Q: Firmware update and SATA II hard drive

fishbert, are you actually yelling at me? If I may enlighten YOU! The link that I gave does not "ONLY APPLY TO THE 17" MBP"! Do you know how to read? Nor does the link that MacRumors added in the article aply to "ONLY 17" MBP". They link to a thread that is originated about a 15" MBP, Hum! It is a beeping issue/accompanied by brief freezes of their systems, which has been discussed in this thread about the, accompanied by brief freezes of their systems, being from this EFI problem. I have been reading this thread since it's conception, and if you will be so kind to make me laugh by read it thoroughly you will see that I have been kindly letting posters know that this EFI 1.7 update does not effect the 17" MBP.

So run some cool water through those jets... I Know I have to now! Keep up the good work fishbert!!!

I just installed the EFI 1.7 update. No problems so far with an Intel X25-M 80GB SSD. Booted normally, no beachballs.

iyacyas wrote:
fishbert, are you actually yelling at me? If I may enlighten YOU! The link that I gave does not "ONLY APPLY TO THE 17" MBP"! Do you know how to read? ... blah blah blah blah blah

So run some cool water through those jets... I Know I have to now! Keep up the good work fishbert!!!

No, I was not yelling at you.
What I did was cut and paste nearly verbatim a post I made 38 minutes before yours, which was in response to someone else who posted a link to the same information. (hence the "thanks for reading the thread" line)

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Long story short... no, the click/beep issue has nothing to do with this issue. One is related to the EFI firmware 1.7 update (that came out for only the 13" and 15" MBPs) - which can be easily shown to be true when the firmware is rolled back and everything starts humming along again. The other is related to parking heads on the hard drive, due to shock sensors and such, and is limited to 7200 RPM drives and is frequently observed on the 17" MBP (which, again, means it has absolutely nothing to do with the issue here... which has been shown to be directly related to a poor firmware update and is related to SATA II compatibility - not parking heads).

And, yes, it has been mentioned a great many times that the issue here is strictly limited to only the 13" and 15" MBPs with the SD card slot. You say that you've read this whole thread, so if you think that somehow issues that show up on a 17" MBP are related... maybe you should take a second look.

And, to everyone else out there, if I start to sound like a broken record; sorry, but people keep coming in here trying to tie the two together again and again... or saying they're seeing it on their 2008 MBP... I'd rather keep this thread focused on the original issue than to let it go exploring off on a tangent, led by those not paying attention.

the ARGOPE blahed:
I didn't say anything about warranty. Bending the rules is using a hard drive that Apple says it "does not support"...

Please read carefully before criticising:
Many of us are trying to use Seagate, WD or Hitachi drives that work perfectly in earlier MBPs and perfectly in external USB or Firewire cases, so we are upset that after 6 weeks, Apple still has not openly addressed this problem. This is NOT bending any rules, given that Apple explains in the manual how to change the drive and does not indicate that drives from the 3 major manufacturers will not work!

When I called Apple support for Asia, they clearly knew about this issue but would not openly admit that it is an Apple firmware problem and cannot tell me how or if the repair services will deal with this, so I will pay repair services in Hong Kong a visit tonight in the faint hope that they will have the firmware roll-back tool.

The "We don't support third party drives" line is just nonsense. SATA is a standard... simple as that. They don't need to support third party drives... they need to properly implement SATA (in which the third party drive issue will take care of itself). It's a good line to talk around the problem... but that's all. I'm not really sure what would have changed between the first gen unibody machines and the new (SD card) machines. They're using the same chipset. The one thing that sticks in my head was posted quite a while back in this thread... and that being they may have used a substandard (or defective) ribbon cable. This would easily account for SATA 1.5 functioning properly and 3.0 not. I hope that is not the case... but SATA isn't exactly a new technology. The fact that after six weeks, they have not been able to come up with a solution, does not instill confidence in a firmware resolution.

You are so yelling. LOL If not, check your netiquette book.

