Restoring a Bricked iMac Pro Requires a Second Mac and Configurator 2

[FloatingBones]

For sure. I have UPSs on all my important equipment, including routers and switches. But I think the fact that it can happen regardless with no recourse but a second Mac is the issue.

Owning a second Mac is hardly the only recourse. If anything can happen, you can get it bootstrapped at an Apple store or reseller. Or you can find a friend who has a Mac. Like you told us, anything can happen. I think it's more likely that you can find a friend with a Mac to bootstrap your computer than your UPS-equipped Mac will become bricked. At the very least, I hope so.

If the hypothetical is a show-stopper for you, you can ditch all your APPL equipment immediately.

 

[ZMacintosh]

This sounds disturbing to me.

I've always treated iOS devices as "appliances", they're basically not "full computers" because you can't run unsigned code on them and you need Apple's permission to install the operating system. (Every time you restore an iOS device it has to authorize with Apple's servers to get an installation key.)

Macs have never had this problem; they've always been "full computers" because you can run whatever you want on them.

Now the iMac Pro requires another Mac to reinstall the OS, which suggests that you need Apple's permission to reinstall the OS, just like on an iOS device. This is scary because it may mean Apple is planning on fully locking down the Mac as a platform.

I'm willing to accept iOS devices as "appliances" but only because I've had my Mac to fall back on as an open computing device. How much longer will that be the case?

To be fair, Apple has required Mac's to ping back to Apple since Lion when restoring through recovery methods. Its clear Apple is aligning macOS and iOS software and hardware functionality. Apple File System, for example.

Now if you boot a modern Mac, i.e.; 2015 Retina MBP, iMac, or any that is capable of installing High Sierra; into Recovery Mode, you will see 10.13.x High Sierra as an option, you can't go back to Sierra. The same way with iOS, when you restore your iOS device, it will go to the latest available version.

 

[Dave-Z]

Owning a second Mac is hardly the only recourse. If anything can happen, you can get it bootstrapped at an Apple store or reseller. Or you can find a friend who has a Mac. Like you told us, anything can happen. I think it's more likely that you can find a friend with a Mac to bootstrap your computer than your UPS-equipped Mac will become bricked. At the very least, I hope so.

If the hypothetical is a show-stopper for you, you can ditch all your APPL equipment immediately.

I really don't get the hostility. Why do I have to drop all my Apple equipment because I'm unhappy with Apple's direction for their desktop/laptop machines?

I know no one else who owns a Mac. Period. I don't.

The closest Apple Store is 45-minutes away; so 90-minutes round trip. If a Mac became bricked at an inopportune time that puts me in a difficult situation. Any other Mac I'd just boot from an external drive with a clone of my internal one (which I make routinely).

You can like this direction all you want. I personally do not. Nor do I see any reason to abandon Apple entirely for this. Assuming they go this route with all the macOS machines at some point, it just means I'll keep my existing one as long as it suits my needs, then move on to Linux or a BSD-variant.

 

[cmaier]

News flash: Some people live in rural areas. Hundreds of miles from the nearest Best Buy or independent repair shop.



You say that as if anyone who doesn't use a $5,000 computer with this stupid feature is automatically going to get their information stolen. I've never had my information stolen, and I certainly don't have an iMac Pro. It's called not being an idiot - using secure passwords, not falling for phishing scams, etc. Common sense does a lot more to prevent identity theft than an overpriced, locked down computer.

I had my machine hacked by someone who vnc’d in and guessed my complex password which was a variation of a password I used on yahoo 10 years ago and forgot about. **** happens no matter how careful you are.

 

[e1me5]

So people mock Windows for being a security mess, but complain when Apple improves the security dramatically, because it might require a little more effort to restore their computers in the rare instance something goes wrong.

 

[cmaier]

So, you cannot boot from a pendrive and run DiskWarrior, for instance? Not good.

You can if you enable it in system preferences. It’s a good idea to block it in most circumstances since one of the easiest way to hack into a system when you have physical proximity is to use the USB port.

 

[macTW]

News flash: Some people live in rural areas. Hundreds of miles from the nearest Best Buy or independent repair shop.



You say that as if anyone who doesn't use a $5,000 computer with this stupid feature is automatically going to get their information stolen. I've never had my information stolen, and I certainly don't have an iMac Pro. It's called not being an idiot - using secure passwords, not falling for phishing scams, etc. Common sense does a lot more to prevent identity theft than an overpriced, locked down computer.

Yes. We’ve seen over the last few years the quality of a safe password (Yahoo, Target, Equifax, etc.). Why didn’t anybody tell them just have a secure password?

Clearly you’re emotionally against everything Apple, from your comment history and word choice. Not sure if it’s worth the time to discuss this with you.

