Confirmed: Apple OS X 10.5.6 Update Can Break Your MacBook Pro

For Christmas this year, Apple sent me a software update that crashed my MacBook Pro. A few days after I installed the OS X 10.5.6 update, my battery ran to zero - which required a reboot for the second time since I installed the upgrade. This broke my MacBook Pro. The Apple logo would appear and the status icon would appear for a few seconds, then the screen would go black, with only the backlight shining upwards. I could not boot to safe mode, or to the Leopard install DVD.

I assumed my hard disk crashed or my logic board died. So, I made a genius bar appointment (none was available until two days after Christmas) to request a repair on my AppleCare.

Then, Christmas night, I discovered that many other MacBook Pro users were reporting the same problem (PC Mag reported it here as did MacFixIt) and I found a solution. My MacBook Pro is now fixed. It turns out that OS X upgrade 10.5.6 will break some versions of the MacBook Pro if they are running older firmware. I was not aware I was running old firmware, for some reason software update had not been flagging this.

I've excerpted the solution below - it requires an external display, keyboard and mouse:

• Powered off my MacBook Pro
• Plugged in an external display
• Plugged in an external USB Keyboard and USB Mouse
• Hit the power button on the MacBook Pro
• Closed the lid on my MacBook Pro

• As a precaution, I used TimeMachine with an external Firewire hard drive to back up my latest files.

• Deleted Caches directory files in all three places (System/Library/Caches, (My account name)/Library/Caches and (My Volume Name)/Library/Caches. I am not sure this step is necessary.

• I downloaded the MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update from April 2008 v. 1.5.1. Apparently, I was running slightly old firmware and didn't know it. When I finally booted my MacBook with the external display, Apple had resent this software update - I am assuming they are figuring out the solution to this problem in parallel to this thread.

I ran the EFI Firmware update and shut down. Held the power on button again until I heard a longtone. The firmware update ran successfully this time and my MacBook booted okay!

Hooray, my MacBook Pro is working again. And this seems to confirm for me that the 10.5.6 update breaks some systems if you are running older firmware.

Comments

[Matt]

If your issue is related to the *installation* of Mac OS X 10.5.6, this is a known issue. I wrote about the troubleshooting steps you can take to fix this at Mac Guru Lounge.

[Bill Gianopoulos]

Isn't this exactly the type of issue that running a proprietary Operating system on a proprietary hardware platform is supposed to prevent?

[Ed H.]

I have an apparently similar issue. Mine will power on enough that I hear the hard drive and fan spin, and the power LED comes on, but no display.

Except sometimes I *DO* get further. Sometimes, it will get as far as initializing the optical drive (sometimes it will 'stall' halfway through, sometimes it will pause halfway through then continue, other times it will partly initialize three or four times before dying.)

Sometimes I will hear the startup tone, and that's as far as it will go. Sometimes I will get the Apple logo, and then it will turn the screen off, and be unusable. Sometimes I will get all the way to my OS< and get up to 5-10 minutes of runtime before it dies.

I have noticed that the longer I wait between tries, the further it will get. (So if I try immediately after it shuts down, I won't get past the HD and fans spinning. If I wait half an hour, I will likely get into the OS.)

My big problem is that I have the original MacBook Pro (MBP11) whereas firmware 1.5 only aupplies to MBP21 or MBP31 (aka, the second or third generation models.) So I appear screwed.

[Randy Smith]

Oops, I jsut updated to 10.5.6 ... Any ideas as to how I can find out which version of the firmware I am currently running?

[Jeff]

I thought you could look under Hardware in System Profiler - but you might just try to download 1.5.1 and run the installer to see if you need it. I would definitely do this right away. AND, BACKUP before you reboot again. AND, if you can use TimeMachine to back up to before the upgrade...try that.

[To Ed H]

Ed.,
It sounds like you are not having the afore mentioned issue. Rather it sounds like you are having an issue with a bad NVIDIA chip on your MacBook Pro. Visit http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377 to read up on it. Then contact Apple support for assistance if your computer is within that serial range. The Apple Store and most other service providers have a tool that will allow them to tell if you have an affected MLB or not.

Cheers

[mmhere123456]

"Bill Gianopoulos" said "Isn't this exactly the type of issue that running a proprietary Operating system on a proprietary hardware platform is supposed to prevent?"

All SW is difficult to test to every single pre-existing HW+SW combination present in the field. Inevitably an upgrade harms somebody. Can't be helped.

And if you think OS X on a MacBookPro is any *more* proprietary than Windows Vista running on a Dell laptop with identical specifications, than you have a misconception about what "proprietary" means.

