I accidentally installed a firmware update on my MBP while doing updates to a recovery drive I am creating. I was installing 10.8 on a partitioned drive with intent to install 10.8, 10.7 and some software tools. Before I knew it, the grey bar that installs firmware showed up on my screen and despite turning off the drive I was writing to and turning off the router, I could not stop it. At least I believe it updated the Mac itself and not the external drive. It was the firmware that allows an online recovery of system software.

I looked online, and there are some spotty answers of replacing it with a previous version.

Is there a reason you want to revert to an older firmware version? It's not clear from your question.

I am running Snowy and do not intend to update past Lion in the future because of the refurbished mid 2012 MBP saga, the computer I bought for a friend that will also run Lion but Mountain Lion is iffy on hers. I am afraid that it is now causing problems on my mid-2010. I do not believe in coincidences that much and I lost mail service from one of my two providers, Bluehost. I called them but all is well on their side and now I am getting spotty Internet access, for example, can't get to FTM anymore on that computer.

The update I installed, because it links my computer to reinstalls from Apple's website, is a likely suspect right now.

The OS X requirement for the installation of MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010) EFI Firmware Update 2.5 is 10.7.2.

It should not have installed on your 10.6.8 machine.

Edit: By the way, that update will be necessary when you upgrade to Lion.

Edit 2: I just tried the equivalent update for my 15" Mid-2010 MBP running Snowy, and it wouldn't install.

You may be stuck with a coincidence.

It should not have done it because I was putting a startup system on an external.

It shouldn't couldn't have done it, because you weren't booted into an OS X 10.7.2 (or, I guess, higher) volume.

So what actually did happen? (As I said, the update won't even launch in Snowy.)

It rebooted into 10.8 after the installation onto the external and that is where it started.

The location of the boot drive is unrelated to the installation of a firmware update. The firmware is installed on the logic board, not on the hard drive.

Boot ROM version: MBP7.10039.BOE
SMC Version (system): 1.62f7

Did it install?

I know the firmware is on the logic board. But the external was not set as the startup drive, it jumped past that when it rebooted after the install. It made itself the startup drive.

http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/82066/osx-10-8-2-update-wrong-smc

The refurb 2012 shipped with Mavericks. My friend remembered the Genius Bar employee saying it could be downgraded to Lion. I told her I wanted Lion and I really don't understand why she didn't just install it right there, unattended. Why was she telling me to buy it?

Wasn't that just the newly installed OS doing its auto-startup to the "Welcome" phase?

All considered, your best bet may be to rerun the firmware update; your attempted(?) abort may have caused your current problems. (You'll eventually need it, anyhow.)

Edit: Considering that the firmware update was specifically Lion related, I wonder why it ran at all in Mounty?

That's why I try to remember to always put "Genius" in quotes.

Poor work ethic? Too close to closing time? Works hard for Apple's bottom line?

No acceptable answer that I can divine.

I don't know. My head really hurts.

My time at the Genius Bar was used up. That's what she told me.

Never knew there was a time limit.

Edit: Oh! There's a 15 minute limit (per issue, I think) but I've never heard of its being invoked before it happened to you; I've gone past 15 minutes any number of times, my daughter recently went waaay past it, and the fact that you almost never get taken at your precise moment underscores at least a lack of enforcement.

Forget about it for a while and sleep it off.

is the SMC number the identification for the firmware? I just found out that Bluehost was hacked by the Chinese yesterday! No kidding, my cousin got an email last to verify the ownership of his website, and that email was not a spoof. That would explain my email problem, my problem getting to their website and my problem getting to my cousin's site. It does not explain not being able to get to FTM. But I could today! Last nite I dug around the computer and found an old screenshot from the system profiler and that shows the same SMC number as what I listed above. Is that number the firmware number, which would mean that firmware was installed somewhere else (Mars?) or not at all when I immediately shut down the modem and disconnected the external drive? So, is that SMC number the firmware number?

The screen did go grey upon restart and the firmware update fever bar finished.

I notice now the boot rom version changed.

Somewhat recently Apple started storing the firmware on the hard drive (a partition?) for the update process. Incidentally this means you cannot upgrade your firmware while booted off a drive formatted APM. I don't know the full process, but it restarts and reads the firmware off your hard drive and pushes that to the firmware on the computer.

And as for backgrading your firmware... #1 "why?" and #2 "I doubt you'll be able to pull that off"

The reason it started the firmware install without warning is you had told it to download updates in the background, so the firmware update was downloaded and sitting on the hard drive waiting for a restart. Disable auto-download if you don't like surprises. And it's a very good thing you didn't try to interrupt the firmware update. That rarely ends well.

The external was formatted GUID, if that helps. Well, if I am right and the only purpose of the firmware update is to enable a web-based system reinstall.

I have read some problems people are having with this particular firmware update. Maybe I will never have those problems, but it is just another fish in the sea when I am trying to troubleshoot. Like I said, I believe it's only purpose is to connect to the system reinstalled. I never reinstall a system while I'm online.

I also have some concern my computer firmware now has a direct connection to Apple's cloud. And Adobe got slammed, and Bluehost got slammed, and the NSA got slammed. I am not comfortable with that.

I only wanted an external startup drive and it did start up on 10.8 without the updates, the firmware was part of the updates, not a fix apparently but only a feature added.

But your boot volume at that particular moment was Mounty, so, technically, you needed the update.

No Mac that originally shipped with Lion or later would require a firmware update to enable Internet Recovery. See OS X: About OS X Recovery.

Edit: I confused this thread with Considering buying Apple Refurb June2012 MBP. (Or maybe it was Monitor suddenly showing weird green lines.) In any event, ignore my post.

You've got your Macs confused.

slolerner's existing MBP, the one on which the firmware update apparently ran, shipped with Snowy.

And under any circumstances, MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010) EFI Firmware Update 2.5 specifies


which suggests that the update may apply to Macs that shipped with either 10.7.1 or 2. (The update for my Mid 2010 15" MBP specifies 10.7.3. )

Edit: OS X: About OS X Recovery isn't what I'd call crystal clear about it, but it seems to say that any Mac that shipped with Lion or higher came with Internet Recovery and does not need a firmware update.

I guess you missed my edit.

It's unclear; I misunderstood it.

dk, I asked cyn to take that down.