EFI password

I think what he us doing there is tricking the system into thinking there has been a hardware change, and that resets the PRAM and the EFI PW. On non-Air systems with removable memory chips, you could to the same thing by removing a RAM chip and causing this reset.

This method was blocked starting with 2011 models when they moved the EFI password storage from PRAM to a separate chip.

I would like to know if this is a 2011+ machine he is using for the demo?

Otherwise, yes, a trip to the Apple Store with proof of ownership is the only way to reset the EFI PW.

Edit: I found this article showing the same thing as the video. Like I mentioned, I don't believe this will work on 2011+ machines as the EFI PW is not in PRAM.

You are thinking of an iCloud system lock that only requires a four digit PIN to reset. Not the same thing as an EFI PW.

 

To secure your machine you would only use the EFI PW and a login PW (along with Filevault). In normal usage you would never need to enter the four digit iCloud PIN, nor would you ever see or enter the EFI PW.

What that iCloud PIN is for is if your machine is stolen and you login to iCloud from another machine or iOS device and use the Find my Mac utility to lock the stolen machine it will ask you to select a four digit PIN. Now the next time the stolen machine gets on the Internet the machine will get locked down with that PIN. So if you recover the stolen machine you will need to enter that PIN to unlock it. There have been some articles about removing the hard drive from the stolen machine and putting it in another machine to capture that PIN.

The EFI PW Prompt will only come up if, for example, you are trying to boot from another drive. On my machine I have an EFI PW, Filevault2 on, and iCloud Find my Mac running. When I boot all I get is the one login PW.

Yes, EFI PW is the same as firmware PW.

 

I edited my post above to add the below link. I would ask him to post a demo video of a 2011+ machine dong this. I don't believe it can be done.

 

There is a company here claiming they can actually replace the chip with a new, blank one and reprogram it without a PW. Note they explain you need to put in a new hard drive and new OS install along with this for it to work. If you read the discussion, even this outfit says a reflash won't work with the 2011+ plus machines.

Like I said, until this guy posts video proof he can do this with a flash on a 2011+ machine with the Atmel chip, I'm not convinced.

 

That poster seems to be referring to the device used by this company I linked to in my post above. They are specifically saying they don't flash the EFI chip, but use this device to replace your chip with a blank one they have put default firmware on. Nothing at all like we are seeing in your video.

 

If you use their service I would really like to hear back from you what they do and how it is done. I am really curious now.

 

I did not want to derail the thread with this because I am genuinely curious about the issue. But yeah... unless the machine is stolen, I am having a hard time coming up with a reason you would need this "service."