AskLG

As a Mac user, I’m sure you are used to the standard updates that come straight to you via the Update Manager.  Got to love how it ‘just works’ right?  Well, one particular update doesn’t ‘just work’.  This update is firmware called ‘EFI’.  The EFI update provides more stability (understatement) and keeps your Mac very happy.  Since it doenn’t auto-update, installation is a little tricky.  This how-to will set you up nice though.

First you need to go download the right EFI package online.  They are fairly easy to find once you’re at Apple’s support website, but here are the latest links (from the time of article posting):

MacBook (version 1.2)
MacBook Pro (version 1.5.1)
MacBook Air (version 1.0)
iMac (version 1.3)
Mac Pro (version 1.3)

Once you download your latest firmware, start up the package by double clicking it.  The installer you’re used to by now runs and poof you’re done with that section.

After the update setup is installed, you need to open finder and travel to Applications / Utilities / EFI Firmware Updater.  It’ll look a little something like this:

Once you start that up, it is VERY IMPORTANT to know exactly what to do next.  Seriously, read the directions before you start.

First, hit shutdown on the dialog box.  It will put your computer to sleep fairly quickly.  Once the computer is asleep, you need to press and hold the power button until you see some crazy blinking or a loud, obnoxious beep.  I’m not talking a 2 second hold here either.  You’ve got to press the power button for 8-10 seconds.  You should wait until you feel like you’ve held it too long, then hold it some more.  When you hear the crazy beep (or see flashing lights) then let go and it’ll do its business.  There will be an ugly loading bar pop up which is the new firmware installation.  Once it gets done, your Mac will restart.

After the restart, let’s verify it actually updated.  Open up finder again, and make your way to Applications / Utilities / System Profiler.

Under the hardware tab, you can find the ‘Boot ROM Version’.  This is the crucial code that was edited.  It should look something like this:

Now each Apple product has a different code, so look for yours below:

MacBook: MB31.008E.B02
MacBook Pro: MBP21.00A5.B08 or MBP31.0070.B07
MacBook Air: MBA11.00BB.B03
iMac: IM71.007A.B03
Mac Pro: MP31.006C.B05

Keep in mind, these codes represent the latest edition at the time of posting this article.  Depending on when you’re reading this, they could be different.  Apple keeps these numbers on that EFI download page though, so they’re easy to find just to make sure.

If you need any help in the process, drop a comment and I’ll do what I can.
Happy Stable Mac’ing!

Tags: Apple, efi, firmware, hardware, mac, macintosh, stability, stable, udpates, update, upgrade

This entry was posted on Friday, May 2nd, 2008 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.