Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I wonder how many of the bricked Macs were previously software-compromised in some manner.
 
My 2019 MBP bricked during the Monterey upgrade. Had a good chat with my local Apple Genius And he got me back up and running without much fuss.

You need another Mac to do this. They both need a thunderbolt port (probably a TB3 port or better). On the working machine go to the App Store and get the Apple Configurator 2 app. Once you connect the two machines via TB, it should connect and it’s probably in DFU mode. Configurator will allow you to kickstart the other machine. As usual YMMV.

Do Intel Macs have DFU mode? I have an M1 mini running Monterey and a 2019 16" MBP running Catalina that I want to upgrade to Monterey. Should I upgrade to Big Sur first with the full installer that I have?
 
This should never be allowed to happen, and saying “it’s typically a safe bet to wait until several updates have been released” doesn’t offer any comfort or assurance - Apple should be stress testing releases to the extreme before letting them out into the wild. I’d be really screwed if my MBP got bricked being self-employed and relying on it for my sole source of income.
Waiting until the .3 or .4 version of a new OS hac been SOP since computers came into general use back in the mid 90’s. Everyone knows that while the company does extensive testing, many many circumstances crop up that never came in the beta testing. This is simply how it works.

Additionally, if Apple or any Microsoft waited until 99.99 of all the problems were found in bet testing it would take 3 years before any new system could be brought to fruition.
 
Do Intel Macs have DFU mode? I have an M1 mini running Monterey and a 2019 16" MBP running Catalina that I want to upgrade to Monterey. Should I upgrade to Big Sur first with the full installer that I have?
Wait until .3 or .4 with an Intel Mac. This OS is primarily for the new M1’s. If you want an upgrade, spend some time in Big Sur, and of course do a full back up prior to any system change.
 
Maybe so. But it's the way it's always been since system 3, back in the 1980’s. Beta testing can never find all the problems.
Agreed. I remember some people complaining back in 2005 that Tiger bricked their systems. Of course, not as many or as bad as nowadays, but it's always been an issue in some circumstances.

I think what makes today different is social media and amplifying of issues online, that makes things seem worse than they really are. But, yes, bricking, or system failures in some fashion, has always happened, with any update.
 
It sounds like one important thing Apple’s not testing is what happens when you skip over an os version. I routinely skip every other MacOS version to try to hitvthe more stable ones, but it sounds like Apple isn’t thinking of this situation.
 
I can confirm that I bricked my 2019 Four Thunderbolt 13" MBP on Friday by starting the Monterrey upgrade. It sat all weekend. From this article on Monday morning, I was able to follow the procedure to use Configurator 2 on my Mini and run the "Revive" process. It fixed the laptop and booted to complete the OS upgrade with no apparent data loss at all.
 
So I assume late 2013 trashcan Mac Pros are okay to install then?

Monterey installed without issues on my 2013 Mac Pro (updated from Big Sur 11.6). I kicked off the install and walked away. After a couple of hours I came back to the login screen (ie I did not watch the install process).
 
One of the Big Sur betas ate my 2015 iMac in a similar fashion (IIR, it boots, starts to do it's thing, then the screen just goes black after about 15 seconds or so).

I wonder if there's anything I can do like revive or restore given that it's not a T2 Mac, via my M1 Mac.
Boot in recovery mode?

 


macOS Monterey, released last week as the latest version of macOS, is bricking older Mac computers, rendering them unusable and unable to even turn on, according to a number of reports from users across social media and online forums.

macos-monterey.jpg

If this sounds oddly familiar, it may be because last year, with the launch of macOS Big Sur, similar reports surfaced about that update bricking older MacBook Pro models. Less than a year later, similar issues are now seemingly taking place once again.

At least ten separate posts (1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) on Apple Support Communities contain users complaining that as they were attempting to update their Mac to macOS Monterey, the Mac went completely black and they're unable to turn it on. One post in specific includes several comments from users also reporting similar issues. Reports on Twitter are also plentiful.


A comment on a post on Reddit includes a user chronicling their experience, saying that the macOS Monterey update bricked their 2017 iMac, declaring that "it's just dead."
One possible solution floated on Apple Support Communities is that users may need to revive or restore their Mac's firmware. "In very rare circumstances, such as a power failure during a macOS update or upgrade, a Mac may become unresponsive and so the firmware must be revived or restored," Apple says in a support document.

All user reports suggest the issue is impacting older MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac models. More recent computers such as Apple silicon-based Macs are not seemingly having problems, at least according to the lack of user reports suggesting so.

