Laptops Arena

In 2009, Apple has introduced a series of MacBook Pro that need to be updated in the EFI Firmware system, especially the products that have been originally shipped from the factory. Products that are affected: MacBook Pro 13” released in Mid2009; MacBook Pro 15” released in Mid June, MacBook Pro 15”, 2.53GHz, released in Mid 2009, iMac 24” released early 2009, iMac 20” released early 2009.

The MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 uses drives based on the SATA 3Gbps that belonged to MacBook Pro introduced in June 2009 and permits the drives to use transfer rates greater than 1.5Gbps. These drives haven’t been qualified or offered to Mac portable computers by Apple, therefore their use in not supported. iMac EFI Firmware 1.4 Update refers to the problems iMac computers with ATI Radeon HD 4950 graphics intermittently stop responding and refers also to the wake-from-sleep problems that appear in Boot Camp.

Before starting the Updating, you need to know which version of firmware you have on your Mac. A list has been issued on this matter, and in case you don’t find your computer on this list, is not necessary to get an update. Software Update may not display some of the firmware updates for Intel-based Macs, therefore you need to download it from the Apple Downloads site. The consumers who are not sure whether their Mac needs a particular update, they simply download and open the installer which will show them if the firmware update is installed or not.

In order to check your’s computer EFI Boot ROM or SMC firmware system you have to go in the Apple Menu, select “About this Mac” and click the “More info” button. It appears the “Content” header, from under it select “Hardware” and the information will be located in the right side of the pane. Some USB and Fire Wire devices may not let the firmware updates to be correctly installed, in this case a disconnection of the non-essential devices will be required and after that an Apple keyboard use and mouse will be enough to apply the update.

Then you need to close all open applications, download and install the appropriate firmware update (MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 or iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.4). The Updating MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.7 installation may take several minutes. After that, your computer will restart with an alert that signals that your firmware update was successfully performed. If the update was interrupted, the computer will continue reinstalling the next time you turn on the computer. In case your computer does not restart you have to contact “support” for more information. To be known: in order to apply a firmware update, the hard-disk in an Intel-based Mac must be formatted with the GUID partition scheme. If you have reformatted your hard disk before you apply a firmware update, you have to find out which scheme is currently being in use. The update will not be applied in case you have a hard disk that uses any formatting scheme other than the GUID partition.