Firmware Update & Dual Booting Between 10.11 and 10.6

[MJWMac1988]

For those few of you who dual boot between 10.11 & 10.6, or who have switched back to 10.6 from 10.11, what are your experiences with the startup process when 10.6 is once again the default (permanent) startup? Is it slower than it used to be, as some seem to think it is? Does the "El Capitan black" startup screen briefly appear before it changes to the traditional gray screen? Is the switch from black to gray (if there is one) inelegant / clumsy looking, as some (whose computers were affected) have said it is?

I'm not talking about using the Startup Manager (option key) to switch from 10.11 to 10.6. I'm talking about when 10.11 is once again completely out of the picture (meaning its external drive is either turned off or erased), and 10.6 is the default (permanent) startup disk (again).

I've read reports of all of the above happening when downgrading from Yosemite.

Thank you.

 

[PurrBall]

Mine works as it always did with 10.6, but I never received a black boot screen.

 

[redheeler]

Only newer and/or Retina Macs get the black boot screen, I don't think any Snow Leopard-capable Macs have. I have both Snow Leopard and 10.11 installed on my 2008 Air, and haven't noticed any recent slowdown when booting into Snow Leopard.

 

[Eithanius]

Running 10.11 and 10.6 on 2010 MacBook Pro... No issue here...

 

[MJWMac1988]

Mine works as it always did with 10.6, but I never received a black boot screen.

Only newer and/or Retina Macs get the black boot screen, I don't think any Snow Leopard-capable Macs have. I have both Snow Leopard and 10.11 installed on my 2008 Air, and haven't noticed any recent slowdown when booting into Snow Leopard.

Running 10.11 and 10.6 on 2010 MacBook Pro... No issue here...

Thank you, all, for answering! I really appreciate it. That is very encouraging news.

 

[bmac89]

I'm a bit late to respond... you asked me in the other thread about this but I guess it has already been answered by others here.

As others have said I don't think the firmware update effects older hardware. On a side note, does anyone know if/how you can check firmware version running on your mac?

I have not noticed any issues with the startup screen changing, but I believe the black screen is on newer macs only.

 

[MJWMac1988]

As others have said I don't think the firmware update effects older hardware. On a side note, does anyone know if/how you can check firmware version running on your mac? I have not noticed any issues with the startup screen changing, but I believe the black screen is on newer macs only.

Thank you, bmac89. To see the firmware update number, go into the System Profiler, click on "Hardware" and look at the "SMC Version." SMC and firmware are the same thing (see here and here and here).

Here is one of the reasons I asked about the firmware update: The person who wrote this comment/question on the Apple Developer Forums (of which I am not a member) has my model of iMac. Despite his overreaction to the situation, he is clearly describing the familiar firmware-update beep and black screen. Even though, based on all the answers I got here, it clearly doesn't affect the startup, did you experience the usual firmware update scenario, as he did? Thank you again.