 

[i.mac]

Cool so your buying a possible $5,000 to $13,000 paper weight. Unless you speed more money on another Apple computer.

Or take it to the Apple store as usual, for free.

 

[soanis]

The moral to this story is always use a UPS. Then the power won't go out in the middle of a software update. Anyway, as long as you are close to an Apple Store you can just take it in to get it unbricked.

Or they can really innovate and make room for a small battery inside the Mac that handles power dropouts and similar phenomena.
I wonder why this hasn't been implemented by any desktop maker yet.

 

[tennisproha]

Honestly, this is ****ing unacceptable. Being able to bring it to an Apple Store for unlock is not a solution, it's a hassle. They're "fixing" something that wasn't broken. If your computer locks up at 1am and you have a deadline, you're ****ed.

This coupled with the RAM gimmick and MacBook fiasco last year is really starting to turn me away from Mac. I've had Macs my whole life and they're more and more losing their justication. They don't really have a competitive advantage anymore so there's no reason not to switch OS. Plus with the degradation of iOS as of late, there's really no reason to be locked into their ecosystem anymore.

 

[i.mac]

News Flash: If you're going to talk about "this planet", lose your U.S.-centric mindset. People living in developed parts of this planet don't have cars because they never need one. Except when Apple decides that a $5000+ computer must be carried to an Apple Store to switch it back on.

This mac is not for you. Save your money.
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Honestly, this is ****ing unacceptable. Being able to bring it to an Apple Store for unlock is not a solution, it's a hassle. They're "fixing" something that wasn't broken. If your computer locks up at 1am and you have a deadline, you're ****ed.

This coupled with the RAM gimmick and MacBook fiasco last year is really starting to turn me away from Mac. I've had Macs my whole life and they're more and more losing their justication. They don't really have a competitive advantage anymore so there's no reason not to switch OS. Plus with the degradation of iOS as of late, there's really no reason to be locked into their ecosystem anymore.

.

This mac is not for you. Save your money.

 

[cmaier]

Honestly, this is ****ing unacceptable. Being able to bring it to an Apple Store for unlock is not a solution, it's a hassle. They're "fixing" something that wasn't broken. If your computer locks up at 1am and you have a deadline, you're ****ed.

This coupled with the RAM gimmick and MacBook fiasco last year is really starting to turn me away from Mac. I've had Macs my whole life and they're more and more losing their justication. They don't really have a competitive advantage anymore so there's no reason not to switch OS. Plus with the degradation of iOS as of late, there's really no reason to be locked into their ecosystem anymore.

If you brick your current Mac by disconnecting power during a flash update, how do you recover?

 

[Marx55]

You can if you enable it in system preferences. It’s a good idea to block it in most circumstances since one of the easiest way to hack into a system when you have physical proximity is to use the USB port.

Thanks. Where in System Prefences? Is it available in High Sierra only or also on previous systems?

 

[FloatingBones]

I really don't get the hostility. Why do I have to drop all my Apple equipment because I'm unhappy with Apple's direction for their desktop/laptop machines?

Because a reason of anything can happen is insufficient.

I'll spell it out for your: quantify the odds that a USB-powered desktop will fail in such a way that you'll need to get your computer bootstrapped by another. What are the odds of that? They are damn small. Why the #!$$ would you be even worrying about that?

The protons could decay inside of the molecules of your computer -- resulting in catastrophic failure -- it can happen. What are you doing to protect against that?

I know no one else who owns a Mac. Period. I don't.

But you were the one who told us that anything can happen. You could develop a friendship with a Mac owner in the next 90 seconds.

The closest Apple Store is 45-minutes away; so 90-minutes round trip.

And the odds a UPS-equipped Mac requiring jump-start from another Mac are so damn small that it really doesn't matter. The odds are FAR HIGHER that you could trivially find someone nearby who could jump-start your mac.

If a Mac became bricked at an inopportune time that puts me in a difficult situation.

Any computer can fail at any point. By your "logic", it can happen. Make a backup plan!

Any other Mac I'd just boot from an external drive with a clone of my internal one (which I make routinely).

...and none of those other Macs have "a Thunderbolt or USB-A or USB-C to USB-C cable"? How do you manage that?

You can like this direction all you want.

What I don't like: you have failed to paint a scenario where you couldn't bootstrap from one of your other Mac computers.

I personally do not.

You have failed to explain why. That is the problem! What exact scenario where you "routinely" do clones to external drives wouldn't be able to bootstrap this new Mac? Paint us the exact scenario where you're SOL. What computers are you currently using that all lack Thunderbolt?

Nor do I see any reason to abandon Apple entirely for this.

Bingo! Ding! Ding! Ding! You've failed to even explain why you would need anything but another Mac -- which you clearly have around -- to bootstrap this hypothetically-bricked iMac Pro. If you religiously use UPSs for your desktop machines, odds that you'll have a failure during a software update are microscopically small. If you do have a failure, you've got plenty of Macs around to bootstrap from. This is a no-brainer.

