I experienced the Bad Magic iboot flag error when trying to update my 2018 mac mini (that i just bough in July from apple). to big sur.
I have reset nvram, erased a boot camp partition, erased the drive and attempted internet recovery, attempted to install via flash drive, in the end, I had to install Catalina, which I actually got installed. Still wont let me upgrade to Big Sur though.
Following up on my last post. As I said, the third-party RAM caused the error message for me. I could update to Big Sur by temporary installing the original RAM. After successfully updating to Big Sur, I opened the mini up again, removed one of the original sticks and replaced it with the 16GB crucial which caused the problems. So my mini has 20GB installed in total (yes this is possible, IMO additional ram beats any dual-channel considerations). With this setup, the update from 11.1 to 11.2 was hassle-free, and everything worked as expected.
Don’t think I’ll be trying this until we get some successful replies
Apparently the affected computers need to be 'revived' by using Apple Configurator 2, posted by a Redditor: https://old.reddit.com/r/macmini/comments/jtohmr/bad_magic_error/
Here is the official guide by Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/apple-configurator-2/apdebea5be51/2.13/mac/10.15.6
Thanks. Has anyone succesfully completed these steps and resolved the issue to upgrade to Big Sur ?
Hopefully it will also address poor / inconsistent Bluetooth on the mac mini 2018 (2019 purchase) as well which seems to be worse when it gets hot.
I also have a 2018 mac mini and ran into this issue. I spent hours online with support, who instructed me to do a firmware revive using Apple Configurator 2. This failed. That means my mac mini that was working fine prior to reaching out to them was now no longer working. I took it into the store for a genius bar appointment. They said they could get it working and it would take 24 hours. Less than a day later, they called and said I had to pay for a new logic board. So, now I have to pay $450 for a new part because it's been over a year since I bought it and I reached out to support for assistance. If you just bought it in July, you should be able to have them replace it within warranty.
No change. Safe mode didn't work, and I run no security on my secure boot settings too.
I have the same issue. Big Sur downloads, starts the upgrade, restarts to the Apple logo then goes back to the existing instalation and says it rebooted with an error. Bag Magic
Filevault is off for mine as well. By chance do any of you run an eGPU of any kind?
Obviously mine is disconnected for the upgrade, but im just grasping at straws at this point.
Thanks for the efforts and looking forward.
As far as I’ve seen complaints only Mac mini’s are affected (2018/2020).
Also bricked my mac mini using configurator. Apple support told me to do it, Now I get to pay for the new logic board.
Big Sur & Bad Magic!
