MacBook Pro bricked after failed Big Sur update 😵 ⚰️

I also had an SD card inserted during the update. Perhaps because of this, the update did not go according to plan. I also noticed that many people wrote that they had an SD card inserted during the update.

MBP 13" Mid 2014

Maybe is just a matter of fact that many people is using SD cards to have a bit more storage since HDD and SSD Macbook capacity has being ridiculous since ever... I don’t see this relevant for what is about the update. For me, now, what is crucial is if I can continue to trust Apple or not. My MBP is bricked and I have Genius Bar appointment tomorrow. Keeping me as customer or not will depend on tomorrows answers from Apple Service... If I have to pay 1 dollar/euro I will stop buying Apple laptops. Live is like that!!! We’ll see...

Could you write here about your visit to Genius Bar and solving the problem? I think many users will be very grateful to you if you leave here your impressions of visiting Genius Bar. Maybe you can share what they advised you and what you can do at home with MBPs to bring them back to life!

Unfortunately, some people will not be able to visit Genius Bar soon (perhaps until the end of quarantine restrictions and the return of the possibility of flights to other countries). 😔

I have a Genius Bar appointment today, they called me to discuss the device symptoms beforehand and from the sounds of it the news of this issue hasn’t reached the engineers in stores yet. So they couldn’t tell me whether I would need to pay should there be any hardware issues caused by updating as others have pointed out. I’m hoping it’s just a case of re-installing the OS using their external recovery tools but I will provide updates as they come.

Thanks for the information! 

I look forward to hearing from you regarding your visit to Genius Bar and how to resolve this issue. 

Hope you don’t need to change the MBP hardware parts to fix the issue, much less pay for repairs and hardware parts.

exactly the same here on my late 2013 MBP. The only way I can get it too boot is with a USB HDD plugged in. I've no idea why that helps, but reading the comments on IO board fixes it almost makes sense.

Yesterday I tried to update my wife's September 2014 MacBook Pro with Big Sur. Download went fine and installation began. Shortly after accepting the agreement system began the installation and then went to a black screen and became unresponsive. After waiting hours for some indication of life, I contacted Apple support and was guided through all possible steps to bring the mac back. Nothing worked, support said they'd get back to me.... ☹️☹️😡🧱🧱

Same here.

MB pro 13" late 2013

SD Card inserted while Updating.

Bricked with black Screen.

But...as there are a lot of Postings with the IO Card Error the Apple Moderators began ti delete those Postings.

Looks like Apple will not read about there own Error!!!!

They offer automatic updates for there Systems, my MacBook did so..and now there is this big mess.

thought about buying an new MacBook but now i think about getting rid of my Ipads, Iphones, Watches and some other Apple Hardware....i´m very very angry about what is going on here

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I have the same problem with my MBP 2014. i had an sd card plugged in, while big sur should be installed. Unfortunately, i can not try the usb clean install, because i have no other mac. Every other recovery failed. I hope the guys at gravis can help me on thursday (there is no genius bar in my city).

Trully sound advice everyone should listen!

But getting to the point of a significant number of macchines being bricked because of software upgrade, really goes beyond reasonable faillures, specially in non upgradable/closed architecture machines.

I confess this issue is making me skeptical of new apple silicone...

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).

I had same problem with my mid 2014 MacBook Pro. Installed big sur and got unresponsive grey screen during reboot. I turned it off and back on multiple times, and eventually it resumed rebooting. Then after a few minutes went blank grey again. Kept turning it off and on. Eventually it rebooted with big sur installed and working fine. Thank goodness. I was sweating it for a while.

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?

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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.