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shintiger

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 24, 2025
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I have a MacBook 2011 as title stated, my question is is that fully support thunderbolt 2 dock or even thunderbolt 3 dock with a 2 to 3 adapter without any firmware update?
Because it can connect to external monitors, it can connect to owc thunderbolt 2 dock AFTER half an hour cable connected. But no luck with TB3(tested 1 dock only)

My TB firmware version it showing d.0/d.16(eng 1)/13.0-2.8 and Port Micro firmware is 1.2.1
I tried thunderbolt firmware update v1.0 it state my computer port does not need this.

I don’t know why the firmware version is different when I boot from different os (lion and high sierra)
 
Last edited:
The apple Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter does not pass power -- could that be the problem with the TB3 dock?
As long as the TB3 dock has its own power supply, I would expect this to work:

MBP 2011 <---> Apple TB2 to TB3 adapter <---> TB3 dock (with it's own power supply)

It does seem odd that you're having some trouble (1/2 hour wait?) connecting to the OCW TB2 dock. That is weird. Maybe the cable is erratic? I haven't seen any info on TB firmware, sorry.
 
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Thanks for reply, I have make the dock works with my MacBook finally.

The issue of half an hour I have still no idea, but I left the OWC thunderbolt 2 dock as broken one since I have a better working dock.

Below is my combo to make it works:
- Kensington SD5200T (Thunderbolt 3 dock)
- Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter
- Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 2 cable
- MacBook 2011 early 13"

I have downloaded
Thunderbolt Firmware update v1.0/Thunderbolt Firmware update v1.2
Both not working with message "Your computers thunderbolt port does not need it" or "Not support" something like that, never install any thing

This thread completely saved my day.

But I still cannot install, until I found a comment there is exact the solution of my case: the comment of Jean JD
Now I just copy to here to avoid the post not working

Code:
Hello Wolfgang.

Thirst thing : thank you very much.

I’ve install Sierra and the response of Firmware Thunderbolt 1.0 is the same :

“This update is not necessary for the Thunderbolt port of your computer”

I think it’s dead for my computer.

It’s too bad .

Have a good day.

John.

REVISION from 01/01/2021

Hello everyone !

Here is a good news to start the new year.

Lately I worked on the case of creating a Mac OS installation key in Recovery mode with an El Capitan or Yosemite installer which comes with a dmg containing a pkg that we can find here for El Capitan.

I have been looking around for a while and found how from Recovery mode, with this dmg we can create an installation media without too much effort: D

And this is the method that allowed me to explore the firmware pkg and figure out how to force the system to take it into account.

Here is how I was able to successfully force the installation of Thunderbolt Firmware.

Be careful though: I was sure that this Firm was suitable for my MBP and that it was not going to break everything.

However it is highly risky if you do not really know what you are doing.

In short, I had the pkg from the dmg downloaded that I copy and extract in the directory Firm_Thunderbolt on the Desktop of the Mac :

pkgutil --expand ~/Desktop/ThunderboltFirmwareUpdate.pkg ~/Desktop/Firm_Thunderbolt

Which gives the following structure:

drwxr-xr-x@  7 jean  staff    224  1 jan 09:28 21.5-inchiMacThunderboltFirmwareUpdate.pkg

drwxr-xr-x@  7 jean  staff    224  1 jan 09:27 27-inchiMacThunderboltFirmwareUpdate.pkg

-rwxr-xr-x@  1 jean  staff  28896  4 avr  2012 Distribution

drwxr-xr-x  24 jean  staff    768 31 déc 07:38 Resources

drwxr-xr-x@  7 jean  staff    224 31 déc 07:39 ThunderboltFirmwareUpdate.pkg

The directory I'm interested in here is ThunderboltFirmwareUpdate.pkg.

 The others are either for the iMac or not used here. So I work in the  ThunderboltFirmwareUpdate.pkg directory

cd ~/Desktop/Firm_Thunderbolt/ThunderboltFirmwareUpdate.pkg

And here is its structure:

-rw-r--r--@ 1 jean  staff  87688  4 avr  2012 Bom

-rw-r--r--@ 1 jean  staff    500  4 avr  2012 PackageInfo

-rw-r--r--  1 jean  staff  84153  4 avr  2012 Payload

drwxr-xr-x  6 jean  staff    192 31 déc 07:38 Scripts

And here is the command that changes everything:

tar -xvf Payload

x .

x ./System

x ./System/Library

x ./System/Library/CoreServices

x ./System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates

x ./System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates/MacBookProTBUpdate10

x ./System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates/MacBookProTBUpdate10/HPM-em-00020007.bin

x ./System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates/MacBookProTBUpdate10/MBP-22-01.bin

x ./System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates/MacBookProTBUpdate10/ThorUtil.efi

And now here is the new directory structure:

-rw-r--r--@ 1 jean  staff  87688  4 avr  2012 Bom

-rw-r--r--@ 1 jean  staff    500  4 avr  2012 PackageInfo

-rw-r--r--  1 jean  staff  84153  4 avr  2012 Payload

drwxr-xr-x  6 jean  staff    192 31 déc 07:38 Scripts

drwxr-xr-x  3 jean  staff     96  4 avr  2012 System

A System directory with the correct tree structure has been created by the tar command with the correct firmware. All you have to do is copy the MacBookProTBUpdate10 directory from ~/Desktop/Firm_Thunderbolt/ThunderboltFirmwareUpdate.pkg/System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates into the native system structure of the Mac : /System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates

There is however a little problem with Catalina, as the system is mounted in read only. Never mind. To go ahead you must first deactivate SIP from the Recovery mode terminal:

csrutil disable

Then restart and type the following command:

sudo mount -rw /

Then we copy the MacBookProTBUpdate10 directory which contains all necessary information for the installation of the Firmware on the System.

