Hi everyone,
like many other users I noticed that my iMac 27“ Late 2015 (17,1) never got any newer firmware update than version 170.0.0.0.
I read several articles on blogs and posts in forums like
macrumors.com,
apple.com and
reddit.com. There are a few users who escalated this issue to Apple’s 3rd level support, but the all got the same message: this particular iMac (17,1) does not need any newer firmware updates.
I think this is ridiculous. So I invested a whole weekend to discover this issue on my own and to find a final solution - which I did.
The „upgrade-chain-procedure“ with the built in NVMe SSD using the built in Mac OS recovery
First of all, I tried to get the firmware updates by reinstalling macOS on a formatted ssd. I began with Mac OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) and from there on I went through every major Mac OS version up to Big Sur.
Once I updated to a new major version (e.g. from 10.11 to 10.12), I additionally extracted the firmware files from the OS installer, trying to install the firmware manually by using the bless-command.
Always following this procedure:
- PRAM reset
- SMC reset
- Mac OS Upgrade (major version)
- Manual firmware update
- Additional Mac OS Updates
- PRAM reset
- SMC reset
- Mac OS Upgrade (major version)
- Manual firmware update
- Additional Mac OS Updates
- …
I started with 10.11.6 and ended up by 11.1. No surprise: The firmware did not change and was still at 170.0.0.0
The „upgrade-chain-procedure“ with the built in NVMe SSD using USB boot sticks
After the Mac OS Upgrade marathon, I tried to install every major Mac OS version (beginning at 10.11.6) by using a USB stick. This also did not work at all.
From my point of view I did everything I could to get the firmware update using the official upgrade path from Apple.
Since I read that some users who replaced the built in SSD with a 3rd party model got the newest firmware, I began to focus on the SSD.
I bought my iMac with a 256GB NVMe SSD (no fusion drive or HDD). The first thing I tried was to use a PartedMagic USB stick to wipe the internal SSD using the ATA sanitize commands. I used this procedure on many other Macs to speed up the built in SSDs. Unfortunately I was not able to unfreeze the built in SSD in my iMac 17,1.
I tried many different PartedMagic versions but nothing worked.
So I decided to disassemble my iMac and to replace the built in NVMe SSD. I hoped to get the newest firmware by using this procedure since some users successfully did.
The „upgrade-chain-procedure“ with an OWC NVMe SSD using the built in Mac OS recovery
I used an OWC Aura 2 NVMe SSD to replace the built in Samsung SSD. Again: No luck. My iMac still stuck with version 170.0.0.0.
To make sure that I tried everything I could, I went again through the whole Mac OS upgrade-chain from El Capitan to Big Sur. Still at 170.0.0.0.
The 10 seconds of darkness
During the many Mac OS reinstalls I did, I noticed a point in the installation procedure where the iMac restarts, shows a black screen (no logo, no progress bar) for about 10 seconds and immediately restarts again. These „10 seconds of darkness“ are part of every Mac OS installation. I figured out that this is the point in the installation procedure where the iMac tries to install the firmware update.
I was able to reproduce this behavior by using the bless command to install the firmware manually.
Apple said that this iMac does not need any newer firmware update - the truth is that the iMac indeed tries to install the newest firmware, but fails.
The „upgrade-chain-procedure“ with a classic HDD using the built in Mac OS recovery
The last option I tried was to remove the built in SSD and attach a HDD to the unused SATA port on the mainboard. This time I tried to install Big Sur right away. Guess what? 40 minutes later my iMac ran Mac OS Big Sur (11.1) with the firmware version 429.60.3.0.0!
Success!
Now that my iMac got the latest firmware, I reinserted the original Samsung NVMe SSD and reinstalled Big Sur. The iMac worked perfectly with the newest firmware without any problems. The only fear I had was that - since the problem seems to be SSD-related - my iMac won’t get any firmware updates in the future (again).
Future firmware updates work as well!
Two days later the Mac OS update to 11.2 was released. I installed the update and a couple of minutes later, the firmware of my iMac was upgraded to version 429.80.1.0.0!
From my point of view, there seems to be an issue with firmware 170.0.0.0 and built in NVMe SSDs. The iMac tries every time to install the lates firmware but fails. Using a HDD enables the iMac to install the latest firmware an after that the iMac seems to install future firmware updates even with built in NVMe SSDs.
Kind regards from Germany!