M1 Max black screen at boot after updating Ventura 13.6

[Altinator]

I am trying to resurrect my MacBookPro that got bricked by a security update. Is starts up to the apple logo, then turns off.
I can get it into DFU mode. My current OSX on the working MacBookPro is 12.7 and the one on the bricked mac is macOS 12.6.7.
I get it up in DFU mode. When i try to revive, i get this message: "A software update is required for this device." Options are "Quit and Update", "Restore Anyway", "Stop" just like bencodesall this makes no sense to me. is the software update for the mac i am trying to revive from?
I have some files i would like to keep on the bricked mac. Should i choose restore anyway og quit and update?
(and why does it say restore and not revive, poor choice of words).

 

[ladboytick]

I am trying to resurrect my MacBookPro that got bricked by a security update. Is starts up to the apple logo, then turns off.
I can get it into DFU mode. My current OSX on the working MacBookPro is 12.7 and the one on the bricked mac is macOS 12.6.7.
I get it up in DFU mode. When i try to revive, i get this message: "A software update is required for this device." Options are "Quit and Update", "Restore Anyway", "Stop" just like bencodesall this makes no sense to me. is the software update for the mac i am trying to revive from?
I have some files i would like to keep on the bricked mac. Should i choose restore anyway og quit and update?
(and why does it say restore and not revive, poor choice of words).

Someone had this same question earlier in the thread — the update is for the bricked Mac. For others, clicking "Restore Anyway" has upgraded the software without any data loss.

 

[cyaros]

I am trying to resurrect my MacBookPro that got bricked by a security update. Is starts up to the apple logo, then turns off.
I can get it into DFU mode. My current OSX on the working MacBookPro is 12.7 and the one on the bricked mac is macOS 12.6.7.
I get it up in DFU mode. When i try to revive, i get this message: "A software update is required for this device." Options are "Quit and Update", "Restore Anyway", "Stop" just like bencodesall this makes no sense to me. is the software update for the mac i am trying to revive from?
I have some files i would like to keep on the bricked mac. Should i choose restore anyway og quit and update?
(and why does it say restore and not revive, poor choice of words).

I was able to push this, get into recovery mode after the DFU Firmware update, and run a cp -Rp /Volumes/(Volumename)/Users to an external drive to manually grab data even when the system would not boot.

 

[Altinator]

I tried the "restore Anyway" option. I have tried it 3 times now, with same result, not working. The error message i got:
The system cannot be restored on this device (AMRestoreErrorDomain - Error 10 Failed to handle message type StatusMsg (protocol error) [AMRestoreErrorDomain - 0xA (10)]
Should i try to update the operating system on my working MBP and take it one version up to see if that works?
I know ladboytick, you had to go all the way to Sonoma.

 

[ladboytick]

I tried the "restore Anyway" option. I have tried it 3 times now, with same result, not working. The error message i got:
The system cannot be restored on this device (AMRestoreErrorDomain - Error 10 Failed to handle message type StatusMsg (protocol error) [AMRestoreErrorDomain - 0xA (10)]
Should i try to update the operating system on my working MBP and take it one version up to see if that works?
I know ladboytick, you had to go all the way to Sonoma.

I got a similar error message (don't remember exactly what it said but the "0xA" looks familiar) when I tried to revive my bricked machine initially. The process only worked after upgrading my working M2 MacBook Air to Sonoma.

 

[Altinator]

Success! i updated to Ventura, that got it to run the revive process all the way. I got it into disc utility, checked the hard drives. the "Data" drive gave me some errors. i restarted it, got it to start up selection and selected hard drive. Now nothing comes up. I hope some more startups maybe will fix that?
What would be the best route forward at this point?

 

[ladboytick]

Success! i updated to Ventura, that got it to run the revive process all the way. I got it into disc utility, checked the hard drives. the "Data" drive gave me some errors. i restarted it, got it to start up selection and selected hard drive. Now nothing comes up. I hope some more startups maybe will fix that?
What would be the best route forward at this point?

If you're getting errors in Disk Utility, that might be a different issue than what other people on this thread are having. If you're able to boot into Recovery Mode, do that. You should get an option to reinstall the OS. You can also back up your files via Terminal.

 

[davemp88]

Hello! I just updated Ventura to the latest release and now my Mac M1 Max is bricked...
I see the apple at boot, then black screen. No luck for the boot options: keeping the power on key pressed, I see the apple, then nothing...
Any hint for fix that? I tried to call Apple but no answers...

Well, i just installed Sonoma and everything was safe, no lost files. But of course, if you do a backup is surely better. Good luck!

So you actually have better luck on somoma with your silicon Mac than Ventura? I never had any problems with mine til I upgraded to Sonoma, which started freezing my computer right away and stopped my drivers from working so I wiped it back to Ventura 13.6 and it’s been working great. I’m ambivalent about whether or not to do the 13.6.1 security upgrade even honestly 😳 Wiping my computer was NOT fun!

