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MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 Problems
- Thread starter jlamarp
- Start date
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http://hotfile.com/dl/109001076/5dfaf39/aluminum.macbook.pro.recovery.dmg.html
it's out there, google search on the file name with the underscores replaced with spaces and you will find it.
For what it's worth:
I have a mid-2009 15" MBP 5,4; I recently swapped out the original smaller HDD for a larger HDD (500GB 7200 Samsung) and immediately started getting the "spinning marble o' death" timeout/pausing issues as mentioned in many posts earlier in this and other threads. I swapped out the HDD for the same 500GB 7200's from WD and Seagate, and even tried a fresh install of Leopard, and still the marbles persisted.
In an attempt to rid myself of this spinning dread, I got the idea of swapping in an SSD (OWC Mercury Extreme 115GB) and moving the 500GB HDD to the DVD space using an OWC Data Doubler adapter bracket (obviously removing the DVD drive--barely use it if at all). On top of that, I went so far as to upgrade to Snow Leopard.
Deadly rainbow beachballs now were no longer my problem. My new problem was that no matter what I tried, I could not get a fresh Snow Leopard install to take on the SSD. In fact, many times I could not even get Disk Utility to recognize that the SSD was even there, and this was after I had formatted the drive in Mac OS/Journaled format (with GUID partition). I ran DU from the Install Disk and there were times when the drive would show up (installs were always unsuccessful/failed; other times the SSD would not even show up as a viable location for OS install).
This was my setup during my original unsuccessful attempts:
-mounted the original Leopard HDD in an external firewire dock and booted the MBP from there
-the OWC SSD was inside the MBP in the HDD slot
-a new blank 500GB 5400 Hitachi HDD was mounted in the DVD drive space
-the OSX Install DVD was accessed with the original DVD drive, which was mounted in its own external USB case
Then I read a thread that suggested mounting the SSD in an external USB enclosure (not in the MBP to start--I used a Rosewill 2.5"/3.5" USB/eSata enclosure) and, using the original HDD to boot off of, trying to install the new OS to the SSD while in the external enclosure. Well, this actually worked. I got the OS installed to the SSD and was starting to get excited that the end could be near.
I put the SSD back into the MBP, started it up, and much to my dismay, the MBP would not give me the option of booting from the SSD. DU and DiskWarrior run from bootable disks did not show the SSD, despite it successfully having had a fresh (bootable) copy of Snow Leopard put on it. (Looking back now, I don't know why I should have expected it to work just because it had software installed on it; it was going into the same slot that didn't work before.)
So now I'm at my wits end, lost two days time, and even contemplated going with the firmware downgrade to 1.6 (but didn't b/c I just couldn't bring myself to trust the sourcing).
Then I got the idea to switch the SSD and the HDD (put the SSD in the DVD slot, and the HDD back where it would have been normally). I think this was mentioned earlier in the thread, and I had also noticed that during all of my efforts, the Hitachi 500GB HDD was always there and showing up viable in all of my troubleshooting (DU and DW). In fact, I think I mistakenly started installing the OS to this disk, thinking it was the SSD. I was excited b/c the install seemed to be going much faster, making lots of progress, then of course, I realized it was the wrong drive.
Short story long, I made the switch and POOF!, the MBP starts up in Snow Leopard AMAZINGLY fast, from the SSD of course, just as one would expect with an SSD. DU verify tests show both drives as working properly. I shut down and restarted multiple times, and each time the MBP booted up wicked fast.
So this is where I am. I don't think I'm totally out of the woods yet, but I think I'm getting close to getting out of this forest. The issue still is outstanding as to why the drive wouldn't work in the original HDD slot. I don't think it was a bad SSD, as I bought two of the same ones and tried both (2nd was for a different machine) and the failed results were the same nonetheless. Potential contenders:
- MBP firmware issue? (I also tried the Apple HT3901 updates but it wouldn't let me as it said I was already updated)
- OWC Mercury SSD firmware issue?
- bad Sata bus on my MBP?
- bad Sata cable?
- combo of any above?
I will update as things progress. I hope the spinning beachball issue is behind me now with this hardware/software upgrade/configuration. My original intent was and still is to use the SSD for OS and apps, with the Hitachi 500GB HDD for data.
Also, being new to the forum, if I've managed to completely overlook the real solution to this in all of my searching, I'm certainly humble enough to be told the truth and hopefully be sent in the right direction. Thanks in advance for your suggestions, thoughts, insights.
