Apple Catalina Software Update has been Bricking Machines. Apple States a New Logic Board Required.

[TheBlackAdder]

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But, it might just be a simple fix.

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[regnaD kciN]

1. An O.S. update that ruins your hardware...?

Great job, Apple!

[TheBlackAdder]

2. Apparently is doesn't. They're just billing it as a hardware issue, when it's probably not.

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People who have posted the fix get banned from the Apple Community.

Most times, when Apple laptops fail, it's a $1 capacitor that just needs to be replaced, but Apple tries to sell a new machine, by stating that the repairs are almost as much as buying a replacement.

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[defacto7]

3. I've replaced hundreds of mobo caps. They cost a few cents.

And it's not rocket science. Maybe an hours time if you've never done it. Half an hour if you know what you're doing. Knowing which one and knowing soldering basics in electronics takes a little effort. I've saved a lot of boards.

[CloudWatcher]

4. BS

Apple's behavior here is likely less than stellar, but this video is just adding to FUD.

E.g. on my Catalina machine, the file that was reported as being 32-bit ... is 64 bit. Running "file" on it says it is x86_64 (files reported as "i386" are built for 32-bit).

bash-3.2$ cd /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IMTranscoding.framework/XPCServices/
bash-3.2$ cd IMTranscoderAgent.xpc/Contents/MacOS/
bash-3.2$ file IMTranscoderAgent
IMTranscoderAgent: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64

Hmm, a quick check of this file on an old 10.13 system, shows it was already 64 bit long before the switch to Catalina:

bash-3.2$ pwd
/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/IMTranscoding.framework/XPCServices/IMTranscoderAgent.xpc/Contents/MacOS
bash-3.2$ file IMTranscoderAgent
IMTranscoderAgent: Mach-O 64-bit executable x86_64
bash-3.2$ sw_vers
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.13.6
BuildVersion: 17G8030
bash-3.2$

I could speculate why someone might have an old 32-bit version of an entitlements file (piracy? malware?), but the root cause of whatever problem they were seeing is not at all what is described in this video. And the right fix is to get the 64-bit version of the file and not just delete it.

My 2-cents. But don't just believe what you see on the Internet

[TheBlackAdder]

5. Like I don't believe everything that one person writes in a post calling BS.

[CloudWatcher]

6. I should hope not!

Research and decide. That's why I put in the shell commands that showed my version of that "32 bit" file was 64-bit and not 32-bit. You (if you have a Catalina machine, or even a pre-Catalina machine) can check it yourself. Terminal.app is in /Applications/Utilities. I didn't explain the commands I was using, but they're standard Unix/MacOS commands (cd, pwd, file). I can explain them if you ask nicely or point you to any Unix reference.

I could post my background and why you should believe me, but w/out posting my real name there's no way to verify what I say here.

Research it. Prove me wrong in calling BS. I can wait.

[CloudWatcher]

7. 2nd call of BS

Ok, I really should get back to work, but I can't resist pointing out some other examples of just how bad this video is ... his solution to crashing on boot is the following sequence of shell commands:

1. dsenableroot (and then enter a password)
2. /sbin/mount -uw /
3. rm -rf <path of the app>
4. dsenableroot disable

First of all, if it's crashing on boot, you won't be able to get to a shell to run any of these commands. Oops.

So how do you really delete a file you suspect of causing your system to crash during boot?

There are three ways that I know of:

a) boot single-user (hold-down 's' key during boot). This keeps it from going to multi-user and (for some boot-crashing bugs) gives you a shell before the system crashes.

b) boot to the macOS recovery partition (hold-down cmd-r during boot). This will let you run disk utility and also launch a shell ("Terminal" is in the menu commands, not the pretty GUI).

c) connect & mount the Mac as an external "disk" to another Mac. Boot the original Mac holding down the "t" key after connecting to it with a Thunderbolt, Firewire, or USB cable (not all connectors are available on all models).

Ok, let's review these one at a time.

If you do (a) (single-user), then you don't need dsenableroot, you're already running as root when booted as single-user. But to be fair, booting-single user is the one case where it is appropriate to use the "mount -uw /' command (by default, the filesystem is mounted read-only in single-user mode, this command allows read-write access).

If you do (b) (recovery boot), then you use the disk utility app to mount your normal system disk and it will not be at "/". Your files will be someplace under /Volumes and the path you use had better reflect where it really lives before you start doing "rm -rf" commands. Oh, and recovery mode is already running as root so dsenableroot again makes no sense.

Finally, if you do (c)(target disk mode) then again it will mount someplace under /Volumes and won't be at "/". Same comment about being sure where the file lives before you go delete it.

But let's ignore the minor problem of where the filesystem is mounted and where the file happens to live and look at the rest of it.

As root, you're deleting a file in the system frameworks.

Well gee, that just doesn't work out-of-the-box. MacOS has locked down changing system files unless you've also disabled SIP (System Integrity Protection). This keeps malware (even running with root privileges) from modifying system files. So fine, you also have to disable SIP first and then delete the file. Well, no. You also have to grant the terminal app "Full Disk Access". See the Full Disk Access tab in your local system preferences (it's under Security & Privacy).

Finally, let's review that "dsenableroot" command. It enables root access. But it does not give you a root shell. It would need to be followed by a "su" command or at least directions to logout and login again as root. But that's missing here, not even a reference to "sudo" to do the same thing without using dsenableroot to enable root.

Bottom line, this video is so full of OMG WHAT TOTAL BS it's impossible to take it as anything but click-bait.

Btw, my unconfirmable background: I've been using and working on Unix since about 1980, have taught college courses on Unix and worked as an OS software engr for Apple over 15 years. But you don't know that for sure. If you want to research what I've said above, show it to someone you trust that knows macOS and Unix and listen to them.

[TheBlackAdder]

8. Well, since you're in the know. Go to that video and call him out on it.

[CloudWatcher]

9. Yeah, probably will ...

Yeah, though my google (youtube) login isn't anonymous. Oh well.


XKCD

[CloudWatcher]

10. Ok, commented on youtube as well

But I suspect my comment will get ignored/downvoted/removed. I'm not a big fan of truth-by-social-media. Youtube is such a swamp, I can't get near it without thinking of this quote:

“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”

Isaac Asimov, Column in Newsweek (21 January 1980)