Apple reminds us to update our device firmware
[Friday, February 1st]
The act of making sure your device firmware is up-to-date -- be it for a printer, scanner, graphics card, piece of networking hardware or your Mac itself -- is one of the most effective troubleshooting procedures existent. One need look no further than our Mac OS X 10.5.x (Leopard) special report to see a bevy of exemplary reports from users who've salved erratic devices (FireWire, Bluetooth, AirPort, etc.) by applying firmware updates, which are generally available from the device manufacturers' Web sites.
The latest reinforcement for this notion comes from Apple, who notes:
"If using a third-party (non-Apple) 802.11n wireless router that has out-of-date router firmware with your MacBook Air, you may experience issues with Remote Disc, Migration, or Remote Install Mac OS X."
Their advice:
"Make sure the firmware on your router is up-to-date. Contact the manufacturer of the router to obtain the latest firmware for that device."
Simply said.
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
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So it's, metaphorically, like applying an ointment.
Change, "small but real" to, <i>"really small"</i>, and I might agree... But, in my experience, human nature will more than assure us that the vast majority of firmware updates are done in desperation (i.e., to fix problems).
Agreed.
But then there was the SuperDrive update fiasco last fall.
So... 'small?'
I guess that depends on whether you are the person to which it has happened.
Am I doing something wrong?
With all the external drives I have, I used ONLY Apple's Disk Utility to format the drives. Same for my 'internal' 500 GB drives that are in FW enclosures.
The two HDDs that had head crashes cannot be attributed to firmware, can they?
Like the some AirPort Base Station firmware updates that MacFixIt reported did caused some problems so not all firmware updates are "fixes". Here is MacFixIt URL regarding this:
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20061116233844627&query=AirPort+Firmware
- by baddawg65 February 4, 2008 8:02 AM PST
- <class="merchant"><span>></span><div class="datestamp"><i>This is a reply to a previous comment by macmech</i></div></class><br />
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(9 Comments)Yes, I hate the "MS Windows" only update for some products. I usually have to check if the product I buy has Mac OS support for it before I buy it. Even then they can withdraw their support for Mac due to the lack of interest so we are left holding a "unsupported" device. It is a pity that Apple or someone will take up the ball for some of these "unsupported" devices.