Q: MBA mid 2011 2.9 Firmware update just killed by Air

This firmware completely corrupted the keyboard and trackpad  (ORIGINAL MBA 2011 CORE DUO) so there is no input onscreen. Mouse moves, but cursor is not recognized by finder or programs rendering machine useless.

Worst firmware update in my 30 years of owning Apple products. And they are taking their sweet time fixing it.

If you have AppleCare you may want to take the MBAir to the nearest Apple Store and for a Genius to help you restore the machine.

As an early adopter I to rushed to manually update the EFI.

I now have the Wi-Fi issue not automatically connecting to my network.

Also, my MBA now takes about 15-25 min to boot the OS!

It is like starting from an old 1,44", and old suppressed memories return.

I normally just let the MBA sleep and then it is somehow ok.

Is there no possibility to restore to the former EFI?

Hello Apple! You screwed my MBA, now it is time to un-screw.

iKyrre! wrote:

 

Is there no possibility to restore to the former EFI?

No. There is no official Apple-supported method.

The firmware restoration CDs mentioned here - About the Firmware Restoration CD (Intel-based Macs) - also have the following caveat.

You can only use this to restore the firmware after an interrupted or unsuccessful update.

...

Note: This CD cannot be used to return an Intel-based Macintosh computer's firmware to a previous version if a successful update has already been performed.

The trust of 'Early Adopters' is slowly eroding and every such mis-step pushes them closer to the precipice.

It has been more than a week since Apple released (and then withdrew) the buggy MacBook Air 2011 2.9 EFI Firmware update.

Unfortunately, Apple has not yet acknowledged or provided a fix for this issue. If anyone comes across an Apple update or solution please post it on this thread. 

Apple's tardiness over the difficulties experienced by many 11 inch Mac Air users is also sly and not up front. No acknowledgement, comment, nothing so far. Reminds me of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's book 1984!

Apple Customer Care walked me through this:

1) Finder > Go (Option Key) > Library

2) Go to: Application Support > App Store

3) Delete updatejournal.plist

4) Reboot

5) Open App Store

The above steps removed the history "Updates Installed in the Last 30 Days" (showing now only "MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update").  However, it stopped App Store from thinking I still had another update available ("MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update").

Not sure that will work for everyone, but I wanted to share in case it helped.

Note: I do not have an AppleCare support plan.  I told support that I should not have to pay for support due to an issue with a Firmware update turning my laptop into a brick. 

Same issues here after updating the 2.9 firmware.  Very disappointed with Apple and now having all sorts of system freezing issues & connectivity issues that were not an issue with my system prior to the 2.9 firmware update.

Update downloaded, restarted, and it never came back on.

So I took my MBA to apple store last Saturday, and was told

this is not an update issue (they didn't aware of it or was denying it),

but a hardware issue, and only way to fix it is to pay $289 for replacing

a logic board. I was so mad. i will have to wait for Apple to come up

with a better solution.

Very surprising (and I assume you do not have AppleCare). If you read this thread, a couple of pages earlier...

EdisonW wrote:

 

I've just gotten off the phone with Apple L2 Support, and they have confirmed they've identified the issue, and as of right now, the update has been pulled from both the App Store Software Updates and the Apple Support downloads section. Apparently they believe the wrong EFI may have been packaged and tagged for the 2011 models, but they couldn't confirm that 100%. Engineering is working on a replacement EFI and will post it when it's ready soon.

@EdisonW... would you be willing to share your case number?

I am certain that the Genii will suggest that each individual machine is different.

Apple has a KB article about this: MacBook Air (Mid 2011) shows a black screen after trying to install EFI Update 2.9

The underlying issues with WiFi connectivity and sleep/wake and full speed fans also needs an update. Power cycling the machine to put the update in causes the more severe issues to surface, which the firmware fails to address.

Loner T wrote:

 

Very surprising (and I assume you do not have AppleCare). If you read this thread, a couple of pages earlier...

 

EdisonW wrote:

 

I've just gotten off the phone with Apple L2 Support, and they have confirmed they've identified the issue, and as of right now, the update has been pulled from both the App Store Software Updates and the Apple Support downloads section. Apparently they believe the wrong EFI may have been packaged and tagged for the 2011 models, but they couldn't confirm that 100%. Engineering is working on a replacement EFI and will post it when it's ready soon.

 

@EdisonW... would you be willing to share your case number?

 

I am certain that the Genii will suggest that each individual machine is different.

Hi Loner,

As I am uncertain of Apple TOS regarding case number confidentiality, I've reached out to the engineer that was assisting me with this matter for privacy clarification. If he gives the green light, I will post the case number for this issue.

Also, I've tested the process described in the new Apple KB article on a spare MBA here, and it seems to eliminate the WiFi and fan issues, at least in the case of this one unit.

Cheers

Thanks, EdisonW for responding. Glad to see the MBA work as expected.