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Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

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Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#221

Post by chatmasta »

encom wrote: post #118
diebeforei485 wrote: post #25

I think companies are pushing updates way too aggressively to those who have auto update on. Is there some reason why phased release isn't more common among OS/firmware updates? Auto update does not have to mean "update my device the day new versions are out". Edit: Is this related to public disclosure of security bugs? If so, the community should change their standard so that public disclosure doesn't happen until a…

What OS X and Windows, IOS, Android and probably lots of others need, is Long Term Support releases. I'm so sick and tired of my phone and computer switching up major features and UI every year, because some UX person wants to not get fired. Releasing a new major version of your OS yearly is insane.

Turn off auto-update. You can still get security updates even without upgrading to the next major version of the OS.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#222

Post by deergomoo »

sakisv wrote: post #172

I think that Apple should take advantage of the lockdowns and focus just on fixing things. They don't need to ship anything new and they have the perfect excuse to focus on improving both their OS and their processes that allowed such flawed things to reach their users.

I wish macOS would just drop back to major releases every 2-3 years. Sure, drop a point release in September to add compatibility with whatever new feature iOS has gained, but my Mac is the computer I do work on. I need it to always be reliable.

Right now it seems the only way to do that is wait a long time before installing any update they push.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#223

Post by sleepless »

hanche wrote: post #138
gns24 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will sync email and other things so that everything is already downloaded when you wake it up. See https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204032

Ah, thanks. That jogged my memory. I did turn off power nap a long time ago, but my laptop still kept waking up at night anyhow. But I just checked, and now it seems to work as advertised.

Wouldn't it be fantastic, if Apple had an easy way to help users learn, why their mac woke up? Currently that is complex scientific work.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#224

Post by at_a_remove »

gregmac wrote: post #45
ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #4

It's not "bricked" if you can fix it in Recovery Mode. Still bad that it's happening, but the term "bricked" is thrown around so flippantly these days. If a piece of tech is bricked, it's not recoverable at all.

"Bricked" is relative, depending on your skill level. For some consumers, if recovery mode doesn't work that might be the end of line. However, there are more advanced users that can access the storage via another system and fix it there, hook up via serial port or JTAG and flash new firmware, or even desolder and replace chips. On the far other end of the spectrum, there's going to be people that consider "doesn't s…

If you go that route, "bricked" is now indistinguishable from "broke," and we already have a word for that. Broke. We would have then gone from a situation where we had two different states and names for each of those states to a situation where we have two words for the very same, very fuzzy state and no way to talk about the other state.

It makes a mockery of the idea of advice. Imagine your parents calling you and telling you that their machine is bricked. Well, I guess they must buy a new one and the old must go to electronic recycling. No need for a diagnostic of any kind, it's bricked.

Linguistic descriptivism will be the death of communication and standards. Only pushing back at the creep will allow people to discuss anything technical. Imagine the trend should it overtake medicine. If a certain kind of stroke is suspected, the patient should take aspirin right away. No, aspirin-aspirin, not ibuprofen. Then you have someone who says, "Well, ibuprofen is an aspirin sure!"

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#225

Post by sleepless »

gerardvivancos wrote: post #193

I'm not sure this is an issue specific to this update. The very same description in the Apple forums matches what happened on my work Macbook Pro (a 2018 one if I'm not mistaken) while installing a different update a few months ago. I won't say this is not an issue specific to this supplemental update, but I'm not buying it is _yet_. It looks like one of the usual consequences of a system update going wrong. See that…

Apple has historically been lacking on proper documentation. Be that on errors happening during updates or proper documentation of what exactly they have changed in software updates. They have slightly improved, but still not great.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#226

Post by 7ewis »

Wonder if this update could be related to an issue I had.

Installed Snap Camera a few days ago, was on a video call and when I came off it the green camera light stayed on. Even after quitting Hangouts and Snap Camera.

I restarted and the green light persisted throughout the whole reboot. I then shutdown, and it finally turned off.

After turning it back on, the camera didn't work at all. I uninstalled Snap Camera, reset PRAM, SMC. Nothing seems to fix it. Now thinking it must be a hardware fault, but think I was on the latest update already and just seems like a strange coincidence that it happened almost immediately after I used Snap Camera for the first time.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#227

Post by mmxmb »

xcalibre wrote: post #199

This has been mentioned quite a few times but Apple's software quality seriously has taken a turn for the worse in the last few years. I've usually updated my macs to the latest OS's within a couple of weeks of release, but Catalina is the first time where I still have yet to update. Stories of bugs such as this as well as mail messages getting blanked out and unrecoverable makes me actually scared to upgrade.

Does anyone know what might have caused this recent downturn in Apple's software quality?

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#228

Post by amelius »

gregmac wrote: post #45
ObsoleteNerd wrote: post #4

It's not "bricked" if you can fix it in Recovery Mode. Still bad that it's happening, but the term "bricked" is thrown around so flippantly these days. If a piece of tech is bricked, it's not recoverable at all.

"Bricked" is relative, depending on your skill level. For some consumers, if recovery mode doesn't work that might be the end of line. However, there are more advanced users that can access the storage via another system and fix it there, hook up via serial port or JTAG and flash new firmware, or even desolder and replace chips. On the far other end of the spectrum, there's going to be people that consider "doesn't s…

> "Bricked" is relative, depending on your skill level.

You can always bring it to a repair-service.

I'd say it is "bricked" if repairing it costs more than buying a new one; i.e. it's a total loss situation.

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#229

Post by amelius »

qqssccfftt wrote: post #171
C19is20 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm consistently amazed by HN's ability to take the most meaningless, inconsequential part of an article (the scroll behavior, the whitespace, the usage of the word "bricked"), and nitpick it to hell and back instead of actually discussing the article. > Bravo. 'Bravi', or 'brave'(f) would be the plural of that.

> 'Bravi', or 'brave'(f) would be the plural of that. I have never heard anyone but you say this ergo it is wrong.

You never heard the expression "bravi tutti"?

Re: Nasty macOS flaw is bricking MacBooks: Don't install this update

#230

Post by xvector »

mmxmb wrote: post #227
xcalibre wrote: post #199

This has been mentioned quite a few times but Apple's software quality seriously has taken a turn for the worse in the last few years. I've usually updated my macs to the latest OS's within a couple of weeks of release, but Catalina is the first time where I still have yet to update. Stories of bugs such as this as well as mail messages getting blanked out and unrecoverable makes me actually scared to upgrade.

Does anyone know what might have caused this recent downturn in Apple's software quality?

The iPad’s software keyboard is still buggy as hell. The software keyboard, the part of the OS that the user will interact with the most, and the part of the OS that is required to be the most stable, frequently just completely breaks and requires a full device reboot to fix.

That, to me, is insane. It shows how shit the project management must be if they cannot even prioritize fixing critical bugs in the most important parts of the OS over releasing some useless feature that most users will never touch.

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