Compatible SSD for Macbook Pro 15" mid-2015? Firmware issue.

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Compatible SSD for Macbook Pro 15" mid-2015? Firmware issue.

I had another related thread that was more about the error message ("The computer is missing a firmware partition" when upgrading to HS or Mojave using an external HD), and the answer to that question was that the firmware cannot be updated without an internal disk (in this case, an SSD stick).

So, I've decided to order an internal disk stick for the Mid-2015 so I can get past the firmware thing. Does anyone know if this will work with a "DataRam 256GB M.2 M-Key PCIe NVMe SSD for 2013-2016 Macbook, Mac Pro, Air, Mini, iMac" ? This looks like the least expensive option (under $60), but I think I read somewhere that this firmware issue can only be resolved with an Apple OEM stick. If that is true, does anyone know where is the best place to pick up an inexpensive used one? 128GB would be fine. Not coming up with much on eBay. Beetstech.com has some they claim are Apple OEM: Samsung, not sure if I can trust them. Thanks!

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Sep 11, 2020 12:37 PM

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Answer 1

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HWTech

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60,140 points

Sep 11, 2020 5:35 PM in response to countzero123

As I already mentioned in your other thread here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496

You need to have an original Apple PCIe SSD installed internally that is properly partitioned and formatted for use on a Mac. This means GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). A third party PCIe SSD will not work to get past the missing firmware error produced by the macOS 10.13+ installers.

You need to have an original Apple PCIe SSD made for that particular laptop since there are differences in SSDs from other Macs even though they may technically be compatible at the hardware level. However. macOS can see a difference in these other SSDs and macOS may not run properly or even run at all with the wrong SSD installed. I have learned this through personal experience while repairing our organization's Retina laptops.

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Answer 2

countzero123 Author

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15 points

Sep 15, 2020 1:05 PM in response to HWTech

HWTech - once again, thanks for taking the time to reply thoughtfully. I started a new thread because I didn't know if anyone would look at one that's been marked "Solved".

This is frustrating.

I used what I thought would be the safest approach, downloading the HS installer from the App Store using the link from here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208969 , then running it with Sierra running. I could make a bootable USB installer if you think that might work when this approach doesn't, but I would be curious as to why one would be better than the other.
I guess the SSD *could* be defective, but it worked for installing El Capitan and Sierra... are you thinking there is something wrong with the firmware partition? Is there a way to check this? It isn't visible under normal circumstances, but I'm willing to poke around under the hood a bit if there's something I could do in here. I've had past experience manually partitioning Unix/Linux drives, using "dd" to copy stuff, etc.

Being a bit of a "tinkerer", I have another MBP of the same exact model here, that has a broken LCD. (This one is broken too, but I can still see about 2/3 of the screen...). Maybe I'll try putting this SSD in that one to see if it will upgrade, or maybe swap system boards. If not, I'll probably just abandon this attempt and leave the first laptop at Sierra until I'm ready to stop using it and throw it away, or find another way to make the upgrade work. Not going to bother with product feedback - I know Apple is heading more in the direction of making everything like an iPhone or iPad, so I doubt they care about any of this.

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Answer 3

HWTech

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60,140 points

Sep 15, 2020 10:45 AM in response to countzero123

countzero123 wrote:

Next I did the same thing with High Sierra, and I'm getting the message:

"macOS could not be installed on your computer. An error occurred while verifying firmware. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again."

Unfortunately Apple is not clear here as usual. Either the firmware contained within the installer is corrupt, or the firmware updater had a problem verifying the firmware update on the laptop after it was "upgraded". I suspect it is the former issue, but I am not certain.

Are you just running the HS installer from within macOS? Have you tried to create a bootable macOS USB drive and install from the USB installer? If you are using a USB installer, then try using a different brand of USB stick since the quality of USB sticks is quite poor. Here are the instructions for creating a bootable macOS USB installer:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

There is always a possibility that the SSD you purchased is defective or perhaps it is not actually the exact model for this particular laptop. I've never ordered parts from Beetstech before, but their website, information and documentation seem quite good, but there is always a chance they made a mistake on the exact model of this SSD.

Any ideas? Why can't Apple just provide a firmware update package separately? Just about everyone else I deal with does (Dell, Cisco, HP, etc.). BTW, the SSD was in a sealed anti-static package:

Even when Apple provided individual firmware updates there were issues since they required a very specific version of macOS to use them. I tried to update the firmware on some older Macs before that had later versions of macOS and those firmware installers always complained about using an incorrect version of macOS. Apple expects things to be done a certain way and never thinks about what happens if something prevents things from happening in the order Apple expects. Apple thought putting the firmware updaters into the macOS installers was a safer option, but unfortunately there are issues with this approach as well as you are experiencing plus I've heard reports that some systems don't get the updated firmware like they are supposed to do.

I agree it would be nice to have an OS independent system firmware updater option available like Dell and other OEMs use. You can always provide product feedback to Apple here:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

60,140 points

Sep 15, 2020 1:49 PM in response to countzero123

countzero123 wrote:

HWTech - once again, thanks for taking the time to reply thoughtfully. I started a new thread because I didn't know if anyone would look at one that's been marked "Solved".

This is frustrating.

I used what I thought would be the safest approach, downloading the HS installer from the App Store using the link from here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT2089691. , then running it with Sierra running. I could make a bootable USB installer if you think that might work when this approach doesn't, but I would be curious as to why one would be better than the other.

