Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Firmware update killed boot

T

tekkietekkie

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 26, 2010
74
0
I just upgraded to the new 2.7 i think it was firmware on my late 2011 mbp and now it wont boot anymore it keeps flashing the folder/question mark

I have tried rebooting with alt, v, and every other sequence and it never shows the disks to choose from

Of course this couldnt happen at a worse time i am in the process of moving from the us to france and living in a hotel so i dont have the cds / usb keys etc

I reset the pram etc also

The only thing it gives me is internet recovery

How the hell do i fix this? I have 2 hds in there and clearly its not a problem of the disk and the firmware update has screwed something up :(

Any ideas other than using a usb key? I dont have the cd drive in the machine
 
Mine wouldn't install first time around, but its a much newer model. Tried holding down the power button for 10 seconds, then release and try a boot.

Also, can you boot holding down the option key?
 
Yup the only option is internet recovery :(

I think i need to run a repair on the disks but of course i cant get to it :(

I am downloading the iso file and will see if i can get a usb cd drive to boot and try that

Always the worst timing :(
 
I could do the internet recovery but this dumb thing only shows 3 networks even though there are 10 here and the one i need isnt listed and when i put it in manually it wont work :(
 
Did you run the update with the power connected?

----------

If you can somehow boot off the Apple disk (I guess connect an external DVD drive since you removed your internal) and run dis repair, that might help. At least you'll get your data back that way.
 
yeah I took at the office and am trying it wired so hopefully the repair works

yes it was connected with the power, 100% battery also :(

let you know what happens
 
interesting now my SSD is no longer seen ! never had a single issue with it before and it just dies right after a firmware update? seems suspicious to me

its the agility 3

I am going to try and see if I can go back to the old firmware before i take the drive out to see if its dead or not
 
Macman45 said:
Firmware update shouldn't kill your SSD. You may end up needing your system disks.
Click to expand...

I doubt it killed it but I am wondering if for some reason it no longer detects it :(

in the notes for the 2.7 firmware it says "and resolves an issue with boot device selection when a USB storage device is hot-plugged." who knows

I am trying to downgrade to 2.6 but not having much luck thus far, I think I will have to reinstall the OS to do it :(
 
You might want to call Apple before you do anything. A few OS versions ago (and 3 MBPs ago) I grabbed an Apple OS Update and it trashed my HD so I couldn't boot.

I called Apple to complain since I use my MBP for work and while archived I didn't have the time to go through a restore.

Anyway, I explained what I did, what I tried to do to boot again, and Apple said they would call be back. I actually got a call from somebody in the OS Update Group who wanted to document the incident to find out why the update installed went bad.

Being a CS Professor I went through everything I did, everything I did in single user mode when the machine refused to boot, and sent them a copy of my logs. We tried a few simple things but it didn't fix the underlying issue.

They wanted to try more things to get me up and running but weighing what they wanted to try (and it might not work) vs just biting the bullet, reinstalling and then restoring (100% work) I opted for the 2nd.

I was impressed and I think given enough time they could have resolved the issue if time wasn't pressing on my end.

I would try to call and see what they have to say.

Good Luck!
-P
 
Pentad said:
You might want to call Apple before you do anything. A few OS versions ago (and 3 MBPs ago) I grabbed an Apple OS Update and it trashed my HD so I couldn't boot.

I called Apple to complain since I use my MBP for work and while archived I didn't have the time to go through a restore.

Anyway, I explained what I did, what I tried to do to boot again, and Apple said they would call be back. I actually got a call from somebody in the OS Update Group who wanted to document the incident to find out why the update installed went bad.

Being a CS Professor I went through everything I did, everything I did in single user mode when the machine refused to boot, and sent them a copy of my logs. We tried a few simple things but it didn't fix the underlying issue.

They wanted to try more things to get me up and running but weighing what they wanted to try (and it might not work) vs just biting the bullet, reinstalling and then restoring (100% work) I opted for the 2nd.

I was impressed and I think given enough time they could have resolved the issue if time wasn't pressing on my end.

