SMC Update killed my computer!!

I totally agree Mantecón. I feel exactly the same.

A couple of days ago I installed the SMC 1.3 update and it totally started to make my fans go wild. Now I can hear the fans almost all the time compared to before the update. The temperature has increased by 10-15 degrees Celsius. I can't imagine how this could happen and after doing a little bit of research I found out that more people with Macbook Pro 2.2 (Late 2007) had the same problem running 10.5.7.

Still, a couple of days later I can not imagine / realize / understand how Apple could let this happen. A well-respected company who have done everything correctly, up until now. I don't want to lose my hope about their products or the company itself but this issue has not boosted my previous belief about Apple of being a company that deliver quality.

After contacting the support I got no helpful response whatsoever. Did a PRAM reset and reset the SMC as well, nothing helped. The fans are still spinning faster than before. Wish I could go back to the previous software. What is more interesting, if not frustrating, is that Apple has not released any information or news regarding this. But then again, they probably want to keep things quiet in order not to ruin their reputation.

As of today, I am still being patient hoping for a solution from Apple.

Well the more I read on this forum the more doubts I have about Apple. Not only have they made errors in the past (the SMC update 1.1 update ruined laptops too back in 2006) but they were very good at covering thins up. I don't understand the willingness to pay for the reparement that I read on this forum. It is all up to Aplle now and I have sent several emails and are pretty worried now I guess that this post keeps on growing.

Not wishing to be an also ran, but I posted a thread a few days ago about my 2nd hard disk failure in 3 months. Cunningly, and I mentioned this to the Applecare guy yesterday, I also installed the Firmware update last week. He said it couldn't be because of that. This is SO dodgy. In addition, my missus has just come home from work and without prompting told me that their departmental MBP (less than 2yr old) starting behaving badly today - never had any problems before.

Would be a real shame if the sole purpose of these discussions is as a b1tch board - please, Apple, can you at least investigate and give us a no b/s response?

Bobber wrote:
Not wishing to be an also ran, but I posted a thread a few days ago about my 2nd hard disk failure in 3 months. Cunningly, and I mentioned this to the Applecare guy yesterday, I also installed the Firmware update last week. He said it couldn't be because of that. This is SO dodgy. In addition, my missus has just come home from work and without prompting told me that their departmental MBP (less than 2yr old) starting behaving badly today - never had any problems before.

Would be a real shame if the sole purpose of these discussions is as a b1tch board - please, Apple, can you at least investigate and give us a no b/s response?

Hey, im sorry to pop your cherry here... but i agree with the apple care spokes person. +Your problem is not related to the firmware update+. Read a couple more messages and you will notice _those of us that are complaining is because the machine was working perfectly until that update_ and right after that the machine broke down. Most of us had no problems what so ever before that point.

For the rest of us... Today someone new from the company called me, this time i felt the difference. I cant remember the exact words but the conversation went on something like this:

Woman - "Hi, im calling about your MBP. We dont know exactly what went wrong on. But your warranty will cover your expenses".

Just now i was shocked. I live in a 3rd world country... its dog eat dog here all day long every day. So being treated like if im from Sweeden made me feel good, and sure enough i said "Lady, you have my blessing... repair it" too bad im gonna have to wait atleast 2 weeks.

As i said earlier on... Take your mac to an apple store and if you have your apple care waranty it should cover it (specially if it was working 100% before the update, and soon after it it broke down)

Cherry intact, dude. My machine was also working fine until after I installed the update. SO I guess it's still on the table.

How about those people who do not have Apple Care and want their computers repaired? Are we screwed or will Apple actually do anything to fix it?

Yeah, that was my problem. Didn't get Applecare. If I had, they would have replaced the board like they did for Montecón and someone else above without caring what caused the problem. Those of us without Applecare, however, pretty much get screwed. And, because they're just replacing boards without actually looking into the problem we'll likely never know what actually happened.

It's all a sham. I feel used. I feel like never buying an Apple product again. Either that or buying another computer and making a Hackintosh instead. It'd be way cheaper and I wouldn't be out so much when the hardware goes awry.

If that's the case it will take some time until I even reconsider to buy a new Apple computer. Sure, it's just whining from my side. But at the end of day you would hope that a company like Apple who has a limited customer base would take care of them better in order to keep them as customers. I really wonder if anyone from Apple actually read through the forum and send these issues to their support because obviously nothing has happened since the update.

I rang Applecare 'UK' today, and was told that 'engineers are aware if the problem and are currently working on a solution'.

In the meantime, no available appointments at the Regent Street store (won't take on-line reservations at the moment), so off to Micro Anvika.............

So your hard disk stopped working because of the update?

Does this update just do random things then? I don't see how my issue and yours are necessarily connected. My laptop stopped working completely. I nor the genius/repair tech couldn't get it to boot into any mode at all. If anything, the hard disk was fine it just wasn't being asked for data because the hardware couldn't get that far. Although, the fact that they are related by the update doesn't surprise me at all to be honest. If you read this thread, either it's a series of 'unfortunate' events, or the SMC update messes with multiple things.

We'll let's hope they come up with a solution. 'A solution' is better than nothing and I guess it will show up in the near future. Good news to hear at least they are working on it. I really wonder how many unknown cases there are out there and have not been posted yet regarding this issue.

@bhive

A hard disk failure hasn't been confirmed yet (phone diagnosis through Applecare), and my machine was fine until after I did the software update (which included the SMC Update). It just wouldn't boot - sometimes I'd get nothing at all, sometimes it would hang at the start-up screen, sometimes I'd get a flashing file icon. Reset everything I could with the Applecare guy, tried to re-install Leopard but couldn't find the HDD.

Interesting. This morning when I shut down my computer it said on shutdown that the CPU halted and a black screen came up. This has never happened for the last 18 months that I had the computer. However, when I started it up again it worked without a problem. Anyone else have updates regarding what they are doing for this issue?

I've not heard anything back. The email the lady sent me stated that her main method of communication was by phone and that "unsolicited" emails may not be replied to. Personally I think that's a cop out and allows them plausible deniability. I also find it really hard to believe that someone at Apple hasn't noticed this thread by now. Kind of like how I find it hard to believe that my computer died because of "bad luck."