 

[katbel]

After reading this thread I disabled automatic security updates:
I will do it if, after many days, I don't read any bad report. It's really Apple gone south to say the least. The fact you cannot reboot from your backup it says it all and it makes me fuming after so many years I have it done it and saved me few times in the past.
If I hadn't bought a new computer with Ventura I would have stayed on BigSur

 

[mark-in-seattle]

After updating from macOS v13.52(?) --> v13.7 my MBP-m1-Max was bricked with the same symptoms others here have described: bootup --> Apple logo briefly --> blank black screen and no recovery boot options available.

I appreciate the advice from this thread, however not able to "Revive" successfully from host mac-Studio (macOS v12.7) running Configurator v2.16 with MBP-m1-Max target in DFU mode. No matter which IPSW versions are dropped into target icon in host's Configurator: a v13.52, or v13.6 IPSW bundle, before using the "Revive" command, my MBP-m1 target remains bricked and not able to load the boot recovery options screen either. So I can't update the target to Sonoma from the boot options as others have done because my bricked target never presents the recovery boot options, settings ...etc screens when it is rebooted with power ON button held down past apple logo appearance.

Would certainly like to preserve my datafiles on the bricked target to save the hassle of re-installing even if Apple forces me to upgrade to Sonoma from Ventura, but without using recovery boot options menu not sure how to do that ?

When my MBP-m1 was first bricked I was still able to use a USB-C ethernet adapter to see it remotely from my Hackintosh i9 (vanilla install using OpenCore boot loader) system and copy 85% of my datafiles to the Hackintosh and a Synology NAS. The Hackintosh is my main desktop because the Intel i9 runs 3D drawing app Sketchup-Pro 2021 much faster natively than the MBP-m1 which must emulate Sketchup's x86 code. Carbon Copy Cloner works great on the Hackintosh and my wife's MacStudio for backups including to our off-site archive. My mistake thinking my seldom used MBP-m1 laptop would be reliable enough to avoid a Carbon Copy Cloner backup regiment.

Surprising that my Hackintosh has been rock solid for 4 years, thru multiple macOS upgrades directly from Apple's servers (vanilla install and OpenCore make that possible), while my newish MBP-m1 got bricked by an Apple security update. So wish the imensely talented Steve Wozniak had remained at Apple to shepard Apple's engineering culture... sigh.

Mostly adding another datapoint for others, but also asking for advice on what options I might have to upgrade the macOS without wiping the HD.

-- thanks

/* UPDATE - Success installing Sonoma */

Using the same host as above and DFU mode enabled thru Mr. Macintosh's "DFU-Blaster" app on my bricked target MBP-m1, was able to get further in the "Revive" process by NOT dragging an IPSW bundle file into the host's Apple Configurator v2.16 window, but instead let Apple Configurator download what I assume is the current Sonoma bundle and use that for "reviving" the firmware. This caused the 4th-of-4 "installing" part of the "revive" task to take longer then when I used IPSW v13.52 and v13.6 bundles. Obviously the 2nd-of-4 "downloading" task was longer.

After the revive process completed I was asked to login to my admin account (twice ?) and finally saw boot OPTIONS icon and boot to my MBP-m1 MacHD OS partition icon, which in my prior efforts had never appeared.

Selecting the OPTIONS icon I was able to run Disk Utility FirstAid and it found no disk errors. I then selected to boot from my MacHD OS partition but this was unsuccessful - booting into a blank black screen as before when bricked.

Reading in this thread that some users were only able to "revive" their m1 laptops if they installed Sonoma from the boot OPTIONS icon process, I elected to try that method and after connnecting the MBP-m1 to the internet (USB-C ethernet adapter) was able to successfully install Sonoma onto my Macintosh-HD partition leaving my prior apps and my seperate DataDrive APFS partition untouched. Just wanted to let others know that installing Sonoma onto my macOS partition worked for me AND I was able to use a macOS v12.7 DFU host system, not having to upgrade the host as some others on this thread have had to do.

Thank you again to other posters for guiding my "revive" task. Very sad that Apple devs are getting lazy (or even more incompetent ?) as time goes on. Certainly there are great coders still at Apple, but they can't carry the entire software development burden by themselves. My wife's Mac-Studio and my i9 Hackintosh remain reliable desktopo workhorses..... the m1 laptop ... not so much.

 

[birdieman128]

My 2021 14” M1 MBP Pro just brick at Ventura 13.6.1 , what a headache. unfortunately I am travelling and won’t have another old Mac lying around to put it in DFU mode.

 

[Lazyass0]

For me happened again from 13.6 - 13.6.1 .... DFU to get into Recovery (using 13.6 IPSW which is only available) and from here now I am trying to do Ventura fresh install from Recovery Options ... Or they didn't fixed that problem in 13.6.1 or Logicboard is bad or some software is breaking the update (need to try clean install of 13.6 and update to 13.6.1 ...)

 

[Lazyass0]

Has some of you this securety disabled and set like I do ? I made clean install of 13.6 without installing anything and update to 13.6.1 went through normally on same macbook ! It is defenitely something like this or some SW is bricking when update !

