a fatal issue that caused just that when attempting to update their machines to macOS Big Sur.

 

According to MacRumors, the owners have taken to Reddit, Twitter, and the Apple support forum to report the problem. They explain that during the update to the new macOS version, their MacBooks froze and displayed a black screen. This left them with no way to bypass the screen; with NVRAM, SMC, safe mode and internet recovery are all reportedly inaccessible after attempting to install the update.

 

 

One MacBook Pro user commented on Reddit saying that they were instructed by Apple to send in their device for a repair. Meanwhile, another user in the support forum said that the issue has been brought up to Apple’s engineering team, indicating that the company should now be aware of it.

 

At the time of writing, Apple has yet to address the issue or to provide a possible solution for the 13-inch MacBook Pro owners. It is also uncertain if the cause resulted from the machines themselves or the macOS Big Sur updater.

 

Source:

1. macOS Big Sur Reportedly Bricking Older 13-Inch Apple MacBook Pros (via Lowyat.NET) - main article

2. macOS Big Sur Update Bricking Some Older MacBook Pro Models (via MacRumors) - supporting source to main article

[steven36]

It happened  with Catalina as well 

A seemingly small number of Mac users are reporting that their machines have been bricked after upgrading to macOS Catalina.

It is believed a potentially unsuccessful EFI firmware update is responsible for the issue.

Catalina, like all of Apple’s most recent updates, has its fair share of teething problems. Many apps won’t work correctly. Some features are broken. Certain eGPUs no longer do anything.

One, who was supposedly turned away by Apple Support and told their Mac is “just too old,” was able to obtain a fix from a third-party repairer.

There may be a fix if your Mac is suffering this issue, then. But it’s not a simple one. And it’s likely going to cost you if your Mac is no longer covered by an AppleCare warranty.

https://www.cultofmac.com/661068/some-unlucky-macs-are-being-bricked-by-catalina/

https://www.valuewalk.com/2019/10/macos-catalina-is-bricking-some-macs-thanks-to-damaged-efi-firmware/

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/nasty-macos-flaw-is-bricking-macbooks-dont-install-this-update

 

Some  people   it worked  for on there  2013 , mid 2014 MACs   some have glitches  . 

 

 

Sounds like  the Fix is  hooking  up another  Mac  and visiting the Apple Store and recovering  is more easy than what happen to Catalina. Apple should  push out a update  to block these old MACs from updating even  people who are   running Mojave  on these old MACs say that security updates  have caused them to boot up slow. 

 

One  thing with all  Desktop OS  , Linux  , MAC  , Windows you should  never update straight away as there are always bugs. Windows  holds back updates  for years now tell they get most the bugs out  but people  still  force update them then cry about bugs when they do .  On LTS  Linux they dont even offer you the upgrade  tell after  the 1st point release and you dont have to take it tell eol 5 years if you pay  for updates that will give you 5 more years 10 years support.

 

Ubuntu 17.10 had a BIOS Bug it was so bad they pulled the ISO and re released without activating the Intel patch. Upstream warn  them not to  use that patch and  they did  anyway  the only Fix  for it was to install  a updated  Linux Kernel  that was not patched by Ubuntu  tell they sorted it out . That was the last time I used  8 month service releases   I switch to LTS  as soon as 18.04 came out   The bug didn't  effect me  1. I use  Dell  it only effected  Lenovo and some Toshiba and Acer laptops. 2. I was not using the Linux Kernel  that was patched by Ubuntu, I was using the newest Linux Kernel at the time it happen. Shit happens  lol. The  bug would  lock  your BIOS up were you could  not boot into  anything but Ubuntu if  you had other OSes  installed Linux  and Windows.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/artful/+source/linux/+bug/1734147/

 

 As you  can see in the  Bug  report above  one  little mistake  they made in 2017  is still  effecting a small  number of users today.

 

Big Sur didn't really brick  there  MAC  its  the way they make there  software and hardware  is at fault OS X 10. 7 Lion did away with recovery disks  if  they still shipped a disk with Macs  that would erase  the software  and reinstall  it without needing another  mac and internet access you could just go back to  the version your Mac came with.   That what makes PCs  better I  decided I didn't   want to run Windows  10  no more  I just got the the Windows  8.1 OEM  keys out the  BIOS  and  burn a disk   and installed  Windows 8.1 back  also  I burn Linux  to Disc and install it on my PCs   that came with  windows 8 and 8.1.  If it was  Bricked  it would had to had done something to the  BIOS were  it was not recoverable the way it sounds from the  beta testers  anybody with another MAC  can recover  it.