Bessem

Q: ICH8-M AHCI Macbook Pro 4,1 : Firmware Update ????

Why Apple has not updated the firmware of the chipset ICH8-M (Macbook Pro 2008 Penryn). What interest to buy an SSD, if only to be reining in advance with the SATA 1.5Gbps so it can support the SATA 3Gbps without problem!
We hope that Apple does not forget that these models are not yet doomed to become obsolete and that many users are waiting for an update as soon as possible to see their performances evolved.
I hope those who are in my case will raise their voices so that Apple can offer us a firmware update.

PS - MacBook Pro models from 2009 had the same limitation, but were treated to an update: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3561

MacbookPro4,1, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 2, 2011 3:10 AM

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Q: ICH8-M AHCI Macbook Pro 4,1 : Firmware Update ????

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  • by djkawada,

    djkawada djkawada Apr 2, 2011 6:18 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2011 6:18 AM in response to Bessem
    Yeah that's totally right.
    I'm and we are waiting for an update of this chipset since 3years now.
    So please Apple do something for us !

    Thins is really a need now because of the public introduction of the SSD's technology.
  • by PeteThSock,

    PeteThSock PeteThSock Apr 2, 2011 6:57 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2011 6:57 AM in response to Bessem
    I've got a Macbook 3,1 and my SSD speeds have been hampered by the ICH-8M. It is capable of running SATA 2, but Apple artificially limits it to SATA 1.5.

    It never mattered when I had a platter based hard drive, but since I've updated to an SSD my maximum speeds are 130 MB/s when they should be close to 250 MB/s.
  • by Bessem,

    Bessem Bessem Apr 2, 2011 11:39 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2011 11:39 AM in response to Bessem
    Particularly in models 3.1 and 4.1, the SSD gives the beast a second life and an absolute silence but at a price that: halved performance. It's stupid ...
  • by S4nder,

    S4nder S4nder Apr 2, 2011 4:38 PM in response to Bessem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 2, 2011 4:38 PM in response to Bessem
    I got a macbook 4.1 and was also looking for a SSD, then after some research I found out that the controller is limited to 1.5 gb.
    Is there no way to fix this?
  • by spheric,

    spheric spheric Apr 3, 2011 7:02 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 3 (690 points)
    Apr 3, 2011 7:02 AM in response to Bessem
    http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=7835786&postcount=17

    MacRumors wrote:
    Yes you are correct. The ICH8-M used has SATA 3.0 Gbit/s capability but is capped at 1.5 Gbit/s. There is a reason for that and it affects other laptops as well - Dell, IBM/Lenovo etc


    The ICH8-M was incompatible with many SATA-PATA bridge chipsets at the 3.0 Gbit/s level. Since the SATA-PATA bridges were needed due to optical drives being PATA, you'll see this on many laptops. On Desktop motherboards where a separate chipset was used to provide IDE channels and on laptops that had no PATA optical drives, the chipset can and does provide 3.0 Gbit/s
  • by Bessem,

    Bessem Bessem Apr 3, 2011 7:26 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2011 7:26 AM in response to Bessem
    I am aware that Apple is not the only one affected by this problem, however I found an article which stated that the amendment remains level software instead of hardware. So yes, Apple is stifling the ICH chipset model 3.1 and 4.1. The following models of MacBook Pro (pre-unibody) had the same problem in 2009, Apple was provided with an update of EFI numbered 1.7.
    Admittedly, I did not say it was not compatible with SATA 3Gb but this limitation does not really impact when using a hard disk, but is troublesome with SSDs lately. .
    Read this article (sorry it's in French): http://www.presence-pc.com/actualite/sata150-lenovo-35555/
    A player has managed to activate 3Gbits on a PC Lenovo http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4882948#post4882948
    So it is useless to say that this is impossible.
  • by spheric,

    spheric spheric Apr 3, 2011 8:23 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 3 (690 points)
    Apr 3, 2011 8:23 AM in response to Bessem
    Feel free to risk frying your MacBook Pro with a firmware hack that will break the internal optical drive.

    But to ask, let alone expect, Apple to do so for you is just silly.
  • by Bessem,

    Bessem Bessem Apr 3, 2011 9:02 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 3, 2011 9:02 AM in response to Bessem
    I will not attempt anything that would jeopardize the macbook, also so far there is no procedure to activate 3Gbits. So users who are awaiting activation TRIM SSDs are stupid! What arrogance ...
  • by spheric,

    spheric spheric Apr 3, 2011 10:01 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 3 (690 points)
    Apr 3, 2011 10:01 AM in response to Bessem
    Bessem wrote:
    I will not attempt anything that would jeopardize the macbook, also so far there is no procedure to activate 3Gbits. So users who are awaiting activation TRIM SSDs are stupid! What arrogance ...


    I suggest you relax and read the quote I posted above through, again.

    IF the explanation proposed by harshw on the MacRumors forums is correct (I have no way to verify this; it was the first plausible explanation I've found), then the reason why the speed is limited to 1.5 GBit is TECHNICAL.

    If the S-ATA controller runs at full speed, the optical drive is broken.

    If Apple offered a firmware upgrade, it would require replacing the optical drive.

    So Apple's "arrogance" is to provide a working - but slower - solution, rather than a faster - but broken - one.

    And my "arrogance" is telling you not to expect Apple to break their own hardware by offering a firmware upgrade.

    I can live with that.
  • by greg sahli,

    greg sahli greg sahli Apr 3, 2011 7:34 PM in response to spheric
    Level 7 (25,400 points)
    Apr 3, 2011 7:34 PM in response to spheric
    Apple employees don't generally read these posts (just administrators) - you need to post on www.apple.com/feedback.
  • by Bessem,

    Bessem Bessem Apr 4, 2011 2:18 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 4, 2011 2:18 AM in response to Bessem
    Thank you for the council.
  • by Bessem,

    Bessem Bessem Apr 4, 2011 5:53 PM in response to Bessem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 4, 2011 5:53 PM in response to Bessem
    Should we expect a negative response even from them?
  • by spheric,

    spheric spheric Apr 4, 2011 10:21 PM in response to Bessem
    Level 3 (690 points)
    Apr 4, 2011 10:21 PM in response to Bessem
    Bessem wrote:
    Should we expect a negative response even from them?


    Probably not.
  • by dictvm,

    dictvm dictvm Apr 10, 2011 9:34 AM in response to Bessem
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 10, 2011 9:34 AM in response to Bessem
    My Macbook Pro 4,1 is in almost perfect shape, except for the fact that I cannot upgrade to an SSD, because I wouldn't profit from the full speed due to the bus-limitation. Apple, please give us an EFI update, even if it disables the optical drive, which I haven't used because it no longer reads any media since almost 2 years.
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