Hacker News Reader

Comment by mfincham | Hacker News Reader

Can someone tell me how I can determine if my machine is affected if I don't have an OS X install?

I've only got Debian available.

I'd keep a (small) OS X partition around for firmware updates. Unfortunately, it has to be on the internal drive. I haven't had much luck using an external drive to install firmware updates†, even when set as the startup disk.

† Other OS X software updates install fine on an external.

I'm pretty sure sometime shortly after buying this machine I was able to install a "firmware update" from a USB-booted OS X install, but don't quote me on that :)

I'm somewhat unfamiliar with Apple's software generally (I have always just run Debian) - do they release firmware updates often? What kind of things do they fix?

I repairs Macs at work, so I boot a lot of machines via external drives. I think some firmware updates will work via external drive and some won't.

I remember trying to get an iMac to install one, hoping it would fix an issue, and the internal drive was encrypted. I had to erase/reinstall on the internal drive to get the update to install. (Note to university computer lab admins: if your Thunderbolt isn't working, try installing the "Thunderbolt Firmware Update" that Software Update prompts you to install before requesting a new logic board ;-)

Firmware updates aren't uncommon, when a machine or architecture is new. I can remember firmware updates for EFI (added internet recovery when Lion came out), Thunderbolt, Magsafe/power, SSDs, and Wifi across all types of Macs.

It seems this is a hardware problem so, there is a risk of you being affected, if you bought your MBA "between June 2012 through June 2013".

Do you have OS X available? It says there is a software upgrade that checks for broken SSD's.

Maybe try: lspci -v

OK, so I've got a "TS064C".

Now where do I find a useful list of which models are actually broken?

That's not one of them.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6571215

Looks like you're find. :)

Thanks! I'll have to take the original poster's word for it I guess :)

I was curious as to the model number. Is yours a 2010/2011 MacBook Air?

This is only for the SSDs in the 2012 MacBook Air:

> Apple has determined that certain 64GB and 128GB flash storage drives used in the previous generation of MacBook Air systems may fail. These systems were sold between June 2012 through June 2013.

It looks like I just squeezed in - I bought this machine in July 2012, but it's the older model without USB 3.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com