This discussion is locked
IanBurrell
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Firmware update and SATA II hard drive

Has anybody had any problems with new MacBook Pro after yesterday's firmware update with third party hard drive? I got a MacBook Pro 13" recently, swapped the 320 GB hard drive from my old MacBook. After reinstalling the OS for new hardware drivers, everything was working fine.

After the firmware update yesterday, the machine has started freezing randomly; the spinner comes up sometimes when reading or writing to the drive. The hard drive, a WD Scorpio Blue, supports SATA II. My suspicion is that there are intermittent data errors when using the SATA 3 Gbps interface. It could be an incompatibility between the controller and drive or the ribbon cable isn't good enough for newer SATA.

Does anybody know of a way to force the drive or the controller to use SATA 1.5 Gbps? Can I revert to the old firmware?

MacBook Pro 13", Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jun 23, 2009 10:08 AM

Close
IanBurrell

Q: Firmware update and SATA II hard drive

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 75 of 133 last Next

  • by MBP15,

    MBP15 MBP15 Sep 3, 2009 5:02 PM in response to IanBurrell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 5:02 PM in response to IanBurrell
    So I'm about to purchased a MBP through the online store. So afterwards I'll have to downgrade to 1.6 firmware to get rid of t he freezing issue until Apple has a fix or does anybody know, the current MBP's coming from the store are FREEZE-free? Anybody? I've been waiting for a month now for some fix to fix all the problems, but apparentl not. =x

  • by fishbert,

    fishbert fishbert Sep 3, 2009 5:41 PM in response to bobrudge
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 5:41 PM in response to bobrudge
    Peter Di Arcangelo wrote:
    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8414998&posted=1#post8414998


    Read, it might help you downgrade your firmware....

    grin


    bobrudge wrote:
    2.0 is a completely different firmware (it's fw for a harddrive not the computer itself so can only be installed on machines with the seagate 7200 drives) and it is wholly unrelated to this issue.

    Good to see macrumors covering this issue. About time.


    MacRumors has not covered this issue at all.
    That is just a thread in the MacRumors forums... one that was started back in late June (just like this one).

  • by fishbert,

    fishbert fishbert Sep 3, 2009 5:36 PM in response to KettyKrueger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 5:36 PM in response to KettyKrueger
    KettyKrueger wrote:
    Any chance of this working on the 17" model?

    Any more people tried this?


    The 17" MacBook Pro does not share the same firmware with the 13" and 15" MacBook Pros. It would be unwise to try.

  • by Peter Di Arcangelo,

    Peter Di Arcangelo Peter Di Arcangelo Sep 3, 2009 5:48 PM in response to fishbert
    Level 1 (90 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 5:48 PM in response to fishbert
    fishbert you have undergone the downgrade correct? has it successfully stopped the lockups?

  • by okeven,

    okeven okeven Sep 3, 2009 5:53 PM in response to IanBurrell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 5:53 PM in response to IanBurrell
    I just tried it out on my 15" Macbook Pro and it worked perfectly. Now, I just have to be careful to never let the 1.7 firmware update run! Thanks to whoever posted this file. You have saved the day. I spent two hours in an Apple Store today, and they were unable to find the downgrade software. THANKS THANKS THANKS!

  • by Technorganix,

    Technorganix Technorganix Sep 3, 2009 5:54 PM in response to IanBurrell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 5:54 PM in response to IanBurrell
    I applied the downgrade earlier today and can confirm that 1. it works like a charm and 2. Haven't experienced a single beachball yet.

  • by fishbert,

    fishbert fishbert Sep 3, 2009 5:56 PM in response to Peter Di Arcangelo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 5:56 PM in response to Peter Di Arcangelo
    Peter Di Arcangelo wrote:
    fishbert you have undergone the downgrade correct? has it successfully stopped the lockups?


    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2054387&start=779
    (from page 52)

  • by COLIN_ZOU,

    COLIN_ZOU COLIN_ZOU Sep 3, 2009 5:56 PM in response to COLIN_ZOU
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 5:56 PM in response to COLIN_ZOU
    Just got back my computer from apple store(I gave them at 30/08 2009 for repairing). The problem seems gone after apple replaced my old hard drive. Hope the problem gone for ever.