 

[chrfr]

The trigger for this problem appears to be that Promotion is turned off in Display Settings before the update is applied. Unfortunately there is no real easy fix for the black screen once it happens aside from restoring the system.

 

[ladboytick]

The trigger for this problem appears to be that Promotion is turned off in Display Settings before the update is applied. Unfortunately there is no real easy fix for the black screen once it happens aside from restoring the system.

I just checked my display settings and sure enough, Pro Motion was turned off. Not sure why this would cause an issue with the update. I did have my laptop plugged in to an external display (the LG 5K), so maybe that had something to do with it.

 

[chrfr]

I just checked my display settings and sure enough, Pro Motion was turned off. Not sure why this would cause an issue with the update. I did have my laptop plugged in to an external display (the LG 5K), so maybe that had something to do with it.

The external display doesn't have any effect- it's only the ProMotion setting being disabled that triggers this.

 

[Lazyass0]

I just checked my display settings and sure enough, Pro Motion was turned off. Not sure why this would cause an issue with the update. I did have my laptop plugged in to an external display (the LG 5K), so maybe that had something to do with it.

Exactly that probably means trouble !!! Pro Motion off so 60Hz or other instead of Pro Motion !

I can confirm that every time that brick happened to me the Pro Motion was off ..... When tried today fresh 13.6 to 13.6.1 without changing or installing anything there was no brick / black screen ! Have also reported that to Apple right now.

 

[Lazyass0]

The trigger for this problem appears to be that Promotion is turned off in Display Settings before the update is applied. Unfortunately there is no real easy fix for the black screen once it happens aside from restoring the system.

I can confirm that every time that brick happened to me the Pro Motion was off ..... When tried today fresh install 13.6 and update to 13.6.1 without changing or installing anything there was no brick / black screen !
Have also reported that to Apple right now.

If someone has time you can try going from 13.6 to 13.6.1 with Pro Motion setting ON and second time with Promotion OFF and report back to us and to Apple !

Only Apple silicone Macbook's Pro 14" and 16" has Pro Motion and those are only ones where this brick's / black screens after update are reported !

 

[Lazyass0]

The trigger for this problem appears to be that Promotion is turned off in Display Settings before the update is applied. Unfortunately there is no real easy fix for the black screen once it happens aside from restoring the system.

Do you have time to try this few times (13.6 to 13.61 for example) with and without Pro Motion disabled and maybe also record it that we can show to Apple what is the problem ?

 

[MircoT]

The trigger for this problem appears to be that Promotion is turned off in Display Settings before the update is applied. Unfortunately there is no real easy fix for the black screen once it happens aside from restoring the system.

So on MacStudio M2 with one ASD I shouldn't have this risk: I don't see the ProMotion option in the preferences.. it's correct?

 

[Lazyass0]

So on MacStudio M2 with one ASD I shouldn't have this risk: I don't see the ProMotion option in the preferences.. it's correct?

Correct, There are only Apple Silicone Macbook's 14 and 16 with ProMotion display released.

I hope this is the reason and for now it makes sense regarding input of affected users !

It really need be tested what makes those bricks !

 

[The Wolf]

I had 3x 2021 16’ MBP bricked by now, all set to 60Hz frame rate:

1) Security update from 13.5 to 13.6 bricked it: chime after switching on, shortly shows white Apple logo, black screen. Recovery options did not work, either - pressing power long enough ends up with exclamation mark in a circle...
2) Following a mainboard replacement by Apple: security update from 13.3 (delivered OS with the new board) to 13.6 bricked it again, the exact same way.

3) A new 2021 16’ MBP, delivered with 12.0 bricked during upgrade to 12.7, again the exact same way.



However, I did successfully upgrade 1x 2021 16' MBP from 12.6 to 12.7 before, with refresh rate set to 60Hz, too.

 

[Lazyass0]

I had 3x 2021 16’ MBP bricked by now, all set to 60Hz frame rate:

1) Security update from 13.5 to 13.6 bricked it (chime after switching on, shortly shows white Apple logo, black screen. Recovery options did not work, either - pressing power long enough ends up with exclamation mark in a circle...
2) Following a mainboard and touch ID replacement by Apple (seems Apple did not want to bother with NVRAM revive and thereby getting my data back (!) - the device was under warranty): security update from 13.3 (delivered OS with the new board) to 13.6 bricked it again, the exact same way.

3) A new 2021 16’ MBP, delivered with 12.0 bricked during upgrade to 12.7, again the exact same way.



However, I did successfully upgrade 1x MBP from 12.6 to 12.7 before, with refresh rate set to 60Hz, too.

3/4 was ProMotion in your case, 12.6 to 12.7 was also bricked in my case (initial case) with ProMotion off ...

 

[The Wolf]

3/4 was ProMotion in your case, 12.6 to 12.7 was also bricked in my case (initial case) with ProMotion off ...

Yes - conclusion: frame rates other than ProMotion are a potentially dangerous setting, but are not ALWAYS bricking the device in conjunction with these updates - so there must be more to it.

 

[thevidness]

here’s another one bricked by disabled promotion updating from 13.6 to 13.6.1

this is
i n s a n e.

random expletive