M1 Max black screen at boot after updating Ventura 13.6

[ladboytick]

here’s another one bricked by disabled promotion updating from 13.6 to 13.6.1

this is
i n s a n e.

random expletive

Completely nuts that a problem this big can slip past Apple.

 

[Lazyass0]

Somebody posted that on X already on 20th of October …

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1715450132282364166

 

[mecloud]

I have bricked four MacBook Pros in under two weeks thanks to the 12.7 update (on my M1 16 inch MacBook Pro) and the 13.6 update on three new M2 16 inch MBP’s. On ONLY the most recent one, I was successfully able to do a “revive” in DFU mode, which installed Sonoma but did not erase any of my data. In all cases, ProMotion was disabled and the screens were running at 60Hz.

In over three decades of using Macs for audio production and DJ-ing, I have never experienced anything approaching this level of insanity. Clearly there are very serious QA issues in Apple’s system software testing for something like this to be released to the public. Certainly a big disincentive to install OS updates knowing the computer may be bricked (and maybe or maybe not recoverable with DFU mode).

 

[TriBruin]

Just an FYI, if you are bricked doing the upgrade to 12.7.1 or 13.6.1, the process to recover without losing data is very detailed. (Note: I have not performed this myself, but I have confirmed with out MacAdmins dealing with it)

1) Put the affected computer in to DFU mode.

2) Revive the computer using Apple Configurator and an IPSW for macOS Sonoma. To choose a specific IPSW, drag the IPSW to the DFU icon in Apple Configurator. Do NOT try and use an IPSW earlier than the version you tried to upgrade to.

3) Once the revive is complete the computer will reboot to boot menu. Do NOT select Macintosh HD, instead select Options to boot to recovery

4) Select the option to reinstall macOS Sonoma on your computer. Don't erase the drive first. Reinstall will not wipe user data.

This should work, however, you will be upgraded to macOS Sonoma.

It would be much easier if Apple would release IPSWs for 13.6.1 & 12.7.1. But they don't typically release new IPSWs for older OS.

 

[thevidness]

Just an FYI, if you are bricked doing the upgrade to 12.7.1 or 13.6.1, the process to recover without losing data is very detailed. (Note: I have not performed this myself, but I have confirmed with out MacAdmins dealing with it)

1) Put the affected computer in to DFU mode.

2) Revive the computer using Apple Configurator and an IPSW for macOS Sonoma. To choose a specific IPSW, drag the IPSW to the DFU icon in Apple Configurator. Do NOT try and use an IPSW earlier than the version you tried to upgrade to.

3) Once the revive is complete the computer will reboot to boot menu. Do NOT select Macintosh HD, instead select Options to boot to recovery

4) Select the option to reinstall macOS Sonoma on your computer. Don't erase the drive first. Reinstall will not wipe user data.

This should work, however, you will be upgraded to macOS Sonoma.

It would be much easier if Apple would release IPSWs for 13.6.1 & 12.7.1. But they don't typically release new IPSWs for older OS.

Thanks for that. I can confirm, following these steps I was able to revive my machine with Sonoma (Edit: Without data loss).

In Step 2) I just went with revive in the context menu and it automatically used the latest Sonoma 14.1 behind the scenes. There was no need to go hunting for the right .ipsw file

 

[thevidness]

I have bricked four MacBook Pros in under two weeks thanks to the 12.7 update (on my M1 16 inch MacBook Pro) and the 13.6 update on three new M2 16 inch MBP’s. On ONLY the most recent one, I was successfully able to do a “revive” in DFU mode, which installed Sonoma but did not erase any of my data. In all cases, ProMotion was disabled and the screens were running at 60Hz.

In over three decades of using Macs for audio production and DJ-ing, I have never experienced anything approaching this level of insanity. Clearly there are very serious QA issues in Apple’s system software testing for something like this to be released to the public. Certainly a big disincentive to install OS updates knowing the computer may be bricked (and maybe or maybe not recoverable with DFU mode).

Exactly my thoughts. It's a new low, for sure...

 

[mecloud]

Just an FYI, if you are bricked doing the upgrade to 12.7.1 or 13.6.1, the process to recover without losing data is very detailed. (Note: I have not performed this myself, but I have confirmed with out MacAdmins dealing with it)

1) Put the affected computer in to DFU mode.

2) Revive the computer using Apple Configurator and an IPSW for macOS Sonoma. To choose a specific IPSW, drag the IPSW to the DFU icon in Apple Configurator. Do NOT try and use an IPSW earlier than the version you tried to upgrade to.

