Monterey bricked MacBook Pro 16" Intel

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Level 1

5 points

Monterey bricked MacBook Pro 16" Intel

So I'm one of the unlucky ones that had my almost brand new MacBook Pro 16" Intel from 2020 (known as 2019) bricked by the update to Monterey.

I never had a single problem with the computer until then. Pressed update and midway through it it went dead and wouldn't boot / turn on / show anything on the display.

Took it to an authorised Apple Repair Centre and was told that it needed a new logic board for nearly €900 ($1000). They didn't even revive it and told me it wasn't possible.

This seemed unacceptable, paying $1000 for a one and a half year brand new computer that costed 2800€ and for making the mistake of clicking on "update to Monterey". Seriously Apple?

So I brought it home and after doing a bit of my own research I found the revive methods and was able to revive it and save my data.

The only problem is that its SMC or something seems to have gotten a bit confused and the computer became extremely slow with a kernel_task process taking 500% of the CPU or something similar, and the fans running at full speed.

I tried everything, resetting the SMC and PRAM several times. I revived and restored with Apple Configuration, but it's still the same, fans at full speed and extremely slow.

After hours of installing I got a new Monterey OS in it. On system report it doesn't seem to detect the battery, 0V, 0Amps, 0 cycles, even though the battery is there and charged and computer works without cable.

So based on all this, does anyone know if / how it is possible to return the computer to normal? Is there another way of resetting the SMC or reprogramming the firmware, maybe electronically or something? Or is it bricked?

Wondering if anyone else had this, since lots of people seem to have it suddenly dying with Monterey too.

Any help appreciated, thanks!

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Posted on Nov 4, 2021 3:35 AM

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Answer 1

quirril Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 7, 2021 5:22 AM in response to Tushkee

After bringing it from the repair centre, still bricked, I was able to revive it by holding left-shift+ctrl+option+power for 40-50 seconds (and not 7 seconds as there SMC reset suggests). Or might have been left-shift+option+command+power, not quite sure. If this fails, try to draining the battery out first (you can tell if the Mac is on or off depending on whether the touchpad clicks or not).

After this the computer came to life and completed the Monterey update (took forever) and I was able to rescue my files. But it became extremely slow from then on with the fans running at full speed.

Diagnostics say it doesn't detect the battery and there is an SMC issue, even though it does run on battery only.

So I then revived it and restored it with Apple Configurator 2 in DFU mode from another Mac, but still without success.

Apple later looked at it remotely and said it was a hardware fault and that it had to go into repair, but declined to cover it as it was just a few months over 1 year old warranty. I'm still not sure it is, as it was working perfectly until halfway through the update to Monterey and the chances of something burning just in this very day and update moment and not any other hour or day are very very slim. It may well be some mis-programmed eeprom or nvram or bios or firmware or sec or something.

But it just became unusable / bricked. Of course replacing the logic board will fix it as the new one will contain a newly programmed smc or something. But having to pay $822-$1000 for making the mistake of clicking on a macOS induced "update to Monterey" on a nearly new computer is unacceptable.

Anyway, in summary, try shft-ctrl-op-prw or shift-opt-cmd-pwr for 40-50 seconds. You might be lucky :)

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Answer 2

quirril Author

Level 1

5 points

Nov 7, 2021 6:10 AM in response to Tushkee

I was trying to find the original post on reddit where I read about it but can't seem to anymore

But anyway, it didn't work at first, so give it a few tries ... also try holding just:

ctl+opt+shift for 45 seconds

then press power then and hold for another 45 seconds

(like the SMC reset but for 40-45 seconds instead of 7)

It might still come alive :)

Otherwise, maybe talk to Apple as they now officially recognised the problem and issued a software update for it. They hadn't when I talked to them and mine was revived.

https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/05/apple-macos-monterey-mac-bug-fix/

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

125,465 points

Nov 4, 2021 3:42 AM in response to quirril

I can't help with your problem but you should let Apple know about your experience.

Feedback - macOS - Apple

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Answer 4

Tushkee

Level 1

9 points

Nov 7, 2021 3:29 AM in response to quirril

Hi, I have the same model and they're asking me to pay 822 USD to replace the board. They tried reviving the Mac but it didn't work. Were you able to revive in the first attempt ?

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