Lion Internet Recovery Comes to Current-Generation iMacs

MacRumors · Oct 26, 2011, 10:39 PM

Apple today released a series of firmware updates for its 2011 Mac lineup, addressing several issues to increase the stability of the systems. But the iMac EFI Update 1.7 goes a bit further, bringing the Lion Internet Recovery feature to the current generation of iMac models. The iMac update also specifically addresses several Thunderbolt performance issues.

Quote:

About iMac EFI Update 1.7

This update enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection and includes fixes that resolve issues with Apple Thunderbolt Display compatibility and Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode performance on iMac (early 2011) models.

Internet Recovery launched as part of OS X Lion in July, allowing users to easily install the operating system on a blank hard drive, a feature that is handy for users who are replacing their hard drives or for whom the recovery partition included on their Lion system becomes inaccessible. Internet Recovery functions by adding a minimal bootable install onto a machine's firmware to allow it to connect the Internet and download the full Lion operating system for installation.

Internet Recovery initially debuted on the MacBook Air and Mac mini models that were released alongside OS X Lion, but was extended to the Early 2011 MacBook Pro line last month. With the addition of the iMac, all of Apple's current Mac models with the exception of the Mac Pro are now capable of accessing Lion Internet Recovery. The Mac Pro has not been updated since mid-2010, and delays in Intel's chip production appear to have pushed any refresh into next year.

In addition to the iMac EFI firmware update released today, Apple also pushed out MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.3 for Early 2011 models, MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.2 for Mid 2011 models, and Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.4 for Mid 2011 models.

Article Link: Lion Internet Recovery Comes to Current-Generation iMacs

mobi · Oct 26, 2011, 10:45 PM

I'm convinced a Lion upgrade trashed my MacBook Pro (2010) hard drive, could have used this feature...glad they are working out the kinks.

SmileyDude · Oct 26, 2011, 10:47 PM

What's up with the picture of the bondi blue iMac on that support page for the EFI update?

Butler Trumpet · Oct 26, 2011, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmileyDude

What's up with the picture of the bondi blue iMac on that support page for the EFI update?

Yeah thats really odd.

bb426 · Oct 26, 2011, 11:01 PM

Wonder if this will fix the SATA III issues I'm still having with my SSD... Hope so...

Jerome Morrow · Oct 26, 2011, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmileyDude

What's up with the picture of the bondi blue iMac on that support page for the EFI update?

Made me smile.

justinfreid · Oct 26, 2011, 11:07 PM

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3)

I wonder if this is technically possible on earlier models and whether Apple will ever add it, or if it's partly a licensing issue: they know these later models shipped with Lion or the free upgrade.

aberrero · Oct 26, 2011, 11:07 PM

Why no support for the 2010 MBA?

SanibelMan · Oct 26, 2011, 11:51 PM

Is there a document somewhere showing details of the other fixes? My 2011 iMac has a problem where switching accounts will sometimes cause the speakers to stop working, and plugging in and unplugging headphones will fix it. I figured it had to either be an OS or firmware issue.

g-boac · Oct 27, 2011, 12:15 AM

YES!!!!! Internet Recovery for the 2011 iMac - simply amazing! Thank you Apple!!

Qwaf · Oct 27, 2011, 01:00 AM

Just updated my iMac, now, I hope they release it for my 2010 MacBook Pro, but I dont expect it.

awulf · Oct 27, 2011, 01:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmileyDude

What's up with the picture of the bondi blue iMac on that support page for the EFI update?

I believe that's a blueberry iMac (slot loading), but odd indeed.

78-bit · Oct 27, 2011, 02:28 AM

After updating my 2011 15" MBP I now experience no Internet connection when waking from sleep.

Skoopman · Oct 27, 2011, 02:31 AM

Interesting. Should fix a lot of problems people were having with hard disk failures.

johnmacward · Oct 27, 2011, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aberrero

Why no support for the 2010 MBA?

