Some Older Macs Reportedly Bricked After Installing macOS Monterey

macOS Monterey, released last week as the latest version of macOS, is bricking older Mac computers, rendering them unusable and unable to even turn on, according to a number of reports from users across social media and online forums.

macos monterey
If this sounds oddly familiar, it may be because last year, with the launch of macOS Big Sur, similar reports surfaced about that update bricking older MacBook Pro models. Less than a year later, similar issues are now seemingly taking place once again.

At least ten separate posts (1, 2, 3 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) on Apple Support Communities contain users complaining that as they were attempting to update their Mac to macOS Monterey, the Mac went completely black and they're unable to turn it on. One post in specific includes several comments from users also reporting similar issues. Reports on Twitter are also plentiful.



A comment on a post on Reddit includes a user chronicling their experience, saying that the macOS Monterey update bricked their 2017 iMac, declaring that "it's just dead."

Same thing happened to my 2017 iMac. Said it needed to restart. Never restarted. Waited a couple hours and tried to power cycle it. Reset pram ect. Nothing seems to be working it's just dead. Took a couple tries to get it installed on my 2015 Mac Air. That seems to be running but I'm at a loss as to what to do with the imac. I unplugged it and headed to work. Hoping to find some solutions tonight to get this resolved in the am.

One possible solution floated on Apple Support Communities is that users may need to revive or restore their Mac's firmware. "In very rare circumstances, such as a power failure during a macOS update or upgrade, a Mac may become unresponsive and so the firmware must be revived or restored," Apple says in a support document.

All user reports suggest the issue is impacting older ‌MacBook Pro‌, Mac mini, and ‌iMac‌ models. More recent computers such as Apple silicon-based Macs are not seemingly having problems, at least according to the lack of user reports suggesting so.

While the issue with macOS Monterey bricking Mac computers is not as widespread as last year with macOS Big Sur, enough users are reporting that the update is causing problems to warrant some concern. It's possible that following this article, even more users will come forward and share their experience with macOS Monterey causing issues on their Macs.

Apple is currently testing macOS 12.1, but that isn't expected to be released for at least several more weeks. macOS Monterey is still in its first version, and it's typically a safe bet to wait until several updates are released before updating to the latest version from a previous generation. It's possible a smaller dot-update could be released to address bugs and security fixes.

Related Forum: macOS Monterey

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Here Are Apple's Full iOS 18.5 Release Notes

Tuesday May 6, 2025 2:17 pm PDT by
Apple today seeded the release candidate version of iOS 18.5 to developers and public beta testers, giving us a look at the final version of the update that will be provided to the public next week. With the release candidate, Apple provided release notes, so we have a more complete look at the new features that are included in the update, including those that weren't found during the beta...
siri glow

iPhone Users Now Able to Submit Claims in $95 Million Siri Spying Lawsuit

Wednesday May 7, 2025 11:40 am PDT by
If you owned a Siri-compatible device and had an accidental Siri activation between September 17, 2014 and December 31, 2024, you could be eligible for a payment from Apple as part of a class action lawsuit settlement. Apple in January agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class action lawsuit involving Siri spying accusations, and a website to distribute the funds has now been set up and...
Nineth iOS 19 Feature

iOS 19 Beta is a Month Away With These New Features for Your iPhone

Thursday May 8, 2025 7:37 am PDT by
The first iOS 19 beta is just one month away, and there are already many new features and changes that are expected with it. Apple should seed the first iOS 19 beta to developers immediately following the WWDC 2025 keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 9. Following beta testing, the update should be released to the general public in September. Below, we recap the key iOS 19 rumors...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature Homescreen

Apple's Foldable iPhone Display Tech May Set New Industry Standard

Thursday May 8, 2025 3:29 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone will feature a new type of display panel developed by Samsung that has never been used in a foldable product, claims a source with links to Apple's supply chain. According to the account yeux1122 on the Korean Naver blog, the foldable iPhone will use a custom display process for which Apple will hold branding trademark rights, and that meets Apple's stringent ...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17: What's New With the Cameras

Friday May 2, 2025 3:52 pm PDT by
We've still got months to go before the new iPhone 17 models come out, but a combination of dummy models and leaks have given us some insight into what we can expect in terms of camera changes. Apple is adding new camera features, and changing the design of the camera bump for some models. You might be skeptical of dummy models, but over the years, they've proven to be a highly accurate...
Mayday Calendar

Apple Acquisition Hints at Upgraded Calendar App on iOS 19 or Beyond

Friday May 9, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Apple acquired Canadian startup Mayday Labs in April 2024, according to a European Commission listing, spotted by French blog MacGeneration. The acquisition had not received widespread attention from tech publications until now. Apple is legally required to report certain acquisitions to the European Commission, under the terms of the EU's Digital Markets Act. Mayday Labs founder Jeremy...
AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...

Top Rated Comments

heystu Avatar
46 months ago
This should never be allowed to happen, and saying “it’s typically a safe bet to wait until several updates have been released” doesn’t offer any comfort or assurance - Apple should be stress testing releases to the extreme before letting them out into the wild. I’d be really screwed if my MBP got bricked being self-employed and relying on it for my sole source of income.
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DNichter Avatar
46 months ago
Well yea, you’re supposed to buy a new MacBook Pro with Monterey pre-installed.
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
goodcow Avatar
46 months ago
Embarrassing, given the limited amount of hardware Apple has to support.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nerdo Avatar
46 months ago
iBrick Pro? I guess this is one way to speed up the move to Apple Silicon.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sydnxt Avatar
46 months ago
I work at an AASP and the most amount of MacOS reinstalls we ever did in a month was MacOS Big Sur (11.1-11.3) Probably did over 100 in a single month.

I have not seen a single Monterey boot loop yet. Probably just unlucky or very rare.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MJaP Avatar
46 months ago

Embarrassing, given the limited amount of hardware Apple has to support.
Indeed. Microsoft has to write an operating system that is stable on literally millions of different hardware combinations from hundreds of different vendors, whereas Apple only has a small device portfolio all of which is under their tight control and yet they still manage to mess things up. OK they're not going to catch everything, and nobody's perfect (Microsoft have caused the odd bricking event as well), but I think the order of the day is more beta testing, Apple's biggest problem is that heir new OSes are often tied to a new hardware release which means upgrades are forced to release before they are properly tested and stable.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)