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Apple Releases iMac Hard Drive Firmware Update 1.0 for 2010 Models

PurrBall said:
If it says you don't need it, you don't need it. It checks your hard drive model against the affected models. 🙂
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Exactly.

This firmware update is for:
Samsung 1TB model HD103SJ
Samsung 500GB model HD502HJ

Seems to update firmware 1AJ10101 and 1AJ10102 to 1AJ10104 😕

It would be nice if Apple could point this out in the 'release notes'
 
ciTiger said:
What about those who changed the HDD :O
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Then you don't need to worry because the firmware is only for a specific batch of hard disks that Apple has used in their iMac. Many times there will be be batches of hard disks and a later one might have a firmware change that fixes a bug found in a prior batch thus Apple's update probably covers a specific batch of iMacs with a specific batch of hard disk's installed.
 
A lot of people have been waiting a long time for this. If the firmware update doesn't address the very noisy Seagate issue there is something almost mockingly cruel about this update and lends credence to the idea that it isn't just a noisy hard drive problem but a much more expensive logic board problem, too, possibly requiring both be changed at the time of repair; the number of incidences where people have had the hard drive replaced with one just as noisy, multiple times, causing them to give in, is disheartening. Anyone with said problem will very likely find that the hard drive itself passes all tests throw at it, including Seagates own (free) SeaTools diagnostic.

Having just made an unhelpfully negative statement, I will bolt on a question. For an end user to swap out the hard drive for a quiet one is inadvisable because a) the screen has fragile ribbon cables, etc, and if you reassemble your iMac and it doesn't work... and b) Apple flash the firmware of their hard drives so replacing a Seagate 1TB with an identical drive without said Apple firmware causes the hard drive fan to spin up to almost maximum speed. There are workarounds but none of them very elegant. So my question would be, though this is new firmware, has anyone bought themselves one of the said Samsungs (and the appropriate Samsung temperature cable) and tried to flash a vanilla Samsung drive with the Apple firmware? If you have or intend to, could you keep the community posted on whether or not it has turned your iMac from a loud popcorn maker into something semi quiet?
 
Detosx said:
A lot of people have been waiting a long time for this. If the firmware update doesn't address the very noisy Seagate issue there is something almost mockingly cruel about this update and lends credence to the idea that it isn't just a noisy hard drive problem but a much more expensive logic board problem, too, possibly requiring both be changed at the time of repair; the number of incidences where people have had the hard drive replaced with one just as noisy, multiple times, causing them to give in, is disheartening. Anyone with said problem will very likely find that the hard drive itself passes all tests throw at it, including Seagates own (free) SeaTools diagnostic.

Having just made an unhelpfully negative statement, I will bolt on a question. For an end user to swap out the hard drive for a quiet one is inadvisable because a) the screen has fragile ribbon cables, etc, and if you reassemble your iMac and it doesn't work... and b) Apple flash the firmware of their hard drives so replacing a Seagate 1tb with an identical drive without said Apple firmware causes the hard drive fan to spin up to almost maximum speed. There are workarounds but none of them very elegant. So my question would be, has anyone bought themselves one of the said Samsungs and the appropriate Samsung temperature cable and tried to flash a vanilla Samsung drive with the Apple firmware? If so, has that turned your iMac from a loud popcorn maker into something semi quiet?
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I agree fully. The noise is absurd and the hard drives are slow. Such a beast of a computer feels terribly slow sometimes as if the hard drives rise from the dead.

On the same note, I sent my iMac to Apple today so that can check it properly; there have been a number of issues with this machine.

The superdrive makes a lot of sound and is terribly slow
The screen has some visible dead pixels
The hard drive makes noise and is very slow
The fans are dodgy and make noise [but unusual]
Brightness + or - will result in weird sounds.

Most of these are due to logicboard + hard drive OR are simply hard drive issues. [except for the display]

I have also asked for a replacement for my machine.

On a separate note, do you think they are going to change the machine OR if I'm not happy afterwards, refund me the money?
 
Hi dethmaShine, I don't know the answer to your question, Apple people are usually good people but if for whatever reason you are not satisfied, calmly speak with the store manager. Having worked in retail management, though not for Apple, my experience is that if stressed customers are basically polite to staff and come across as educated about the issues (at least have the URLs of the many threads on Mac Rumors and Apple Discussions written down) and are firm but friendly you should reach a satisfactory outcome.

Also, your post highlights that I have generalized about the hard drive problem. It is widely commented on, here and in Apple Discussions, but in most of the posts I have read the hard drive has passed diagnostic tests and is not slow, just noisy. Being an unsettling low frequency bass sound you can hear it rumbling away even when you have earplugs in your ears.
 
Detosx said:
Hi dethmaShine, I don't know the answer to your question, Apple people are usually good people but if for whatever reason you are not satisfied, calmly speak with the store manager. Having worked in retail management, though not for Apple, my experience is that if stressed customers are basically polite to staff and come across as educated about the issues (at least have the URLs of the many threads on Mac Rumors and Apple Discussions written down) and are firm but friendly you should reach a satisfactory outcome.

Also, your post highlights that I have generalized about the hard drive problem. It is widely commented on, here and in Apple Discussions, but in most of the posts I have read the hard drive has passed diagnostic tests and is not slow, just noisy. Being an unsettling low frequency bass sound you can hear it rumbling away even when you have earplugs in your ears.
Click to expand...

But also remember that the employees have to follow company policy - they can't just go out and make a decision that goes against that policy. I have the same thing at my work and I explain to customers that we are merely following what head office has laid down - if they find that the said policy is unacceptable then they're actually better to call head office and say that they find the policy unacceptable than abusing staff who work at the store.
 
I am working on the assumption that most people's experiences at their local Apple store are going to be good, that we are talking about worst case scenarios and that I am not talking about Apple, here.

The onus should never be on the customer to phone head office where their statutory rights to a properly functioning product are at stake, obviously, though I appreciate there is the complication of what constitutes faulty versus the somewhat disingenuous question of design tolerances. At that point in the discussion it can be useful to politely but firmly ask to speak with the store manager who has a more highly attuned sense of the importance of customer service and store reputation.
 
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Does this update erase programs such as Adobe CS5?

does this update erase programs such as Adobe CS5???
photoshop, Illustrator, etc???????
 
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