Apologies for the long, newbie missive. I just hope it helps someone save time chasing down solutions that may/may not work.
I have a mid-2009 15" MBP 5,4; I recently swapped out the original smaller HDD for a larger HDD (500GB 7200 Samsung) and immediately started getting the "spinning marble o' death" timeout/pausing issues as mentioned in many posts earlier in this and other threads. I swapped out the HDD for the same 500GB 7200's from WD and Seagate, and even tried a fresh install of Leopard, and still the marbles persisted.
In an attempt to rid myself of this spinning dread, I got the idea of swapping in an SSD (OWC Mercury Extreme 115GB) and moving the 500GB HDD to the DVD space using an OWC Data Doubler adapter bracket (obviously removing the DVD drive--barely use it if at all). On top of that, I went so far as to upgrade to Snow Leopard.
Deadly rainbow beachballs now were no longer my problem. My new problem was that no matter what I tried, I could not get a fresh Snow Leopard install to take on the SSD. In fact, many times I could not even get Disk Utility to recognize that the SSD was even there, and this was after I had formatted the drive in Mac OS/Journaled format (with GUID partition). I ran DU from the Install Disk and there were times when the drive would show up (installs were always unsuccessful/failed; other times the SSD would not even show up as a viable location for OS install).
This was my setup during my original unsuccessful attempts:
-mounted the original Leopard HDD in an external firewire dock and booted the MBP from there
-the OWC SSD was inside the MBP in the HDD slot
-a new blank 500GB 5400 Hitachi HDD was mounted in the DVD drive space
-the OSX Install DVD was accessed with the original DVD drive, which was mounted in its own external USB case
Then I read a thread that suggested mounting the SSD in an external USB enclosure (not in the MBP to start--I used a Rosewill 2.5"/3.5" USB/eSata enclosure) and, using the original HDD to boot off of, trying to install the new OS to the SSD while in the external enclosure. Well, this actually worked. I got the OS installed to the SSD and was starting to get excited that the end could be near.
I put the SSD back into the MBP, started it up, and much to my dismay, the MBP would not give me the option of booting from the SSD. DU and DiskWarrior run from bootable disks did not show the SSD, despite it successfully having had a fresh (bootable) copy of Snow Leopard put on it. (Looking back now, I don't know why I should have expected it to work just because it had software installed on it; it was going into the same slot that didn't work before.)
So now I'm at my wits end, lost two days time, and even contemplated going with the firmware downgrade to 1.6 (but didn't b/c I just couldn't bring myself to trust the sourcing).
Then I got the idea to switch the SSD and the HDD (put the SSD in the DVD slot, and the HDD back where it would have been normally). I think this was mentioned earlier in the thread, and I had also noticed that during all of my efforts, the Hitachi 500GB HDD was always there and showing up viable in all of my troubleshooting (DU and DW). In fact, I think I mistakenly started installing the OS to this disk, thinking it was the SSD. I was excited b/c the install seemed to be going much faster, making lots of progress, then of course, I realized it was the wrong drive.
Short story long, I made the switch and POOF!, the MBP starts up in Snow Leopard AMAZINGLY fast, from the SSD of course, just as one would expect with an SSD. DU verify tests show both drives as working properly. I shut down and restarted multiple times, and each time the MBP booted up wicked fast.
So this is where I am. I don't think I'm totally out of the woods yet, but I think I'm getting close to getting out of this forest. The issue still is outstanding as to why the drive wouldn't work in the original HDD slot. I don't think it was a bad SSD, as I bought two of the same ones and tried both (2nd was for a different machine) and the failed results were the same nonetheless. Potential contenders:
- MBP firmware issue? (I also tried the Apple HT3901 updates but it wouldn't let me as it said I was already updated)
- OWC Mercury SSD firmware issue?
- bad Sata bus on my MBP?
- bad Sata cable?
- combo of any above?
I will update as things progress. I hope the spinning beachball issue is behind me now with this hardware/software upgrade/configuration. My original intent was and still is to use the SSD for OS and apps, with the Hitachi 500GB HDD for data.
Also, being new to the forum, if I've managed to completely overlook the real solution to this in all of my searching, I'm certainly humble enough to be told the truth and hopefully be sent in the right direction. Thanks in advance for your suggestions, thoughts, insights.
Apologies for the long, newbie missive. I just hope it helps someone save time chasing down solutions that may/may not work.
