MacBook Pro bricked after failed Big Sur update 😵 ⚰️

Upvoting this. I had the exact same issue ;(MBP late 2013)manager escalation and final response. They can fix it for $470US.

this is widespread and the coat to fix is .25-.50% of a a new comparable model machine. They broke working systems and want us to pay for them :(

After several connections to support, first visit to authorized service (I rejected there suggested repair for $850 ), and escalating to engineer level – Apple promise me to give “exclude code” for free repair. Waiting for Friday next trip to service.

I can’t answer that yet, hopefully today I’ll be picking up my MBP and ask about that. But ndv27 found a way to get it see: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252034110?answerId=253960482022#253960482022

I guess it depends if you have access to official physical AppleStore.

Sorry for your sour experience.

I agree 200% with your view on these macOS updates and it’s consequences!

I think you should make your case with tech repair manager at Apple and ask for free repair if you can demonstrate it was their software update that caused this issues! Like ndv27

I can confirm that a big sur 11.0.1 upgrade including 427 firmware bricked a late 2013 macbook pro 15 inch. Upgrade completed, firmware update noted in sys. profiler, slept & rebooted fine but machine failed to power-up after being shutdown for a few days. Tried NVRAM and SMC resets but was stone dead; no backlight or fans only power changing from amber to green after a while. Eagerly awaiting an update to the recent firmware update that supposedly enabled wake from hibernation with upgraded NVMe drives in late 2013 models. Was hoping to get a bigger SSD after big sur but I'll have to hold off for now.

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I agree with Markus. 500 EUR is just too much to pay for a problem THEY created. I would start using social media to highlight your problem and tag Apple in all posts -- until Apple responds. Good luck and sorry for your problems.

Julia, I hadn’t tried connecting an external monitor. There was no way to upgrade to 11.1, since my MacBook Pro couldn’t start up, other than to show a grey screen. I tried to start up in recovery mode, but there was no response to any key combinations.

I suspect that it’s the older MacBook Pros (2013-2014) that were really bricked by Big Sur, with little chance of recovery without some sort of hardware repair. Somehow, having an SD card in the slot during the upgrade was involved in many of those with bricked machines. My senior support guy said that the entire logic board could be corrupted by the upgrade.

Yes, this occurred in the US. But, neither the Apple Store or the authorized repair store could tell me why my Mac was stuck on a gray screen - just that it was toast and would need a logic board replacement. Apple had planned to start with the I/O board, and if needed replace the logic board. Apparently they are all out of replacement parts for these old units, and is (if you're persistent and lucky) replacing the computers.

So glad your 2018 is fixed at Apple's expense. I'm not sure I would go through the hassle of updating your 2013 MBP. It took 2 months of haranguing to receive my replacement. At least, it might be worth calling support to see what they suggest. Best of luck!

Two weeks after I got my 2015 15" MacBook Pro repaired back from Apple, I started getting hardware problems randomly. Sometimes the macbook would beep every 5 seconds with black screen. Sometimes powering it off and starting it up would fix it temporary, but the black screen with the beeps would come back a few times a day. A short beep every 5 sec means memory problems (RAM is soldered on the logic board on this mac). In the previous repair the logic board was replaced.

So luckily I got 90 days warranty on the initial repair and I brought it back to the Apple store. I was able to replicate the problem in front of the rep. Now waiting for it to get repaired again.

When this happened to me with my last MacBook Pro I could boot into safe mode but what was actually wrong w the hardware was my logic board was fried suddenly and caused the battery to swell, therefore I truly believe the Big Sur update bricked my MacBook Pro. I just got a brand new one shipped to me and it won’t even boot up. Weird coincidence right?

I have same problem, i gave my MacBook to the proffesional specialist and he said that there is no option to make recovery, only to install previous software using PC to PC connection, i lost the whole data. Apple failed that update like no one ever before

Have there been cases of this being repaired/replaced without Apple care? When I’ve contacted support they were rude to me, told me my 2016 MBP is “old” and compared it to a pizza, said I shouldn’t expect it to work forever. It bricked after auto updating itself to Big Sur. I have already taken it in and techs discovered the logic board failed and the battery swelled.

Good luck! Try to be firm and nice when you talk to Apple support, especially when you get to level II support. Your Mac Book should not be bricked when you upgrade to a later version of their OS, especially when they are pushing you to upgrade and you get those nagging reminders every day. Best of luck.

Happened to mine too. Kept rebooting and wouldn't do anything at all. Was told to take to Apple Store to get repaired. machine from April 2019, but purchased through the Refurbished program, so it was 1 month out of warranty.

They made me pay £90 to diagnose and repair. Called back 2 days later saying they switched it on and there was no fault with the machine. This after I tried to switch it on about 40 times, tried every recover mode under the sun, and spoke to Apple Tech support 4 times.

Obviously there is likely a BIOS bug on Big Sur, which Apple seems to hide from its customers, and judging by this thread, it is affecting many, many people. Felt like I was scammed out of £90.

My MacBook Pro is stuck on installation. Left it to install over night and it is stuck on the installation status bar.

Reading this post I don’t know what to do.