Any Update to the whole Big Sur bricking Late 2013/Mid 2014 13" MacBook Pro situation?

[Yebubbleman]

Is there any update to the issues causing the macOS Big Sur installation to brick Late 2013 and Mid 2014 13" MacBook Pros? Also, for those that have more experience with these Macs and that issue, is the issue exclusive to in-place upgrade installs? Or does it happen with clean installations too? Curious.

 

[Earl Urley]

I'm able to run the delta update to RC 11.1, build 20C69 on my Late 2013 rMBP 13" with no issues; it updates the BootROM to 429.0.0.0.0 and runs fine for its vintage.

Before that I was being blocked from updating past 11.0.1 even with USB installs..

Final 11.1 shoukd be pushed out next week..

 

[posguy99]

Is there any update to the issues causing the macOS Big Sur installation to brick Late 2013 and Mid 2014 13" MacBook Pros? Also, for those that have more experience with these Macs and that issue, is the issue exclusive to in-place upgrade installs? Or does it happen with clean installations too? Curious.

There's no reason to bother. Wait until .2 or .3 to see if Apple manages to work it out.

 

[zepman]

I'm able to run the delta update to RC 11.1, build 20C69 on my Late 2013 rMBP 13" with no issues; it updates the BootROM to 429.0.0.0.0 and runs fine for its vintage.

Before that I was being blocked from updating past 11.0.1 even with USB installs..

Final 11.1 shoukd be pushed out next week..

Ok. That's good to hear. Were you updating from 11.0.1 or Catalina?

I got lucky updating my MBP late 2013 with no problems to 11.0.1 the day after it was released. Since finding out about all problems cause by the update, I'm a bit worried about updating further. Hopefully Apple has fixed the problem in 11.1 if these computers now are allowed to update.

BootROM in 11.0.1 is 427.0.0.0.0.
Was SMC updated as well? In 11.0.1 it is 2.16f68.

 

[Yebubbleman]

There's no reason to bother. Wait until .2 or .3 to see if Apple manages to work it out.

That's highly dismissive. If I actually owned and regularly use a Late 2013 or Mid 2014 13" (I don't), and I was on macOS Crapalina, I'd definitely want to move off of it as soon as I could. Mojave is only a viable alternative for ~10 more months!

Ok. That's good to hear. Were you updating from 11.0.1 or Catalina?

I got lucky updating my MBP late 2013 with no problems to 11.0.1 the day after it was released. Since finding out about all problems cause by the update, I'm a bit worried about updating further. Hopefully Apple has fixed the problem in 11.1 if these computers now are allowed to update.

BootROM in 11.0.1 is 427.0.0.0.0.
Was SMC updated as well? In 11.0.1 it is 2.16f68.

I'd imagine that if you are on 11.0.1 already that the danger has pretty much passed. Though, I'm wondering if having current firmware helps. Like, maybe one updating to Big Sur ought to install the latest security update for Mojave or Catalina first. Curiouser and curiouser.

 

[posguy99]

That's highly dismissive. If I actually owned and regularly use a Late 2013 or Mid 2014 13" (I don't), and I was on macOS Crapalina, I'd definitely want to move off of it as soon as I could. Mojave is only a viable alternative for ~10 more months!

But that's ten more months of correctly working software while Apple pretends to work out the bugs in Big Sur. By the time you get to where Mojave might be a problem wrt security updates, Big Sur might actually be something you should use.

I'd imagine that if you are on 11.0.1 already that the danger has pretty much passed. Though, I'm wondering if having current firmware helps. Like, maybe one updating to Big Sur ought to install the latest security update for Mojave or Catalina first. Curiouser and curiouser.

It's a .0, that's all. The 0.1 just blocks the problematic 2013/2014 board ID(s). See this article. I will always maintain, never install a .0, no matter who the vendor is. But most especially Apple.

 

[Yebubbleman]

But that's ten more months of correctly working software while Apple pretends to work out the bugs in Big Sur. By the time you get to where Mojave might be a problem wrt security updates, Big Sur might actually be something you should use.

I understand the virtues of waiting and not installing initial release versions of new operating systems. That was entirely beside the point of my question, which was to learn more about this particular issue, what's causing it, and whether or not a fix was incoming. That's why I said your initial comment was highly dismissive.

It's a .0, that's all. The 0.1 just blocks the problematic 2013/2014 board ID(s). See this article. I will always maintain, never install a .0, no matter who the vendor is. But most especially Apple.

THAT article was the kind of thing I was looking for with this post. Thank you for that!

That being said, I was under the impression that 11.0.1 was the initial release for Intel Macs and that 11.0 only ever existed (in non-beta form) on Apple Sllicon Macs. Or was that an updated version of 11.0.1?

 

[Bushsong]

I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and made the initial installation of Big Sur 3 days ago. There were some problems and I had to use the Opt/Cmd R keystroke combination to restore from the internet. This worked fine. I then set about doing the usual with the AppleThunderboltNHI.kext file. The one that causes the machine to switch off instead of sleep. This has been going on for years now without resolution apart from using some hacks in Terminal in Recovery Mode.