  • by Wizang,

    Wizang Wizang Sep 3, 2009 6:03 PM in response to COLIN_ZOU
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 6:03 PM in response to COLIN_ZOU
    Anyone who uses this downgrade method please do the following

    1) Post your results
    2) Post your Macbook type, model etc, for example I have a 13" Macbook Pro 5,5

    Thank you people! Once we have a list of models we know this works on we can call this business history!

  • by Peter Di Arcangelo,

    Peter Di Arcangelo Peter Di Arcangelo Sep 3, 2009 6:14 PM in response to fishbert
    Level 1 (90 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 6:14 PM in response to fishbert
    i understand you may be exhausted by the constant job of you policing this thread, but wouldn't it have been easier to say, i don't know perhaps "yes its fixed the issue and i haven't had a lock up since [insert date here]"?

    Now maybe i need to re-word and maybe make the question more detailed.

    Has ANYONE who has had the firmware DOWNGRADED experienced any beach balling/lock ups since/after they have had the downgrade done?

  • by Ella Price,

    Ella Price Ella Price Sep 3, 2009 6:24 PM in response to Peter Di Arcangelo
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 6:24 PM in response to Peter Di Arcangelo
    As I posted just a page or 3 back, yes, I had it done and still experienced beachballs. I switched to a different drive and all is well now.

  • by fishbert,

    fishbert fishbert Sep 3, 2009 7:28 PM in response to Peter Di Arcangelo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 7:28 PM in response to Peter Di Arcangelo
    Peter Di Arcangelo wrote:
    i understand you may be exhausted by the constant job of you policing this thread, but wouldn't it have been easier to say, i don't know perhaps "yes its fixed the issue and i haven't had a lock up since [insert date here]"?

    Now maybe i need to re-word and maybe make the question more detailed.

    Has ANYONE who has had the firmware DOWNGRADED experienced any beach balling/lock ups since/after they have had the downgrade done?


    I went through the trouble of digging up that older post because it provides you with more information, not because it saves me time/energy (it doesn't).

    You should also be aware that beachballing and lockups can happen for a variety of reasons. The firmware downgrade resolves the freezing due to the broken version 1.7 firmware (in a band-aid fashion), but there may be other problems on a given machine that remain.

  • by fishbert,

    fishbert fishbert Sep 3, 2009 7:30 PM in response to Wizang
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 7:30 PM in response to Wizang
    Wizang wrote:
    Anyone who uses this downgrade method please do the following

    1) Post your results
    2) Post your Macbook type, model etc, for example I have a 13" Macbook Pro 5,5

    Thank you people! Once we have a list of models we know this works on we can call this business history!


    We cannot call this business history, because what we are left with after the EFI firmware downgrade is a SATA interface that is only half the speed of the previous model MacBook Pros, and will very quickly become obsolete as SSDs continue to explode onto the market. I don't know about you, but that's not what I paid thousands of dollars for.

  • by Twiterski,

    Twiterski Twiterski Sep 3, 2009 7:38 PM in response to IanBurrell
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 7:38 PM in response to IanBurrell
    I have the stock Hitachi drive and have been experiencing this problem for AGES. I had high hope that Snow Leopard would have fixed it, but it hasn't. I want to get a 500GB drive and wanted to know which brand has been the least troublesome. Any suggestions? It would be much appreciated.

    Tweet to @Twiterski

  • by skelm,

    skelm skelm Sep 3, 2009 8:24 PM in response to Twiterski
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2009 8:24 PM in response to Twiterski
    I did the downgrade, it did downgrade my firmware, went to try install OS, Disk Utility could see the drive, partitioned it and begun install. About 30 mins in it locks up hard, Redo the process hard locks again. Try one more time booting off another HD got to 10 mins left then gave and OS install error on the screen. Makes me feel real uncomfortable with this ever working Corsair 256 SSD
first Previous Page 75 of 133 last Next