While the issue with macOS Monterey bricking Mac computers is not as widespread as last year with macOS Big Sur, enough users are reporting that the update is causing problems to warrant some concern. It's possible that following this article, even more users will come forward and share their experience with macOS Monterey causing issues on their Macs.

Apple is currently testing macOS 12.1, but that isn't expected to be released for at least several more weeks. macOS Monterey is still in its first version, and it's typically a safe bet to wait until several updates are released before updating to the latest version from a previous generation. It's possible a smaller dot-update could be released to address bugs and security fixes.

Article Link: Some Older Macs Reportedly Bricked After Installing macOS Monterey
I am running macOS Monterey 12.0.1. Not sure about the difference between 12 and 12.0.1 (didn't check). The ONLY reason I am running Monterey at all is that it came preinstalled on my new MacBook Pro (M1 Pro). My desktop (2013 Mac Pro) is still running Catalina and won't be going to Monterey (skipping Big Sur) until sufficient support for it from the many third-party software companies I use on it and verification from others who have made the jump.

Apple really does a massive disservice to its credibility by repeatedly releasing new OS versions, and then having to quickly put out fixes for lots and lots of problems. What a pain. I mean, I always wait until at least a .0.2 version at least, but I shouldn't really need to do that.
 


macOS Monterey, released last week as the latest version of macOS, is bricking older Mac computers, rendering them unusable and unable to even turn on, according to a number of reports from users across social media and online forums.

macos-monterey.jpg

If this sounds oddly familiar, it may be because last year, with the launch of macOS Big Sur, similar reports surfaced about that update bricking older MacBook Pro models. Less than a year later, similar issues are now seemingly taking place once again.

At least ten separate posts (1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) on Apple Support Communities contain users complaining that as they were attempting to update their Mac to macOS Monterey, the Mac went completely black and they're unable to turn it on. One post in specific includes several comments from users also reporting similar issues. Reports on Twitter are also plentiful.


A comment on a post on Reddit includes a user chronicling their experience, saying that the macOS Monterey update bricked their 2017 iMac, declaring that "it's just dead."
One possible solution floated on Apple Support Communities is that users may need to revive or restore their Mac's firmware. "In very rare circumstances, such as a power failure during a macOS update or upgrade, a Mac may become unresponsive and so the firmware must be revived or restored," Apple says in a support document.

All user reports suggest the issue is impacting older MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac models. More recent computers such as Apple silicon-based Macs are not seemingly having problems, at least according to the lack of user reports suggesting so.

While the issue with macOS Monterey bricking Mac computers is not as widespread as last year with macOS Big Sur, enough users are reporting that the update is causing problems to warrant some concern. It's possible that following this article, even more users will come forward and share their experience with macOS Monterey causing issues on their Macs.

Apple is currently testing macOS 12.1, but that isn't expected to be released for at least several more weeks. macOS Monterey is still in its first version, and it's typically a safe bet to wait until several updates are released before updating to the latest version from a previous generation. It's possible a smaller dot-update could be released to address bugs and security fixes.

Article Link: Some Older Macs Reportedly Bricked After Installing macOS Monterey
 
Congrats on using the proper usage of the term "brick". People using it when a device still turns on have some pretty advanced bricks.
 
Generally I'd agree with this. But it wouldn't take much to "soft brick" one of these machines. By that I mean not actually stone-dead forever, but effectively unusable, which to most amounts to the same thing.

Lots of users are reporting that the update to Monterey seems to cause problems with their USB ports, preventing them from charging the battery. Eventually, that has only one outcome. This sort of thing often ends up at the Genius Bar, with specialist tools required to bring up power rails to allow a bug fix to be installed.

I'm not one to start sounding off about "a big issue" so soon, but there seems to be a lot of noise about this. And if it does prove to be a thing, then really it can only come down to poor testing on the part of Apple. Very concerning.
I called Apple Support this morning about this issue and they said they have no idea when the fix will be released. The Technician recommended I downgrade/download the Big Sur OS. I cannot find the Big Sur in the App Store and not on the Apple.com Support page. Does anyone know where I can find it? Thanks
 
This article was written for 10 people out of millions that have an issue. Seriously?

Pretty much this, Millions of macs have installed without an issue. This is just a few on twitter and we all know that everyone on twitter gives the entire story.

How do we know that the person updating their mac wasn't connected to power and it shut off midway through an update because the person failed to connect to power?
 
I called Apple Support this morning about this issue and they said they have no idea when the fix will be released. The Technician recommended I downgrade/download the Big Sur OS. I cannot find the Big Sur in the App Store and not on the Apple.com Support page. Does anyone know where I can find it? Thanks
See "Download macOS" section

 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.