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Apple's T2 Chip May Be Causing Issues In iMac Pro, 2018 MacBook Pros (digitaltrends.com)
According to Digital Trends, the T2 chip that enables things like secure boot, better encrypted storage, and "Hey Siri" support may be causing problems in MacBook Pro and iMac Pro computers. From the report: Many iMac Pro owners have reportedly suffered numerous kernel panics -- the MacOS version of the dreaded Blue Screen of Death in Windows -- since they hit the market at the end of 2017. You can find a handful of threads on Apple's community forums, including this one, detailing the trials and tribulations customers are experiencing with their expensive iMac Pros and Apple support. The problems apparently reside in the new MacBook Pro laptops, too. Of all the error messages uploaded to these threads, there is one detail they seem to share: Bridge OS. This is an embedded operating system used by Apple's stand-alone T2 security chip, which provides the iMac Pro with a secure boot, encrypted storage, live "Hey Siri" commands, and so on. It's now included in the new 2018 models of the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. But whether the T2 chip is behind all the kernel panics is up in the air. The symptoms and solutions are varied across complaints, such as iMac Pro owners daisy-chaining storage devices seeing crashes along with those with nothing connected at all. But Apple is aware of the problems and is apparently working on the issue behind the scenes. While Apple is replacing these machines, the problems still seem to occur on the new hardware. This latest controversy comes hot on the heels of the last MacBook Pro controversy about overheating concerns.
I've had various kernel panics since Yosemite....caused by (seem to be) things such as Thunderbolt Raid, Ethernet, Sleep Wake and Raid...I wonder if I need a new machine, or to take the Macbook Pro in for service. Eventually, Apple issued an OS revision and the problem goes away (until a future OS update). It is unfortunate that it is hard to tell where the problem lies unless apple admts it.
”This is an embedded operating system used by Apple's stand-alone T2 security chip, which provides the iMac Pro with a secure boot, encrypted storage, live "Hey Siri" commands, and so on.”
Perhaps the T2 chips intentionally trigger kernel panics because they find Siri as aggravating as the rest of us do.
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Back in 2006 all the iMacs I saw with that tiny little vent overheated constantly in any ambient temp above 75F. Then there was the iphones and their death hold, touch death, sapphire lens purple flare, bending, battery issues, artificial performance degradation, purposeful bricking due to 3rd party hardware. Then there's the macbook that can't run at the speed they claim under any circumstances other than inside a freezer because they made it too thin. Now their rushed-out unnecessary feature chip is failing. It's almost like Apple never has made good products and never will. Why can't anyone else see this pattern?
Apple has never been capable of a clean rewrite. The culture there isn't capable of 'inventing' something that big, and NIH is the holy gospel. They tried to write a new preemptive multitasking OS to replace the hoary old pascal-based MacOS when MacOS 9 was growing long in the tooth. Pink/Taligent was a disaster. They failed so badly that Jobs had to come back and take over with the Unix derived workalike from NeXT, which notably was developed OUTSIDE the Apple fogzone.
It's really a pity they didn't go with BeOS instead. That was some fresh new design, again from people who had escaped the Apple fogzone.
... it just keeps getting worse. My 2017 macbook pro likes to turn of the magical touch strip. Comes back on if you reboot, but...
I really don't want to go back to windows... maybe I'll have another run at linux. It's been 10 years, and it was almost tolerable on the desktop back then.
Gonna miss this sexy lookin package though.
After seeing all the trouble the T2 caused to John Connor, it doesn't surprise me.
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