Update:
I scheduled a visit to the Apple store to see if they would rollback the firmware from EFI1.7 to 1.6, but the Genius at the local Apple Store didn't know anything about the downgrade tool, and his research over the next week didn't turn up anything. Note: I was a bit dismayed when he told me he contacted level 2 support at Apple and they recommended a fresh install of SL to solve the problem (obviously not a solution for firmware issues). To his credit, he knew this was not an appropriate answer for the firmware solution I was seeking.
I still wasn't comfortable using the downgrade tool found online because 1) who knows what the source of this was, and 2) the original dmg link on all of the forums was inactive, so it made me a bit more suspicious of the remaining one listed above, and 3) some wrote they couldn't get it to work. So I looked for more solutions.
I was using a Hitachi HTS545050B9A300 5400rpm 500GB drive in the MBP and found the Hitachi Feature tool on the Hitachi website which promises to be able to toggle the drive's firmware to run at 1.5Gps vs 3.0Gps. Originally not sure of how to accomplish this, I loaded the drive into a Toshiba Satellite laptop (first via esata enclosure then by actually installing it into the laptop), but despite all my efforts, the Hitachi Feature tool program (via bootable CD image) would not load on the Toshiba laptop. It would always freeze at "Loading Hitachi Feature Tool...". I tried a million combos of toggling this and that on and off in the Toshiba BIOS, but nothing seemed to work. The cruel irony was that, while the bootable DOS Feature Tool CD would not fully boot up on the Toshiba laptop PC, when I tried the boot disk on my Macs, they WOULD ACTUALLY LOAD UP on the MBP, as well as my MacPro, but I was unfortunately unable to input any data (like accepting the license agreement) b/c the Hitachi program would not recognize any USB input devices (MP) or any keyboard or trackpad input on my MBP. I think this program only works with serial/PS2 input devices. (Note: Much to my disbelief in 2011, the current instructions for the Hitachi Feature Tool program recommend for it to be run off of a 1.44 MB floppy diskette.) (Also, imagine my excitement when I actually got to the program to boot, seeing the license acceptance screen, on the Mac no less, but then couldn't input any data. Major let down.)
So I ended up ordering a Seagate Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive from Newegg, the drive which, I found out through my research, I could force down to 1.5Gbs through an old school 2mm mini-jumper --http://www.seagate.com/images/support/en/us/cuda_sata_block.gif
I ordered the mini-jumpers from Frys online.
So once I got the drive and jumpers, I installed a jumper on the appropriate pins, popped it into my MBP, and System Profiler now shows the negotiated speed of the drive at 1.5Gps (the link speed will still show 3.0Gps--my guess is the link speed is the supposed bandwidth btwn the mobo and the drive, but the negotiated is how fast the mobo and the drive have agreed it will operate, vs. letting it auto-negotiate, which is probably the root of the 1.6 vs 1.7 EFI beachball problem to begin with). Voila. I'm hoping that this will solve my beachball issues. Will update later with results.
So far my takeaways for upgrading hard drives in a mid-2009 5.4 2.53Ghz MacBook Pro without messing with downgrading/rolling back the firmware to 1.6 EFI is to:
1) put the SSD where the DVD drive used to go, and
2) buy a Seagate 2.5 drive where you can jumper the drive to force it to run at 1.5Gbs (or a Hitachi drive that you can somehow successfully run the Feature Tool on to set the drive's firmware to run at 1.5 Gps).
Please let me know if any of this helps you. Many thanks and good luck.
I scheduled a visit to the Apple store to see if they would rollback the firmware from EFI1.7 to 1.6, but the Genius at the local Apple Store didn't know anything about the downgrade tool, and his research over the next week didn't turn up anything. Note: I was a bit dismayed when he told me he contacted level 2 support at Apple and they recommended a fresh install of SL to solve the problem (obviously not a solution for firmware issues). To his credit, he knew this was not an appropriate answer for the firmware solution I was seeking.
I still wasn't comfortable using the downgrade tool found online because 1) who knows what the source of this was, and 2) the original dmg link on all of the forums was inactive, so it made me a bit more suspicious of the remaining one listed above, and 3) some wrote they couldn't get it to work. So I looked for more solutions.
