It’s inevitable. Not a question of if it will happen, but when it will happen. Eventually every single Mac user will brick their hardware when performing an OS update. It’s only a matter of time. You think it won’t happen to you, you let your guard down, and bam! You get stuck with one expensive brick. The following is some advice on how to avoid bricking your Mac, as well as how to recover once it has happened.
Pre-upgrade
Step 1: Always make a backup!
While maintaining periodical updates is always a good practice, make sure you backup right before performing the upgrade. Whether you use Time Machine, Super Duper, Carbon Copy Cloner, etc., make sure you have a good recovery plan just in case. Invest in an external USB or Firewire hard drive dedicated solely to your backups.
Step 2: Repair your permissions!
This is a very easy step to forget, and it has bitten me in the behind in the past. Before performing any critical update, especially OS updates, be sure to launch disk utility and repair your system disk permissions. While in disk utility, verify your disk as well to make sure there are no physical or logical problems with the hard drive.
Step 3: Use the combo updater!
While it is very nice of Apple to make the OS updates easily available via Software Update, anybody who has had a OS update fail during installation will tell you that the Combo updater is much more reliable. The latest Combo updater can always be downloaded from the Apple website. While it is a much bigger file to download compared to the incremental patch in Software Update, the Combo updater includes all patches since the last major OS release. For instance, if you are downloading the 10.5.9 Combo updater, all patches from 10.5 to 10.5.9 are included in this file. If you have the extra time it takes to download it, the Combo updater usually provides a stable installation.
Post-upgrade/Post-brick
So despite the above advice, your Mac still managed to get bricked. Follow these steps in order to see if you can get your Mac to return to a functional state.
Step 1: Boot from installation disc!
If your Mac is not completely fried, you should still be able to boot from the Installation Disc. Boot up your Mac, hold down the ‘Option’ key when you hear the startup chime, then quickly insert the disc that came with your hardware. Once booted from the disc, launch Disk Utility and try to repair the disk permissions. Also hit the ‘Repair Disk’ button while there, just to be safe. This step alone may unbrick your Mac, depending how far into the install process you made it.
Step 2: Boot into safe mode!
Another trouble shooting step would be to attempt to boot into safe mode. This can be accomplished by holding the shift key during boot up. If successful, you can try to repair permissions and reapply the OS update, or at least salvage any files you haven’t backed up. However, it’s quite possible that you won’t even be able to boot into safe mode. If so, continue onto the next step.
Step 3: Boot into Target Disk mode!
Hopefully the Mac you’re using has a Firewire port. Oh and hopefully you also have another Mac available. Connect the two Macs together via Firewire. Power up the bricked Mac, and hit the ‘T’ key during the chime to boot into target disk mode. The bricked Mac should appear as a mounted drive on the other Mac. From the functioning machine, download and install the Combo updater. During the install, make sure to change the install location and point it to the mounted target disk. Reinstalling the update should undo any damage during the botched install.
Step 4: Reinstall the OS then apply updates!
At this point, if none of the above attempts were successful, you may have to resort to reinstalling the operating system from the install disk. Hopefully you have a good backup handy. Immediately after reinstalling the OS, download and install all software updates so that you are upgrading a pristine system. Once patched and updated, restore any third party applications and data. It’s a pain, but it beats having an expensive paper weight with an Apple logo.
The main thing to keep in mind is to not panic and have patience. Acting in a hasty fashion may only complicate matters. If worst comes to worst, set up an appointment at the genius bar. It may cost you a pretty penny if out of warranty, but really who can live without a computer these days? Have faith that in no time, Betsy will be back up and running again.