I would try to call and see what they have to say.

Good Luck!
-P
Click to expand...

unfortunately I found the problem, the SSD is dead, I took it out and put it in a PC and its not even seen in the bios :(

what are the chance of that happening? I downloaded the firmware update, rebooted, it installed the firmware update & rebooted and never to boot again :(

normally I backup my machine with time machine multiple times per week but since I have been in the process of moving to France for nearly a month my last backup that is still in shipping is a month old :( normally it should have only been 1 week but there was a big screw up so I came to France / back to the US etc and then screwups with the address so my disk wont be back until next week

oh well I already ordered a new SSD from amazon france and it will be here monday, the bad thing is the price 441 USD with the conversion vs 320 in the US
 
Jeez that sucks...Just coincidence, but sucks all the same, I hope you have better luck with the newbie...Not the EFI at all then...I kind of thought so..At least you are on it now.


tekkietekkie said:
unfortunately I found the problem, the SSD is dead, I took it out and put it in a PC and its not even seen in the bios :(

what are the chance of that happening? I downloaded the firmware update, rebooted, it installed the firmware update & rebooted and never to boot again :(

normally I backup my machine with time machine multiple times per week but since I have been in the process of moving to France for nearly a month my last backup that is still in shipping is a month old :( normally it should have only been 1 week but there was a big screw up so I came to France / back to the US etc and then screwups with the address so my disk wont be back until next week

oh well I already ordered a new SSD from amazon france and it will be here monday, the bad thing is the price 441 USD with the conversion vs 320 in the US
Click to expand...
 
tekkietekkie said:
unfortunately I found the problem, the SSD is dead, I took it out and put it in a PC and its not even seen in the bios :(

what are the chance of that happening? I downloaded the firmware update, rebooted, it installed the firmware update & rebooted and never to boot again :(

normally I backup my machine with time machine multiple times per week but since I have been in the process of moving to France for nearly a month my last backup that is still in shipping is a month old :( normally it should have only been 1 week but there was a big screw up so I came to France / back to the US etc and then screwups with the address so my disk wont be back until next week

oh well I already ordered a new SSD from amazon france and it will be here monday, the bad thing is the price 441 USD with the conversion vs 320 in the US
Click to expand...

I'll be crossing my fingers that your new drive isn't DOA. Good luck, man.
 
Is the MBP booting now that you removed the SSD?

The reason I am asking is that the firmware update hosed some motherboards in MacBook Pros. The only fix is to return the MBP to Apple for a replacement motherboard.

I skipped the firmware update after reading about the motherboard problem on the Apple forum...
 
tekkietekkie said:
unfortunately I found the problem, the SSD is dead, I took it out and put it in a PC and its not even seen in the bios :(


oh well I already ordered a new SSD from amazon france and it will be here monday, the bad thing is the price 441 USD with the conversion vs 320 in the US
Click to expand...

Which SSD did you order as a replacement? I've been a little leery of OCZ and so I have purchased Intel SSDs for my own use. In any case, hopefully OCZ will take back your old drive, though you may need to ship it back to the US if they don't have a global warranty.
 
Mojo1 said:
Is the MBP booting now that you removed the SSD?

The reason I am asking is that the firmware update hosed some motherboards in MacBook Pros. The only fix is to return the MBP to Apple for a replacement motherboard.

I skipped the firmware update after reading about the motherboard problem on the Apple forum...
Click to expand...

yeah I had my original HD with me in an external case so I put that in there until my new drive is here

----------
KPOM said:
Which SSD did you order as a replacement? I've been a little leery of OCZ and so I have purchased Intel SSDs for my own use. In any case, hopefully OCZ will take back your old drive, though you may need to ship it back to the US if they don't have a global warranty.
Click to expand...

I ordered the crucial M4, I don't think I will have any problem with them returning it but yeah it could be a mess. I am going to contact them and see if I can return it to Belgium instead of the US it would be easier, if not not a big deal I can get it from the US easily enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back