Lion Internet Recovery Comes to Current-Generation iMacs

Apple today released a series of firmware updates for its 2011 Mac lineup, addressing several issues to increase the stability of the systems. But the iMac EFI Update 1.7 goes a bit further, bringing the Lion Internet Recovery feature to the current generation of iMac models. The iMac update also specifically addresses several Thunderbolt performance issues.

About iMac EFI Update 1.7

This update enables Lion Recovery from an Internet connection and includes fixes that resolve issues with Apple Thunderbolt Display compatibility and Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode performance on iMac (early 2011) models.

Internet Recovery launched as part of OS X Lion in July, allowing users to easily install the operating system on a blank hard drive, a feature that is handy for users who are replacing their hard drives or for whom the recovery partition included on their Lion system becomes inaccessible. Internet Recovery functions by adding a minimal bootable install onto a machine's firmware to allow it to connect the Internet and download the full Lion operating system for installation.

lion internet recovery
Internet Recovery initially debuted on the MacBook Air and Mac mini models that were released alongside OS X Lion, but was extended to the Early 2011 MacBook Pro line last month. With the addition of the iMac, all of Apple's current Mac models with the exception of the Mac Pro are now capable of accessing Lion Internet Recovery. The Mac Pro has not been updated since mid-2010, and delays in Intel's chip production appear to have pushed any refresh into next year.

In addition to the iMac EFI firmware update released today, Apple also pushed out MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 2.3 for Early 2011 models, MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.2 for Mid 2011 models, and Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.4 for Mid 2011 models.

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Top Rated Comments

SmileyDude Avatar
179 months ago
What's up with the picture of the bondi blue iMac on that support page for the EFI update?
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jerome Morrow Avatar
179 months ago
What's up with the picture of the bondi blue iMac on that support page for the EFI update?

Made me smile. :)
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AidenShaw Avatar
179 months ago
Have you tried clean-installing Lion? When I had my MBP, I had a clean install, and never experienced any of the internet connectivity issues. :apple:

I thought that reformatting the drive to fix software problems was only a Windows 95 issue.... ;)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
vitzr Avatar
179 months ago
I thought that reformatting the drive to fix software problems was only a Windows 95 issue.... ;)

Ten Points... that was so funny it was the best laugh I've had all day, and I've had some good ones. :D
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
daxomni Avatar
179 months ago
I would like to see this on MBP's from 2009 and 2010 as well.

I'll bet you forgot to run Utility Disk Permissions before you ran the update. It's a good idea to do that before every update.
What? You mean "it just works" isn't always true? Heresy I say!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LimeiBook86 Avatar
179 months ago
I'm happy to get the Internet Recovery option on my 2011 iMac. I was starting to feel left out. ;)

Made me smile. :)
Me too (attached below in case Apple fixes it) :p


Awesome! This introduced a display backlight flicker to my 27" iMac though :/

It seems to disappear after a few minutes of uptime though so its not very huge. Even though i think it is really weird and i hope it won't harm the display.

Anyone else with this problem? PRAM and SMC reset don't change anything.
When I perform the update with my iMac I'll let you know if it does the same. Although I'm a bit hesitant now...
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)