3) Once the revive is complete the computer will reboot to boot menu. Do NOT select Macintosh HD, instead select Options to boot to recovery

4) Select the option to reinstall macOS Sonoma on your computer. Don't erase the drive first. Reinstall will not wipe user data.

This should work, however, you will be upgraded to macOS Sonoma.

It would be much easier if Apple would release IPSWs for 13.6.1 & 12.7.1. But they don't typically release new IPSWs for older OS.

This was exactly how I successfully “revived” Dead MacBook Number Four this morning. It preserved all data, but updated the OS to Sonoma which I really did not want.

 

[mecloud]

Is anyone else seeing these “bricking” issues NOT happen immediately after doing the Mac OS updates, but crop up a few days later? That, assuming my own “MacBook Pro Bricking” issues are the same as what’s being discussed in this thread, is what I’ve been experiencing.

My whole odyssey started almost two weeks ago, with an 18-month-old M1 16” MBP. I had, a few days previously, run the latest Mac OS Monterey updates….used the machine for the following few days with no apparent problems…then experienced the “bricking”.

 

[Lazyass0]

Is anyone else seeing these “bricking” issues NOT happen immediately after doing the Mac OS updates, but crop up a few days later? That, assuming my own “MacBook Pro Bricking” issues are the same as what’s being discussed in this thread, is what I’ve been experiencing.

My whole odyssey started almost two weeks ago, with an 18-month-old M1 16” MBP. I had, a few days previously, run the latest Mac OS Monterey updates….used the machine for the following few days with no apparent problems…then experienced the “bricking”.

Maybe you clicked update, and than postponed restart and restarted it on that later day ?

 

[mecloud]

Maybe you clicked update, and than postponed restart and restarted it on that later day ?

I wish I could tell you that’s what happened, because it would seem to make much more sense than my actual experiences of the last two weeks, but definitely not. In my latest case (the brand new M2 MBP that I was able to “revive” in DFU mode and is now running Sonoma 14.1), I believe three full days (with some shutdown/startup cycles after the OS update) had elapsed before the computer experienced the power-on-to-black-screen issue.

 

[Lazyass0]

What I am thinking now, maybe the solution would be as follows: DFU with Ventura IPSW to go into Recovery, open Terminal from there, enable Promotion via Terminal and restart Macbook and see if Update finishes or at least reverts to latest OS version you were on instead doing full Restore or Update to Sonoma ???

 

[f54da]

Above would not work I think, the t2 firmware or whatever is messed up at that point, as evidenced by the fact that booting into recovery fails.

 

[sporkme]

The trigger for this problem appears to be that Promotion is turned off in Display Settings before the update is applied. Unfortunately there is no real easy fix for the black screen once it happens aside from restoring the system.

Are you ***** kidding me?

I wasted... I don't know how many hours when going to 13.6 from 13.5.mumble and it happened while I was out of town so I just had to go without a computer. At least a day or two when I got back playing with DFU mode and "revive", etc. Ended up doing a clean install from Mr. Mac's IPSWs to 13.6 then a TM restore (amazing all the little things that it doesn't restore, that's another few hours of setup).

So today, plugged in my little external nvme drive, since I saw 13.6.1 was available, let TM backup that (normally it just runs to a network share, but that's a slower restore), and just now updated and... same thing. So this is known within Apple and they put out 13.6.1 WITHOUT a fix. Amazing. Why do they hate their macOS customer so?

I know a long time ago I turned off ProMotion because the lag on window focus was causing way too many typing errors (input going to previous window after switching Spaces), and I did not purposefully disable ProMotion again, but I'm guessing that the TM restore brought it over?

ps: not yelling at you, just yelling in general!

 

[sporkme]

Above would not work I think, the t2 firmware or whatever is messed up at that point, as evidenced by the fact that booting into recovery fails.

Which also begs the question, why does the "Revive" option, which I thought was supposed to fix the firmware, not work? There's multiple levels of fail here from Apple...

 

[f54da]

>which I thought was supposed to fix the firmware, not work

It does work though, it restores the t2 firmware (or whatever similar thing m1 macs have) and gets to a point where you can boot into recovery again. The only question is why apple requires you to then upgrade to Sonoma. This part is not clear to me, maybe the revival process always installs the newest firmware provided by apple, which in this could would be sonoma.

 

[Lazyass0]

New finding: beeing on 13.6.1, disabled ProMotion, restart Macbook and it is bricked ! So it is not just during update … :/ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edit: now DFU for recovery with 13.6 IPSW, shift+Macintosh HD startup disk to go into Safe mode, and after restart it says this user needs to update, press restart to apply update (system show that it is on 13.6.1) and I am not able to get into Safe mode, it goes back into bricked :/

Does anyone know bash command to change Display settings to defaults ?

