Bit of a techy OS X Mac question for some of you. I have an old Macbook Pro that I still use when I travel and for some location recording. It's from 2011 but it's a quad core i7 with 16GB ram and an SSD drive so fine to work on like that. I recently upgraded it to the latest Catalina operating system with a simple hack. All works well. There's something that was bugging me though with the thunderbolt port and I need to upgrade the thunderbolt firmware on the MB Pro. For any of you that are still reading this here's my problem. The firmware update can only be installed on an older version of the operating system ie Mountain Lion - So... - I made a bootable USB image of Mountain Lion, held alt on startup and can boot from the Mountain Lion image BUT how can I run the firmware update file? The options I have are things like restore time machine backup, install mountain lion, disk utility etc but no way to browse to find the file. I have manage to mount a separate usb key with the firmware update on but still can't run the file. I'm wondering if I need to use Terminal which I can use to navigate to the 2nd usb key with the firmware on and then run the file from that somehow? Thanks in advance if you can help.
How to run a firmware update file when booting from USB?
- Thread starter leggy
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Cory Cooper
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Hello and welcome.
-What issue are you having with the Thunderbolt port?
-Where did you see the firmware update that is available for your MBP?
Normally, when you upgrade to a new version of OS X/macOS, Software Update will install any firmware updates for your Mac in addition to upgrading the OS.
C
-What issue are you having with the Thunderbolt port?
-Where did you see the firmware update that is available for your MBP?
Normally, when you upgrade to a new version of OS X/macOS, Software Update will install any firmware updates for your Mac in addition to upgrading the OS.
C
Hi Cory and thanks for your reply. This is a well known issue with these machines. Without the firmware update the thunderbolt port isn't functional at all. The actual updates were issued by Apple and apparently fix this. I'm currently trying to install Mountain Lion on an external drive so I can boot from that and run the firmware update files. Unfortunately because I have Catalina on my MB Pro it won't let me install an earlier version of Mac OS so I'm currently trying to ressurect an ancient Mac Pro with Snow Leopard and see if I can install Mountain Lion from that.
Cory Cooper
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No worries.
I hadn't heard of this issue previously. I do know there was a MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.7 for the 2011 MBPs, but that is the latest I can find. It didn't mention anything about Thunderbolt. Let me know where you are seeing the firmware update for your MBP.
You should be able to create a bootable USB Mountain Lion installer using DiskMakerX 3.0.4. You can then boot from the USB and install Mountain Lion on your external.
C
I hadn't heard of this issue previously. I do know there was a MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.7 for the 2011 MBPs, but that is the latest I can find. It didn't mention anything about Thunderbolt. Let me know where you are seeing the firmware update for your MBP.
You should be able to create a bootable USB Mountain Lion installer using DiskMakerX 3.0.4. You can then boot from the USB and install Mountain Lion on your external.
C