REALLY LOUD NOISES

Ella Price wrote:
You are so yelling. LOL If not, check your netiquette book.

REALLY LOUD NOISES

if you thought that was bad: http://discussions.apple.com/click.jspa?searchID=-1&messageID=9884738 LOL

What's with all the senseless drama!

Come on, people, this is a message board... and I presume most if not all of us subscribing to this thread experience the problem. Not to mention, most of us are cracking open Apple laptops and installing third party disks - which not just any newbie does.

We are all here to share thoughts, opinions, ideas and experiences. Hopefully solutions, if one comes about. Such solutions are more likely if we share information and ideas.

If John Doe suggests a hardware failure... that's his idea! If Jane Doe suggests Apple is handcuffing third party hardware... that's her idea!

Back off and let people have their ideas. That's why we are here. Otherwise, perhaps some of you need to evaluate your emotional intelligence and possibly seek therapy.

{quote:title=JoeyR wrote:}The "We don't support third party drives" line is just nonsense. SATA is a standard... simple as that.{quote}

I hear ya, JoeyR... SATA has been around since 2003 - and some systems are already running 6Gb/s prototypes.

But - have a peak at what the OCZ tech says regarding the difference in their "Mac Edition" SSD in response the last review on their "Mac Edition" SSD:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820227434

Why would something as standard as a SATA drive need a special firmware to work with Apple? Doesn't make sense to me... I've used all kinds of hard drives in all my Macs for years - never needed any kind of special edition or firmware.

Time will tell - but this certainly wouldn't be the first time Apple has done something that doesn't make much sense to consumers.

Well, I just got off the phone with Apple Support. I called to get my SD card slot fixed (it isn't reading any SD cards at all) and to see if they would roll back the firmware on my June 09 MBP or replace the logic board. What I got is "the official spiel" and a "sorry" regarding the third-party drives and also a "Apple is putting out a firmware update to deal with the click+beep problem so maybe it might fix this issue as well". He then suggested I call around to various Apple Repair Partners and see if one of them has the roll back tool or would fix it "at my cost"! They will fix the SD card though. I'm hoping that there is a problem with my logic board in regards to the SD card slot problem so they will have to replace it but that is wishful thinking on my part. So ya, my confidence in a solution to this is waning as well.

Is your card SD or SDHC?

theARGIOPE wrote:
{quote:title=JoeyR wrote:}The "We don't support third party drives" line is just nonsense. SATA is a standard... simple as that.{quote}

I hear ya, JoeyR... SATA has been around since 2003 - and some systems are already running 6Gb/s prototypes.

But - have a peak at what the OCZ tech says regarding the difference in their "Mac Edition" SSD in response the last review on their "Mac Edition" SSD:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16820227434

Why would something as standard as a SATA drive need a special firmware to work with Apple? Doesn't make sense to me... I've used all kinds of hard drives in all my Macs for years - never needed any kind of special edition or firmware.

Time will tell - but this certainly wouldn't be the first time Apple has done something that doesn't make much sense to consumers.

It is interesting to note that the performance specs between the Mac Edition and the standard edition are slightly different:

Mac:

120GB Max Performance**
Read: Up to 240 MB/s
Write: Up to 170MB/s
Sustained Write: Up to 100MB/s

Standard:

120GB Max Performance**
Read: Up to 250 MB/s
Write: Up to 180MB/s
Sustained Write: Up to 100MB/s

Certainly not a big difference... but they are clearly doing something to "make" them Mac compatible. It's possible they found that slightly dropping the throughput was enough to get reliable SATA II performance.

Have tried with both SD and SDHC cards with no luck. They both read and write fine when using the usb adapter that came with my larger 16Gb card but not when inserted into the SD slot.

Canadiandude, you'll want to split this out to another thread; this is for discussion of the EFI 1.7 update and SATA hard drive problems.

Gee thanks for that but if you had read through al my previous posts, I have always stayed on topic. The response was only given as an answer to a question that resulted from my call to Apple Support.