Q: Firmware update and SATA II hard drive

Thank you for the How to. But i cant find this download file on this link, searched too on google. but didnt found the right file.
After the rollback, i give here a little feedback so all the others know, how to make a workaround... hope apple does fixing this problem, this is a pain in the **

Message was edited by: Doriangaensslen

munkford - i have the exact experience as you. have you tried reinstalling 1.7 after rolling back to see if it was somehow incorrectly installed? i've been thinking of doing this. i also confirm that i have the same version after rollback that you do.

fishbert - i was not suggesting splitting the discussion nor did i say people should post there but i thought the other thread was more concise and solved many of our problems with the rollback. you should check it out yourself. there are clearer how-to's and less clutter from what i perceive as misdiagnosed symptoms.

Hello,
I'm having the same problem on my MBP 15 2.8 Middle 2009. I try to downgrade to EFI 1.6 and everything was fine. I try to upgrade to 1.7 but after 30 mins watching a video on quicktime the system has a stop.
Now I'm calling the support and they say to do the following things and see if the problem persists:
1)try with safe boot if the problem persist
2)if persist create a new user and try with this new user
3)try in safe boot the user if have the same problem

after doing all this things the problem persist. Now I've to call again and following the technician guide in order to know if are a software or an hardware problem.
I'll let everybody know

Jkam wrote:
Hello,
I'm having the same problem on my MBP 15 2.8 Middle 2009. I try to downgrade to EFI 1.6 and everything was fine. I try to upgrade to 1.7 but after 30 mins watching a video on quicktime the system has a stop.
Now I'm calling the support and they say to do the following things and see if the problem persists:
1)try with safe boot if the problem persist
2)if persist create a new user and try with this new user
3)try in safe boot the user if have the same problem

after doing all this things the problem persist. Now I've to call again and following the technician guide in order to know if are a software or an hardware problem.
I'll let everybody know

Be a (polite, but firm) pain in their butt. The more support calls Apple has to take because of this problem, the more likely we are to see a real fix.

Also, leave feedback at http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

In the end, if you have a 3rd party hard drive, you will have to get your EFI firmware downgraded to version 1.6. The best way to do that is to make an appointment with a nearby Apple Store. If you are not near an Apple Store, then be an even bigger pain in their butt, and leave more feedback to let Apple know how you feel about their broken product.

+there is a way to downgrade the firmware yourself, and information can be found somewhere in these last 2-3 pages… but I don't really recommend it to anyone, because you will be in a world of hurt if something goes wrong with it, and I don't know what your (or anyone else's) level of experience is.+

CaLciD wrote:

mickbremner wrote:
I'm running the G2 version of that hard drive as of a day ago and it isn't doing so well... It was sold to me by a premium apple reseller as well and I'm not real impressed.

No beach balls yet but I'm getting the clicking noises and heat.

Well...it seems to me that your problem is unrelated to the one in this post....if you do not have beachballing

I assume you mean the Intel G2...which is a SSD with no moving parts....the clicking noise is probably from your SuperDrive...
and the heat....which area do you feel it from? If you are using your laptop in a 'normal' position, the SSD will be under your right palm...while you may still feel some heat....it should be minimum and much less than the HDD counter part.

Anyway....the best way to check...run xBench and see the disk transfer rate...

Message was edited by: CaLciD

I assume you mean the Intel G2...which is a SSD with no moving parts....the clicking noise is probably from your SuperDrive...

Nope, not so much an SSD drive as the old fashioned sort. I was replying to a message about the G1 version of the FUJITSU MJA2500BH 500 GB, 5400 RPM, drive which runs on a SATA I interface. I was just pointing out that I'm having issues with the G2 version of this drive which runs with a SATA 2 interface.

You are right in that it might be a different issue, but this drive is certainly running hot and I'm getting frequent clicks and beeps (which sound like the hard drive is parking frequently) but not so much in the way of hanging though this is a freshly installed drive so there really hasn't been enough time for any errors to accumulate (which I guess is what is causing the hanging).

I've run the SMART utility on it and it's looking good so far. In any case I certainly hope it is a different issue.

Also, leave feedback at http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

Already done

In the end, if you have a 3rd party hard drive, you will have to get your EFI firmware downgraded to version 1.6. The best way to do that is to make an appointment with a nearby Apple Store. If you are not near an Apple Store, then be an even bigger pain in their butt, and leave more feedback to let Apple know how you feel about their broken product.

I'm unlucky cuz here in Italy we have only two apple store and no one are near me

+there is a way to downgrade the firmware yourself, and information can be found somewhere in these last 2-3 pages… but I don't really recommend it to anyone, because you will be in a world of hurt if something goes wrong with it, and I don't know what your (or anyone else's) level of experience is.+

Already done and with the firmware 1.6 every was fine and no one stop. After that I try to re-upgradee to 1.7 to see if it will work better but the answer are not!!

Thanks

Ok
Just finished the phone call with apple support. They says that if I already read what to do in the forum I can downgrade to EFI 1.6 downloading the firmware from apple http://support.apple.com/kb/DL746?locale=itIT&viewlocale=itIT (italian language for me..) and then restore the firmware using the procedure wrote here http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2213?viewlocale=en_US

I says that I'm a bit upset that the support can help me to solve the issue and he told me that I've to wait the next EFI 1.8 because, probably, the Apple engineer are still working to solve the issue in stead of they read the forum.

iyacyas wrote:
And how exactly are you going for 1.7 to 1.6 to 1.7 to 1.6?

There was a link in a post several pages back in this thread (Post # 305) where I downloaded a dmg file that I then restored to a USB drive. I then start my Mac holding the Option key, select that drive to boot with and let it do the 1.6 roll back.

To change to 1.7 I just go to Software Update and do it the normal way. It will show up there if you are indeed using the 1.6 firmware when you click on Software Update.

pendolino - No I haven't attempted to re-up to 1.7 yet...this is a busy production notebook, so I've been so happy that's it running the way it should be I've been hesitant to try it. I am actually acquiring an OCZ Vertex 250GB SSD today, and once I install it, I'll make sure everything is running well with 1.6, then try upping to 1.7 again...I'll report back here to let you know how it goes.

but where is that link, i dont find him ..

here the link to the discussion on macrumors forum where you can find the link to download the EFI 1.6 MacBookPro recovery
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8414998&posted=1#post8414998

thx


here the full link.

http://rapidshare.com/files/275188610/AluminumMacBook_ProRecovery.dmg

Message was edited by: Doriangaensslen

Hey, this sounds great!
Seems to be the first time somebody from Apple admit this issue with the FW 1.7 and talks about an incoming 1.8.
So let's hope....


BTW: after a clean install of only SL (disk formatted, no Sl over Leopard) and reinstalled efi 1.7 after a rollback to 1.6 (yesterday evening) and disabled SMS everything seems to run fine and fast (SO FAR......).
I'll let you know...

Grazie Jkam per la bella notizia, speriamo che rilascino al più presto 'sto benedetto 1.8

ok, now i made the Downgrade now and the Informations show me that i have the following verions:

SMC Version (system): 1.48f2
Serial Number (system): W89332MH644
The update shows me that i have 1.7 to update.

BTW: i used never macs bevore, so the option key is the right alt key
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Option_key

When you have flashed back the firmware, you have to use again the option key to use the harddrive as bootup Disk.

I hope that Apple make that upgrade AFAIK!!!! this is only a workaround with the slower 1.5 GBs^

Message was edited by: Doriangaensslen