Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

The latest MacOS update is bricking some people’s Macs

Alex Blake
By

Normally, we’d encourage you to always update to the latest version of your operating system. But some Mac users got more than they bargained for when they installed the latest MacOS Monterey 12.3 update — it bricked their devices.

According to posts on Apple’s developer forums and on social media, the 12.3 update is causing all manner of issues, from simple error messages to infinite rebooting loops and completely bricked Macs. Attempting to upgrade from MacOS Monterey 12.2.1 or earlier appears to be causing the problems.

The Apple MacBook Pro an a white table with books on a shelf in the background.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Interestingly, the issue seems to be limited to 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops with replaced logic boards (at least according to one user on the forum). They report the process usually goes along the following lines:

  • “You try to upgrade, the upgrade will fail but recovery to handle it correctly, you’ll reboot still on 12.2.1 but with a report a problem dialogue informing you of an iBoot Panic

  • You’ll try to upgrade again. This time, the iBoot FW will corrupt. You’ll see the apple icon flash on boot 5-6 times before seeing the exclamation mark symbol telling you recovery is needed.

  • You can try and revive using a second Mac with Apple Configurator 2. This will fail, because it tries to load the 12.3 firmware from the IPSW, in either DFU or Recovery mode.

  • The only way to get things running again is to manually download the 12.2.1 IPSW and use Apple Configurator 2, with the Mac in DFU mode, to load the revive image. This will update the firmware of iBoot, and the recovery image to a working build. The Mac will then restore 12.2.1’s OS, keeping your data upon finishing.

Recommended Videos

“I’ve submitted as many logs of all this to AppleSeed via Feedback Assistant, but I suspect this will take days to actually get to someone who can acknowledge the issue. In the meantime, there’s going to be many bricked MBPs as most people won’t have a second Mac to perform a revive, and even if they do, won’t understand why that fails as it tries to load 12.3.

“There’s seemingly no point going to the Apple Store Genius Bar based on @sfriedrich’s comments. They’ll just do a logic board replacement again, which will fail on upgrade.”

Related

The user mentioned in the above comment, sfriedrich, was particularly unlucky. They described how they installed the MacOS Monterey 12.3 beta 3, only for it to brick their Mac laptop. The issue was so serious that Apple replaced the logic board. Thinking all was well, the user later installed MacOS Monterey 12.3 beta 4 — only for their laptop to be bricked again, requiring a second logic board replacement.

If you’ve tried to upgrade to the latest MacOS Monterey 12.3 beta and it’s wreaking havoc with your Mac, there’s still hope. Apple has instructions on how to revive Apple silicon Macs and how to restore Intel-based Macs, so try those instructions first. Note that you’ll need a second Mac to help with this process.

Despite this notable issue, MacOS Monterey is safe to install in most situations. I’ve been running it since the first beta came out in summer 2021 without any issues, both in the form of official updates and developer betas. We’ve got instructions on how to install MacOS Monterey if you want to give it a try.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Alex Blake
Alex Blake
Computing Writer
In ancient times, people like Alex would have been shunned for their nerdy ways and strange opinions on cheese. Today, he…
Which color MacBook should you buy? Here’s how to pick
The MacBook Air on a table in front of a window.

Apple’s MacBook laptops come in a range of colors, and selecting which is right for you can be a tricky business. Sure, it’s perhaps not as important as deciding which chip to pick or how much memory you should buy, but it’s still a vital part of the equation. After all, you’re going to see that color every time you reach for your MacBook. You don’t want it to be something that fills you with regret.

But how should you pick a MacBook color? And what do the colors even look like in the first place? We’ve got the answers to those questions in this guide. We’d also advise you to go to an Apple Store to take a look at the MacBook colors in person, as some can be hard to appreciate just by browsing Apple’s website.

Read more
Apple quietly backtracks on the MacBook Air’s biggest issue
The MacBook Air on a white table.

The new MacBook Air with M3 chip not only allows you to use it with two external displays, but it has also reportedly addressed a storage problem that plagued the previous M2 model. The laptop now finally has much faster storage performance since Apple has switched back to using two 128GB NAND modules instead of a single 256GB module on the SSD drive.

This was discovered by the YouTuber Max Tech, who tore down the entry-level model of the MacBook Air M3 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. In his tests, thanks to the two NAND modules, the M3 MacBook Air is nearly double faster than the M2 MacBook Air. Blackmagic Disk Speed tests show that the older M2 model with the problematic NAND chip had a 1584.3 Mb/s write speed, and the newer M3 model had 2108.9 Mb/s for the M3 model, for a 33% difference. In read speeds, it was 1576.4 Mb/s on the old model and 2880.2 Mb/s on the newer model.

Read more
The 6 best ways Macs work with your other Apple devices
A person holds an iPhone in front of a MacBook.

One of the best things about using more than one Apple device is the way they interact with each other. Apple has built all kinds of clever features into its famous ecosystem, and it means your devices all work together in a way that you just don’t get from any other manufacturer.

AirDrop might be the ultimate expression of this, though that's fairly well-known. Here, we’ve picked out six other great ways your Mac works with other Apple products. Most require you to have Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled, as well as for you to be using the same Apple ID on all your devices. Check the System Settings app on your devices to make sure the specific features are enabled, although most should be by default.

Read more