MacBook Pro EFI Firmware 1.3 out, may cause issues

Macbook Pro Core Solo 2Ghz... Yesterday while connected to an external display with each display showing a different desktop my internal display went black. If you look very closely you can see outlines of the windows. Internal video is unusable. I have had no video problems until this moment.

I have done VRAM and PRAM resets, and spent the better part of the last 24 hours trying to get my display back with every web suggestion I could find. All options to date have failed.

Pressing F7 to get the displays to mirror has me up and running... as long as I am connected to the external display. No travel for my Mac until I get this fixed. Hopefully Apple releases a fix for their fix soon. If you have any suggestions I would appreciate them.

Thanks.

Dave

I just bought a 15" 2.4 Ghz MBP last week, applied the update last night and it messed me up good. Whether I was browsing with Safari or the Finder, using Entourage...didn't matter - there were over lapping lines of text, the machine ran 75% slower, took 30 secs to put to Sleep or wake up - VERY DISAPPOINTING! What's more disappointing is that there hasn't been an easy fix and once you've updated, YOU CAN'T GO BACK to the earlier firmware. I spent 45min. on the phone with APPLE tech support today, got bumped up to the experts and they still couldn't help me entirely. Here's what we did.

1. I found this post and called APPLE. They claimed not to know about it and then started finding out just then as they searched it with me on the phone. I offered to email these posts and they DID'NT WANT this HEALTHY NEW INFO, when clearly there's a problem. Maybe they were searching in the background and just wouldn't tell me? There are some people who know more about these machines than their tech support agents...thank God!

I told the tech support guy that this post recommend I zap the PRAM like I saw on this post. It got slightly better after two times and then (while he had me on hold to get someone more experienced) it appeared to get better again after 3 more times, which he told me I did not need to do and it wouldn't do anything more to clear it after 2 times. Well it did, although the graphics were still markedly slower coming up than before the 1.3 firmware upgrade.

2. Next tech level up: New guy asks me to hold down the OPTION KEY and STARTUP. Up came a grey screen with picture of the internal HD and the graphic was clear, very defined, just fine. That proved that proved that there was nothing wrong with the hardware because that's the computer before the OS starts up. In his mind that determined it was a SOFTWARE issue, but he could not imagine how a firmare update would effect the OS or any software, to him it was impossible.

3. He then told me to pop in my install disk and ran the "Disk Utility" from that and was asked to "REPAIR DISK". It came up with a couple of small errors: a) invalid block b) something to do with BitMap. After repairing it once, he asked that I do it again because IT OFTEN DOESN'T DO ALL THE REPAIRS WITH ONE SHOT." IT DIDN'T HELP!

3. He told me to DEFRAG the drive with Speed Tools, a third party software program that costs $90. He said they used to have a demo version. Well they don't anymore.

4. I recommended using the complimentary version of Tech Tools Pro that came on my computer's dock when I first got it. He said that should do the trick with DEFRAGMENTING THE DRIVE. I took an hour and did it. It did nothing.

5. He told me that I should WIPE THE DRIVE CLEAN and start from scratch and if that didn't work BRING IT BACK.

6. It has taken me a strong week to get my computer up to snuff, transferring everything from my 17" G4 (PPC). I make my living as an electronic musician and dealing with all the program and plug-in upgrades again is TOO MUCH. I'm really very distressed about this. I HOPE they come out with a quick FIRMWARE UPGRADE 1.4 or I'm screwed!

No issue before the update. Cannot notice any difference after applying the update. (MBP 15" 2.2)

hello,

I downloaded the update yesterday, and when it's done, it asks you in a pop-up to shut down your MBP, and to press the on/off button and keep pressing on it untill the on/off button light starts to bling.. I tried it, but instead of a light on/off button, I get a *TUUUUUUUUUUT* out of my boxes, dunno what happened, but then my MBP started up and it showed the same pop-up telling me to shut down and restart the MBP..

If anyone could help me, email me or reply here :)
Thanks, Tom

Whew! I just dodged a bullet there! I was about to hit the shutdown key on the installer when I read this!

I'll wait for the fix to be released.

I just attempted to update this morning and got the beach ball after pressing restart within the utility. I waited around 10 or 15 minutes with nothing happening, checked the status of the app and found it was not responding, along with finder. After a hard reset and following the update instructions, I now cannot do anything within finder, yet other apps appear to work fine. Only finder, anytime something is done, responds with the spinning beach ball.

My Superdrive got hosed by the recent Superdrive 2.1 firmware update. Its now dead as dead can get. Wont even accept a disc. And no sign of Apple addressing it.

See here for more: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4941022

Just did the update on my one week old Macbook pro (2.4ghz santa rosa). Didn't have screen issue before, and no issue post-update either. Screen contrast appear to be slightly higher after update, or could just be my imagination. I am using a custom calibrated color profile also. The original is too washed out and too warm.

Just installed the update and I'm now having problems with the display. It looks like scrolling bands are moving from the bottom of the screen to the top. This definitely started right after the firmware update.

I did the update on my 2.4GHz 15". I didn't have display problems before, although as someone else said I thought the default calibration was disgusting and made my own. When it rebooted I thought I could tell something was vaguely different with the display. Perhaps the color is better, or maybe the backlight brighter or more even. I thought it possible that the screen image "pops" a little more, but it could just be me seeing a difference because I'm looking for one.

I do see that the flickering from having the backlight dimmed has changed. Instead of being distinct horizontal lines, I still see movement, but it's a more subtle movement, like clouds.

I had no problems with the install, and the screen seems the same or better, so it gets the OK in my book so far.