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macOS Monterey 12.3 Update Bricking Macs That Have Had Logic Board Replacements

jamie.shaw said:
Not sure what happened but this update failed concurrently on two of my Macs, neither with LB replacements.

One, my personal MacBook — 16" 2021 M1 Max. The other, my work MBP, 13" 2018 Intel (4 port).

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Exact same thing with my MBP 15" mid 2015 that never had any repairs done. I experienced the same symptoms and it was dead in the water... had to wipe the disk and do a complete reinstall, my Timemachine backup from 12.2.1 did not even work as I got the message migration assistent would be needed.

So complete disk wipe and then boot up after which thankfully migration assistant could restore my time machine backup.

Definitely 12.3 is one buggy update.
 
Sending the device to Apple Store is useless!

They replaced the motherboard again, installed older macOS prior to 12.3 and send it back. The Mac still fails to update to macOS 12.3.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: TVreporter
apple_ec said:
No issues upgrading a late iMac 2014 with logic board replaced to 12.3 using OpenCore
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My MacBook7,1, using OpenCore, was bricked by 12.3. It always dropped into a KP on boot… But the SSD did boot up fine connected to my 2017 5K iMac. I tried reinstalling 12.3 twice, to no avail, and what eventually did the trick was disabling FileVault… I’ve since put it all back together and even reenabled FileVault and it’s working fine now (or as good as a 12-year-old computer can, of course).
 
BrownyQ said:
I don't, actually. However, I also have never had an issue with an update in the 15 years I've been using Apple products as my primary devices.

I do understand that reading forums like these is an extremely narrow world view, so every article claiming that an update is bricking or damaging machines is a fraction of a fraction of a percent of all machines out there.

The bugs I see are minor graphical glitches more than anything; annoying, but never game-breaking.
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I have had two issues with updates on my 2013 iMac. The buggy update that turned the Mac into a slow effectively unusable mess if you installed the Safari and System updates in the wrong order and the evident ROM patch (no way to reverse it) that prevents the Mac from recognizing an external system disk if other drives are hooked up.

So, yes Apple is doing poorer Q&A with their system updates the days. With the right to repair movement in the state it is Apple might as well have thrown gasoline on the fire that is pushing the legislation that is being looked at.
 
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MacRumors said:


The latest macOS Monterey update, released to the public this week, is bricking Macs that have had their logic boards replaced, causing panic among customers who are unable to get their Mac back to a working state, according to a cluster of user reports posted on social media and Apple's support forums.

macos-monterey.jpg

Apple this week released macOS Monterey 12.3, which among other things, brought Universal Control to users. Sadly, not all users are being able to experience Universal Control or the latest update at all.

As chronicled on an Apple Developer forum thread, users who attempt to update their Mac to macOS 12.3 from macOS 12.2.1 or earlier are met with errors, endless restart loops, and possibly a bricked Mac. The reports are limited to just Macs that have had their logic boards replaced, specifically new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros.
According to the reports, there are two possible outcomes users are facing. Either a Mac becomes bricked and unusable, or a Mac finishes the update process and reboots but doesn't update and displays an "iBoot Panic" message.

macos-12-3-iboot-panic-error.jpeg

Error message on a 14-inch MacBook Pro when attempting to update to macoS 12.3​

A thread on Reddit by users also reports similar issues. "When I attempt to upgrade to 12.3 on a 2021 M1 14 inch macbook, the entire download and then upgrade sequence completes (30 or 40 minutes in upgrade sequence) and when it reboots has not upgraded and is still on 12.2.1," one user said.

In the case the Mac does not boot up after the update sequences, users must put their Mac into DFU and revive it manually. This process, however, requires users to have a second compatible Mac to revive their bricked Mac. As many customers only have one Mac, or no compatible Mac to use Apple Configurator with, they're forced to head to the Apple Store for assistance.

Even a trip to the Apple Store, however, will result in staff likely replacing the already faulty logic board with another logic board, putting users in an endless loop until the bug is patched. Users are generally reporting mixed results when trying to put their Mac into DFU mode, but one user on Reddit has offered some advice:
There are also reports on the MacRumors Forum, with one user saying, "I cannot install macOS 12.3 in any way: direct upgrade, install via App Store, Recovery Mode, DFU Restore, all failed. All versions before macOS 12.3 works. I have to download IPSW for macOS 12.2 to use it." Apple does offer IPSW files for macOS updates, but as stated above, that process requires a second Mac to install onto the bricked Mac.

Apple has instructions for how to revive an Apple silicon Mac here and an Intel-based Mac instructions can be found here. Apple has so far not commented or acknowledged the specific issue bricking Macs attempting to update to macOS 12.3, but we've reached out to Apple for comment and will update accordingly.


Article Link: macOS Monterey 12.3 Update Bricking Macs That Have Had Logic Board Replacements
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I am having this same problem with my MBP 14". I've never replaced the logic board on this one, and all it does is reboot into 12.2.1. It did, however, brick my MacMini which has already had it's logic board replaced. What a piece of junk!
 
I bought a new M1 Mac mini BTO machine in December, and it needed a new logic board almost right away. So for sure I'm gonna hold off on this update until I get the word that there's no bugs in it. Hopefully Apple fixes this update quickly so we can move on.
 
I lucked out, seeing this.

I just got my 2018 Pro back from yet another keyboard service yesterday, and upon restore it was on Catalina or Mojave (with a time machine backup from Big Sur, with tons of things that were incompatible). If I hadn't seen this post, I would have followed the auto update to Monterey (which came out while it was out for service) and bricked my machine. Instead, I manually chose Big Sur from the App Store.

I wonder if Apple would replace my computer upon Monterey killing it. I'm sure it's just a matter of days before this keyboard goes back to what we expect from this awful design.
 
Anyone else notice that the new safari version that came with this update, runs like crap? I mean the Safari 15.4 if I am not mistaken?
 
Does this update brick ALL the MBPs M1 14" with the replaced motherboard or only some of them? Because I have MBP M1 2021 14" with the replaced motherboard and I do not want to undergo the same endeavor like with the upgrade to Monterey 12.1 which destroyed the seach functionality in MS Outlook and I had to wait approx. a month for the fix.
 
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pi=e=3 said:
What’s a handful of devices in a production run of millions?

Nothing is ever perfect. There’s always going to be a few bad units in any production run.
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you have Apple amnesia if you think that these type of issues haven't always popped up from time to time over the decades
 
I have a 2021 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max and have not been able to update to 12.3. Like others, I get an iBoot Panic error. I have tried multiple times. Each time it downloads and goes through the installation process and fails back to 12.2.1 (fortunately). To my knowledge I haven't had a motherboard replacement; it did go back to Apple due to corrupted firmware, but they said that they only refreshed the firmware.
It's interesting that when I checked for updates today I got the message that 12.2.1 is up to date!

Edit: 12.2.1 up to date May have been because of Apple’s server problems. Showing 12.3 now, but still fails to update.
 
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TVreporter said:
Why are brand new M1 Macs needing new logic boards? That’s the bigger story MR that needs to be explored.
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M1 Macs are just logic boards. There's basically nothing else on the board beyond the M1 chip apart from wires and voltage regulators.
 
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