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MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 Problems

Hi all!

I'm experimenting very similar problems (beach ball appears many times for 30 or more seconds when I use Safari, Firefox, etc. and the MacBook Pro freezes) but my MacBook Pro is from October 2008. How can I know what EFI firmware is installed on my model? Is the 1.7 compatible with my MacBook Pro? Can I install the 1.6 version or this is not for my MacBook Pro?

I don't know if I will receive any alert message if I try to install the Efi Firmware 1.6 to my MacBook Pro and it's not compatible with my model.
 
SuperTalent SSD works with EFI 1.6 & firmware 1819

My 256 GB SuperTalent SSD finally works with EFI 1.6 & SuperTalent firmware 1819. I had tried EFI 1.7 (my 15" mid 09 MBP came with it) and 1.6 and both of those with and without PU 1.0. My SSD had the 1571 firmware on it.

I finally was able to find a PC to install the SuperTalent issued 1819 firmware to the drive and now at last it works. Before it would only work for a while, until I did extensive writing to the drive and then the entire computer would hang.

This is just my experience with one model of SSD on my MBP 2.53 GHz, 15", mid 2009. The 1819 firmware was just released on Oct. 19th or 20th and is downloadable as an iso file to be burned to CD and used to boot a PC into DOS mode for installation on the SSD which should be connected to the PC via USB.

I tried but was not able to make it work within Boot Camp.
 
could someone please summarize which HDD could be installed in the MBP13" EFI 1.7 ?

i'm selling my MBP and I have to take out the Intel SSD

so i don't know which HDD i can put inside

many thanks
 
macchiato2009 said:
could someone please summarize which HDD could be installed in the MBP13" EFI 1.7 ?

i'm selling my MBP and I have to take out the Intel SSD

so i don't know which HDD i can put inside

many thanks
Click to expand...

Don't got the stock drive? Otherwise buy one on ebay, cheapest! :p
 
Davidkoh said:
Don't got the stock drive? Otherwise buy one on ebay, cheapest! :p
Click to expand...


i sold it when i got the ssd :(

mmmm not ebay, i don't trust sellers there...

can i put other brands ?

seems like seagate momentus is not recognized

can i put a samsung or hitachi ?
 
I'm sorry for the "intrusion", but does anybody know if this problems (beachballs, hard drive stalling, etc) afflicts also the late '09 Mac mini (which I suppose is based on the same MCP chipset)?
I own a early '09 mini and it has no problems, but it came out before mid 2009 "cursed" 13" and 15" MBPs... Now my fear is to experience beachball and stalling on other Macs with the same chipset and limits™ by Apple. Or maybe not, just because minis aren't laptops, so no need to save battery life?

I've delayed also my sure intention to buy a 13" MBP because of this...

(sorry if my english is not so good)
 
My 2 cents - EFI 1.6 downgrade worked for me

I've got a 2.53Ghz 250G MacBook Pro I picked up new in October. I just got around to purchasing a 500G WD Blue 5400rpm drive and installed it last night. With the new drive, I had tons of beachballs/freezes. The normal hardware tests/diagnostics all looked good and I was completely up to date on upgrades (had both EFI 1.7 and the performance upgrade). After some googling, I found the EFI 1.6 downgrade, installed that, and not only did it fix the problem but this whole machine feels significantly faster.

Since the new drive is still a 5400rpm drive, I'm guessing the drive swap alone cannot account for the whole performance improvement and rather the 1.6 EFI is what sped things up even more than before I started the hard drive upgrade. So I'm good for now, but I sure am puzzled why Apple is taking so long to address this. I hope it doesn't turn out to be a hardware issue.
 
I finally got my system somewhat stable with the Patriot Torqx 1819 firmware and 1.7. After a few days, I got a complete system lockup, so I went back to firmware 1.6 and it has been rock solid for nearly a week.

Just for kicks, I benchmarked my Patriot Torqx 128 with both 1.7 and 1.6. The 1.6 takes a HUGE hit, yet it's the most stable so I'm sticking with it:


Firmware 1.7

Results 264.82
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.2 (10C540)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro5,5
Drive Type Patriot Torqx 128GB SSD
Disk Test 264.82
Sequential 229.47
Uncached Write 246.25 151.19 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 299.78 169.61 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 131.44 38.47 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 412.03 207.08 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 313.07
Uncached Write 107.79 11.41 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 549.54 175.93 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 2078.24 14.73 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 834.51 154.85 MB/sec [256K blocks]

Firmware 1.6

Results 200.31
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.6.2 (10C540)
Physical RAM 4096 MB
Model MacBookPro5,5
Drive Type Patriot Torqx 128GB SSD
Disk Test 200.31
Sequential 161.94
Uncached Write 172.42 105.86 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 170.21 96.30 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 113.45 33.20 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 237.48 119.35 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 262.51
Uncached Write 101.52 10.75 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 312.02 99.89 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 2006.52 14.22 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 593.73 110.17 MB/sec [256K blocks]
 
Re-post from a few days ago in the Apple Support Forums:

I have potentially good news.

Today, I replaced the hard drive cable in my MacBook Pro with the EFI 1.7 issue, and now I can't get the machine to screw up again. I don't want to shoot my mouth off and say this is an absolute fix, but it looks good so far (at least with this small sample of 1).

Previously, I posted two videos showing the issue on my machine; one from way back in late July (http://vimeo.com/5854152), and another just after Performance Update 1.0 was released in mid October (http://vimeo.com/7078172). In both of those cases, I used AJA System Test to stress the hard drive while playing a video, causing frequent and reliable displays of the EFI 1.7 issue. Using the same test method, I ran through 15-20 passes of AJA System Test and have not gotten a single failure. I'm going to live with this for a while before calling it good, but this is the first time I've not felt compelled to roll back the firmware immediately after (re)installing the EFI 1.7 firmware.

