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

Fixed my 2014 MBP with the above issue.

My issue was the same as the OP: Flashing ? folder and computer unresponsive- no recovery mode, not bootable from USB.

Genius Bar answer was the same as we've heard- underlying hardware problem exacerbated by the update, only option being $600 logic board and SSD replacement.

Another thread suggested a solderless EFI unlocker chip, which I obtained from macunlocks.com (to which I have no affiliation.)

I was immediately able to boot into recovery mode, so was very encouraged.

I was initially not able to install from a bootable USB installer, getting an error that the hard drive needed a firmware update.

In Disk Utility (accessible from recovery) I erased the HD, then partitioned it from APFS back to MacOS Extended (Journaled).

After that, the bootable USB installer worked perfectly.

I hope this helps others. And for some of us, at least, this certainly is strong evidence that a firmware corruption is possible during the OS update, and not always an underlying hardware defect.

Me too. I have a macbook Pro 15 -inch, Mid 2014.

Após a atualização para o Catalina simplesmente não consegui mais acessar a App Store (yes, simple acess to the Apple Store). Programas de 32 bits como por exemplo o office para Mac, que tinha instalada legalmente, não mais funcionaram e -PIOR- não mais atualizam. Assim, é impossível atualizá-los agora. Estive em contato o dia inteiro de ontem - 2019-11-19- e não conseguiram resolver. I simply can't use the Word anymore !

You guys. Other Apple usares, please translate this. Together let's solve this problema with Apple.

Best regards

Translation of Pkiko's post:

Same here. I have a macbook Pro 15 -inch, Mid 2014.

After the update to Catalina it turned simply impossible to acces the App Store (yes, simple access to the Apple Store). 32 bit programs like for instance Office for Mac, a legit copy that I had installed, stopped working and even worse: does not update anymore. So it was rendered useless. I contacted Apple support the whole day yesterday Nov 19, 2019 they could not solve the problem. I cannot use Word anymore! Please, other Apple users, translate this. Together let's solve this problem with Apple.

Best regards,

Sorry to say, but you will NOT be able to use Office for Mac in Catalina as it is a 32 bit program.

With Catalina, and going forward, Apple will not be supporting 32-bit apps. This was well known and advertised by Apple.

Office 365 does work with Catalina, however, but of course this requires a license subscription.

Or, you could try using Pages, which is included with Catalina (ie, "free"). Seems to work well, though will require some re-learning on your part.

Last option would be to downgrade to Mojave. That is possible, but is not easy to do (ask me how I know . . . ).

Best of luck!

TomTheTomcat wrote:

Translation of Pkiko's post:

Same here. I have a macbook Pro 15 -inch, Mid 2014.

After the update to Catalina it turned simply impossible to acces the App Store (yes, simple access to the Apple Store). 32 bit programs like for instance Office for Mac, a legit copy that I had installed, stopped working and even worse: does not update anymore. So it was rendered useless. I contacted Apple support the whole day yesterday Nov 19, 2019 they could not solve the problem. I cannot use Word anymore! Please, other Apple users, translate this. Together let's solve this problem with Apple.

Best regards,

There is literally nothing for Apple to solve. Users and developers were notified almost two years ago about the move to 64bit only architecture. Microsoft Office 2016 and later are already 64 bit and work just fine with Catalina. Microsoft Office 2011 and earlier will no longer work with Catalina. Your beef is that your old version of Office no longer works. That is true and will NOT change. If you want to use Word going forward you have three choices, buy a subscription to Office 365, buy a standalone version of Office 2019 ($149.00 Home/Student Edition), OR downgrade your Mac to the previous version of macOS and continue using your old version of Word. Neither Apple nor Microsoft have any plans to make your old software work with Catalina. It’s up to you and you alone what you do.

I am now also ANOTHER victim of this.

MacBook Pro 2015 as well.