 

[Lazyass0]

Just sent to Apple senior advisor, as I was asked from him, a videos showing 13.5.1 with restarting it, with both enabled and disabled ProMotion and 13.6.1 with same where 13.6.1 restart with disabled ProMotion would brick Macbook ... I think they are aware of this problem now !

I still hasn't tried with Sonoma but there is 50/50 chance that we would get the SAME problem !

With 13.5.1 we are safe from this for sure (I have tested it), not sure for 13.5.2 as I am not sure for Sonoma

There is also needed to keep in mind that if you have external monitor connected and changed Macbook's refresh rate to 60 (or any other than ProMotion) this will NOT affect this setting when there is no external monitor connected !!! BUT if you change to any other than ProMotion when no external monitor and restart/update or restart/update with external monitor connected and changed ProMotion to any other it wil BRICK your Macbook Pro with Apple Silicone !!!

Computers affected are: All 14" and 16" Macbook Pro with Apple Silicone !

 

[mecloud]

New finding: beeing on 13.6.1, disabled ProMotion, restart Macbook and it is bricked ! So it is not just during update … :/ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This *might* explain my experiences with the three new M2 MBP’s seeming to have a delayed onset of the “bricking” issues after updating their out-of-box Mac OS versions from 13.5 to 13.6. I don’t think it fully explains the first “bricking” experience I had with my M1 16-inch MBP a couple weeks ago. I’m almost certain I didn’t change any display settings on that, just updated it’s installed Monterey OS to the latest version. I then used it for several days without apparent issue, then when powering up one time it “bricked” with the black screen.

 

[Lazyass0]

This *might* explain my experiences with the three new M2 MBP’s seeming to have a delayed onset of the “bricking” issues after updating their out-of-box Mac OS versions from 13.5 to 13.6. I don’t think it fully explains the first “bricking” experience I had with my M1 16-inch MBP a couple weeks ago. I’m almost certain I didn’t change any display settings on that, just updated it’s installed Monterey OS to the latest version. I then used it for several days without apparent issue, then when powering up one time it “bricked” with the black screen.

I am sure that you have changed this setting after update and got bricked when restarted Mac next time

 

[f54da]

macOS Sonoma Boot Failures

Hardware and software docs / wiki. Contribute to AsahiLinux/docs development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Lazyass0]

macOS Sonoma Boot Failures

Hardware and software docs / wiki. Contribute to AsahiLinux/docs development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

• Possibly: macOS Monterey 12.7 (unconfirmed) (confirmed unaffected, 12.7 uses 13.6 firmware apparently? weird.)
  
  12.7 and 12.7.1 are also affected this is where first time happened to me going from 12.6 to 12.7 !

 

[The Wolf]

• Possibly: macOS Monterey 12.7 (unconfirmed) (confirmed unaffected, 12.7 uses 13.6 firmware apparently? weird.)
  
  12.7 and 12.7.1 are also affected this is where first time happened to me going from 12.6 to 12.7 !

I can confirm this: one out of two of my 2021 M1 MBPs bricked during update to 12.7, with the described symptoms. The other one survived; both were set to 60Hz. The one which failed was a NOS machine, just taken into operation and set up hours before. The other one is still going strong - I did several reboots on this one, to confirm it won't die at the next reboot following the upgrade, too (a phenomenon others have reported). Conclusion: while this bug seems not to hit every time the screen refresh rate is set to a fixed value, it is definitely present in 12.7, too - and Apple is 'scary slow' in responding to their 'scary bad' code quality!

 

[mecloud]

I can confirm this: one out of two of my 2021 M1 MBPs bricked during update to 12.7, with the described symptoms. The other one survived; both were set to 60Hz. The one which failed was a NOS machine, just taken into operation and set up hours before. The other one is still going strong - I did several reboots on this one, to confirm it won't die at the next reboot following the upgrade, too (a phenomenon others have reported). Conclusion: while this bug seems not to hit every time the screen refresh rate is set to a fixed value, it is definitely present in 12.7, too - and Apple is 'scary slow' in responding to their 'scary bad' code quality!

Do you connect either of these MacBook Pros to external displays? It seems possible that there’s some connection with use of external displays.

 

[The Wolf]

Do you connect either of these MacBook Pros to external displays? It seems possible that there’s some connection with use of external displays.

Both machines were connected to nothing but the original Apple MagSafe power supply at the time of the upgrade, and never used with external displays.

 

[mecloud]

Both machines were connected to nothing but the original Apple MagSafe power supply at the time of the upgrade, and never used with external displays.

Very disquieting that there seems to be certain “random elements” in all of this.