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from the it's-not-bricked-if-you-CAN-restore-it dept.
MacRumors reports Restoring a Bricked iMac Pro Requires a Second Mac and Configurator 2:
"If an iMac Pro becomes unresponsive and requires restoring, like if there's a power failure during a software update, there are a special set of instructions iMac Pro users must follow, which require a secondary Mac."
As outlined in an Apple Configurator 2 support page, an iMac Pro restore requires a second Mac running macOS High Sierra with internet access and Apple Configurator 2.6 or later installed.
[...] This restore process is similar to what must be done for an iPhone or iPad that is unresponsive, and it is necessary due to the extra security afforded by the Apple-designed T2 chip ... [which] integrates the system management controller, image signal processor for the camera, audio controller, SSD controller, a Secure Enclave, and a hardware encryption engine.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Rich on Sunday December 17 2017, @11:26PM (2 children)
From the page with the instructions:
- Verify: You can connect to the Internet.
No internet, or Apple unwilling to provide what you need, maybe because you installed "unauthorized" things before? Sort of how the logic board serial reflashing process became an online-only thing after about 2012.
- Wait for the process to complete.
How long would that be, in a spot where you don't have hipster-enabling bandwidth?
Until now, it used to be that you could extract the "InstallESD.dmg" out of the installers and keep it for off-line maintenance. That's of no more use, it seems...
Not that I'm in the market for a new Mac at the moment, but these sort of things will keep me away for good after decades of being an Apple user since the ][+. My old but trusty 2006 MBP finally crapped out earlier this year and I had to pick a replacement: I opted for a refurb 2009 (*) Unibody, because I don't want to put up with all this (and I already had a traumatizing experience when my newer 2012 RMBP's RAM failed), but when that option with the good old stuff trickles out, it's "Auf Nimmerwiederseh'n".
(*) I would've taken a late 2011 Quadcore, but with the ATI chips from 2010 on, it's not a matter of "if", but "when" they fail.
(Score: 2) by RedBear on Monday December 18 2017, @02:57PM (1 child)
I wrote a different post below that was more snarky. In this one I'll just point out that the secure boot options can be disabled, so if you don't like the boot security features you shouldn't have to ever encounter this issue. You can still extract your installer disk image and make a recovery USB or whatever, if that's what you want.
I don't see this as a good reason to stop being an Apple user. There are various other reasons that are as good or better.
¯\_ʕ◔.◔ʔ_/¯ LOL. I dunno. I'm just a bear.
... Peace out. Got bear stuff to do. 彡ʕ⌐■.■ʔ
(Score: 2) by Rich on Monday December 18 2017, @10:30PM
Note that I wrote "these sort of things will keep me away", not "this particular thing". For one, the number of hoops we are made to jump through to craft a system to our liking is steadily increasing, especially if we have to cater for things outside of the hipster universe. Today, I got surprised by an e-mail with a purchase order. A customer's external device was discontinued and I have to make a newer one fit - this is on FFS Tiger, which runs the main application in, hold your breath, Classic. If the customer had to entirely upgrade the system, that would be a multi-million job with all the mandatory V&V and paperwork, because it's a controlled market (medical). To reasonably build for that, I need XCode 3.2, which is completely no-go past Mavericks. I have that on my refurb Mac, but it already was a nightmare to get it going - and I can be glad that the machine doesn't (officially) work past El Capitan, so I don't run the risk of being locked out of my work by some automatic (High Sierra, or anything else?!) file system conversion.
If you want to call it "conspiration theory", this looks to me like the path to take the end users' power away to set up their own system and force them into subscription dependencies. Further elaborating on this will eventually need its own essay.
The other thing has been the service nightmare I've experienced with my RMBP when the RAM failed. I ended up finding a replacement logic board literally on the other side of the world, and (with the needed assistance of a top-grade Wiha Pentalobe screwdriver) it's back in service, but never again shall I spend such a ridiculous amount of money on stuff with all the components being soldered down BGAs. There's no excuse, because I know how it works with the T-Thinkpads: FRU number into the search bar, two or three clicks, and the machine is back in business within 48 hours (though that gets worse too, these days. see "conspiration theory" above).