I was using a Hitachi HTS545050B9A300 5400rpm 500GB drive in the MBP and found the Hitachi Feature tool on the Hitachi website which promises to be able to toggle the drive's firmware to run at 1.5Gps vs 3.0Gps. Originally not sure of how to accomplish this, I loaded the drive into a Toshiba Satellite laptop (first via esata enclosure then by actually installing it into the laptop), but despite all my efforts, the Hitachi Feature tool program (via bootable CD image) would not load on the Toshiba laptop. It would always freeze at "Loading Hitachi Feature Tool...". I tried a million combos of toggling this and that on and off in the Toshiba BIOS, but nothing seemed to work. The cruel irony was that, while the bootable DOS Feature Tool CD would not fully boot up on the Toshiba laptop PC, when I tried the boot disk on my Macs, they WOULD ACTUALLY LOAD UP on the MBP, as well as my MacPro, but I was unfortunately unable to input any data (like accepting the license agreement) b/c the Hitachi program would not recognize any USB input devices (MP) or any keyboard or trackpad input on my MBP. I think this program only works with serial/PS2 input devices. (Note: Much to my disbelief in 2011, the current instructions for the Hitachi Feature Tool program recommend for it to be run off of a 1.44 MB floppy diskette.) (Also, imagine my excitement when I actually got to the program to boot, seeing the license acceptance screen, on the Mac no less, but then couldn't input any data. Major let down.)
So I ended up ordering a Seagate Momentus 5400.6 ST9500325AS 500GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive from Newegg, the drive which, I found out through my research, I could force down to 1.5Gbs through an old school 2mm mini-jumper --http://www.seagate.com/images/support/en/us/cuda_sata_block.gif
I ordered the mini-jumpers from Frys online.
So once I got the drive and jumpers, I installed a jumper on the appropriate pins, popped it into my MBP, and System Profiler now shows the negotiated speed of the drive at 1.5Gps (the link speed will still show 3.0Gps--my guess is the link speed is the supposed bandwidth btwn the mobo and the drive, but the negotiated is how fast the mobo and the drive have agreed it will operate, vs. letting it auto-negotiate, which is probably the root of the 1.6 vs 1.7 EFI beachball problem to begin with). Voila. I'm hoping that this will solve my beachball issues. Will update later with results.
So far my takeaways for upgrading hard drives in a mid-2009 5.4 2.53Ghz MacBook Pro without messing with downgrading/rolling back the firmware to 1.6 EFI is to:
1) put the SSD where the DVD drive used to go, and
2) buy a Seagate 2.5 drive where you can jumper the drive to force it to run at 1.5Gbs (or a Hitachi drive that you can somehow successfully run the Feature Tool on to set the drive's firmware to run at 1.5 Gps).
Please let me know if any of this helps you. Many thanks and good luck.
Last edited:
I'm about to do this same upgrade to my identical MBP 5,4, and I'm terrified of the problems I'm going to encounter. OWC told me that the Seagate drive I was ordering did not come with jumpers, so that's something else I'll have to deal with in the meantime.
I'm amazed at the problems this line continues to have with this firmware situation. I call this the crippled recession MacBook Pro, and it seems like it might be an apt description.
It's such a forgotten machine that they can't even list it right on this page (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237), and mine wasn't even eligible for the Snow Leopard drop-in update (maybe because it was a refurb).
I just found this thread tonight while prepping for my upgrade in a few days (already a failed attempt last year with a Scorpio Blue 500 GB), so I'll read back through it in the next few days.
I'm glad to see I'm not alone with this issue, and it would be great if Apple hadn't left so many folks up the creek with problems here. We shouldn't have to downgrade our firmware from an official update just to install a user-serviceable HDD.
I'm amazed at the problems this line continues to have with this firmware situation. I call this the crippled recession MacBook Pro, and it seems like it might be an apt description.
It's such a forgotten machine that they can't even list it right on this page (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1237), and mine wasn't even eligible for the Snow Leopard drop-in update (maybe because it was a refurb).
I just found this thread tonight while prepping for my upgrade in a few days (already a failed attempt last year with a Scorpio Blue 500 GB), so I'll read back through it in the next few days.
I'm glad to see I'm not alone with this issue, and it would be great if Apple hadn't left so many folks up the creek with problems here. We shouldn't have to downgrade our firmware from an official update just to install a user-serviceable HDD.
reubs - totally agree. I can't believe how much trouble this has caused for so many without an ounce of help from Apple.
I saw that Apple update omission as well (no 5,4 MBP EFI listed) during my research; it didn't give the warm and fuzzies.
In the meantime, so far no beach balls or delays with my jumpered Seagate. My MBP is still wicked fast with that OWC SSD as my OS/apps drive, despite the 1.5 Gps negotiated speed on Seagate (Users and data), which is installed in the normal HD bay of the MBP.
