Q: Firmware update and SATA II hard drive

Called my local Apple Service Provider this morning, and like usual, he was helpful and patient. He could not, however, solve the problem. He said he didn't have the firmware that came on the 13" MBP, and even if he did, he doubted it would work because it checks version numbers.

According to him, the best I can do is wait for new firmware or an update from Apple.

That being my last hope, I am now permanently stuck in this situation unless I want to spend another $120 for a drive that other forum members have had success with (the 7200 rpm 500 gig Seagate from NewEgg). So it's a gamble... if this mess is going to continue for another 3 months, I'll buy the drive and never purchase another Mac. But if a fix is a week away, I'll sit tight and save my money.

Using the stock drive is really not an option, as I need 203 gigabytes of storage minimum for the work I do.

Apple, I would settle for a "we'll release an update for this soon" or "there won't be an update for this get used to it".

I've never had this much hard drive difficulty, even using SCSI hard drives...

I thought i'd mention this, but the WD scorpio blue WDC WD5000BEVT-00A03T0, Revision: 01.01A01 that I pulled out of a passport elite came with the jumpers set in the Reduced Power Setting (RPS) and i didn't change it. My 13"UMBP 2.53GHz with EFI 1.7 seems to work fine. beach balls i thought were problem symptoms just ended up being processor load from the apps had open.

Is there a log entry somewhere that would confirm there is a problem?

I am having the same problem on my Macbook Pro 13 with the stock 160gb Harddrive. Makes the laptop basically unusable.

I've been following this thread closely and it appears that this problem mostly effects users whom are upgrading to a 3rd party drive, however in some instances, it is also effecting users with stock drives.

I just ordered my 13.3 MBP off Amazon this afternoon and want to make sure that I do not update the firmware until these issues have been resolved. How is the firmware update applied? Is it through the software update application in OS X? Also, if I do decide to upgrade the hard drive and keep the preinstalled firmware, I should be good to go, right?

Thanks for your help!

You won't be forced to update to 1.7! It's an option in the software update. If you don't update all will be fine. Wait until there is an update for this stuff ..

Just purchased a 13" MBP yesterday. Have already upgraded to a WD Scorpio 500GB, but have cancelled the 1.7 update, and waiting for an approved fix. Reading this thread some people appear to be having issues whilst for others it's fine, so not willing to take the risk!

Can someone confirm... will we actually see a speed benefit if we could run at 3gbps per second? Somewhere I read that because of mechanical limitations you'll never get more than 1.5gbps anyway with a "traditional" HDD, and this update is really only of benefit to SSD owners.

Anyway figured I'd add my voice to the chorus looking forward to a fix to this problem from Apple, especially for those who's machines are now very pretty paperweights!

Totally unbelievable. I have the same symptons—HD 320 GB hard drive from my old MacBook (even bought at an Apple reseller!!!), no apple logo or anything while booting. I can't believe I paid so much for this unibrick

If there'll be no fix by next week all I have left to try is to dismantle my iomega USB HD, hoping that the contained HD is SATA and works.

Mittyoz, if you get it to work, you will get it up to 3Gb, but with a HDD, the gain will me a few percent, but if you use an SSD, than it can make a huge difference!

So don't worry, with an HDD it isn't going to make that big of a difference.
Just don't update the 1.7 EFI

I can confirm a serious "beachballing" problem after upgrading to EFI version 1.7 here on my Intel X25-M. I'm not really sure what the point in upgrading the SATA II to 3.0gbps is if the machine and/or firmware is incapable of handling the higher speeds (the Intel SSDs all have a higher transfer speed than 1.5gbps).

Upgrading to the latest Intel SSD firmware didn't solve the problem. I didn't expect it to, as the Intel firmware update is designed to increase speed (after the drive has been used for awhile). I'm typing this from my Linux box, as the Mac is currently unusable.

Thanks markt21.

It was just a thought. The wrong partition map on drives I've seen clients swap out from a PC and incorrectly format have led to some firmware update problems in the past. Aside from this, "parts is parts" and any industry standard SATA/300 compliant drive and AHCI 1.1+ compliant controller should always work in combination. So this firmware update problem is very odd. What is even stranger is the fact that Apple continues to push it out via software update and it is still listed as the top download at the MBP support home page. Best I can tell the wording of the release note has not changed either.

So what is going on? Is everyone in Cupertino on vacation or maybe standing in line to see Steve? Are they as stumped about this as we are?

I just put the original factory drive (Hitachi 160GB 5400RPM) back in, and the situation is better. However, it has frozen in just the same manner twice for nearly 30 seconds each time. This is a serious problem that needs to be fixed soon.

I'm on the 5400rpm 500gb Hitachi HTS545050B9SA02 that came in my stock 2.8ghz unibody 15" MBP (delivered this time last week). I ran the software updates almost immediately - so I have nothing to compare this to - however, I have noticed that the trackpad seems to hesitate on enough occasions that I've started to notice it, and there appears to be occasional stuttering & beachballing (and usually only in FireFox - but then that's the application I'm using 80% of the time) and that can last for 15 to 20 seconds at a time.

I also bought a 500gb Seagate Momentus 7200.4 (without G-shock) which I was going to use firstly as a back-up clone drive, and then to swap out with the 5400rpm stock drive, once I'm out of the 14 return period - so until then I won't be able to confirm if the sans G-shock drive has the beeping issue that people seem to be experiencing with the G-shock version that apple are shipping in CTOs.

Should I create a new thread about issues with the 5400rpm drive, trackpad, beachballing?

For those who see nothing but a grey screen after the "gong" (with a non OEM/Apple HDD):

I use my "old" HDD WD 3200BEVT which I used in my white MacBook. I did not reinstalled OSX just installed it in the new MBP and updated EFI to 1.7

What about you? Does someone has a WD 3200BEVT working?

I've been using the stock drive in my laptop for some time now since the tech people are on a holiday. I promise to jump on the horn with them as soon as I can.

Pretty odd that even with the stock drive i've been getting beachballs all the time.

Just wanted to chime in with my own experiences...

I have a 256gb samsung SSD i had in a previous unibody macbook pro (not the stock drive), it had a partition, working install of OS X etc. and had been working fine in the other machine.

I attempted to install it into a new 2.8ghz unibody just purchased yesterday. I ran software update first thing unfortunately and got the 1.7 firmware before i realized it was having issues. The drive boots fine, though it takes FOREVER to do so, and then beachballs constantly. I ended up re-installing the 500gb drive it came with, so i guess i'll just wait it out and try again when/if they post another firmware update.