Apple Addresses Graphics Issues on Mid 2011 iMacs With Firmware Update

Anyone have any tips?

yes.

Do not do this:

I hit the power button and nothing happened, but I could hear the fans whirring, so I held the power button down to power down the computer, waited a few seconds, then turned it back on.

when updating firmware. The worst thing you can do when updating firmware is to not let it cook through, or interrupt the installation, power down and back up. That is just asking for a brick.

Don't second guess the firmware upgrade. Let it do its thing... it will sometimes take awhile, reboot itself to apply the upgrade, and then reboot itself again. The last thing in the world you wanna do is "hey... maybe this isn't working right... I'll try a hard power down and see if that fixes it." Major facepalm there.

Has anyone with the 6970M and an i5 processor had this upgrade be installable?

yes, i have the 3.1 GHz i5 with 6970M and i got the update.

Interesting...it says my system is not supported (iMac 27" Core i7 mid-2011).

Ya same here. I have the same model. I wonder if it is for older iMac's

Just for fun tried it on my Corei7 iMac (2.8 ghz version - iMac 11,1) and it said it wasn't supported either. Interesting.

I wonder what iMac this firmware addresses? I'm wondering it might be the 21 inch line (I also have the top-of-the-line i7 imac).


When I arrived home last night I ran software update and it found nothing for the AMD Radeon HD 6970M 2GB on my iMac.

It came down in software update and installed on my 27" 2.7 I5 Mid 2011.

I installed it on my 2011 21.5 imac this evening. I left the room while it was running the update and restarting. I came back a few minutes later and the screen was blank (I assumed the computer was off). I hit the power button and nothing happened, but I could hear the fans whirring, so I held the power button down to power down the computer, waited a few seconds, then turned it back on. I could hear the tone as it restarted, the CD drive did it's little dance, and it seemed like the computer was booted up, but still no screen.

At this point called Apple Support, who had me reset the PRAM, which didn't work. Then I booted up the computer, did a ctrl+eject+return restart, which didn't do anything. Then I turned the computer off, unplugged for 15-20 seconds, and restarted, again with no screen.

Now I have to take my day old iMac to a service center to have it looked at. And I just finished getting all my data transferred over from my old PC...alas.

Anyone have any tips?

FWIW, it installed without a hitch on my 21.5" Mid 2011 model.

I installed it on my 2011 21.5 imac this evening. I left the room while it was running the update and restarting. I came back a few minutes later and the screen was blank (I assumed the computer was off). I hit the power button and nothing happened, but I could hear the fans whirring, so I held the power button down to power down the computer, waited a few seconds, then turned it back on. I could hear the tone as it restarted, the CD drive did it's little dance, and it seemed like the computer was booted up, but still no screen.

At this point called Apple Support, who had me reset the PRAM, which didn't work. Then I booted up the computer, did a ctrl+eject+return restart, which didn't do anything. Then I turned the computer off, unplugged for 15-20 seconds, and restarted, again with no screen.

Now I have to take my day old iMac to a service center to have it looked at. And I just finished getting all my data transferred over from my old PC...alas.

Anyone have any tips?

WISH I had a tip Spencer. I already returned one of 12 because it had the "jailbird" motif on boot the Firmware update was supposed to fix.

Now applying the Firmware borked another that's out in my car waiting a trip to the Genius Bar.

Thanks for the posting. I wont' try to fix it myself tonight, but will just call up and get an appointment tomorrow.

FYI three others took the update just fine, when I ran out of time needed to kill the other eight.

Cheers!