There's a chance the firmware chip from 2010 days can't handle the instruction set or it has to do with older MacBook's not necessarily being entitled to Lion as it downloads a recovery environment without the need for an Apple ID.

Porco · Oct 27, 2011, 04:46 AM

It's a good option to have, but I can't help thinking it'd be more useful if the iMac's internal hard drive was more easily replaceable by ordinary users.

cludgie · Oct 27, 2011, 04:56 AM

is this update only for the iMac early 2011 or is it also for the Mid 2011?

divinox · 05:40 AM

hoping for this to fix the kernel issues with my mba 2011.

edit: it didn't, rather it created one. sigh.

Farthen · Oct 27, 2011, 06:43 AM

Awesome! This introduced a display backlight flicker to my 27" iMac though :/

It seems to disappear after a few minutes of uptime though so its not very huge. Even though i think it is really weird and i hope it won't harm the display.

Anyone else with this problem? PRAM and SMC reset don't change anything.

MiltonThales · Oct 27, 2011, 07:06 AM

Last night, I updated my MacBook Air Mid2011 13" to the EFI Firmware Update 2.1. Today, Apple Support shows a page for Update 2.1, but it redirects to EFI Firmware Update 2.2. I can download the 2.2 update .dmg and mount it, but when I try to install it says it does not apply !!!

So I am confused and curious. Do I have a bad update installed ? Why can't I install the newer update ?

the8thark · Oct 27, 2011, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmileyDude

What's up with the picture of the bondi blue iMac on that support page for the EFI update?

Well it is internet recovery on an internet Mac.
The i in iMac did stand for internet.

alent1234 · Oct 27, 2011, 07:52 AM

so if I have SL installed and never bought Lion i can just "recover" my Mac to 10.7?

Fresh Tendrils · Oct 27, 2011, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by the8thark

Well it is internet recovery on an internet Mac.
The i in iMac did stand for internet.

Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that model didn't have thunderbolt, and I don't think it supports lion

Seeing that computer reminds me of my iMac DVSE. I remember installing OSX 10.0 and being amazed at how different it looked to OS 9. It was buggy though!

LimeiBook86 · Oct 27, 2011, 09:27 AM

I'm happy to get the Internet Recovery option on my 2011 iMac. I was starting to feel left out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerome Morrow

Made me smile.

Me too (attached below in case Apple fixes it)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Farthen

Awesome! This introduced a display backlight flicker to my 27" iMac though :/

It seems to disappear after a few minutes of uptime though so its not very huge. Even though i think it is really weird and i hope it won't harm the display.

Anyone else with this problem? PRAM and SMC reset don't change anything.

When I perform the update with my iMac I'll let you know if it does the same. Although I'm a bit hesitant now...

JHankwitz · Oct 27, 2011, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 78-bit

After updating my 2011 15" MBP I now experience no Internet connection when waking from sleep.

I'll bet you forgot to run Utility Disk Permissions before you ran the update. It's a good idea to do that before every update.

Oct 26, 2011, 10:45 PM	#2
mobi macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Penn's Woods	I'm convinced a Lion upgrade trashed my MacBook Pro (2010) hard drive, could have used this feature...glad they are working out the kinks. __________________ ShaggyMac \| Accessories Catalog Est. 2003
	0

Oct 26, 2011, 10:47 PM	#3
SmileyDude macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: MA	What's up with the picture of the bondi blue iMac on that support page for the EFI update? __________________ dennis
	9

Oct 26, 2011, 11:01 PM	#5
bb426 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: California	Wonder if this will fix the SATA III issues I'm still having with my SSD... Hope so... __________________ 15" MBP 2011, 2.0 GHz, 8GB RAM, 256 GB Samsung 830 SSD, 120 GB HyperX Kingston SSD; 4S, 3GS, ATV2, iTouch 4G "Check yourself. Before you wreck yourself."
	0