Seems Apple have changed again and the Catalina fixes don't work. There is a new one I found, but I couldn't get that to work either.

Installed 11.1 by accident! I left it to download and it went ahead and installed itself. Machine completely crashed. Was able to get Recovery Mode by Internet Download. Tested all disks but nothing there. Had missed two files on backup that were critical to me but couldn't find them through Terminal.

THREE downloads of Big Sur reinstall and the problem just seemed to resolve itself. Everything is working perfectly again. Of course, that's except for the random shut downs. I've put the sleep out to 2 hours and I know if I'm going to be away longer than that I'll close it down.

Good luck to all in my shoes. I'm waiting to see how the new MacBook Pros perform and then upgrading.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I have a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and made the initial installation of Big Sur 3 days ago. There were some problems and I had to use the Opt/Cmd R keystroke combination to restore from the internet. This worked fine. I then set about doing the usual with the AppleThunderboltNHI.kext file. The one that causes the machine to switch off instead of sleep. This has been going on for years now without resolution apart from using some hacks in Terminal in Recovery Mode.

Seems Apple have changed again and the Catalina fixes don't work. There is a new one I found, but I couldn't get that to work either.

Installed 11.1 by accident! I left it to download and it went ahead and installed itself. Machine completely crashed. Was able to get Recovery Mode by Internet Download. Tested all disks but nothing there. Had missed two files on backup that were critical to me but couldn't find them through Terminal.

THREE downloads of Big Sur reinstall and the problem just seemed to resolve itself. Everything is working perfectly again. Of course, that's except for the random shut downs. I've put the sleep out to 2 hours and I know if I'm going to be away longer than that I'll close it down.

Good luck to all in my shoes. I'm waiting to see how the new MacBook Pros perform and then upgrading.

I installed a clean copy of Big Sur on a friend's MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) a few weeks back. She had installed an OWC SSD. This predates 11.1. Went smoothly. There appear to be issues with the Late 2013 and Early 2014 (Haswell) models of 13" Retina MacBook Pro where Big Sur is causing permanent damage to the right I/O board wherein the Mac won't boot with it connected. That's what this thread is about.

Apple was blocking Big Sur from installing on said models of 13" MacBook Pro, though that was with 11.0.1. I'm not sure if 11.1 is also blocking those Macs.

As for AppleThunderboltNHI.kext, I am unfamiliar with what one needs to do with this KEXT and why. What is it that you do with that file and why? I own that same generation 15" MacBook Pro and have never needed to mess with any Thunderbolt KEXT; though, admittedly, my Thunderbolt usage is minimal.

 

[Bushsong]

I installed a clean copy of Big Sur on a friend's MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) a few weeks back. She had installed an OWC SSD. This predates 11.1. Went smoothly. There appear to be issues with the Late 2013 and Early 2014 (Haswell) models of 13" Retina MacBook Pro where Big Sur is causing permanent damage to the right I/O board wherein the Mac won't boot with it connected. That's what this thread is about.

Apple was blocking Big Sur from installing on said models of 13" MacBook Pro, though that was with 11.0.1. I'm not sure if 11.1 is also blocking those Macs.

As for AppleThunderboltNHI.kext, I am unfamiliar with what one needs to do with this KEXT and why. What is it that you do with that file and why? I own that same generation 15" MacBook Pro and have never needed to mess with any Thunderbolt KEXT; though, admittedly, my Thunderbolt usage is minimal.

See this thread regarding the Thunderbolt issue. Been around for ages. I run 2 screens off my Mac. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...xt.2267818/page-2?post=29284236#post-29284236

 

[Yebubbleman]

See this thread regarding the Thunderbolt issue. Been around for ages. I run 2 screens off my Mac. https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...xt.2267818/page-2?post=29284236#post-29284236

I have that same generation of Mac (albeit the version of it that lacks an NVIDIA GPU), though I've never updated it past El Capitan (it was too stable to give up, plus I later moved most of my day to day Mac usage to the MacBook Pro in my signature and will likely get the 2020 Intel 4-port 13" MacBook Pro which outperforms said 15" in every possible way). Never experienced this at all. Is it just that this KEXT crashes the OS? Is there any other information on it out there? Your reply here is the first I've ever heard of it, to be honest. I'd love to find out more.

 

[Bushsong]

I have that same generation of Mac (albeit the version of it that lacks an NVIDIA GPU), though I've never updated it past El Capitan (it was too stable to give up, plus I later moved most of my day to day Mac usage to the MacBook Pro in my signature and will likely get the 2020 Intel 4-port 13" MacBook Pro which outperforms said 15" in every possible way). Never experienced this at all. Is it just that this KEXT crashes the OS? Is there any other information on it out there? Your reply here is the first I've ever heard of it, to be honest. I'd love to find out more.

Here's another thread for you... https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/666567