I'd recommend getting the Seagate and some jumpers and not downgrading the EFI.
I saw that Apple update omission as well (no 5,4 MBP EFI listed) during my research; it didn't give the warm and fuzzies.
In the meantime, so far no beach balls or delays with my jumpered Seagate. My MBP is still wicked fast with that OWC SSD as my OS/apps drive, despite the 1.5 Gps negotiated speed on Seagate (Users and data), which is installed in the normal HD bay of the MBP.
I'd recommend getting the Seagate and some jumpers and not downgrading the EFI.
That's what I did; it's due to get here tomorrow. However, I don't have any jumpers. I'm going to try the PRAM reset trick I saw about on the Apple boards, but I'm thinking jumpers are probably the best way to go. Now I've just got to find some since the folks at OWC said the Seagate drive doesn't come with them...
Been following this thread for a while, and read most of it, and I'm quite impressed at the level of knowledge of people in this thread. MAC users are indeed a cut above the rest.
As a UNIX systems engineer, I've been plagued with this same problem, but with a bit of a twist. First off, I have a mod-2009 MBP 55 and started getting I/O errors, beach balls, and finally handed up with a system that wouldn't even boot. Boot to CD and Disk Utility says errors (disk verify) are unrepairable.
Anyways, not knowing that I actually had apple care, I want to frys and got a Hitachi 500GB/5,400 rpm. Restored from Time Machine, and this is where the fun started. Started getting all of the symptoms mentioned in this thread, - beach balls, freezes, and a lot of the time handed up with a r/o filesystem.
Thought drive was bad, so exchanged it at Frys. Same thing. Them I went down the whole SMS rabbit hole on some thread(s) I found here, and the pmset -a sms 0 thing, and nothing worked. Kept the 500gm Hitachi drive and got the Seagate Momentous 500GB/5,400, and it's "better" (less r/o filesystems on disk I/O errors).
More experimentation, and I found something very interesting. It actually IS motion related. If I leave the mid-2009 mbp 55 on the coffee table and don't move it, I can run some serious I/O, and not a hitch! (and nothing in /var/log/system.log. BUT, if I pick the thing up to greet my chest/knees while laying on the couch, or going from 45-degrees on chest when laying on couch back down to the coffee table, there comes the Disk I/O errors (as seen in a bash terminal window running: tail -f /var/log/system.log).
Profiler still shows sms 0, but doesn't seem to affect anything, - my little 'seismac' utility still shows active XYZ motion on the graphs, so the sensors aren't completely turned off.
But again, you guys running down this EFI 1.7 to 1.6 thing really impress me, and the poster finding the Seagate jumper thing is even more impressive.
So, I'm going to try the jumper trick, but the main reason I chimed in is to see if anyone is experiencing this on the mbp 55 (OSx 10.5.8), and if on the 51, have any checked to see if it is motion related ?
I think my original disk just flat went bad. Now that I discovered that I actually have AppleCare, I'll take it in, but DAMN'd if I'll do that with data on the old disk. Way way too much sensitive data to chance them changing out my drive, and some kid who works for Apple putting it in an USB enclosure to get data off of it.
Turns out that I was able to remove/re-partition the old disk, and basically create a new filesystem on it, but I do still get occasional errors. I can't tell if thoses are motion related or not. I just think the original disk is bad, - and not related to all of this talk about SATA II, the 500-giggers, and Hitachi and Seagate. Just curious to see if any of you have noticed that the symptoms also seem to be motion related.
As a UNIX systems engineer, I've been plagued with this same problem, but with a bit of a twist. First off, I have a mod-2009 MBP 55 and started getting I/O errors, beach balls, and finally handed up with a system that wouldn't even boot. Boot to CD and Disk Utility says errors (disk verify) are unrepairable.
Anyways, not knowing that I actually had apple care, I want to frys and got a Hitachi 500GB/5,400 rpm. Restored from Time Machine, and this is where the fun started. Started getting all of the symptoms mentioned in this thread, - beach balls, freezes, and a lot of the time handed up with a r/o filesystem.
Thought drive was bad, so exchanged it at Frys. Same thing. Them I went down the whole SMS rabbit hole on some thread(s) I found here, and the pmset -a sms 0 thing, and nothing worked. Kept the 500gm Hitachi drive and got the Seagate Momentous 500GB/5,400, and it's "better" (less r/o filesystems on disk I/O errors).