By using a USB installer you are avoiding any conflicts with third party software installed on the SSD that may be interfering. Also by using a USB installer you are avoiding any file systems and minimizing the chances of an issue with the SSD.

2. I guess the SSD *could* be defective, but it worked for installing El Capitan and Sierra... are you thinking there is something wrong with the firmware partition? Is there a way to check this? It isn't visible under normal circumstances, but I'm willing to poke around under the hood a bit if there's something I could do in here. I've had past experience manually partitioning Unix/Linux drives, using "dd" to copy stuff, etc.

If the SSD was properly erased using Disk Utility, then the partitions and volumes on the SSD should be Ok as long as the hardware (SSD & rest of laptop) are working correctly. I think either the installer thinks the firmware update itself is corrupt or it was unable to update the firmware which I think would be caused by a defective Logic Board. I really wish Apple would be more explicit on their error messages.

Later versions of macOS have gotten a lot more "weird" in their behavior especially when encountering defective hardware.

Being a bit of a "tinkerer", I have another MBP of the same exact model here, that has a broken LCD. (This one is broken too, but I can still see about 2/3 of the screen...). Maybe I'll try putting this SSD in that one to see if it will upgrade, or maybe swap system boards.

Make sure they are really the same exact model by entering there serial numbers here to compare them:

https://checkcoverage.apple.com

If not, I'll probably just abandon this attempt and leave the first laptop at Sierra until I'm ready to stop using it and throw it away, or find another way to make the upgrade work. Not going to bother with product feedback - I know Apple is heading more in the direction of making everything like an iPhone or iPad, so I doubt they care about any of this.

Yes that is a sad direction.

You should consider install Linux on the laptop. Even if macOS won't work with it I am sure Linux will have a much better chance of working. Even when I installed an incorrect Apple PCIe SSD in one of the Retina laptops Linux installed & ran just fine even though macOS refused to install or run on it.

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Answer 5

countzero123 Author

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Sep 11, 2020 1:21 PM in response to countzero123

This is what I don't think will work for me. I can only get this laptop up to Sierra on an external drive. Trying to upgrade any higher results in the Firmware error message. I'm sure there are some other people out there who have dealt with this situation.... I am not anxious to drop ~$100 on something that may not work. Maybe the Beetstech ones are a safe bet.

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Answer 6

countzero123 Author

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15 points

Sep 15, 2020 5:31 AM in response to HWTech

So far, not what I was hoping for. I thought this would be the answer but apparently not.

I received the new SSD in the mail very quickly, so yesterday I was able to install it and start the Internet Recovery process. It took a really long time, like over 4 hours (and curiously it never asked for a WiFi connection until *after* the download was complete) but eventually it re-installed El Capitan. Next, I used a recently downloaded Sierra installer and upgraded to Sierra. No problems here. Next I did the same thing with High Sierra, and I'm getting the message:

"macOS could not be installed on your computer. An error occurred while verifying firmware. Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again."

My impression was that there was a firmware bundle with High Sierra that couldn't install previously because I didn't have an internal OEM disk. Now that I have one, it is not complaining about the "firmware partition", but that it can't "verify". WTH?

Any ideas? Why can't Apple just provide a firmware update package separately? Just about everyone else I deal with does (Dell, Cisco, HP, etc.). BTW, the SSD was in a sealed anti-static package:

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Answer 7

countzero123 Author

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15 points

Sep 15, 2020 2:14 PM in response to HWTech

I fired up a fresh bootable High Sierra USB installer (I had one already but found out last week that the certificate had expired). Ran the install off that onto the SSD and got the same result. I'm going to go back to Internet Recovery, and erase the SSD, then try to work my way up to High Sierra again (just started this process). I didn't erase the SSD the first time but *assumed* that it was okay when Recovery was able to install El Capitan on it in the first pass. We shall see.

I appreciate the advice on Linux, and I was going to say I won't bother with that because I have several Dell Latitude laptops lying around with either Win 10 or Linux on them already. I am only messing with this because MacOS has become a part of my daily computing experience and I like it, especially since I am an iPhone and iCloud user.

Except, I just had a thought: Would a Mojave or Catalina VM run on this if I'm using VMware Workstation/Player on either Linux or Windows on this laptop? (I'm not suggesting to run Sierra and Fusion on this to host those, because I know the highest version of Fusion compatible with Sierra will not support a Mojave or Catalina VM, already tried that and they won't even boot...)

Technically, it would be running on authorized and supported hardware. Heck, maybe I could even install ESXi on the thing and run one or more MacOS (and other OS) VMs on it. I work heavily with VMware every day, so that isn't daunting at all. Think it would work?

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Answer 8

HWTech

Level 9

60,140 points

Sep 15, 2020 9:54 PM in response to countzero123

countzero123 wrote:

Except, I just had a thought: Would a Mojave or Catalina VM run on this if I'm using VMware Workstation/Player on either Linux or Windows on this laptop? (I'm not suggesting to run Sierra and Fusion on this to host those, because I know the highest version of Fusion compatible with Sierra will not support a Mojave or Catalina VM, already tried that and they won't even boot...)

Technically, it would be running on authorized and supported hardware. Heck, maybe I could even install ESXi on the thing and run one or more MacOS (and other OS) VMs on it. I work heavily with VMware every day, so that isn't daunting at all. Think it would work?

It may be a gray area, but I would think since it would still be running on Apple hardware it would be Ok. You can always read the license agreement to see how it is worded.

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