Thunderbolt Software Update 1.2 Causing Boot Failures for Some Users

[AidenShaw]

...but perhaps we should start using the same taglines YOU love to employ for Windows 7, Aiden:

"BSODs don't exist in Windows 7; they only happen if you [fill the blank with lame excuses]"

Do you really consider "bad RAM" to be a "lame excuse"? Really?

And the discussion was with someone complaining of frequent BSODs, not the rare BSOD.

In general, Windows 7 doesn't BSOD any more often than Apple OSX kernel panics.... They are rare events on both systems unless you have bad hardware or you've installed bad drivers/kexts.

 

[bcc9]

If I had this installer I would open it with Pacifist and look what was actually installed and then copy all the old files on backup back to the main install, problem fixed.

All the thunderbolt update does is replace /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/Plugins/AppleBCM5701Ethernet.kext with a new version that supports the PCI ID for the new adapter.
So that kext is all one would need to backup/restore to get around any crash.
I simply backed up that kext plugin on the local filesystem, and if I had problems with the update (I did not), I could have restored the old version from single user mode.
No need to reinstall OSX or the 10.7.4 update, or use targeted disk mode.

 

[aswitzer]

I had this happen to my Feb2011 13" MacBook Pro running the latest Lion OS.

After running several utilities on the partition I was still unable to get it to boot, without experiencing the Kernel Panic immediately after seeing the Apple logo screen.

I didn't want to reinstall Lion, because I didn't want to go through the process of having to reinstall all my apps etc.

Here's what I did to fix my problem. Fortunately this worked on the first try, and no ill affects have been seen since.

1 - from a different computer running the same OS as the one that is corrupt, go to Apple Support site, download latest Combined Update installer
3 - start corrupt Mac in Target Disk Mode
4 - attach corrupt Mac to secondary Mac with a firewire cable
5 - on secondary Mac run Combined Updater, be sure to change installation location when prompted to your externally attached corrupt Mac
6 - once installation is complete, eject hard drive of corrupt Mac.
7 - power down corrupt Mac and then attempt to power it up.

This method may or may not work depending on whether the file(s) which were corrupt/erased as part of the failed update are replaced as part of the OS Combined Update installation.

Good luck!!!!!!

HUGE thank you for posting this solution.

The update caused the failed update and kernel panic for me on reboot with my early 2011 iMac 27".

Followed the above steps and I'm back to a functional iMac again, thankfully without having to reinstall OSX Lion.