In Sierra and earlier, macOS doesn’t check the version of firmware installed or its integrity. So the situation on EFI firmware versions has become more complex. This year, that didn’t happen, neither has Apple brought firmware versions into line in the first updates after Catalina’s release. That would again have brought all Macs running 10.12.6 and later up to the new versions, which would then have been common with Catalina 10.15 too.
#Imac efi firmware update update
In recent years, Apple has avoided doing that, and performed the firmware update in the last update of the previous macOS, which would have been Mojave 10.14.6. Unusually, when Apple released Catalina, it included another firmware update for all models capable of running the new macOS. So before the release of Catalina, an iMac17,1 should have been running firmware version 0157 B00 for El Capitan, or 170.0.0.0.0 for Sierra, High Sierra or Mojave. Under that, the same iMac should have been running firmware version 0157 B00. Macs running older versions of macOS, El Capitan and before, use firmware which has a different numbering system. For example, an iMac Retina 5K 27-inch Late 2015, with the model ID iMac17,1, should have been running EFI firmware version 170.0.0.0.0.
#Imac efi firmware update mac
Provided that you kept your Mac up to date with updates and security updates for the given major version of macOS it was running, each model should have been running the same version of firmware appropriate to that specific model. Until the summer of 2019, Apple had brought all recent versions of macOS, from Sierra to Mojave, up to the same firmware versions, which differ between different models. If you stick to normal release versions, the chances of that happening should be extremely low. This is most likely when you run pre-release versions of macOS on your Mac.
However, this is a serious undertaking, and if it goes wrong the T2 chip can brick that Mac. Some Macs have had more serious problems with T1/T2 firmware, and Apple provides a special mechanism for restoring their firmware in the event of problems. The kernel and extensions are supplied and installed in macOS updates, but updating firmware is more tricky, and these days is only performed as an operation within a macOS update.įirmware is also more complex on Macs with T1 or T2 chips: they have their own firmware, which is downloaded securely during the update, and installed then. Try running a newer kernel and extensions on old firmware, and you can encounter problems, including kernel panics, in which everything has packed up and gone home, and your Mac needs to restart and try again. Together, they get your Mac running at startup, and provide all its basic services, from driving graphics cards, to the file system used for storage, and providing the ‘sandbox’ used by App Store apps.
#Imac efi firmware update software
There are three software systems at the heart of every Mac: its firmware (‘EFI firmware’), the system kernel, and a few hundred kernel extensions.
0 kommentar(er)