Oct 26, 2011, 11:07 PM	#7
justinfreid macrumors 6502 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: NEW Jersey / USA	Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A334 Safari/7534.48.3) I wonder if this is technically possible on earlier models and whether Apple will ever add it, or if it's partly a licensing issue: they know these later models shipped with Lion or the free upgrade. __________________ inThirty.net - New, 30 minute, tech podcast on iTunes JustinFreid.com \| Twitter.com/JustinFreid \| Facebook.com/JustinFreid Think different? Install OS X on anything x86 / Jailbreak iOS
	0

Oct 27, 2011, 02:31 AM	#14
Skoopman macrumors 6502 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Romania	Interesting. Should fix a lot of problems people were having with hard disk failures. __________________ Macbook Air 13" \| 1.8GHz \| 4GB RAM \| 128GB SSD Time Capsule 2TB Apple TV 3
	0

Oct 26, 2011, 11:07 PM	#8
aberrero macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jan 2010	Why no support for the 2010 MBA?
	0

Oct 26, 2011, 11:51 PM	#9
SanibelMan macrumors member Join Date: Jul 2004	Is there a document somewhere showing details of the other fixes? My 2011 iMac has a problem where switching accounts will sometimes cause the speakers to stop working, and plugging in and unplugging headphones will fix it. I figured it had to either be an OS or firmware issue.
	0

Oct 27, 2011, 12:15 AM	#10
g-boac macrumors 6502 Join Date: Oct 2007	YES!!!!! Internet Recovery for the 2011 iMac - simply amazing! Thank you Apple!!
	-2

Oct 27, 2011, 01:00 AM	#11
Qwaf macrumors member Join Date: Sep 2010	Just updated my iMac, now, I hope they release it for my 2010 MacBook Pro, but I dont expect it.
	0

Oct 27, 2011, 02:28 AM	#13
78-bit macrumors newbie Join Date: Sep 2011	After updating my 2011 15" MBP I now experience no Internet connection when waking from sleep.
	0

Oct 27, 2011, 04:46 AM	#16
Porco macrumors 65816 Join Date: Mar 2005	It's a good option to have, but I can't help thinking it'd be more useful if the iMac's internal hard drive was more easily replaceable by ordinary users. __________________ I really wish Apple would use the option key a little more, and the command key a little less. soundcloud/fdporco
	1

Oct 27, 2011, 04:56 AM	#17
cludgie macrumors member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland	is this update only for the iMac early 2011 or is it also for the Mid 2011? __________________ cludgie blog Eye on Edinburgh Photo Gallery
	0

Oct 27, 2011, 05:24 AM	#18
divinox macrumors 68000 Join Date: Jul 2011	hoping for this to fix the kernel issues with my mba 2011. edit: it didn't, rather it created one. sigh. Last edited by divinox; Oct 27, 2011 at 05:40 AM.
	0

Oct 27, 2011, 06:43 AM	#19
Farthen macrumors member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Germany	Awesome! This introduced a display backlight flicker to my 27" iMac though :/ It seems to disappear after a few minutes of uptime though so its not very huge. Even though i think it is really weird and i hope it won't harm the display. Anyone else with this problem? PRAM and SMC reset don't change anything.
	0

Oct 27, 2011, 07:06 AM	#20
MiltonThales macrumors newbie Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Norcross, GA	MacBook Air Update Confusion Last night, I updated my MacBook Air Mid2011 13" to the EFI Firmware Update 2.1. Today, Apple Support shows a page for Update 2.1, but it redirects to EFI Firmware Update 2.2. I can download the 2.2 update .dmg and mount it, but when I try to install it says it does not apply !!! So I am confused and curious. Do I have a bad update installed ? Why can't I install the newer update ?
	0

Oct 27, 2011, 07:52 AM	#22
alent1234 macrumors 601 Join Date: Jun 2009	so if I have SL installed and never bought Lion i can just "recover" my Mac to 10.7?
	0

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