Catalina bricked my 2015 MacBook Pro. What to do now?

Happened to me on October 10th .. same symptoms: black screen, no chime sound, flashing question mark folder, very erratic support for mouse and keyboard in my case (got to internet recovery, but was unusable). Called support who directed me to official Apple repair center, where MBP 13" 12.1 early 2015 was investigated for 10 days, saying "no particular issue but your motherboard has some issue, need to swap in a new one for 700€". No way for me and a > 4 years old MBP.

On October 10th there was no significant information (that I found) about the possible issue, 10 days later it was suggested on the web that EFI could be the issue. This particular story http://netkas.org/?p=1488 (BTW which happened prior to official Catalina release) suggested me that flashing the EFI could be something to try. So (long story made short here) I gathered information on MB EFI, how to flash it .. my MBP has a so called SAM/J6100 connector on the mother board, so I bought a programmer (CH341A) and adequate cable on the bay, manage to find a suitable EFI image for my MBP (used a fd file MBP12.1 0176.0.0.0 from a combo update) and flashed the EFI last Monday (October 28th). You have to manage to restore your serial number in the EFI image.

And boom ! MBP started again. It resurrected from its 2 weeks and a half coma.

Faulty EFI (in my case, that I dumped and saved before changing anything) is EFI MBP12.1 187.0.0.0.0 (analyzed with UEFItool, this is known as EFI brought by Catalina for this MBP). I flashed a MBP12.1 176.0.0.0.0, and after re-installing Mojave, MBP12.1 186.0.0.0.0 was re-installed.

Beware: I'm not claiming that this is "the solution", not even that EFI is for sure the culprit in all cases that look like this ... I just don't know. I'm just describing what looked reasonable for me to try, for a limited amount of cash and for a > 4 years old machine. I add that I have a strong technical background. This is not something I would recommend to anyone without some good understanding of what is involved in flashing an EFI chip ... But there are companies that probably can do it for you, if you think (at your own risks) that it could possibly fix your issue, then look for a professional who offer services to fix your EFI passwd for example, they could be a good candidate.

hello good news for you, where have you download the firmware ? thanks

i Have bought this https://www.befr.ebay.be/itm/SPI-SAM-EFI-ROM-Debug-Connector-FLASH-Service-tool-J6100-Icloud-Apple-Macbook-Pr/133104579410?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

it's less expensive that a new motherboard

Which files, the EFI image I used ? It's specific to the MB model ... there are existing sources for such EFI images on the net, if you're looking for a specific one, you'll find it. You can look for "<your specific MB model and EMC number> EFI dump" and/or "<your mother board reference> EFI dump " or ...

I found mine in a "firmware_vault" on GitHub (assembled by a security engineer from various official Apple distributed files, like combo update packages). It's an fd file, which is an UEFI Intel image, as shown by UEFItool. There are rather old EFI images in this vault, and some are 1 year old ... I was not 100% sure that it would work like this, but it did (up to now, knowing that it was replaced by a later release while re-installing Mojave).

Injecting the serial number normally requires to look for some string inside the EFI image, but it doesn't exist in an fd file. But it was possible when I noticed that the memory area for this information looks to be always the same (at least in the images I collected). So I cut it from the firmware image I saved from my MBP prior to anything else (the Catalina faulty EFI image) and pasted it into the fd image in the right place, and up to now it looks to be ok. I just don't know for now if my EFI would be missing other variables that should be initialized by a more regular installation and initialization of the EFI image (we'll see in the future).

There are points I didn't mentioned ... the method implies flashing with the chip in place on the mobo, and there are several possible arrangements to power the chip during the flashing operation. The first method I tried allowed to successfully read, erase and write from/to the chip: disconnect the battery from motherboard, install the EFI cable on the J6100 socket (but not the programmer), connect the mag safe adapter and wait for the Mac to automatically power on (yes, it should power on in this configuration, at least mine will), power it off by a long press on the power button, then connect the programmer to the EFI cable, then the programmer to an USB port of a Windows PC (in my case), and start the programming software ... This may or may not apply to your specific MB, and once again there are other possible arrangements. It's probably useful to remind that you should be extremely careful not to touch anything inside the MB while it's powered on.

The J6100 connector on the mother board, it's a very small connector (there are 12 and 30 pins variants - 2 different kinds of 30 pins - depending on the MB), with no specific mark regarding pinout. I personally bought a schematic/board view of my mother board to have this information, but you may find the information for your specific motherboard on the web.

There are other possibilities to flash the EFI chip (than the J6100 connector). Using a clip (if the chip does allow it, like a SOIC8 package, mine would not), or unsoldering the chip from the mother board, and in this case you can also find providers of new EFI chips, and some of them can sell the image they use to initialize the chip. These methods may require to tear down the mother board from the MB.

Hope this helps

I used the same. The seller will wait 3 days after payment before sending, then it was sent by DHL on Friday last week, and delivered at my home in France on Monday the week after. The cable looks nice, the CH341A is cheap and software is old. I used it but it didn't detected my EFI chip correctly (it's a winbond 25Q64FVIQ on my mobo, WSON package), but it worked: read, erase, write. I would recommend to try other software, or possibly Linux and flash rom (I didn't tried it). Very important to read and save the Catalina firmware (for your serial number at least). As well as check each operation: read should be done 2 or 3 times, results compared with some hashing ... write should be verified by reading and comparing to the written image ...

