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Ronald Watt

macrumors newbie
Jun 2, 2015
7
10
MacBook Pro 13" - 2020. Bricked ? last Monday (Release Day). Took it to Apple Store, a "Genus" guy saw me hanging out after I had been waiting an hour and asked if I had been helped. I told him I was 1 hour into my 3 hour wait time for "walk in" help. He took the MacBook back, tried unplugging the battery and several other power related things. Nothing.

The "Genus" guy came to the conclusion the unit had to sent out for repair. Having Apple Care, at least I knew I didn't have to worry about a fee. My opinion everything pointed to a firmware or a POWER related issue, how in the world it could be the actual drive is beyond me. I picked my MacBook yesterday, they claimed two parts had to be replaced: Logic Board and Touch ID Board, both of which should had nothing to do with the drive. Regardless, they went ahead and reloaded the Mac OS wiping out my drive.

Yes, I'm PISSED ?! Yes, my fault for not having a current backup. ?

Their support ticket system gives you a way to track the progress but NO WAY to click and provide additional feedback to the support ticket. I tried to add to the support ticket immediately after I left the Apple Store "by whatever means the drive is not to be wiped or formatted." I didn't get a chance to do communicate that desire, yes I know agreed to the terms when I handed my MacBook off to the "Genus" at the apple store.

My issue here is that I think the support tech went by a script for repair, and in this instance the script shouldn't have applied. This was clearly an issue from the Monterey Upgrade. I looked at my screen, 58 Minutes remaining and the next time I looked I had a dead MacBook.

If there is a Class Action lawsuit against Apple related to their Monterey update Bricking systems I want to be a part of it.
 
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swilki

macrumors newbie
Oct 11, 2020
2
2
Had this issue with my 2019 16-inch MBP. A quick trip to the Apple Store so they could revive it did the trick. Not thrilled I had to do that, but very happy I didn't end up with a very expensive brick and still had all my data.
 

C_C

macrumors newbie
Nov 2, 2021
1
0
MacBook Pro 13" - 2020. Bricked ? last Monday (Release Day). Took it to Apple Store, a "Genus" guy saw me hanging out after I had been waiting an hour and asked if I had been helped. I told him I was 1 hour into my 3 hour wait time for "walk in" help. He took the MacBook back, tried unplugging the battery and several other power related things. Nothing.

The "Genus" guy came to the conclusion the unit had to sent out for repair. Having Apple Care, at least I knew I didn't have to worry about a fee. My opinion everything pointed to a firmware or a POWER related issue, how in the world it could be the actual drive is beyond me. I picked my MacBook yesterday, they claimed two parts had to be replaced: Logic Board and Touch ID Board, both of which should had nothing to do with the drive. Regardless, they went ahead and reloaded the Mac OS wiping out my drive.

Yes, I'm PISSED ?! Yes, my fault for not having a current backup. ?

Their support ticket system gives you a way to track the progress but NO WAY to click and provide additional feedback to the support ticket. I tried to add to the support ticket immediately after I left the Apple Store "by whatever means the drive is not to be wiped or formatted." I didn't get a chance to do communicate that desire, yes I know agreed to the terms when I handed my MacBook off to the "Genus" at the apple store.

My issue here is that I think the support tech went by a script for repair, and in this instance the script shouldn't have applied. This was clearly an issue from the Monterey Upgrade. I looked at my screen, 58 Minutes remaining and the next time I looked I had a dead MacBook.

If there is a Class Action lawsuit against Apple related to their Monterey update Bricking systems I want to be a part of it.

Same exact thing happened to my device, perfectly healthy 2016 MBP plugged into power, halfway through the update I saw a "battery dead" icon (bizarre, because it was plugged in), and the device was toast after that. No signs of life or power draw from the USB-C ports, although everything was working fine before I started the install process.

Apple genius wanted $800 to replace the logic board, unfortunately the 2016 models don't have a T2 chip and I can't try restoring the device through Configurator.

I talked to support earlier today, and they are trying to escalate the case to get me a replacement as they have been getting reports of this happening recently. Was surprised they confirmed the issue. Might have to wait for an official statement from Apple, though.
 

sdf

macrumors 6502a
Jan 29, 2004
849
1,163
"The second you commit to updating, it freezes the machine and forces a hard reset."

That's awful.

"This has happened 3 times now."

…and now it just became funny. 1. That's not bricking. 2. Stop doing that.
 

Alfredo Contreras

macrumors newbie
Nov 2, 2021
1
0


macOS Monterey, released last week as the latest version of macOS, is bricking older Mac computers, rendering them unusable and unable to even turn on, according to a number of reports from users across social media and online forums.

macos-monterey.jpg

If this sounds oddly familiar, it may be because last year, with the launch of macOS Big Sur, similar reports surfaced about that update bricking older MacBook Pro models. Less than a year later, similar issues are now seemingly taking place once again.

