macOS versions post iPhone launch and tremendous success show clear lack of commitment to the Mac. It's evident that all available resources were redirected to the milking cow...
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
macOS Big Sur Update Bricking Some Older MacBook Pro Models
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Again, I don't care if your computer is 1 month old. If you use it for critical tasks, do not upgrade it to the latest/newest operating system day one. Businesses do not do this for a reason you know. I know many businesses that are now upgrading passed Windows 10 1803 since support is ended. Many businesses are still on Windows Server 2012/2016. I used Mojave for many months after Catalina came out due to the number of problems I was dealing with. If I am doing this for work, use one that is less trouble and still being supported.
I waited months before installing Mojave, I decided to install this one right away because Mojave didn't seem that stable. So far Big Sur is working fine except for an annoying lag before scrolling down my Safari bookmarks and the fact that the new OS is butt ugly. Looks like something Microbloat would design
My only issue is loud fan going off after installing. My mid 2014 MacBook Pro runs little hotter but not overheating.
I have a late 2013" retina MacBook Pro. There was some weirdness during the update (eg it got stuck on a particular screen with a progress bar about 40% complete) but after it was clear for some time that it was stuck I just restarted and it booted into Big Sur, since this it's worked fine no problems. Only other issue I had was updating Xcode took AGES and I ended up having to delete and reinstall it rather than update it.
Totally agree , these people don't understand what bricked really means
I don't like the way Apple forces the user to sign onto iCloud. I didn't want it, yet I allowed them to cajole me to do 2 factor authorization, which I didn't want either. Then I turn on my iPhone and I can't use it unless I add the code on my computer-what if I'm not home? I read up on how to turn it off and I did but why does Apple insist on using that plus iCloud?
I can't get the red mark on System Preferences to go away. Apple is trying to force me to go back to 2 factor authorization and I don't freaking want it!
Apple-you are becoming more arrogant and creepy than Microsoft ever was.
Yeah it's really annoying because it makes it hard to tell if this update has really been bricking Macs
I was checking the value of my mid 2012 MBP retina yesterday and it was still worth almost $300. I was surprised, it's old. But when I was doing some digging into why Big Sur could not run on it, it was due to old airport card (Broadcom) being incompatible. It encompasses 802.11 ac + Bluetooth. So because another here in the forums found his thunderbolt connected display interrupted the Big Sur boot (it booted disconnected, didn't at all connected) you have similar conditions on why some claim their computer is bricked (not booting/stalled). The example of disconnected the I/O connector along the same lines.
If you were using a Bluetooth mouse, disconnected it, same for a keyboard, use USB peripherals instead. Its likely looking for those peripherals during booting but because the driver or the I/O you need is not working its doesn't boot. Hope this works out for all that are impacted.
Last edited:
I think Big Sur had 10 betas. That's quite a bit of testing. There are always going to be bugs no matter when you decide to update.
Switch to Samsung then if you hate apple so much and don't like extra security
Windows 10 is not much better. 20H2 is seriously messing up my $2,000 custom built computer I made in May
This comment is not going to age well.
After a week goes by and news is reported that machines weren't really BRICKED (because people who say that don't know what the hell they are talking about) but rather the usual install issues then this thread will be long forgotten and laughed at.
There's a difference between failing to install and "bricking". If you "brick" something, that renders the hardware unusable… or, at least that's what it used to mean. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I use "boat anchor" anymore.
I use "boat anchor" anymore.
The best thing to do is go away while it does the upgrade. Less stress.
A constant niggle I have with Apple updates is that they often just show a black screen or a thin white line and a completion ETA.
In my opinion this is not good for the user. It's not possible to tell from this minimal information whether the computer has locked up completely, or whether it's still doing important stuff in the background.
Macs aren't toys like iPhones. The (generally knowledgable) user deserves better in terms of how the upgrade is progressing. A thin white line might be stylish, but it's not very informative. Even a [x] minutes remaining message isn't much help if the compute can ever be in a state where the screen is black and it's doing stuff in the background.
Ditch the minimalist style, and present useful upgrade information as it progresses. That includes what's shown directly after a reboot.
Last edited:
I recently upgraded my 2013 MacBook Air to Catalina by installing a new SSD from OWC. It's running like a champ.
I was contemplating repeating this process with another (larger) SSD from OWC, but to hear that machines are being bricked with no ways to recover gives me the willies. I won't be doing that now. Not worth the chance. A new MacBook Air (on Apple Silicon, baby!) is a much better upgrade path.
Sad to hear of the weirdness with Big Sur for many people.
I was contemplating repeating this process with another (larger) SSD from OWC, but to hear that machines are being bricked with no ways to recover gives me the willies. I won't be doing that now. Not worth the chance. A new MacBook Air (on Apple Silicon, baby!) is a much better upgrade path.
Sad to hear of the weirdness with Big Sur for many people.
I actually thought it was pretty well received but this is what I'm starting to realize!
I've been in the Big Sur forums here, and there's quite a lot of problems.
They don't have spares because they had to give them all away to customers as replacement units for faulty nvidia chips, screen delamination, and swollen batteries.
why?
Do you believe M1 Mac 2.7 teraflops, non eGPU support, limited RAM are gonna age better?
open to hear your recommendations
Could those new Mac be worse?
If it were another company "non apple", no one would have any doubt they are selling rubbish
if not because iOS, apple would be a big piece of *****
as someone wrote, they moved all the force into iOS, iPhone, iPad time ago.
MacOS nowadays is not that great (yet I still liking it)
and now.... ARM Macs, so they can finally keep focusing on iOS without needing any excuse, all is under same platform now
Last edited: