Q: Firmware update and SATA II hard drive

{quote:title=Federico Schiefelbein wrote:. I explained to him that it's more than that and ran the AJA System Test (http://www.aja.com/products/software/) where you can see that the HD performance drops to almost 0 MB/s when reading a 512MB file. After showing that, he took the laptop again. While I was waiting for him to return, I've run the same test on another MPB13 that they were showing. It didn't have the 1.7 firmware and the performance was a steady ~70MB/s writing and reading.

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Thanks for posting about the AJA System software test

I upgraded my MBP (Standard low end one with 160gig HD) to EFI 1.7 and was really worried about performance after the upgrade.

WIth AJA, alhough I never get 70mb/s throughput I geta steady 52-55mb/s

It never drops to zero at all - whatever the file size (128 - 1gb).

Does this mean that my computer is okay then? I am not expecting blazing performance... and although my programs dont load so fast I really never get the beach balls.

Did anyone else try this test? If so post your results here.

Message was edited by: Wan Chai Man

Just stumbled over this Thread, my expirience:

Using a Mac Book Pro Mid 2009 with a OCZ Vertex 120 GB Mac Edition, EFI 1.7, I am unable to use the SSD drive as a HDD replacement.
If the OSX Installer can see the Drive, it will stop installation in about half of the process, sometimes it doesn't even see the drive. If I CCC the working APPLE HDD to the SSD, then I can't boot anyway, the drive is not recognized. Using the SSD in a USB enclosure works normal.. it also works on different Windows Computers.
Apple, please provide a Solution to this issue. Even a workaround like only 1.5 GBps SATA 1 Speed would be OK to me, if it then worked stable.

Okay guys, here is my experience:

I have the Macbook Pro 15" (Mid 09) that shipped with Efi 1.6, because it was one of the first models they were shipping.
On the day it arrived, i installed the SAMSUNG PB-22J 128GB SATA2 SSD. Everything worked fine, the only problem was the limited speed due to the fact that my Macbook recognized the drive as SATA-1.

After 2 weeks and some e-mails to Apple Efi 1.7 came out. I Installed it and voila I had fullspeed with SATA2.

I don't have CRC Erros, I don't have beachballing. Everything works fine.

I don't know why others with the same SDD have problems?!

But jeah, I guess it's time for apple to fix this for those who have problems.

I just bought a 13" MBP specifically so I could install my new Intel SSD into it. Two days later, I find out about this firmware issue. What's going on Apple? First you limit the drive to SATA I (1.5Gbps) and now you issue a firmware upgrade to SATA II (3.0Gbps) without supporting the new drives?

What am I supposed to do? I love Apple and have been a fan ever since I got my first iBook back in '02. Keep this thread alive people, we need to see a fix soon.

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

A ray of sunshine....

I too have just recently purchased a 13" MBP and I too like many of you did the upgrade to 1.7. I must just add I still have the stock standard Hitachi 250Gb drive in my machine - and hey guess what I'm experiencing all the same stuff the rest of you are. I can't even manage to get a time machine backup through as the machine beach balls around 7 gig of transfer and the time machine fails.

But there's some good news - one of the guys I work with happens to know a senior Apple engineer at the local distributors here in South Africa - so I thought I would call him and find out if he knew of the issue or better yet a fix.

We spoke at length on Wednesday 22nd - according to him Apple is well aware of the issue and says that a fix will be out within a week - well it's 4 more days to go.... hopefully he isn't wrong!

The question is why did apple assume it was OK to restrict the 13" macbook pro to 1.5? Surely a Macbook pro is a Pro no matter what the screen size, if not why not just rename it to Macbook?

They messed up big time, and as usual their quality control is dreadful, they will bring another firmware update later se hope, but what will that break? Anyone would think we pay a lot for these...

Message was edited by: Wilbur507

It's not only the 13" models. 15" models are also affected. As many here can, regrettably, confirm. That includes me. Working with the stock 320GB 5400rpm drive, while a shiny X25 lies silently on my desk.

I think these problems were the reason they limited the new MacBook Pros to 1.5. That must mean they were well aware of these problems when they released EFI 1.7.

Sure hope the guy from South Africa is right, though!

4GD of Crucial RAM (DDR3) = £45 + £80 for 7200 320GB drive you will not see much difference between a 2.26 and a 2.53

Thanks Ryan

Thats great news Apple always delivers... eventually!

The last few Apple purchases I made have all had software/hardware issues... My problem is that I just cant wait the 3 or 4 months that it takes to iron out the flaws in these new tech products.