[Tony]

You can check to see if /Library/Receipts/MacBookProFirmwareUpdate.pkg exists. If it does then you should have the firmware update installed.

[Ed H.]

Well, unfortunately, it can't be the nVidia issue, since mine has ATI video. (It's the original early 2006 Core Duo (*not* Core 2 Duo) 2.0 GHz model with ATI X1600 video.)

[Jay]

Similar problem - updated my macbook pro (2.4Gz Core 2 Duo) to 10.5.6, and it seemed to work fine. Rebooted once, and put it to sleep several times, but the last time the screen wouldn't wake.

Searched the google, found that my firmware update had downloaded but not installed. I was able to ssh in and get a vnc server started, and then vnc in from a spare machine, and finally install the firmware upgrade to 1.5.1.

It didn't work, still no screen. Tried several other possible fixes, including
- resetting the PRAM
- resetting the SMC
- downloading the whole 10.5.6 Combo update and reinstalling
No dice.

This seems to be at least partly a problem with a Graphics kernel extension in my case. When I go to About this mac -> Hardware -> Graphics/Displays, it think for a while and then system profiler dies, with this message in /var/log/messages:

[0x0-0x23023].com.apple.SystemProfiler[292]; Assertion failed: (KERN_SUCCESS = kr), fucnction -[SPDdisplaysDevice initI2C:], file /SourceCache/SPDisplayReporter/SPDisplaysReporter-116/SPDisplaysDevice.m, line 72

I also tried manually unloading and reloading some of the graphics kernel extensions in /System/Library/Extensions/, like IOGraphicsFamily.kext and AppleGraphicsControl. Still no dice.

Guess it's off Apple for this MBP. I live in the third world, so it's a huge pain to do this.

[Michael Simpson]

Solved...for me at least.

Hi, I tried your firmware upgrade/downgrade solution to no avail.

However, I have found the problem and the solution...for me anyway. The symptoms that you describe are exactly the same as mine.

So here goes. Last update, minus one, appears to kill my inverter. I have access to the external monitor and I can see an image on the LCD but there is no backlight. Several sources tell me that it is the inverter board. I order it from WeLoveMacs and replace it. Problem solved. I get the update, 10.5.6 and now my inverter board is "shot" again. "***?" I think. A couple of days later, I find the problem on Slashdot and of course a link to your "fix". Except, I find that I have the latest firmware. So, I try bootcamp and it works just fine. So, it can't be a hardware problem. It is not an early firmware problem.

Hitting the LCD brightness key doesn't do anything. But I realize that I can do System Settings, Display and hit the "Gather Windows" button. The color LCD screen is now on my external monitor and the "Brightness" slider is all the way down...and yet the "Brightness" keys on my key board are unresponsive. I slide the "Brightness" slider and now my LCD screen is working..and the keyboard brightness keys are working as well.

So, it appears that System or Firmware upgrades are turning down the brightness and disabling the brightness keys. Go figure.

Michael

[Jeff]

Just ran this update on my Macbook (with lastest firmware). Completely broke my system. Software Update returned an error while installing the Mac OS X Combined Update. Said the installation media was damaged, and to contact the manufacturer for a replacement. Ironic, since I downloaded it from Apple.

Anyway, I've been using Macs for 7 years and have never had an issue like this. I trust that when an update comes down through Software Update, it's going to be safe. Needless to say, I'm very disappointed. I can get the data off the drive...and have already replaced the drive with a spare that's running Leopard.

An earlier comment suggested this type of problem was supposed to be avoided by proprietary hardware/software solutions like Apple computers running Mac OS X. I couldn't agree more. This sounds like the countless problems I have tech-supported for my Windows friends.

Fortunately, I run Linux on most of my systems. The architecture is open, and I can actually decipher and translate kernel errors into meaningful information.

Logic Studio is the ONLY reason I still use a Mac. I have a feeling I'll be looking for an alternative...

Just my two cents.

[Jose Luis Loya]

Hi Jay, i had the same problem, actually i found the solution for the black screen..

1.- You turn on the computer (the screen will be black)
2.- From another computer, connect via vnc to the mbp.
3.- Open SystemProfiler (Apple Menu -> About This Mac -> More Info..) , Select "Graphic/Displays"
4.- The program will freeze and die.
5.- Turn off the computer while holding the "option" key.. Your screen will turn on.
6.- Wipe-out your hardrive so you can have a clean INSTALL

[cheap computers]

I experienced the same problem when the Apple logo would appear and the status icon would appear for a few seconds, then the screen would go black, with only the backlight shining upwards.