One point regarding the cable: all the sockets have the same marking (at list on the one I received) "2015 2017" on one side, and "2015 2016" on the other side, so that if you need to use one the 30 pins connector, then you will have to make sure which one applies to your specific model. I went across a web page explaining the differences between both models, but I'm unsure I will be able to retrieve it. In case of doubt, ask the seller.

Jean-François you're not on the right track, in my opinion. If you're not a technical guy, you'll have difficulties to manage to flash the EFI yourself. I don't know of any tutorial out there that could allow anyone to do it with zero risks and positive results in the end.

Actually in my case the recovery option was not available. I just had a black screen most of the time and reset password on other times.

In my case my volumes were also filevault2 encrypted, so there's that to add..

Either way, I did manage to fix the problem. First you better make sure your device is on or off (it was hard to tell in my case) so i just put in an USB drive with leds to notice easier. I first powered it down by touching power button for 5 seconds.

Then I tried to reset NVRam/PRAM by holding command-option-P-R for a while immediately after holding the power button.

(see resetting NVRam/PRAm online)

That seemed to work for me and all of the sudden the install started to continue. After that everything worked fine again.

(Note: while probably unimportant, i did have a usb-drive plugged in with the install files of macOS catalina, but I doubt they were used in the process).

I could be wrong, but if you were able to use the keyboard *at all* you weren't bricked and this issue isn't what you were experiencing.

An EFI scramble means you boot into a black screen... no apple logo, no keyboard response... nothing. You aren't resetting PRAM, you aren't booting to a USB, you can't fix it by replacing a hard drive or SSD.

You had some other issue.. congrats on fixing but this doesn't help anyone else unfortunately.

Actually that is not at all the point. You're discussing semantics here what the definition of 'bricked' means.

Like many others, I did a catalina install that seemed to hang, after which the macbook rendered unresponsive. So far the only news that the EFI is actually scrambled came from one user. It is not confirmed yet that in all these cases the EFI is actually scrambled.

My symptoms and that of many as described here, are booting into a black screen and getting almost no feedback from the macbook whatsoever. It did not boot into recovery or respond to any other keyboard actions. The power button worked and apparently, although no visual feedback, the NVRam/PRAM reset seemed to work or it would have to have been pure coincidence that after doing so the mac resumed the install.

I will leave it to the others to actually try my remedy as well, before you actually conclude it does not help anyone else...

PRAM reset is "get your Mac back" 101... my point is, if it were that easy I don't think this dicussion would exist.

All reports on all blogs about this are EFI related... not as simple as using your keyboard.

But hey, a simple fix - I hope it works for others. I maintain you aren't bricked if you can do a PRAM reset... bricked is dead and non-responsive... a keyboard that is still responding is as far from bricked as you can get.

Maybe my iMac will magically start listening to the keyboard as well someday....

iMac... normally bluetooth but to get around that you can connect it via the cable. (or use a USB keyboard)

I'd hate to be one of the many people here (and in other forums) who brought their Mac (of any type) into an Apple store only to have them not check the keyboard and ask $500+ for a new logic board. Yikes.

Catalina clearly did something to your Mac but bricking it wasn't one of them... be happy about that.

Well, $700 CAD later I walked out of the Apple store with a new system board and my iMac works just fine. I told the tech about the possible EFI firmware solution and he tried it. It didn't work so I gave him the go-ahead to replace the system board. The Catalina install finished and all of my data was still there. Hopefully I'll get another 3-4 years out of this machine as a web/email /YouTube surfer before I have to spring for a new one.

There seems to be 2 issues being confused with each other in this thread.

1) The ?folder issue

2) The blank screen.

Mine was issue 2. No boot chime and no key combinations worked. The ones that have been able to self-recover seem like they had issue 1.

I have been dealing with the Cambridge branch. I would recommend you ask your store to raise a ticket with engineering. I believe the senior advisors that call you via Apple support are also able to raise tickets with engineering.

The ticket with engineering is the key thing here as they are the team that see the global picture of what’s going on. A local store simply doesn’t have all the information to deal with the issue at this point in time.

To recap, my symptoms were.

mac working fine prior to upgrade of Catalina.

started upgrade via software update, not via usb or any other fresh installation methods.

battery was at 100% during upgrade and was connected to mains.

no usb devices or external peripherals were connected during the upgrade.

mac rebooted twice during upgrade.

on 2nd boot, Mac hung and eventually showed flashing folder.

no options to get in to recovery or boot from other devices worked.

no chimes or Apple logo on power on.

Apple tech at the store tried resetting everything including disconnecting the battery internally.

they also disconnected ssd

report of actions and results was sent off to engineering team.

Same here with my Macbook 12" Early 2015: Stalled after Catalina installation.

In the logon screen the mouse pad and keyboard got frozen.

Rebooting resulted in a infinite black screen with the Apple logo.

With the chat help of Apple Support tried to do SMC-reset and NVRAM / PRAM-reset to no avail.

Took it to Apple and they told me that it must be a EFI issue and that the logic board to has got to be replaced at EUR 600!

Today I received my Microsoft Surface Pro 6 to replace my faulty Macbook.

Tomorrow I will hear the final result of the authorized Apple repair shop's diagnosis.

Apple, what are you going to do about it?

Robert

Well, here’s a new one for all of you. Newer 2017 (actually 2018) Apple 21” Mac, all updates, all 64 bit software. I never turn it off, just put it to sleep when not using. But since updating to 15.1 I have found it has rebooted during the night several times after a kernel panic. This is almost a brand new Mac, so we shouldn’t even be discussing EFI corruption or boot file corruption. Any ideas anyone?