Problems I have had with new apples include:

iMac (Aluminium) - USB ports drop dead/unresponsive - Fix: firmware update

iPod touch & iPhone - Apps crash to home screen - Fix: firmware update

Leopard - too little space to list all the problems - Fix: 7 software updates

MacBo0k Pro - this HD malarkey - Fix: still waiting

Its not only Apple products though - my Blackberry Bold took 3 months of updates before it became stable. My Sony stereo system even...

Suppose its the name of the game these days.....

Reliable sources (including apple employees) have identified EFI 1.7 firmware update as a potential cause of the problems talked about by hundreds (possibly thousands) of very unhappy MacBook Pro customers. Why then, does Apple continue to offer EFI 1.7 as a software update? A responsible company would stop offering a product that they know could cause problems.

Either they thought, they could have a fix out soon, so the need to pull it back wasn't there - Or they actually acknowledge the problem public if the pull it back, and that wouldn't be good

jonashh_dk wrote:
Either they thought, they could have a fix out soon, so the need to pull it back wasn't there - Or they actually acknowledge the problem public if the pull it back, and that wouldn't be good

I can understand their reluctance to admit the issues; imagine the "I'm a PC" commercials that MS could produce when a laptop half the price runs insurmountably better than a new PRO will all available updates installed!

As a first time MAC owner whose system has again started beachballing in all apps a few days after spending more than a few hours reading and troubleshooting... I don't think 'it just works' anymore, to the point of feeling ripped off. Please Apple, help be a fanboy like my friends who talked me into your product..

ps. i am not 100% sure my issues are related, I have all symptoms here intermittently with exception of an accumulation of CRC errors; however, maybe they don't show up on all different drives under these circumstances - without clear information form a representative of Apple, I can't be sure one way or the other.. I guess if/when apple fixes this debacle for the rest of you, I'll know if my problems persist..

Good uses of this thread:
1) finding others with the same problem, and letting them know they are not alone
2) finding others with the same problem, and trying to identify a problem's root cause
3) finding others with the same problem, and working together to find workarounds
4) finding others with the same problem, and working together to find a solution
5) finding others with the same problem, and letting them know that a fix is being worked
6) giving people something to point to when they talk with Apple support

******** and moaning in these forums doesn't help anybody.

If you want to make noise that's potentially useful, call up Apple or go into an Apple Store, and complain to them -- they don't really monitor these forums.

If you want to make noise just for the sake of bellyaching, you're wasting your time and the time of everyone else trying to find useful information in here.

******** and moaning in these forums doesn't help anybody.

If you want to make noise that's potentially useful, call up Apple or go into an Apple Store, and complain to them -- they don't really monitor these forums.

If you want to make noise just for the sake of bellyaching, you're wasting your time and the time of everyone else trying to find useful information in here.

I find it hard to believe a thread with 61,000+ views on their own discussion board would not raise a few eyebrows. Especially considering http://discussions.apple.com/help.jspa#personnel indicates there should be at least three tiers of employees using this site, regardless if they are speaking out or not.

If I would have found this thread before the 14 days, no question I would have just returned this for another and not upgraded to 1.7 . Now my option is contact first-tier phone support or a 'Genius' at an Apple store (where I didn't purchase the laptop, I got mine at futureshop) and likely have the frustrating experience shared by many others on here? No thanks, I will wait a bit and perhaps vent with others while apple works on releasing the fix.

Message was edited by: katmeef

katmeef wrote:
... my option is contact first-tier phone support or a 'Genius' at an Apple store (where I didn't purchase the laptop, I got mine at futureshop) and likely have the frustrating experience shared by many others on here? No thanks, I will wait a bit and perhaps vent with others while apple works on releasing the fix.

Wait, so you haven't even TRIED working with Apple on resolving your problem (one that you admit may or may not even be related to the one discussed in this forum)?! Your ONLY course of action has been to "vent"?!

Stop complaining or just go away. You obviously don't even want to find a solution; you just like to hear yourself talk. You're like someone who doesn't vote, but who then complains to anyone who will listen about how so-and-so in office is ruining everything.

+btw, maybe you didn't read everything in this thread, but I recall a number of people talking about how Apple was very helpful in replacing their logic board or even the whole machine ... down to the specifics of mentioning a pre-1.7 bootrom version number (MBP53.00AC.B00) for a repair center to order if they didn't have any 1.6 logic boards in stock. so you might consider trying more than just opening and closing your yap in here.+

Message was edited by: fishbert