Out of date Boot Rom version EFI

[Martin]

I have a late 2015 i7 iMac which has been causing me problems with running slow, the spinning wheel of death etc. I read in MacFormat magazine that a possible issue was the updating of firmware for this model of iMac. I checked and it is out of date

Mac model iMac17,1

EFI version found 170.0.0.0.0

❌ Need to update EFI firmware

MacRumours Forum has a thread on this very problem, but still unresolved. There is an article here https://eclecticlight.co/2019/10/08/which-efi-firmware-should-your-mac-be-using-version-4/

Unfortunately I don't understand what if anything I can do to update the EFI version.

Any advice?

Thanks

Martin

[Sam - MacAmbulance]

Firmware’s updated when you update macOS, for example High Sierra includes firmware to allow macs to boot up from APFS volumes.

Does your iMac have a flash drive, fusion drive or SATA disk in Apple menu > About this Mac > Storage?

_

Regards Sam Mullen +44 (0)7747778022 in...@macambulance.com www.macambulance.com MacAmbulance Ltd. Providing Affordable Mac/PC Support and Web Development

MacAmbulance Ltd. is a registered company in England & Wales, registration number 8466597 This email is intended solely for the addressed recipients and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

On 31 Aug 2020, at 14:04, Martin <martin...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have a late 2015 i7 iMac which has been causing me problems with running slow, the spinning wheel of death etc. I read in MacFormat magazine that a possible issue was the updating of firmware for this model of iMac. I checked and it is out of date

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[Martin]

Thanks for responding Sam,

It has a 1TB ssd flash drive (from manuafacture).

Martin

[Sam - MacAmbulance]

Should be fine to upgrade to Catalina then, or Mojave if you’re using Office 2011. The Mac’s firmware should be updated as part of the process.

_

Regards Sam Mullen +44 (0)7747778022 in...@macambulance.com www.macambulance.com MacAmbulance Ltd. Providing Affordable Mac/PC Support and Web Development

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[Martin]

Unfortunately not. I have updated to Catalina a while ago. It appears this is a known problem for late 2015 i7 iMacs that they don't update the EFI firmware when upgrading i.e. from Mojave to Catalina and Apple don't issue separate Firmware updates  What would happen if I wiped my hard drive and did a complete reinstall of Catalina?

Thanks

Martin

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[Sam - MacAmbulance]

Sorry thought you were on 10.9 for some reason. If you installed on a fresh external drive that might force the firmware update and require less wiping of your current setup.

_

Regards Sam Mullen +44 (0)7747778022 in...@macambulance.com www.macambulance.com MacAmbulance Ltd. Providing Affordable Mac/PC Support and Web Development

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[Martin]

Do you mean I can download Catalina to an external ssd drive and then boot from that?

[Sam - MacAmbulance]

Download Catalina from the App Store, then open from the Applications folder (Install macOS Catalina), then select the blank external drive to install on. With any luck, the act of installing Catalina onto a drive on that iMac will register that it needs a firmware update.

_

Regards Sam Mullen +44 (0)7747778022 in...@macambulance.com www.macambulance.com MacAmbulance Ltd. Providing Affordable Mac/PC Support and Web Development

MacAmbulance Ltd. is a registered company in England & Wales, registration number 8466597 This email is intended solely for the addressed recipients and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

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[Martin]

Unfortunately, downloading Catalina and installing it on an external ssd hasn't worked. Any suggestions welcomed. I'm on the point of just buying a new iMac. I think a 2020 iMac must be far faster and reliable etc. than my 2015 model

Thanks

Martin

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/09E370F0-AAC1-4570-8516-5791321ED309%40macambulance.com.

[Sam - MacAmbulance]

Last resort would be to wipe the internal drive and reinstall whatever OS shipped with from a USB stick, then in the App Store download Catalina and install that.

_

Regards Sam Mullen +44 (0)7747778022 in...@macambulance.com www.macambulance.com MacAmbulance Ltd. Providing Affordable Mac/PC Support and Web Development

MacAmbulance Ltd. is a registered company in England & Wales, registration number 8466597 This email is intended solely for the addressed recipients and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete the email immediately.

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