More experimentation, and I found something very interesting. It actually IS motion related. If I leave the mid-2009 mbp 55 on the coffee table and don't move it, I can run some serious I/O, and not a hitch! (and nothing in /var/log/system.log. BUT, if I pick the thing up to greet my chest/knees while laying on the couch, or going from 45-degrees on chest when laying on couch back down to the coffee table, there comes the Disk I/O errors (as seen in a bash terminal window running: tail -f /var/log/system.log).
Profiler still shows sms 0, but doesn't seem to affect anything, - my little 'seismac' utility still shows active XYZ motion on the graphs, so the sensors aren't completely turned off.
But again, you guys running down this EFI 1.7 to 1.6 thing really impress me, and the poster finding the Seagate jumper thing is even more impressive.
So, I'm going to try the jumper trick, but the main reason I chimed in is to see if anyone is experiencing this on the mbp 55 (OSx 10.5.8), and if on the 51, have any checked to see if it is motion related ?
I think my original disk just flat went bad. Now that I discovered that I actually have AppleCare, I'll take it in, but DAMN'd if I'll do that with data on the old disk. Way way too much sensitive data to chance them changing out my drive, and some kid who works for Apple putting it in an USB enclosure to get data off of it.
Turns out that I was able to remove/re-partition the old disk, and basically create a new filesystem on it, but I do still get occasional errors. I can't tell if thoses are motion related or not. I just think the original disk is bad, - and not related to all of this talk about SATA II, the 500-giggers, and Hitachi and Seagate. Just curious to see if any of you have noticed that the symptoms also seem to be motion related.
UPDATE:
I did the jumper thing on the Seagate drive to limit transfer speeds to 1.5G, and it didn't affect anything on my mid-09 MBP (5,5), - I still get freezes, disk I/O errors, and read-only filesystems. So much for that. Maybe my problem is different, an/or hardware related.
I did the jumper thing on the Seagate drive to limit transfer speeds to 1.5G, and it didn't affect anything on my mid-09 MBP (5,5), - I still get freezes, disk I/O errors, and read-only filesystems. So much for that. Maybe my problem is different, an/or hardware related.
Lion & FW 1.6?
I happily downgraded my 2009 MBP firmware from 1.7 to 1.6 last year and have been happily using my WD 500GB Scorpio Blue drive ever since, not a single issue. Question is with the forthcoming Lion upgrade, is there any reason to suspect an in-place upgrade to Lion would disturb this happy state of affairs? Any reason to suppose Lion + 1.6 would be unhappy friends, or that Lion might mandate a return to 1.7? And if it did return to 1.7, would Lion be happier with it that SL was?
Not looking to start an argument or cause any undue fretting, just curious as to everyones thoughs (or experiences, if they a Lion tester)
I happily downgraded my 2009 MBP firmware from 1.7 to 1.6 last year and have been happily using my WD 500GB Scorpio Blue drive ever since, not a single issue. Question is with the forthcoming Lion upgrade, is there any reason to suspect an in-place upgrade to Lion would disturb this happy state of affairs? Any reason to suppose Lion + 1.6 would be unhappy friends, or that Lion might mandate a return to 1.7? And if it did return to 1.7, would Lion be happier with it that SL was?
Not looking to start an argument or cause any undue fretting, just curious as to everyones thoughs (or experiences, if they a Lion tester)
Sorry to hear this didn't work for you. I'm sure you already checked this, but just in case:
- did you confirm the jumper positioning? http://www.seagate.com/images/support/en/us/cuda_sata_block.gif
(- I used a tiny 2.5mm jumper that seemed to grab the pins pretty tightly)
- did the profiler confirm a 1.5Gbs negotiated speed?
I also thought that the SMS might have something to do with my issue (and it still may somehow be related, but I haven't followed up on it), but seeing now my MBP is humming along now that I've forced the HD negotiation down to 1.5Gps, I'm pretty sure the bulk of my issue has to do with a conflict in the auto-negotiation btwn the bus and the HD--the machine and/or HD probably choked or would get confused when trying to go 3.0 Gps, and hence, the beachballs (maybe the SMS is a contributing factor?). Apple's disclaimer in their EFI 1.7 update, which I'm sure you've seen (http://support.apple.com/downloads/MacBook_Pro_EFI_Firmware_Update_1_7_), leads me to believe this, as they try to offer a "fix", but ultimately don't want any responsibility for "unsupported" 3.0 Gps SATA drives in MacBook's (=they weren't very confident that the fix was solid and/or they weren't going to spend any extra time with this b/c they want to sell you the HD upgrades at the point of sale.)