At least ten separate posts (1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) on Apple Support Communities contain users complaining that as they were attempting to update their Mac to macOS Monterey, the Mac went completely black and they're unable to turn it on. One post in specific includes several comments from users also reporting similar issues. Reports on Twitter are also plentiful.


A comment on a post on Reddit includes a user chronicling their experience, saying that the macOS Monterey update bricked their 2017 iMac, declaring that "it's just dead."
One possible solution floated on Apple Support Communities is that users may need to revive or restore their Mac's firmware. "In very rare circumstances, such as a power failure during a macOS update or upgrade, a Mac may become unresponsive and so the firmware must be revived or restored," Apple says in a support document.

All user reports suggest the issue is impacting older MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac models. More recent computers such as Apple silicon-based Macs are not seemingly having problems, at least according to the lack of user reports suggesting so.

While the issue with macOS Monterey bricking Mac computers is not as widespread as last year with macOS Big Sur, enough users are reporting that the update is causing problems to warrant some concern. It's possible that following this article, even more users will come forward and share their experience with macOS Monterey causing issues on their Macs.

Apple is currently testing macOS 12.1, but that isn't expected to be released for at least several more weeks. macOS Monterey is still in its first version, and it's typically a safe bet to wait until several updates are released before updating to the latest version from a previous generation. It's possible a smaller dot-update could be released to address bugs and security fixes.

Article Link: Some Older Macs Reportedly Bricked After Installing macOS Monterey
Hi everyone, I'm sorry to hear this terrible news but I want to mention that I have a Macbook Pro Mid 2015 15" 11,5 and everything is going super fast and without memory leaks.
 

Val-kyrie

macrumors 68020
Feb 13, 2005
2,107
1,419
One possible solution floated on Apple Support Communities is that users may need to revive or restore their Mac's firmware. "In very rare circumstances, such as a power failure during a macOS update or upgrade, a Mac may become unresponsive and so the firmware must be revived or restored," Apple says in a support document.
[From the Support Document]
How the revive and restore processes work
The revive and restore processes involve the following steps:
...
Step 1: Connect the Mac computers

So Apple expects every person to have TWO Macs, just in case one of them gets bricked by an OS update?
 

0423MAC

macrumors 6502
Jun 30, 2020
375
478
Customers let apple get away with so many things that you now have completely closed systems, running on hardware that is completely soldered into a single unit...an impossible machine for people to try and work on if something goes wrong now.

Not sure what's up with Monterey, but hope people can get their machines up and running smoothly.
 
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Chartz

macrumors newbie
May 6, 2021
12
7
I feel lucky then. I had been testing since early betas with no worrying issues.
My three Macs work fine in Monterey (MBA M1, iMac 2019 with Fusion Drive and iMac 2020).
 

acrakes

macrumors regular
Oct 3, 2015
120
56
Can you tell what is this software fix? I don’t want to pay the extra money for them to change the logic board.
They didn’t tell me what it was, but it was free. I left it for them to try the fix but call me before they shipped it off for the flat rate so I could turn it down..
 

Chartz

macrumors newbie
May 6, 2021
12
7
Customers let apple get away with so many things that you now have completely closed systems, running on hardware that is completely soldered into a single unit...an impossible machine for people to try and work on if something goes wrong now.
T’was not always like that…
You know, I’m working on an old 2008 MacBook Pro 17 incher right now.
What a pleasure it is!
I would rate it a 10/10 repairability score.
I quickly pulled the motherboard and reflowed the Nvidia graphic chip.
A doddle! They don’t make ’em like that anymore.
 

frankoco

macrumors newbie
Nov 3, 2021
1
0
Big Sur was very problematic for my 2015 iMac, with horrible performance issues. They were never fully resolved as Apple doesn’t properly support Fusion Drives anymore with Big Sur and later.

I did upgrade to Monterey, no additional issues but still no great performance.

Because of these issues I never upgraded my 2014 MacBook Pro. Guess it’s time to upgrade the hardware.
Good to know about that, because that's what I have. IDK about fusion drive though. I assume Catalina was okay?
 

JayBayAye8

macrumors member
Oct 19, 2017
31
7
Family Member Upgraded to Monterey & it Bricked MacBook Air 2017. Can I Revive / Restore It From a Mac Pro 2013 (Trashcan)?

For the life of me I can't find any info on reviving (preferably to keep the data) or restoring a macbook air older than 2019.

I keep encountering this article no matter what I search for Intel-based Macs, but the 2017 Macbook Air isn't listed. They also insist you need a USBCC to USB-C, or USB-C to USB-A cable. The Mac Pro 2013 and the Macbook Air 2017 neither have a USB-C jack.

Can anyone guide me on what the process would be? I'm aware of Configurator 2 but will need to upgrade my OS on the Mac Pro 2013 from 10.15.3 to 10.15.6 to use that. Is there an older option to get this done?

