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Boot Rom Updates
- Thread starter blackh0le
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No, the boot ROM is read-only in RAM (write protected). Apple can update the boot ROM (stored in a flash memory circuit) because the have the necessary certificates (signatures) which make the flash memory writeable.
10.15 DP3 EFI Version table for non BridgeOS Macs:
Almost all Catalina supported Macs had firmware upgrades, most got two versions over.
Almost all Catalina supported Macs had firmware upgrades, most got two versions over.
| Mac: | EFI version: |
|---|---|
| IM13,1 | 287.0.0.0.0 |
| IM14,1 | 139.0.0.0.0 |
| IM14,2 | 139.0.0.0.0 |
| IM14,3 | 139.0.0.0.0 |
| IM14,4 | 199.0.0.0.0 |
| IM15,1 | 230.0.0.0.0 |
| IM16,1 | 229.0.0.0.0 |
| IM16,2 | 229.0.0.0.0 |
| IM17,1 | 170.0.0.0.0 |
| IM18,1 | 175.0.0.0.0 |
| IM18,3 | 175.0.0.0.0 |
| IM19,1 | 1022.0.0.0.0 |
| MB10,1 | 178.0.0.0.0 |
| MB8,1 | 183.0.0.0.0 |
| MB9,1 | 184.0.0.0.0 |
| MBA5,1 | 259.0.0.0.0 |
| MBA6,1 | 117.0.0.0.0 |
| MBA7,1 | 188.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP10,1 | 257.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP10,2 | 280.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP11,1 | 156.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP11,2 | 156.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP11,4 | 194.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP12,1 | 186.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP13,1 | 236.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP13,2 | 259.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP13,3 | 259.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP14,1 | 198.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP14,2 | 198.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP14,3 | 198.0.0.0.0 |
| MBP9,1 | 228.0.0.0.0 |
| MM6,1 | 280.0.0.0.0 |
| MM7,1 | 244.0.0.0.0 |
| MP6,1 | 132.0.0.0.0 |
Interesting. My MBP 12,1 is still at 184.0.0.0.0 despite installing Catalina beta 2 and upgrading to beta 3.
edit: is it because I have replaced the Apple SSD with a NVME blade?
edit: is it because I have replaced the Apple SSD with a NVME blade?
Last edited:
my 2012 13” MBP automatically updated boot room (228.0.0.0) during fresh install Catalina beta3.
Yes, Apple don’t update if there are certain modifications to the computer.
I think it happens when your laptop originally had a SATA SSD and upgrade to an NVME, but only Apple know what kind of criteria they put on the hardware to be within "bootrom upgradable".
not really, 2012 MBP originally have spinning HD, replace with aftermarket SSD and bootroom automatically updated to during Macosx Catalina install.
Yes, but both your old HDD and new SSD use the same SATA connector and SATA protocol. NVMe is not the same technology at all and not a lot of machine support booting from that, you need UEFI/firmware/BIOS support otherwise it's invisible to the machine during boot hence no BootROM update on some machines.
I think I phrased myself a bit unclear, what I meant was that the issue manifests when you have SATA and tries to use the NVME as boot device. Meaning when you change communication protocol Apple don't update. This is generally a good approach as this will ensure that the laptop keeps running, and is not forced a potential bricking rom update. If you have modded your bootrom this will also avoid Apples upgrade. The problem is of course if the bootrom is updated with some new security features or bug fixes, then you will miss out on those. Though for laptops which shipped with SATA SSD but had support for NVME, although with buggy EFI modules, any fixes will not be applied if Apple make them. On the other hand, for those there are custom way to mod your bootrom which add better EFI NVME drivers, and if you apply them you would rather not have Apple "update" the bootrom if they have not fixed the problematic EFI driver.
And I have a MBP11,3 and it seems that a previous Catalina Beta, upped the EFI to version
156.0.0.0.0 OR trying the Beta 3 upped the version.
But the Beta 3 fails to install to a external HD with a Beta 2 installed.
The installation stops and after a force reboot the installer retries the installation and, I think after the 3rd time a fail message appears: .... can't be installed on your computer,...."
Apple forgot the 11,3 machine type in a list ?
Some BootROMs are made for more than one Mac, yours probably use the same one as MBP11,1 or MBP11,2.
I don’t know about your problem with install to an external drive, but the next step is to install in your main/internal disk and see if it works.
Thanks for the explanation. Internal SSD install is not an option at the moment. I'll wait till the Beta 4 I guess.
Beta 1 and 2 worked though. Even created a MacOS Catalina Beta 3 USB Bootable Install Drive.
Stop celebrating your Firmware updates, there is a Catalina & eGPU topic where there are dozens of Mac Mini 2018 users frustrated that they have lost support for using eGPU. Each new Catalina Beta brought a new Firmware update, and we came to Beta 7 yesterday that hasn't fixed the issue yet, not even reinstalling Mojave