MacBook Pro bricked after failed Big Sur update 😵 ⚰️

I’ve had the same problem with my MacBook Retina 12” 2015. Updated to Bigsur it restarted, I saw the progress bar and then it went blank to never turn on again. Only thing working is the trackpad but the screen is blank, seems to output something to HDMI but the external monitor also remains blank. I tried resetting the SMC etc but nothing. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve only had this MacBook since last year when I switched from a MacBook Pro (late 2013 13” oddly), actually starting to wonder if that has something to do with it as I transferred from that MacBook.

Hi. Also updated my MBP 13-inch retina mid-2014 to Big Sur. The update went fine, I was able to use my MBP normally after the update. But when I powered down & tried powering up it got stuck with the black screen although I heard the usual startup chime. After many power on retries, one with more than an hour of waiting with the same issue I almost gave up. Did one last try but this time I pressed the Option/Alt button while pressing the Power On button. Voila, the familiar Apple logo appeared & the machine successfully started up. Happy me.

Cheers. Edwin

I too had an SD card in the mac during the install. I used a Baseqi adapter and a Samsung evo card. Just bought a 512 on Amazon to replace the 256.

i was able to fix the issue see my last post.

strange thing is when I formatted my internal drive and named it Macintosh HD it also formatted my SD card and.gave it the same name. I had a backup for both thankfully.

i was thinking the same thing as you. Could having the SD card have anything to do with it.

although I don’t think it did any permanent damage to my machine. I too had the black screen many many times upon restart.

I've had the exact issue - MacBook Pro 13" mid-2014 in perfect operating condition. It was bricked by the installation, with a black screen. I was on the phone with Apple and tried a long list of key combinations trying to get some sort of response from the computer, with no effect. The only way I can tell whether the computer powers on and off is by checking for the lighted Apple design on the lid. No chime, no nothing. I dropped it off at an Apple store today, per their instructions. 'Hope they can get it back, but they are saying they might not even be able to get parts, and so far aren't agreeing to cover the repair. Something is wrong with this installation! (BTW, both of our 2019 MacBook pros sailed through the installation).

Just found out that Big Sur destroyed my 13 inch MacBook Pro mid 2014. The apple store said that they would have to replace the logic board for $500. But, it was working perfectly prior to attempting the Big Sur update. I’m heartbroken and bummed that Apple won’t stand behind this update. I wish I’d left it alone.

Forbes is covering this problem:

https://apple.news/AMqdC2p4zT5S2D-TvZU78TA

I have a 2017 MacBook Pro. It’s been a great laptop until downloading Big Sur. Now it won’t power up. Tried all the methods on Apple site. This is a bummer because I don’t have the cash to get a new one. Last year my iPhone would not hold a charge after update. Now my Mac?

[Edited by Moderator]

Hey every one, my Mac Book Pro all the bells and whistles took four hours to down load Big Sur, next day there was at minium another 1-2 hours of application updates for Pages, Numbers etc ... it was hard looking at the black screen and not sufferinf a full blown anxiety attack and wanting to shut it down and re boot, after awhile, when I moved mouse over screen it gave me an occasional view of a clock indicating down load time left .... so, as difficult as it is to be patient, try ... apparently Apples servers are inundated with others looking to update ... now, two days later, my email (Yahoo and Apple) is !@#$% and waiting for resolve ...Big Sur update freezes email with every attempt to send or input a contact name. Apples spinning beach ball of doom freezes sytstem.

I'm exactly the same! I mean I've tried everything to no avail! It's BRICKED, no doubt in my mind.

The funny thing is I was getting it ready to be sold or traded as I've already placed an order for

an M1 machine on Apple! But since this happened I'm thinking to cancel my order as it really put

a bad taste in my mouth as how my mid 2014 MacBook Pro can get dead while upgrading and also

I've lost a few hundred cash which was going toward the M1 machine!

I really hope Apple come up with a solution as I am not the only one! A whole lot of people with

2014 & 2015 machines are dead in the water!

After reading all the posts ... Automatic Updates is getting turned off ... and as many have already recommended, any future Apple updates will be postponed or ignored at least 2 months after release ... Always knew it to be true ... take my advise, I don't use it ....

MacBook Pro 2014, had SD card inserted during the installation and resulted in black screen and not booting.

I was just able to get the installation to resumed after two days of black screen. Here is what I did, YMMV:

1. Let the battery be empty by just leaving it on until it turned off by itself, verify by pressing the power and see the icon on the display to plug in

2. removed the SD card

3. Plug in

4. Reset SMC (hold Shift-Control-Option-Power for 10s)

5. Internet recovery (hold Option-Command-R then press power)

6. Open Disk Utility, run First Aid on the system disk and data disk

7. Quit Disk Utility and Restart

now the installation resumed, finger crossed no more issue.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro11,3

Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Core i7

Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 6 MB

Memory: 16 GB

My Big Sur install was 'successful' but only once I disconnected the MB from by 27" Thunderbolt Display.

However, now, if connected to the display, the MB will not reboot / restart.

If I disconnect and do a SRAM / PRAM reset - this is what comes up:

Therefore, I disconnect from the screen and just do a normal reboot - then the MB will restart - but there obviously is some problem here.

Any ideas / fixes Apple?!

it seems that the problems occur when connecting peripherals to HDMI and SD Slot. The mid 2013 and early 2014 uses the same I/O board.

There are still many thousands of theses older macbooks used daily.

The transition to the new silicone architecture will cause many problems. I am not sure Apple will provide for years os updates in the future for their Intel based machines.

To be an early adopter of the silicone based macbooks is not a proper way to.

Sorry Apple I love your hardware and recommended to many customers but now its time to take a look back to Lenovos T series. Their main advantage: you will get parts and they are easily to fix.

I had this problem too on a MacBook Pro Mid 2014. The screen turns black and installation seems to freeze. A reboot then gets into a constant reboot loop. This problem occurred with the very last beta version.

On my computer it seemed to be also connected with my external Thunderbolt Apple Display. I unplugged the Thunderbolt display before booting and the Macbook started normal. When booting was finished I could plugin again the screen and it worked absolutely normal.

The problem still persists. Also booting in safe mode can help (press shift key when booting). At least my Macbook isn't bricked.

GENIUS BAR UPDATE.

I handed my mid-2014 MBP to the apple store yesterday and they have just called to update, some key points.

• Device was unresponsive to their diagnostic tools.
• Engineers are aware of the issue, issue has been escalated to higher ups.
• They are awaiting information on how to repair the affected devices so that issues do not re-occur.
• If around 2% of devices sold have this issue, the cost to repair may be covered by apple however not confirmed as of now.
• Around 3 days for another update.

Thanks for the update! We would also be grateful if you continue to post updates here regarding repairing your MBP.

Also, please tell me if the following is true: 

- during the update, you had an SD card inserted and / or an external device was connected (HDD / SSD / Thunderbolt Apple Display); 

- during the update, you had a firmware password set (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204455); 

- whether you installed Big Sur 11.0.1 RC1 or Big Sur 11.0.1 RC2 earlier, or you updated your MBP to the release version available on the Mac App Store;