Sidenote: As you've probably already figured out, your third party HDD's work just fine when connected to your MBP externally (USB or Firewire enclosure).
Keep us updated on your progress and good luck.
Not really. I went to install it, and I dropped the HDD that was in there...while it was still attached to the SATA cable that was attached to the logic board. So, my MBP just got back from Apple Care yesterday (and somehow they covered the whole thing under my AC warranty). I haven't had time to try again, and I'm a little gun-shy (sp?) about doing it again. I'll let folks know what happens when I get a chance to do it again.
All that said, I did find a jumper, so I'm covered on that front. I'll try resetting the PRAM first, and then I'll put the jumper on if necessary. I'm wondering, though, will I notice any kind of slowdown going from 3.0 Gbps to 1.5 Gbps?
I haven't really noticed much, if any. I think that running OSX and apps off of the SSD makes up for any lags that might occur when accessing data off of the 1.5Gps HD. I don't notice it.
I believe I got he jumper on the correct pins (far left two pins when looking directly at the edge connector).
Also, can you tell me just "where" you are seeing the "negotiated" speed field in profilier? I simply don't see it, - just the max speed that the ATA controller will do. Could this be an OS version thing ? (I'm at 10.5.8). (Profiler screen-shot below)
Also, and something I was never sure about in this entire thread is, is this issue limited to the 17-inch MBP (5,2?) Mine is a mid-09 (I think) 13-inch MBP55.
It's interesting that you too felt that is was SMS related (like mine very much seems to be). Thing is, and like I said, I can run I/O until the cows come home (complete to and from to external disk with TimeMachine, or UNIX copy's etc), and it never hickups. But when I pick it up I get freezes, beachballs, and I/O errors, some of which result in a read-only filesystem requiring a restart (which really really sucks). I hate it. I'm at witts end.
Any other suggestions? At this point, do you think that it's worth trying the EFI downgrade ? I'm just totally beside myself. I know I can just go out and drop more money and just get a MB air, and forever deal with transfering, and merging files, and my environment, but then I'd be limited to max disk space. But that still wouldn't address this situation.
Next realistic step would be to re-install a bare-bones OS on the old original 250MB disk, and take it in. My fear is that there wouldn't be enough stuff on the bare-bones OS to be able to re-create the problem (i.e., no Microsoft Office, no real iPhoto library, etc to create any real I/O). I dunno.
I'm all ears. But mostly interested in why I can't find the "negoiated speed" field in System Profiler. Thinking that it's an OS version thing, I did order 10.6 from the Apple store. Shipment confirmation notice E-mailed to me the other day. But I need to do something soon.
(Note: The hard drive "name" is still at 'Hitachi' from the two previous 500MB Hitachi drives I tried, - I just haven't changed that "name" yet)
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I've got mine all set up, but I couldn't put the jumpers on it b/c it wouldn't fit the HDD and the SATA cable in the MBP. I just reset the PRAM when I booted the first time, and I'm having pretty good luck (no beachballs!) so far. I haven't checked the System Profiler yet, but I'm okay to this point...
I think I'm running okay with the Seagate Momentus 5400.6. It seems faster than the stock drive, but I've also noticed that it doesn't "click" when I pick it up, and that makes me think that the Sudden Motion Sensor isn't working with this drive. I don't know if that's a setting I need to tweak or not, but it kind of bothers me a little bit. There may be nothing I can do about it, though...
See Profiler screen shot below.
This is System Profiler Version 10.6.0 (217).
I'm currently running OSX 10.6.8 on a mid-2009 15" 5,4 MBP.
(This 500GB Seagate HD is mounted in the original HD spot in the MBP; my OWC SSD is mounted where the DVD drive used to be.)
I'm not sure about other MBP's, like the 17", but I think the issue hit the 15's" the hardest, b/c they were the ones that were sold with EFI 1.6, which we upgraded to 1.7, then the trouble started once we decided to change out the HDD's.
I've read in this and other forums that the EFI downgrade has worked for some; while others couldn't get it to take. I didn't do the downgrade at the start b/c I wasn't comfortable with the source of the file. The original link to the downgrade tool was inactive; the other source I had found had been loosely translated from Russian. I'm no security expert, but I didn't feel great about installing something at the firmware level that I wasn't sure was clean. To be fair though, I'm sure those who have successfully done the downgrade would have reported any security issues since, and I haven't read any to date. Also, I was so frustrated with the issue, had I not been able to force the HD down to 1.5Gps, I probably would have done the EFI downgrade just to get some relief. (Note: I did consult the Genius bar at my local Apple store, and they were unaware of any EFI downgrade tools available to them.)