Turn it on, nothing happens for like 5 minutes then BAM. Folder ? icon.

Doesn't recongise any of those Recovery Option Command blah blah.

No chime sound either...

THANKS APPLE.

Honestly I'm going through that exact same timeline you posted it and it is indeed DREADFUL!! I'm a long time Windows user so naturally I was lured by Catalina update not knowing it would be the temporary death of my Macbook 15 2019. Its a little upsetting Catalina isn't functional with Protools making my Macbook pretty much useless until I can go get it repaired. Luckily enough my warranty is fresh so whatever happens I will end up with a new one regardless but Apple does take a hit for this in my eyes. I finally decide to give in and go apple and Catalina of all things is the downfall it just sucks the update is so **** detrimental.

ended up buying another logic board for about £200. Better than the £500 Apple wants to charge people for their own mistake. Anyway many lessons learned from this fiasco about Apple as a company and how I should proceed in the future with their products.

I learned at Thanksgiving dinner yesterday that my niece bricked her MacBook Air last month installing Catalina. The installer failed and she could not go forward or backward. The Apple store managed to save the computer but she lost her data.

They told her it was just "one of those things."

Hello. I updated to Catalina as well on my 2014 MacBook Pro. I have never had any issues with my laptop that I couldn't easily solve. All of a sudden I am not able to access any of my documents in Word, Excel, etc...each one of the icons have a gray circle with line thru it. Looks like the only option is to purchase new Office upgrade for a $70 annual cost. Is this right or am I missing something? Seems all this is caused by updating to Catalina so how do I downgrade back to Mojave where I had none of these problems? Apple please explain what my options are. Thank you.

Seems to me the solution is the same for all these cases of failure of the upgrade to Catalina, replace the logic board.

My position is they should have known this before they made the beta available. There are too many cases of failure here for discussion and I'm guessing there are many more out there that are not reflected here.

All these machines that have failed in the beta upgrade were expensive machines, THEY SHOULD BEEN REPAIRED BY APPLE. I would even pay for Apple to repair my late 2013 Mac Book Retina 15" but they won't touch it because they consider it obsolete.

If they broke it, they should fix it.!!

I *wish* I had the problem of not being able to re-install an older OS. I have the flashing folder and am guessing its a logic board or nothing... as for others with the same issue. Pressing any keys on a keyboard isn't even an option.

Since mine is an iMac it seems re-flashing the EFI isn't possible either... it requires soldering. A bit above my comfort zone...

Yes, keyboard is unresponsive on boot-up, so both 1 and 2 aren't options. I've tried hard-wired keyboard, the usb that came with it, and usb plugged in... believe mine is the EFI corruption issue many others are having.

Seems there are quite a few issues with Catalina but IMHO the *truly* bricked Macs are the ones unresponsive to input of any kind. Mine is on a shelf waiting for a real answer from Apple... or a cheap used logic board.

Really that’s not an option? Mine is an iMac Too. LOL. Apple is still leaving the decision to individual store. For me, I was asked to pay for the logic board.

i am also asked to write a feedback to the problem. It’s crazy. Service standards should use feedback but actual problem should be a case.

anyway their own advice is bring it another store. call centre staff are powerless to help you. The technicians at the store have all the power to decide on this ‘unrecognized’ problem.

firmware upgrade is generally the riskiest part of upgrade. We should have a choice to install or not.

it’s really terrible. I am going to run a hardware test prior to any patching from now on and store the result as a prove that it’s not my machine!

Truly bricked, indeed. I, too, am out of options for you.

Maybe we all have to bring our machines to the Apple Store to do our OS upgrades under Apple's watchful eye. They can either say "it should be fine" or "do this at the risk of bricking your machine." If they say "it should be fine," then it seems like they should fix the machine when the update fails. If they say "this is a risky procedure" (which is what it is now) then maybe we shouldn't be updating our machines at all.

Either way, Apple needs to accept some responsibility here.