First we go to the install directory :

cd ~/Desktop/Firm_Thunderbolt/ThunderboltFirmwareUpdate.pkg

then

sudo cp -a System/Library/CoreServices/"Firmware Updates"/MacBookProTBUpdate10 /System/Library/CoreServices/”Firmware Updates”

Then you have to enter the command that allows the firmware to be updated.

The flashTBFirmware script which is in the Scripts / postinstall_actions directory gives us all we need. You have to open it with any editor (textedit for example) and here is its content:

#!/usr/bin/perl

####################################

my $targetVolume = $ARGV[2];

my $FirmwareDirectory = "/System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware Updates/MacBookProTBUpdate10/";

my $firmwareTool = "ThorUtil.efi";

yes this is secure
my $debug = (-e "/tmp/com.apple.pkg.testing");

#####################################################################

#set NVRAM for tbft (<rdar://problem/9282793> Use Safe Mode for T29 updates (EPROM, Micros) to prevent PCIe unplug during update)

system("/usr/sbin/nvram tbt-options=%04");

# bless the firmware

my $retVal = system("/usr/sbin/bless", "-mount", "/",

"-firmware", $FirmwareDirectory . "ThorUtil.efi",

"-payload", $FirmwareDirectory ."MBP-22-01.bin",

"-payload", $FirmwareDirectory ."HPM-em-00020007.bin",

"-options", "-o -ee -f efi-apple-payload0-data -em efi-apple-payload1-data");

debuglog("blessFirmware the result of the bless command is: $retVal");

########################################################

always exit 0
exit 0;

########################################################

sub debuglog

{

$_[0] is the argument to debuglog
system("logger -p install.info '$_[0]'") if ( $debug );

}

The part that is interesting us is here:

# bless the firmware

my $retVal = system("/usr/sbin/bless", "-mount", "/",

"-firmware", $FirmwareDirectory . "ThorUtil.efi",

"-payload", $FirmwareDirectory ."MBP-22-01.bin",

"-payload", $FirmwareDirectory ."HPM-em-00020007.bin",

"-options", "-o -ee -f efi-apple-payload0-data -em efi-apple-payload1-data");

This is the bless command which will start the Firmware installer during the next boot. You just have to adapt it to create the terminal command which match with your system and which can be found below:

sudo bless -mount / -firmware /System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware\ Updates/MacBookProTBUpdate10/ThorUtil.efi -payload /System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware\ Updates/MacBookProTBUpdate10/MBP-22-01.bin -payload /System/Library/CoreServices/Firmware\ Updates/MacBookProTBUpdate10/HPM-em-00020007.bin -options "-o -ee -f efi-apple-payload0-data -em efi-apple-payload1-data"

I admit that I was a bit anxious when I restarted the Mac, but I quickly saw the famous Firmware update bar progressing and then the Mac restarted and there I plugged in the Thunderbolt DDE which was recognised without any concern.

And now here's the Thunderbolt info:

Bus Thunderbolt :

  Vendor ID: : Apple Inc.

  Nom du périphérique : MacBook Pro

  UID : 0x0001000A156383E0

  Logical Unit: 0

  Version du programme interne : 22,1

  UUID du domaine : B6969003-5485-245E-8FED-2538703498FC

  Port :

  État : Aucun périphérique connecté

  État du lien : 0x101

  Vitesse : Jusqu’à 10 Gbit/s x2

  Réceptacle : 1

  Version du programme interne de Port Micro : 2.0.7

to compare with the old ones.

Bus Thunderbolt :

  Vendor ID:: Apple Inc.

  Nom du périphérique : MacBook Pro

  UID : 0x0001000A156383E0

  Logical Unit: 0

  Version du programme interne : d.0

  UUID du domaine : B6969003-5485-245E-8FED-2538703498FC

  Port :

  État : Aucun périphérique connecté

  État du lien : 0x101

  Vitesse : Jusqu’à 10 Gbit/s x2

  Réceptacle : 1

  Version du programme interne de Port Micro : 1.2.1

End of the adventure, thank you for staying all along this journey. : D

Many many thanks to my friend Dominique for the translation in English.

You can find the French version here : https://forum.macbidouille.com/index.php...

Bye


After installed Thunderbolt Firmware update v1.0, I am able to direct install v1.2.
After all installations, my Thunderbolt firmware version updated to 22.1 from d.0; Port micro firmware version updated to 2.1.3 from 1.2.1
Finally the dock works perfectly.

I lose many time on this, hope I can help anyone suffering this issue
 
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