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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

#241

Post by arvinsim »

FireBeyond wrote: post #132
baryphonic wrote: post #59

This is interesting. I sat down at my machine on Thursday morning, and it was entirely unresponsive. It had warned me about installing updates the previous evening, but I've done this many times without an issue, and regardless, they are always complete by morning. I waited a minute or two for any sign of life (beyond the fans running), and then held power. I heard the unpleasant sound of the fans spinning up to high…

For added irony, my Hackintosh installed the update without missing a beat.

Most hackintoshes are configured not to auto-update too.

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

#242

Post by sethammons »

amelius wrote: post #229
qqssccfftt wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> '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"?

Nope. First time I ever encountered “bravi” was right above this. The first time I encountered “tutti” was your comment. I am from the US. It is a safe bet that as such I only speak one language and do so poorly.

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

#243

Post by PragmaticPulp »

sethammons wrote: post #239
Razengan wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What bugs do you see in the iPad software keyboard? iOS keyboard input and text selection has been wonky for quite a while, and from what I've tried of Android, it doesn't feel much better on the other side of the fence either. Why can't Apple -or- Google get such basic interactivity right?

Recently moved from android to an iPhone. The one that gets me while typing: I can’t tap and place the cursor in the middle of a word! Say you mistype a word, you cannot edit that word. You have to delete the entire word or tap and hold to get highlighting and then drag the highlight together to cover one letter on the word and then you can delete and get your cursor in the middle of the word. Insane.

Press and hold on the spacebar. Wait a second. Then you can move the cursor left/right from the spacebar.

iOS is generally quite good at these things. Like any new platform, you can't expect it the UX to be identical to an old platform that you're more familiar with.

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

#244

Post by oefrha »

Waterluvian wrote: post #238
Razengan wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What bugs do you see in the iPad software keyboard? iOS keyboard input and text selection has been wonky for quite a while, and from what I've tried of Android, it doesn't feel much better on the other side of the fence either. Why can't Apple -or- Google get such basic interactivity right?

For me the keyboard will sometimes not load properly. The keyboard just shows up as an empty pane. And that's a sign that my iPad is going to be all grindy and slow until I reboot it.

I had that problem during 13 beta, 13.0 and maybe 13.1 and 13.2 (the rapid fire updates immediately after 13.0), but never since.

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

#245

Post by rimliu »

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.

It has a name: "selection bias". You can find all kinds of issues for pretty much any OS X release.

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

#246

Post by owenmarshall »

sethammons wrote: post #239
Razengan wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What bugs do you see in the iPad software keyboard? iOS keyboard input and text selection has been wonky for quite a while, and from what I've tried of Android, it doesn't feel much better on the other side of the fence either. Why can't Apple -or- Google get such basic interactivity right?

Recently moved from android to an iPhone. The one that gets me while typing: I can’t tap and place the cursor in the middle of a word! Say you mistype a word, you cannot edit that word. You have to delete the entire word or tap and hold to get highlighting and then drag the highlight together to cover one letter on the word and then you can delete and get your cursor in the middle of the word. Insane.

That’s not a bug. It’s worse: it used to work the way you describe but that functionality was removed.

Next time: tap the cursor and hold. You’ll see it get bigger and you can drag it where you want.

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

#247

Post by [deleted] »

sethammons wrote: post #239
Razengan wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What bugs do you see in the iPad software keyboard? iOS keyboard input and text selection has been wonky for quite a while, and from what I've tried of Android, it doesn't feel much better on the other side of the fence either. Why can't Apple -or- Google get such basic interactivity right?

Recently moved from android to an iPhone. The one that gets me while typing: I can’t tap and place the cursor in the middle of a word! Say you mistype a word, you cannot edit that word. You have to delete the entire word or tap and hold to get highlighting and then drag the highlight together to cover one letter on the word and then you can delete and get your cursor in the middle of the word. Insane.

[deleted]

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

#248

Post by zaroth »

wlll wrote: post #219
huffmsa wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a lot of people, any non-normal state == bricked. Especially now, when the genius bar isn't open. And yes, there's a difference between a soft brick and a hard brick, and it depends on your ability to repair. Getting my phone stuck in a bootloop is usually a soft brick, but my Pixel went into one a few years ago for no apparent reason (likely mobo failure) and that was beyond my capacity to repair or diagnose, so…

I have literally never heard the term "soft brick" before. You're just describing "broken".

To be sure, a soft brick is a pile of clay or mud, not a brick at all. It has neither the form or function of a brick, and therefore is the perfect analogy to this vociferous misnomer.

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

#249

Post by cowmoo728 »

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?

I have never worked at apple but I know a few people that do and did dating back to the 70s. They have a culture of team independence, which is good and bad. Every team gets to choose their own language, tools, and process. This leads to an enormous amount of fragmentation across Apple. Additionally, there's a lot of secrecy and territorial behavior around products and teams. Finally, a lot of Apple's resources are devoted to iOS and mobile hardware and AR and VR and ARM CPUs and all these things that are not macbooks. Then on top Apple management wants regularly scheduled software releases, which is really hard to do with all those cultural and structural barriers in place.

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

#250

Post by phs318u »

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?

Not sure myself though I’m sure books will in future be written about “the early signs of Apple’s demise”. My MacbookAir 6,2 (mid-2013) was screwed after the 10.15.4 update (not the supplemental). The SSD was totally not recognised. I’ve tried SMC and NVRAM resets numerous times and remote Recovery. The drive is now invisible. I opened it up to reseat it (cleaning pins and socket) to no avail.

Fortunately I’ve got a 256GB SDXC card which I’ve installed Pop!_OS on - which has convinced me that now’s as good a time as any to extricate myself from the Apple ecosystem (which I’m all in on - iCloud, Apple Music etc). My next laptop will be non-Apple. First non-Apple hardware in this house since 2003.

I’ll try swapping the drive with my daughter’s - she has the same model. At least I’ll know whether it’s the drive or the logic board. Then I can sell the bits.

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