MacBook Pro EFI 2.2 Update Problem

I had the same problem so I called apple,

You need to press ctrl alt shift and the on/off button for 1 second and after that turn it on again, and make sure there is nothing plugged into your mac exept the power cord.

THANK YOU!! Thank you, thank you! That worked! I dont know why it locked up, but I had no idea how to restart it. I'm used to PC's this is my first Mac. Restarted just fine with a status bar.

I also had problems with the latest EFI update (2.2) yesterday: downloaded fine and followed all the instructions, then turned the laptop off for the night. This morning at startup the sign in screen appeared and I entered my password as usual. However, then it was unable to continue and kept going to the next screen (blank blue) and back to the sign-in screen with my password still typed repeatedly. Force-quit did not work, and I was only able to get out of it and shut down by pressing the on/off button for a few seconds. At the next start-up (now) it seems all is running well.

I thought I found the sollution a week or so ago but still my macbook pro occassionally has startup issues.

It tries to startup but only the front led turns on and the fans start spinning like a maniac.

Called apple again today, paid their overpriced helpdesk so they could say: yeah.. yeah.. well.. I dunno.. bring it to a service center?..

Brought it to a service center, turns out the EFI update destroyed my motherboard.. great..

Getting ready now to pay a insane amount of money to get it fixed.

Thanks apple ;D

p.s. I expect you to name half of your new HQ after me since I paid for it.

Update on my problem that I described above: it continues to occur most times that I start up after overnight sleep (4 times already). After I restart as above, there is no problem and the computer acts normal. So this seems to be a recurring theme.

yes this is exactly what my mbp is doing, it is definitly your motherboard.

you could try reinstalling the efi update like I tried but if this doesn't work you'll have to get your motherboard replaced.

You can download the update here.

I hope you are still under warranty.

Thanks.

This is a new computer (July 2011), AND, I also have AppleCare. However, this is the main computer I use for all my work (heavily computer-based), and I am now overseas working away from the office for an extended period... Not a good time, but if all else fails, I will start searching for how to get timely Apple help.

they told me it will take about a week to fix the motherboard, but luckily I have another macbook so I'll be using my mbp's hdd in that so I can continue my work, maybe apple can provide a replacement machine for you so you can do the same?

I don't know if you are using bootcamp on your mac but you might need to reinstall that after they replace your motherboard so making a back-up is advisable.

I have had a similar issue as you and a bunch of other posts. After my update, which went fine, my computer started occasionally going black with a single line vertical line of pixels on the leftmost side of the screen. Once in a while it will do the whole Kernel Panic with the mult-language screen. This started within a short time after my EFI update, and I NEVER ONCE even had a crash on this machine before.

I'm so ticked!!! I have been on the phone with Apple support, and they sent it to the system engineers because the main technicians have exhausted all of their possible fixes. I even re-installed LION using the internet recovery option. At least now I have a fresh clean install of Lion, not an upgrade from Snow Leoppard.

But, two times during the Lion internet recovery while it was still doing the initial load of files from the internet it crashed with the black screen mentioned previously. This is so very frustrating.

I should hear something tomorrow I hope from the technicians at Apple - I'm sure I'm going to have to take this to a support center and have the motherboard replaced because the EFI is not reverseable. Once it's done it can never be undone, according to what I have read anyway. Doesn't make any sense, on a PC, system Bios can be downgraded which is really the same thing or very similar.

Apple makes a pretty good product, but it seems over the years they have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot and alienating customers because of stupid pet tricks like this. 🙂

OH well - I'll stop whining now. If anyone actually figures out how to fix this I'd love to hear how!!!

as I allready said above you, the EFI update instals directly on your motherboard, your problems started after the update so just like my mbp your macs motherboard is toast..

you can try reinstalling the EFI update again using the download link in my previous post but if the problem persists and you want to get it fixed you'll have to get your motherboard replaced (wich is covered by your 1 year warranty i hope).

I'ts no good news I know but this really is the only sollution, I've been through every possibility I can think of.

And apple.. you can go **** yourself for releasing a faulty update and then ignoring it

My new 3 week old 2011 MBP took a dump after updating the EFI today.Took it into an Apple Store, and they tried to tell me that it was because I had upgraded the HDD to an SSD myself, and that the hard drive swap was probably what caused the EFI to break everything. They took it back for repair under warranty with the assumption that it was a bad logic board, but told me they were making an exception on the warranty because I "modified" it, and they shouldn't really repair it.This is the end of the line for me. This is definitely my last Apple product. I talked to store managers and complained, and called customer support and complained there as well, and no one could do anything for me. I am now wondering if it is a bad motherboard as someone said above, if they will try to make me pay to repair it, even though they said they would cover it originally. I wish real customer service still existed, where a company could be honest that they made a mistake instead of trying to blame it on the customer in any way possible.

If you search Apple's own message boards (talk about self-incrimination), it appears EFI updates do this freequently. I suspect it's probably due to bad transfer of the update into ROM; or in other words bad design of the software that does the update. Anyway - talk about an annoying little issue. After working with a Rep on the phone for a week and a half, reinstalling OS, etc, etc, etc. They treat it like they have never seen this before. Finally I was referred to a service center locally. Took it there, and they claim to have never seen it before. It took 2 days to duplicate the issue (it is not always forthcoming unfortunately), and the technician is a bit baffled. He replaced the RAM thinking that may be the cause and let me try it for a few days. It has done it 2 times since. I'm sure eventually it will take a MB replacement. So darned frustrating!!!

I've same problem after EFI Firmware Update 2.2. Sometimes when i push the power button, front led turns on and fans spin like maniac. That's it. Just black screen, no keypad response. I can turn on my mac 3-4 time tries.

I bought OSX Lion and updated from snow leopard for solution, but everything is same. I don't know how to fix this problem.

My issues stopped since about 4-5 days ago. I did not do anything special, and still runing OS 10.6.8.

Was initially going to re-install the EFI 2.2 update and even downloaded it, but since there were no more problems, I didn't risk it and did not reinstall.

I hope it stays 'ok'.

🙂

I just had the same thing happen. I'm running Lion 10.7.1. My computer is i month old at this point. BTW, this unit came with Lion already installed. I downloaded the EFI 2.2 firmware update last thursday. It 'beeped' once, downloaded and then tried to restart. It stayed in perpetual sleep mode, black screen, totally unresponsive. Got no help from the technicians by phone. They tried to send me a start-up disc initially saying I must have thrown it out until they realized my computer came with Lion pre-installed. I brought it to a nearby Applw store...the motherboard was fried. Luckily I was covered. I'd advise NOT trying to download this update until you research a little further. Don't download it at all unless you have Apple care.

Thanks for letting me vent. No one can tell me why this happened and Apple seems to think mine was a rrare and isolated case. After checking online, this is certainly not true. I'll wait until they figure this one out before re-loading!!!