Warning: Apple update may brick your Mac
- May 28th, 2008
- 12 Comments

This is why I chose not to update my MBP during the middle of the day. Has anyone encountered any issues?
Sheesh. Just when I got my MacBook Pro fixed and running well with a brand new logic board along comes Apple and the OS X update released today that bricked the MBP. Yep, I was running fine and dandy and feeling good about everything on the MacBook Pro and the software update trashed it. It downloaded and installed fine, indicated it was “patching files”, and then never would boot up again. Every time it tried to boot up I’d get the desktop background and the Dock and then error boxes. One indicated that “SystemUIServer” stopped unexpectedly, followed by one that said the Dock stopped and then finally one that said Spotlight stopped. The system was totally unusable each time and even Safe Boot failed the same way. This indicated to me that the software update patched system files improperly since it wouldn’t even safe boot.
Right now I am doing a clean reinstall of Leopard and once I’m sure that is running fine I’ll restore my new Time Machine backup. With a bit of luck I’ll be right back where I was prior to the software update this afternoon. Then I will be wondering if I should try updating it again…









Rugby God (Who am I?)
3 months ago
This kind of article is useless. It all depends on the hardware and software configuration. This kind of things can happen to anyone regardless of operating system, hardware, etc etc. Hence, this is not really a news worthy story.
Bamboo Kid (Who am I?)
3 months ago
You must take the combo version from http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/ when you’re updating your system. Never use the “software update” in the menu for this operations, it’s the rule #1…. Never use that s…
Rule#2 : restore your permissions (with disk utility) before & after the process, the best is with your install cd…
You’re Welcome !!!
Steven in Athens (Who am I?)
3 months ago
I had no problem with the update
Ted (Who am I?)
3 months ago
Very true, the possibilities of what people do with their computer are endless. Some will have problems, some won’t. BUT, it amazes me how casual people are about installing a huge update like this.
I rarely have any problems, but before installing any large update, first, I’ll wait a couple of days to make sure there’s not some common problem that people are experiencing, and second, I’ll do a SuperDuper clone just before installing the update, so if I do run into problems, I can quickly get back to where I was. If you have any sense at all, OS X provides several methods to keep from running into trouble, so much better than Microsoft.
People who just willy-nilly install a update with no thought, get what they deserve. They should know better.
Ted (Who am I?)
3 months ago
Isn’t the photo (of that poor girl pulling her hair out) of a Dell laptop? Now, THAT I can understand! ;)
JW (Who am I?)
3 months ago
I agree with Rugby God that these things happen, and that there can be issues with different hardware and software combinations. That being said, I still liked this article. It serves to remind us that God’s own computer company (Apple) and it’s products are prone to the same issues that any other computers are.
Ben (Who am I?)
3 months ago
I had no problems. Hooray!
Quikboy (Who am I?)
3 months ago
Yet another reason not to buy a Mac. :P
Ian (Who am I?)
3 months ago
I’d like to point out that this is NOT a case of “bricking.” If a gadget has been bricked, that means it’s broken beyond repair, and is essentially as useful as a brick (hence the name).
Bozo (Who am I?)
3 months ago
One guy has a problem and it’s news. Sheesh! Actual news would be discovering that a measurable percentage of users have had a similar problem. But that would take actual research which I understand is counter to the blogger’s creed.
The update worked just fine for me on several Macs. There! Another data point.
Yazi (Who am I?)
2 months ago
I’ve never experienced problems to this degree, and have always used Apple’s update system, whether it was a minor update or a .x major one.
I did have a firmware update ruin my MacBook’s Superdrive, and they replaced it. If you can’t trust a manufacturer’s firmware update for a component that cane standard, what are you supposed to do?
bill (Who am I?)
2 months ago
This blog, article, site has NO value at all.