On Saturday, October 12, 2002, at 05:07 AM, Dan Dumas wrote: >> The firmware upgrade may have highlighted a >> problem that was about to happen anyway, but the firmware most >> certainly did not kill your iMac. > > I went from a working iMac to a comatose iMac. The inactive state > occurred > immediately after the Firmware update progress bar reached the end. > > I think I've reached a reasonable conclusion as to what initiated the > problem, but please feel free to give me an idea about what "problem > was > about to happen anyway".
one never knows... but generally speaking, in order for a firmware update to actually do the damage, it would do that to ALL users, not just one. a firmware update works like this: there's a chip called an EEPROM that holds your firmware. it's read-only, but it's flashable. This means that it can be erased and re-written. Generally, an EEPROM only has so many writes in it (usually numbered in the dozens or hundreds). During a firmware update, the EEPROM is erased, and then the new firmware is written into the chip. Let's say, for instance, that your EEPROM chip is goofed up, and the 'write' mechanism of the chip is completely dead. you do your firmware update, and it erases your firmware, and then tries to write your firmware............. DOH! it can't! your logic board is now dead. that's just one example. or perhaps your processor isn't working correctly. it's been working all this time without a hiccup because some little feature hasn't been implemented in firmware yet. a good example would be when Apple, through a firmware update, added the ability to firewire boot to some machines that couldn't do so previously. you apply the firmware update, which enables a hardware feature that's dead on your logic board... two possibilities: your logic board dies, or maybe that feature just doesn't work. (this doesn't have to be a visible feature like firewire booting; it could also be an 'under the hood' feature that you'd never directly see). -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:imac-list@;mail.maclaunch.com> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:imac-list-off@;mail.maclaunch.com> For digest mode, email: <mailto:imac-list-digest@;mail.maclaunch.com> Subscription questions: <mailto:listmom@;lemlists.com> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
