MacBook Pro bricked after failed Big Sur update 😵 ⚰️

Have a similar issue. Black screen after initial failed attempt of the upgrade. Only sign of life is external monitor acknowledging usb-c connection is live. Tried all boot button combos. 2017 MBP.

My MBP Mid-2014 also bricked by Big Sur update. SD card inserted. Black screen problem with no key combinations at boot working (it's not booting). Spoke to Apple for an hour on Saturday when this happened and booked into an iStore (an hour's drive away) next Saturday. Told it would cost me £69 for a diagnostic test and more if work was needed. I am reluctant to go until Apple acknowledge it was their fault and admit liability - I don't want to pay someone just to tell me it is bricked! I was reluctant to do the update on an older machine but curiosity got the better of me - of course wish I had waited. Apple please could I (and all of the other affected people) have an official response please? This issue has had some traction in the press (The Independent and Daily Mail here in the UK), I think it needs more press attention so that the reputational cost becomes too much for Apple and they have to act - otherwise they will probably be able to blame it on older hardware and expect customers to either pay for a costly repair or buy a brand new, very expensive, Mac.

Sounds like the store you were referred to was a authorised repair centre. I won’t touch my local with a barge poll but that’s a different story.

Anyway I’ve just been talking to Apple, tried a few things, no luck. I’ve been told I’ll have to wait for a callback. If it does mean taking it in I’ll wait until I can get to the nearest Apple store.

Not sure if anyone else has noticed this but my 2015 MacBook 12” was getting warm just as I left it. Almost like it was actually doing something behind the black screen...updating possibly, I’m not sure 🤔 might leave it on tomorrow and see what happens.

reading these various adventures, I think we have achieved superstitious problem solving. Whether it is disconnecting and reconnecting a piece of hardware, turning the lights out and going in a circle four times, there is no sense of what the problem is. Mine was bricked and it came back to life. I did many of the things people have posted. Did any of them contribute to the resurrection? Not a clue. Not until Apple reveals the root cause. Do the various things, but just be mindful to not do anything that permanently changes your computer.

Nobody has tried just to change the WLAN or move to a LAN connection? I did some changes on my WLAN like changing the SSID and when pressed the power button it came to live and finished the update well...

I'm lucky because when I try to install Big Sur it won't and just says there's an error. Apple knows there's a problem but the "fix" they gave me didn't work. Now having read some of the horror shows below and having had Catalina mess up my iMac, I think I'll skip Big Sur for now.

It only kind of worked for me : I could get back to my desktop... but WIFI seems gone altogether ! Can't do anything to go back on the net to try to get a fix. As a matter of fact, I had a Transcend SD card plugged-in when I did the update :/

You are aware we have absolutely no access to any form of recovery? The effected devices do not respond to any key combination, online recovery, regular recovery or booting from an external drive are not an option.

This isn't a case of not being a 'responsible user' this is a case of users installing an update pushed by apple on to their devices, resulting in a 'brick' of the device.

It doesn't matter if I had a backup I have no ability to restore it.

Also bricking is not a set in stone definitive term, the device in it's current state is unusable and not recoverable by common methods, it's an expensive 'brick'

I have no access to anything never mind system preferences because my machine is bricked. I switch it on and the screen LED lights. That is it......nothing else.

I have no way of fixing it. All genius bars in this country are closed.

I am reassured by your "feelings" that Apple are fixing it but I might get a bit more comfort if the mighty Apple was actually to say something about the situation, even if only to acknowledge it and state that they are working on it.

So what do we do in the meantime?

Apple has spent the last few years concentrating on the iPhone and neglecting computers/laptops. With their iPhone market diminishing (how many fools is there available to spend £/$100's for marginal gains) they need to refocus on their computers or on selling us television shows. I can work out on what their focus is on at the moment........

Customer support took days to call me back today. They didn’t help with this issue. So my late 2018 MacBook Pro is out of commission. Apple would like to see everyone buy another Mac.

192B on balance sheet and customers receive no solution for Big Sur.

Apple refused to fix my mid-2014 MacBook Pro 13", unless I paid $500 to replace the logic board. It was working perfectly fine until I tried to upgrade to Big Sur. As everyone else, I'm stuck with a black screen and an unresponsive computer. I've tried pretty much every fix I've seen here, plus the ones that Apple support recommended. One thing I don't feel comfortable doing is cracking it open. I'm hoping that Apple will do the right thing and apply the fix, or reimburse all of us for our spoiled computers.

Thank you for the update. I'll visit an Apple Store Genius Bar today to ask about this same issue. I pay for Apple's premium products (MacBook Pro, Apple Watch, AirPods) to ensure reliability and to avoid these issues. I am stunned by Apple's response so far. I have learnt a painful lesson about ignoring Apple system generated notifications to Upgrade the OS.

Okay from now on no more 2013 and 2014 macbooks will have this problem. This solution is not very elegant but its better than running into further problems.

I hope someone will offer a solution for those who tried to do the update in the last couple of days and now sitting in front of a useless machine.

I know many people who can easily afford not only one new macbook but they stick to their older ones. They mentioned that their machines could easily do the usual work and in times of climate change they see no need to buy new hardware.

Long lasting products are a statement for an environmental friendly corporate policy and that is one big reason for me to buy Apple products.

Apple's official response is pathetic! Particularly as it has taken it 7 days to get to the point that everyone else on this thread reached a long time ago.

My machine has been broken by Apple. They need to accept liability to move this forward.