Thanks guys, and forgive me if I know so little it's annoying. I'm trying to do my due diligence here before asking.
 

Chartz

macrumors newbie
May 6, 2021
12
7
It’s time Apple released an official fix. This is a catastrophe and it’s likely that a few employees are going to be sacked here.
It really is proper class action material.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
I remember my old MacBook Pro 13" (2013) getting removed from Software Update while they fixed the bricking issue when Big Sur came out. I did eventually get around to installing Big Sur on it though afterward.
 

MacinMan

macrumors 65816
Jan 27, 2011
1,226
667
Denham Springs, LA
It feels like macOS has become a ticking time bomb now. I upgraded a late 2015, 27" iMac from Big Sur to Monterey on day one and it's been fine. So i started searching for people having issues because I was curious how many people had issues. Considering what happened with Big Sur last year, and people who had been running the beta said Monterey was better than Big Sur as far as stability. then about a week later everything blows up and people start having either the same, or similar problems they had with Big Sur. I'm not sure what the policies here are for cross referencing threads, but the only issues I personally had were some minor Time machine issues. However, the thread I started soon brought out to light people were having more serious issues than mine. So if anyone is having problems with Time machine (which mainly seems to be affecting Apple Silicon Macs) for the time being. Here is the link to that thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-monterey-my-personal-issue-resolved.2319832/

P.S. Monterey is still going solid on this iMac, and even on a Late 2013, 13" MBP I did as an experiment with OpenCore. Seems like people who don't expect issues get them, and people who do expect issues, don't get them.
 
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NOAH inc

macrumors newbie
Nov 3, 2021
1
0
Anybody else now without the 2017 iMac x2 TB ports since the upgrade to the latest Big Sur? After reading the issues regarding Monterey I'll leaving that well alone for a while at least... I've tried ALL the tricks to get the ports to reset and even purchased a USB-C to USB-C cable to see if my mobile could log it back to life! No power coming from these ports - although all the regular USB ports are fine? Please Help as I use my TB/USB-C Port with a Satechi Hub with HDMI as a second monitor and it's very annoying not having it atm hey! Remember when Apple Just Worked FFS...LOL
 
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dwaite

macrumors 65816
Jun 11, 2008
1,227
1,008
The "Genus" guy came to the conclusion the unit had to sent out for repair. Having Apple Care, at least I knew I didn't have to worry about a fee. My opinion everything pointed to a firmware or a POWER related issue, how in the world it could be the actual drive is beyond me. I picked my MacBook yesterday, they claimed two parts had to be replaced: Logic Board and Touch ID Board, both of which should had nothing to do with the drive. Regardless, they went ahead and reloaded the Mac OS wiping out my drive.
The logic board has the flash for the HDD on it, and the T2 chip is a local hardware encryption for that storage.

It's very secure and the T2 is a big theft-deterrent, but as a consequence data is neigh unrecoverable once the machine won't boot. Likewise, there's no separate hard disk should the logic board need replacing. Modern Mac laptops are basically three big parts (logic board, top case, and display) in a metal chassis. If its not a display, battery or keyboard issue or a scratch on the aluminum then you better have backups.
 
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JCNC

macrumors newbie
Jan 12, 2006
2
1
+1 for me, so it's not just 10 cases and not so old hardware.

My little more than one year old MacBook Pro 16" intel died midway the update. I was able to revive it but it now became extremely extremely slow with a kernel_task hogging the CPU and the fans running at full speed all the time. Seems the SMC isn't working properly.

Seriously Apple, this is unacceptable; there are nicer ways of forcing someone to upgrade to M1 than making people pay $1000 for a computer that cost around $3000 just over a year ago (and thus out of warranty!) ???
 
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vinodhmoodley

macrumors newbie
Nov 4, 2021
1
0
My 2018 MacBook Pro bricked after the Monterey update. I used Apple Configurator 2 on another Mac to sort it out. Took a couple of minutes to fix but it shouldn't have happen in the first place.
 

MacRumorUser78

macrumors regular
Jan 9, 2014
190
112
Anybody else now without the 2017 iMac x2 TB ports since the upgrade to the latest Big Sur? After reading the issues regarding Monterey I'll leaving that well alone for a while at least... I've tried ALL the tricks to get the ports to reset and even purchased a USB-C to USB-C cable to see if my mobile could log it back to life! No power coming from these ports - although all the regular USB ports are fine? Please Help as I use my TB/USB-C Port with a Satechi Hub with HDMI as a second monitor and it's very annoying not having it atm hey! Remember when Apple Just Worked FFS...LOL
1636034559470.png

I don't know what the X2 means. My USB-C ports are working because I'm booted from an Envoy Pro EX (significantly faster than the Fusion drive which is doing nothing).
 

Sphincty

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2014
40
35
QC on GM was interrupted as all engineers were tasked with finding Craig a new hair salon as his usual went out of business.
 
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