MacBook Pro bricked after failed Big Sur update 😵 ⚰️

I would not pay Apple €500 to fix an issue that they caused and obviously have yet to work out the root cause of it.

There is hope.

My mid-14 Macbook pro was dead for 2 weeks with black/grey screen. I tried every thing in the various forums with no success. I left it alone and it ran down the power to zero; not even the dead battery symbol. I had some spare time yesterday and plugged it in and charged it. This didn't take long as the battery is done! I then tried a couple of SMC resets and it sprang to life with the Apple symbol and progress bar.

The bar progressed to the end the machine tried to restart but got stuck on grey screen again. I did some more SMC resets and eventually got the Apple symbol and progress bar again. Eventually, after much chugging away, the machine started, loaded with Big Sur.

This all suggests that the issue does not relate to hardware and there is no justification to charge you €500. I suspect that the issue relates to dodgy firmware or similar and that there is a software fix....see fix further above.

Apple need to get on and determine the root cause and roll this out to their "Genius" bars. Otherwise, their customers will paying for hardware fixes that they do not need.

As an aside, I had USB HDD plugged into both ports in the course of the successful SMC reset. Not sure whether this was a factor or not but always worth a try.

iulia161 wrote:

Hello guys

I will revisit the Genius Bar in Düsseldorf, Germany to pickup my unresponsive MacBook Pro 2013 after installing BigSur OS. The Tech Team refused to send me a protocol about the procedures they tried out for the recovery. The only solution from their perspective is to pay 500€ and get a completely new IO Connector & Case.

What are you recommending? Should I pay this money and for a downgrade to the Catalina OS and a Firmware Update?

Thank you!

Iulia

Please see this post towards the bottom of Page 28 of this thread:

"After handing in my macbook pro 13" late 2013 this tuesday at my local apple store in Germany with the black screen issue and telling them that unplugging the I/O-board resolves the boot issue, they reproduced the solution and escalated my problem "to Cupertino/engineering". Today on friday I got a call, that they already ordered the replacement parts (I/O-board) and will fix the issue free of charge until the mid of next week. I hope this information is helpful."

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-big-sur-update-bricking-some-older-macbook-pro-models.2268438/page-28

I also managed to get my Macbook Pro Mid 20014 to continue the installation after being completely dead for several days. The installation finished and everything was running smoothly. Just until first restart. Then it was totally bricked again. What eventually helped me was a new IO board, which I had replaced at a local repair shop for, equivalent of, 70 usd.

Has anyone else tried booting with 2 usb hdd plugged in? (I.e. one in each port).

i had all the same issues as most of you including none of the key combinations working. But having both USB ports occupied allowed

me to boot. It always worked for getting mine to boot and allowed me to install 11.1 which has now cleared the problem.

My Mid 2014 MacBook Pro is finally going to be repaired by Apple at a local authorized repair center, free of charge! It's been stuck on a grey screen since attempting the update to Big Sur, and no key combination would make a difference. As many of you, I went through repeated calls to Apple support, spoke to several senior support people, took my Mac to the local Apple Store (which has since closed due to COVID), and took it to an authorized repair place.

I finally found a senior support person that really listened, and found the Apple document that directly addressed my concern. For some reason, Apple wouldn't repair my MacBook pro directly, so I'm waiting till December 29 for their first available appointment. They plan to start with the I/O board, and proceed to the logic board if needed. Hopefully, it won't take too long for the repair.

So, my suggestion is to escalate your concerns to a senior support staff, and ask them to look up your particular machine, adding Big Sur update, grey screen, and I/O board to their search. The documents are there, and can be found.

Update:

I have erased my Macintosh - HD disk and recovery mode reinstalled macOS Big Sur successfully.

The Macintosh - HD - Data survived, so I could transfer all my apps across.

Just a day lost in setting up from scratch.

The support person was great, and managed to talk me down from the ceiling.

I'm not going to chance Google File Stream at the moment. Reading the posts.

So, incredibly stressful, but not a complete disaster.

Thank god for backups.

I found that when the computer has gone totally dead it's useful to remove the internal drive and replace it with another bootable drive or simply remove the internal drive and attach an external bootable thumb drive. Once a replacement drive is in place, then try to reset the PRAM (it will likely take several tries) or any other reset you wish to try. What I am saying is, with the problem drive out of the way, you are more likely to succeed with a reset. At first, you might see a flicker of hope but after several tires, it just might light up. After your computer has life back in it, then maybe you can experiment with reparing your original drive and hopefully recover your data. Keep in mind that there is no substitute for having a Time Machine backup and/or a disk image.

I unplugged everything no power, usb, external monitor. Nothing. Forced shut down. Waited 20-30 minutes. Then, when I hit power, it came to life. Very slowly.

Apple's official solution: https://support.apple.com/de-de/HT211242

Yes, Genius Bar.

LilyBP book Genius Bar appointment and really dig your heals in about getting it repaired or ask for the Apple repair technician to take a look.

Unfortunately for the MBP late 2013/mid 2014 all this does not work.

Internet recovery as well as recovery etc. do not work.

It got bricked.

The Big Sur update reportedly seems to be permanently damaging the HDMI IC on the I/O board.

Unfortunately, you cannot check the disk or reinstall the system (on a formatted disk). The problem is in EFI / SMC - somewhere there is a software error that does not allow the system to boot normally. Many, by the way, cannot even enter recovery mode. Also the keyboard shortcuts for resetting NVRAM/SMC do not work.

But if you manage to boot into recovery mode, then reinstalling the system or formatting the disk and reinstalling the system won't help. Even if you install OS X Mavericks, it will also not downgrade EFI / SMC. You will also stay on the same version that was installed with Big Sur.

At the point of total despair I tried unplugging the power and thunderbolt monitor. Suddenly it came on!

Heres the thing, I tested this many times - if the power cable and / or thunderbolt screen is plugged in the MacBook Pro either powers on to a black screen or a frozen login.

...so this is a bit of a workaround because your unplugging and plugging cables back each time but it gets the thing too boot.

I visited the Apple Store Genius Bar. The customer support representative was pleasant but stuck to his colleague's response from Monday's visit to the Apple Store that a ~AU$1200 repair is required to replace the logic board and battery. I said no. He also suggested re-contacting Apple Support via telephone or message to request that the issue is elevated to engineering and/or tier 2 support (I don't know what tier 2 support is).