Though I don't want to claim an absolute solution yet, I would highly suggest anyone experiencing this issue go in to your local Apple Store and see if you can get them to replace your hard drive cable. Barring that, you can do it yourself (if you're comfortable with such things) if you buy the part online (Apple Part #: 922-9034). The best instructions I could find online are for the 13" MacBook Pro (link below). It's a little different on the 15" MBP, but not so much that you'll have any trouble — though definitely have Apple do it for you if you can.

Instructions: http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Repair/...nch-Unibody-Hard-Drive-IR-Sensor-Cable/1340/1
Click to expand...
 
I'm having the same problem, very sluggish performance with my 500gb drive (stock was 250gb) but this is on a late 2008 Macbook Pro, which has firmware 1.6.

Any fix ?
 
another downgrade success

just wanted to post yet another success story of downgrading to 1.6 EFI firmware using the file and instructions early in this thread.

15" MacBook Pro (June 2009) replaced stock 250GB with WD Scorpio Blue 500GB. Had beach balls anytime I had moderate to heavy disk usage. Running a time machine backup would kill the system within the first 120MB backed up. EVERYTIME. Now with the 1.6 firmware I'm up to 2.5 GB backed up with out any problems.

Thanks to everyone who contributed and to the Apple genius who gave out that CD!
 
ok, my new 2.53GHz mbp that came with efi 1.7 appears to have been affected by this as well.

i really didn't want to rollback to efi 1.6 but i did so with the .dmg posted earlier in this thread.

prior to to the rollback, it took ~18 hours to create a backup with superduper. it took ~4 hours with efi 1.6.

i'm not really upset about the situation, but i will be a tad more cautious when the next efi update comes around.
 
So is it ok to downgrade from 1.8 to 1.6? I just installed a WD Scorpio Blue on my early 2009 MBP and I am experiencing slight lags around every 30 seconds. Not enough for the Beach Ball to come up but it will pause everything for a second. Did it twice as I was typing this.
 
ethandt said:
So is it ok to downgrade from 1.8 to 1.6? I just installed a WD Scorpio Blue on my early 2009 MBP and I am experiencing slight lags around every 30 seconds. Not enough for the Beach Ball to come up but it will pause everything for a second. Did it twice as I was typing this.
Click to expand...

Your MBP isn't experiencing the problem that's the subject of this thread, which only applies to the mid-2009 revisions of the 13" and 15" models.
 
thederby said:
ok, my new 2.53GHz mbp that came with efi 1.7 appears to have been affected by this as well.

i really didn't want to rollback to efi 1.6 but i did so with the .dmg posted earlier in this thread.

prior to to the rollback, it took ~18 hours to create a backup with superduper. it took ~4 hours with efi 1.6.

i'm not really upset about the situation, but i will be a tad more cautious when the next efi update comes around.
Click to expand...

When did you purchase your MBP? Can you let us know the approximate build date by using Coconut Battery? Did you replace the stock hard drive with a third party drive?

The reason I ask is that there's been a reduction in the number of posts about this issue, here and on the Apple forums. I've wondered whether Apple may have made some unannounced hardware changes in more recently manufactured machines to try to address this problem. If yours is fairly new and you're experiencing the same problem, then that would be at least one indication that nothing has changed.
 
so every time i upgrade my MBP i go and uncheck the 1.7 firmware. should i just delete it? is it never going to work with the after market HDs? Is the 1.8 out and im not getting it b/c i havent dl'd the 1.7?
 
I am so disappointed in this garbage. After my problems with the new iMac 27" I figured I would just keep using my macbook pro and put in a larger hard drive. It is completely unusable with a WD scorpio blue 640 in it. Beachballs and freezes every 10 seconds. It takes 10 minutes to basically navigate to a web page. Going back to the original hard drive works fine. You can't even install a new OS on the drive, and I have tried two of them.

Apple, your machines suck. So my choice is to basically be screwed by you, or "suffer" through Windows 7 (Windows is ok, but I would prefer to use OSX). How in the heck is Apple SO inept that just replacing the hard drive completely breaks the machine?

I have no idea what to do at this point. Apple's machines are proving themselves to be complete and utter trash.
 
There is a lengthy thread on the Apple forum that was locked and restarted about SATA communication problems with EFI 1.7 and the mid-2009 MBPs. Some of the recent posts have mentioned the SATA cable as a possible culprit for the beachballing with third party drives. One guy replaced his SATA cable and the beachballing (with accompanying CRC errors) stopped. Another guy took his original SATA cable and wrapped it with a layer of aluminum foil and electrical tape to give it better shielding. That seemed to fix his problem. Since Apple hasn't acknowledged any issue, there's no confirmed solution, but the SATA cable may be the cause.
 
1.6 fixed my issues too

Just to add my data.
I bought a macbook pro 15 (my first mac), and immediately upgraded to the 7200 rpm hitachi 500gb drive. I noticed the computer freezing etc (especially during heavy i/o) but thought maybe that was normal for os x.
What tipped me off was my bootcamp install went haywire, and reformatting/reinstalling win7 failed with a corrupt file error every time.

After switching the hd and STILL having issued i found out about the downgrade thing. Just did it, and immediately was able to install win7. So far no hiccups in os x either. I'm not happy about this limitation/hack, and am debating now whether to return my mbp (tommor is my last day).

Oh apple, how i hate you.
 
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