Apple Releases Firmware Updates for 'Late 2008' Portables

[DLC]

Just tried the smcFanControl trick.

Set the fans to full, rebooted into XP and ran Painkiller.

It went about 10 minutes before the BKSOD, which is a LOT longer than it has in the past.

Closer, but not quite there yet.

Also, MacOS seems to come up much, much slower into Finder now.

 

[Bryanj026]

Yeah, tried some stress testing on the machine in my sig after updating. Definitely more trigger happy with the fans now. iStat Menu shows them speeding up to around 3200rpm with the CPU at 75C (before it let it get to around 90C)

wow 90C thats pretty freakin hot.

 

[Bryanj026]

Just tried the smcFanControl trick.

Set the fans to full, rebooted into XP and ran Painkiller.

It went about 10 minutes before the BKSOD, which is a LOT longer than it has in the past.

Closer, but not quite there yet.

thanks for the test run.... I guess its not a fix then.

 

[Soat]

Download SMCfancontrol and use that while playing wow. I personally don't have any experience with this BlSOD thing but from what I understand its a heating issue. SMCfancontrol does what apple should have put in there computer to begin with but I guess they felt we can adjust the fan speed manually. anyway I hope this helps.

I've used smcfancontrol since it was a glimmer in Hendrik Holtmann's eye, and I've had to use 9400M during prolonged gaming sessions because I couldn't risk dropping in the middle of a critical fight.

I've been logged in Dalaran and flying around Icecrown for over an hour and no problems yet. I only ever seemed to BlSOD during boss fights when spell effects were everywhere (i.e. the card getting stressed), so who knows. 75c now, which is about where it was pre-EFI patch, but so far so good. I'll keep you guys updated.

 

[hob]

I wonder if this will fix the crazy displays I sometimes get when coming back from hibernation mode...

Last night my Apple logo appeared 1/3 of the way across the screen!

(oh, and so it doesn't often display the desktop but instead the apple boot logo screen thinger)

 

[TheSVD]

wtf!
so ive ordered my MBP, and its just gunna be messed up from gaming and im gunna have to control fans myself?
not too happy with that

 

[gonnabuyamac]

Do they even test these things before release anymore? It seems like Apple hardware goes out, and then the first few months are for working out bugs. I realize that you can't prepare for every situation that every user will encounter, but so many of the problems are across the board kinds of issues.

I would be stoked if Apple didn't release any new hardware for a year and just completely focused on their quality - kind of like what they're doing with Snow Leopard... no super flashy new features, just a solid reworking and polishing.

One can dream.

 

[Bryanj026]

I wonder if this will fix the crazy displays I sometimes get when coming back from hibernation mode...

Last night my Apple logo appeared 1/3 of the way across the screen!

(oh, and so it doesn't often display the desktop but instead the apple boot logo screen thinger)

you may want to run tech tools on your graphics processor. I think there would be a larger disturbance than just a desktop background issue if there were anything wrong..... I would check if it were mine though just for piece of mind

 

[Eidorian]

Hmmm call me a cynic but i have the weird feeling the firmwares are just gonna 'adjust' the GPUs (down-clock) or boost the fans so they 'perform better'

That's what I think as well. It'll be nice to see how the fans react now to 100° C.

 

[shoulin333]

I wonder if this will fix the crazy displays I sometimes get when coming back from hibernation mode...

Last night my Apple logo appeared 1/3 of the way across the screen!

(oh, and so it doesn't often display the desktop but instead the apple boot logo screen thinger)

Maybe this will fix my issue, sometimes from waking from sleep my external screen is just fuzz, like an old TV (i think it has something to do with HDCP not re connecting as the image looks scrambled) Anyone else experience this? not a big deal as a simple unplug and re plug fixes the issue... I just set that when i am plugged in the machine never hibernates / sleeps and i have no problem... cept when i forget to plugin, DOH!

 

[Bryanj026]

wtf!
so ive ordered my MBP, and its just gunna be messed up from gaming and im gunna have to control fans myself?
not too happy with that

yeah not a lot of new mac users realize that, including myself. I was dissappointed too especially for the money we pay for these things

 

[zorahk]

Hey guys I just did both updates but I noticed something.
Apple claims it updates the EFI to MBP51.0074.01B

My EFI after update reads MBP51.0074.B01

What the hell is going on here? Is something wrong? What does everyone else's read? (System profiler for those who don't know how to look)

 

[hob]

you may want to run tech tools on your graphics processor. I think there would be a larger disturbance than just a desktop background issue if there were anything wrong..... I would check if it were mine though just for piece of mind

I do sometimes get some weird scrambled stuff as well just before the system fully comes back...

 

[TheSVD]

yeah not a lot of new mac users realize that, including myself. I was dissappointed too especially for the money we pay for these things

yeah!
£1,180 (Higher Education Discount ) aint cheap!
ah well, got applecare.
For 50 quid too, cause of discount. Not bad eh

 

[Bryanj026]

Maybe this will fix my issue, sometimes from waking from sleep my external screen is just fuzz, like an old TV (i think it has something to do with HDCP not re connecting as the image looks scrambled) Anyone else experience this? not a big deal as a simple unplug and re plug fixes the issue... I just set that when i am plugged in the machine never hibernates / sleeps and i have no problem... cept when i forget to plugin, DOH!

I have my MBP hooked up to my 42" HD display and I get that static display too, but it usually goes away after a couple seconds. hopefully this firmware update addresses that

 

[hob]

Hey guys I just did both updates but I noticed something.
Apple claims it updates the EFI to MBP51.0074.01B

My EFI after update reads MBP51.0074.B01

What the hell is going on here? Is something wrong? What does everyone else's read? (System profiler for those who don't know how to look)

I'm on B01 as well. Probably just a typo somewhere along the line...

 

[Bill&Rose]

I am not sure if I need this update or not. When I run software update it says my computer is up to date.

This is what my system has, can someone tell me if this is the current versions?

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP41.00C1.B03
SMC Version: 1.27f1
Serial Number:
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

 

[Bryanj026]

I am not sure if I need this update or not. When I run software update it says my computer is up to date.

This is what my system has, can someone tell me if this is the current versions?

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro4,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 800 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP41.00C1.B03
SMC Version: 1.27f1
Serial Number:
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

this is only for the late 2008 (unibody) MBP's

 

[hob]

That's an older MBP.

Mine is MBP 5,1

Which is now running:

  Boot ROM Version:	MBP51.0074.B01
  SMC Version:	1.33f8

 

[Stridder44]

Wow, problems in the first place is one thing (and expected from any product), but now after reading all these posts about how the update didn't actually even fix it.

Apple is (has been?) really going downhill on quality lately. Pretty disappointing really.

 

[Bryanj026]

Wow, problems in the first place is one thing (and expected from any product), but now after reading all these posts about how the update didn't actually even fix it.

Apple is (has been?) really going downhill on quality lately.

true....

 

[Bryanj026]

maybe all these graphics problems are coming from the transition for everyone to adapt to opencl technology. hopefully when snow leopard is released we will all be Wow'd with the performance of our machines

 

[howie78]

Installed and working fine here

 

[daneoni]

maybe all these graphics problems are coming from the transition for everyone to adapt to opencl technology. hopefully when snow leopard is released we will all be Wow'd with the performance of our machines

If the GPUs cant even handle casual gaming now how would they cope with an OS that would repeatedly offload heavy duty tasks onto them

 

[richardsim7]

Sigh, this still hasn't fixed my external display issue
I still get flashing snow :\

-Rich-