I have read that some folks had brought their machines into the Apple store, demonstrated the problem, and had their logic boards changed out (=different firmware) and the problem was taken care of. I think this was done by them closer to their purchase date, and hence, were under AppleCare; I wasn't, so that wasn't available to me.
Attachments
Brenster, did you use the file from the link a few posts earlier (Aluminum....dmg)? Any tips on making the downgrade successful? Glad to hear that your WD is working for you in this setup.
As for, Lion, time will tell. Your concern about more recent versions of OSX paired with the older 1.6 is one of the reasons I wanted to stay with 1.7 and try to work out the issue in other ways.
I'll probably be doing the Lion upgrade in a few weeks. Will let you know if I run into anything.
Yes, used the Aluminium...DMG file from earlier, written out to a USB pen drive via Disk Utility. No real hints to offer as to making the downgrade work aside from making sure my MBP was hooked up to the mains prior to starting, ensuring all apps closed etc (probably best to start from a freshly rebooted machine). I then performed a fresh install of SL from DVD to check that the downgrade worked successfully, then my data etc from Time Machine.
I've just done an in place upgrade of Lion on my 1.6 downgraded MBP, worked flawlessly. No prompting to apply the 1.7 firmware at any stage of the upgrade process, and Software Update continues to hide the 1.7 firmware update as set during SL.
I'm not sure if the 1.6 aluminium...dmg downgrade works on a Lion build so probably best to do in SL prior to upgrading.
Lion upgrade with Firmware 1.6 on a 13" MBP 5,5
I'm on a MBP 13" 5,5. I've got a WD Scorpion Blue 500 in my MBP. I'm using the 1.6 version of the firmware. Never updated it to 1.7 and have since told software update to ignore it. I also upgraded to Lion and have not encountered any problems or issues with the 1.6 firmware using Lion. The machine runs like it always has in the past. I hope that helps some of you.
I'm on a MBP 13" 5,5. I've got a WD Scorpion Blue 500 in my MBP. I'm using the 1.6 version of the firmware. Never updated it to 1.7 and have since told software update to ignore it. I also upgraded to Lion and have not encountered any problems or issues with the 1.6 firmware using Lion. The machine runs like it always has in the past. I hope that helps some of you.
Earlier today I updated 10.6.8 to build 10K549, which seems to be some kind of preparatory update for Lion?
Since I did this, I've been experiencing the same problems I had before I rolled back my EFI Firmware and set up HDAPM - lots of beach balls and freezing when dealing with hard drive reading...
Has anyone else experienced this or does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might be able to rectify this? (without restoring from a backup
)
Since I did this, I've been experiencing the same problems I had before I rolled back my EFI Firmware and set up HDAPM - lots of beach balls and freezing when dealing with hard drive reading...
Has anyone else experienced this or does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might be able to rectify this? (without restoring from a backup
)I am having issues with my mid-2009 13" MBP 5,5 and an OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G SSD. I am currently on EFI 1.7. Looking at the logic board, I believe I have a rev A board..
The system is completely unusable. Installing 10.6 takes 2hrs, 10.7 takes about 40-50mins. It's as if the drive is being bottlenecked by something.
The drive is definitely not faulty as I've tested it within a mid-2010 MBP 7,1 and it's blazingly fast.
I downloaded the EFI down grader, and restored it to a USB in GUID/HSF+ Journaled format. When booting from this, I see a quick flash of an apple logo and the progress bar, before it restarts.
Reading through this thread, it looks like only one other person had a similar issue.
Would burning it to a CD and booting from that perhaps make a difference? Am I doing something wrong with the bootable USB?
The system is completely unusable. Installing 10.6 takes 2hrs, 10.7 takes about 40-50mins. It's as if the drive is being bottlenecked by something.
The drive is definitely not faulty as I've tested it within a mid-2010 MBP 7,1 and it's blazingly fast.
I downloaded the EFI down grader, and restored it to a USB in GUID/HSF+ Journaled format. When booting from this, I see a quick flash of an apple logo and the progress bar, before it restarts.
Reading through this thread, it looks like only one other person had a similar issue.
Would burning it to a CD and booting from that perhaps make a difference? Am I doing something wrong with the bootable USB?