SMC Update killed my computer!!

Add me to the list.

Please could you give some more detail?

Were the problems caused by the SMC update or by the Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT?

We may never know! I'm pleased to hear Apple have responded well to your problems - they are still trying to charge me £750 to replace my logic board even though my MBP is only 18 months old.

I'm still hopeful of reaching a compromise solution (ie: Apple doing the repair for free!) - I'll let you know 🙂

Yeah, if you could tell us what sort of issues you actually had that would help immensely. Was it completely dead, or were you able to actually hear it boot into OSX? Could you get it to do things?

When you took it in did it actually fail the NVIDIA test? The NVIDIA test is when they plug in a black external USB drive and hold down the boot from external device key ('D,' I think). The guy mentioned that the front light flashes a few times to indicate that the NVIDIA chip is bad.

Mine flashed a few times and then went steady again. They said that since it didn't actually fail the test that it wasn't that problem and I had to pay the £750 that greenspanner is trying to avoid paying. I still do not think that I was given fair treatment. The SMC update did something to the computer, that, inadvertently, caused or accentuated a preexisting issue in the hardware. Likely that issue was the NVIDIA issue since my computer falls perfectly in the range of computers manufactured in late 2007 and purchased in early 2008.

Seriously, any information would be helpful. Describe what happened with your system, and what it did and did not do? What did you try to remedy the problem yourself? Anything at all, no matter how small.

*I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!*

I just did my weekly software update downlaod and the MacBook Pro SMC Firmware Upgrade is STILL in there.

APPLE - ARE YOU READING THIS THREAD???

YOU ARE DELIBERATELY DAMAGING YOUR CUSTOMERS LIVES!!!

*DO SOMETHING*

Apple is watching, and i know it for sure.. they monitor these forums
almost in real time, and i AGREE they should
remove the SMC update.. i have not updated the frmware, because i learnt at my expenses that this kind of things can happen
and always wait for days before applying updates, and in particular if it is a
firmware update

Hi there,

Check out this program.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377

holy crap I'm cheesed. I just got my computer back from Apple because I had the exact same problems you guys were having. I remembered that the SMC update was installed just before my problems started happening and I thought at the time it might've been the update. Now I just get my computer back - it seems to be working fine (long story, they said they couldn't, but then my software said that there was a system config change when I booted it up today) and I go ahead and, without thining, install all theupdates.... not seeing the SMC update.

I'm corssing my fingers and really hoping that this isn't the problem. I'm going to go ape if it starts doing the same thing again...

I don't think you have to worry "bobs", I think whatever they did will have fixed the issue. I tend to think that Nvidia will get the short straw on this because my machine works perfectly. I can get the screen to work if I go into t-mode for short time then reboot, but once it sleeps it freezes again.
Never had a problem before this update but as soon as I can clear off my ongoing projects I will have it in the shop to get them to replace the card or whatever...

You can add my machine to the list.
I had just bought this machine. I reinstalled 10.5 and the next day 10.5.7 with the SMC update. On closing the lid, the machine video never came back.

After much messing around I got the machine to boot with the display on and ran a startup diagnostic test. It fails with 4VDC/1/40000003:VideoController.

Digicape (Local apple dudes) ran the Nvidia test and it passed so I am screwed.
They insist the video symptoms are not related and I must pay to replace the logic board.

the problem that bhive01 & I described was a completely dead MacBook Pro (aside from a light on the front casing by the latch)

The Mac would simply not boot so our problems may not be related

Yeah, I couldn't get mine to boot far enough to even take the NVIDIA test so they just flat out ruled that out and charged me for a new board. I'm fairly certain that they never even looked into the real reason behind the failure. Perhaps it's nearly impossible to really find out with so many connections onboard, but you'd think they'd be interested in knowing what might happen down the road to more machines like ours. I still haven't heard anything back from customer relations EU, and at this point I'm not expecting to. I don't know if I interact with them any more if things will get reversed or if I'm just wasting my time. I really don't see how this fault could have happened any other way than being related to the SMC update. It does control power after all.

my bad! I was super tired when I wrote that last message. What I meant to write was that the Apple guys said they couldn't fix my computer because they were saying the damage could've been done by me (used computer, there was a slight bend in the case above the express card slot...). So they said they didn't do anything...but they definitely did. It actually seems to be ok. Multiple shut downs, and sleeps and it's still chugging... hmmm. I'l report back here for sure

bhive01

My machine goes from not booting (only power light) with no video and no chime.
Other times the machine will boot with no video.
Sometime the video will also come on.

What you can try if your machine does not boot. Unplug the power supply and turn on the machine (power light on) leave it on a flat surface. It will heat up.
The battery will eventually drain. Don't move the machine and let it cool.
Push and hold the power button for a few seconds, then release, plug in power and hit the power button. The machine may boot.
The heating and cooling can have the reverse affect from what actually broke this machine in the first place. This is not a fix but will bring the machine to life, maybe.

This also does not mean the nvdia test will now fail the machine.
I think there maybe more issues here than just the ones Apple are looking for.

I understand from a local guy that recons he has a 50% chance of repairing this that the problem relates to the chip set overheating the board and the solder develops hairline cracks.
When the machine boots, it waits for the GPU to respond. Other times connections affecting video are affected. So it's perfectly understandable that depending which pins on the chip are affected, the symptoms can be different.

He says any machine(apple or otherwise) with a Geforce 8600 has this issue and he has repaired 100's.
If you think the Xbox issue was big, watch this space.

Hi, Ipalpac:
I'm not sure that Apple take care of those forums, as they never answer to them, and it's obvious that Genius, or Apple care support are not really aware of what is discussed here
problem seem to be that no updates are really submitted to beta testers, for that secret thing Apple try to keep.
So, as with Microsoft, first users are the beta testers 😟
since 2 years, I never follow the Apple update facility, because it have gave me more problems than good things.
And that's a pity...
I hope Apple will take that in mind, because we're more and more to think the same:
iUpdate=iProblems

😟