That's the stupidity: why are you complaining about a non-problem?

Assuming they go this route with all the macOS machines at some point, it just means I'll keep my existing one as long as it suits my needs, then move on to Linux or a BSD-variant.

...and you'll just find some different non-problem to complain about on those platforms. Since anything could happen, that certainly could.

 

[cmaier]

Thanks. Where in System Prefences? Is it available in High Sierra only or also on previous systems?

It’s only available on the iMac pro, which is the only system so far with secure boot. There have been screenshots posted on the web.

 

[Dave-Z]

@FloatingBones,

You're clearly very invested in my well-being. Thank you.

 

[Marx55]

It’s only available on the iMac pro, which is the only system so far with secure boot. There have been screenshots posted on the web.

Thanks. I think that I have found it:

iMac Pro debuts custom Apple T2 chip to handle secure boot, password encryption, more
http://appleinsider.com/articles/17...o-handle-secure-boot-password-encryption-more

which has the secure boot screen:

 

[DualShock]

What about Time Machine? You can't restore the machine to working condition with it anymore?

 

[Unami]

actually, to me that t2 chip sounds like a killer-feature for selling a high-value computer to security-minded markets, like governments, the finance industry, military,... the black color certainly makes more sense now :-]

 

[Guidonculous]

In all my years with Macs I’ve never bricked one. If I did brick any of my existing macs, i have no idea how I would “restore.” Seems like this is no big deal.

Well, ordinarily if you have an internet connection you could resolve the situation yourself with by booting to recovery, a simple process Apple supper can walk you through.

It’ll be interesting if this continues down the entire product line, but as far as potential iMac Pro customers, I have a hard time imagining their being any significant portion of that community which wouldn’t own a second functioning Mac, or use it in an office environment where it’s just one of a ton of macs.

Either way, it’s a bit misleading as outside of having the power go out mid-update, or pulling the power during an update, it would be extremely unlikely your machine would ever end up locked. This probably would effect a couple thousand people a year max, so for people using this as an example of a situation where increased security creates extra inconvenience, they’re not totally wrong, but it’s quite a stretch.

 

[cmaier]

Well, ordinarily if you have an internet connection you could resolve the situation yourself with by booting to recovery, a simple process Apple supper can walk you through.

It’ll be interesting if this continues down the entire product line, but as far as potential iMac Pro customers, I have a hard time imagining their being any significant portion of that community which wouldn’t own a second functioning Mac, or use it in an office environment where it’s just one of a ton of macs.

Either way, it’s a bit misleading as outside of having the power go out mid-update, or pulling the power during an update, it would be extremely unlikely your machine would ever end up locked. This probably would effect a couple thousand people a year max, so for people using this as an example of a situation where increased security creates extra inconvenience, they’re not totally wrong, but it’s quite a stretch.

Is it true you can boot into recovery when you brick during a flash update? I understand you can if you mess up an OS update, but a flash update is different.
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What about Time Machine? You can't restore the machine to working condition with it anymore?

You never could if the machine is bricked due to a firmware failure. That's what we're talking about here, not an OS problem.

In other words, if you are updating your EFI or SMC firmware (such updates are rare, but I've had to do a few over the years), and you lose power during the update, your firmware is hosed. That's what the story is talking about.

That's different than if you screw up the files on the disk, in which case you can boot into internet recovery and time machine restore.

 

[Lone Deranger]

What is this??! The Mac spirit is dying inside Apple.

 

[VictorTango777]

Some PC motherboard manufacturers have a "dual BIOS" feature which is supposed to reduce the chances of a failed BIOS update rendering the system completely unusable.

https://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/55/tech_081226_dualbios.htm

 

[cmaier]

What the F is this??! The Mac spirit is dying inside Apple.

Huh? I think you misunderstand the story. If you brick your machine by messing up the EFI or SMC flash you need a second Mac to fix.

If you brick your current mac doing the same thing, repair isn’t any easier.
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Some PC motherboard manufacturers have a "dual BIOS" feature which is supposed to reduce the chances of a failed BIOS update rendering the system completely unusable.

https://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/55/tech_081226_dualbios.htm

Of course, the down side is then you have BIOS, which is terrible (unreliable, inefficient, insecure). Having two is only a slight improvement.

 

[VictorTango777]

Of course, the down side is then you have BIOS, which is terrible (unreliable, inefficient, insecure). Having two is only a slight improvement.

Do you honestly think that post was intended to suggest that Apple put a PC BIOS in the iMac Pro???

HINT: If a cheapo PC motherboard manufacturer could implement a backup BIOS, shouldn't Apple be able to do something similar with the Mac firmware?