Group Wants Apple To Update The Recent Firmware Update

by , 10:00 AM EDT, April 2nd, 2001

Dave Dasilva has started a petition in an attempt to get Apple to release another firmware update, this one re-enabling RAM that the most recent firmware update disabled. When Apple released OS X last week, they also announced firmware updates for many of their newer machines. Users that installed the update found, in many cases, that some or all of their RAM was no longer read by their machines.

What seems to have happened is that the new firmware is less tolerant of sub-standard RAM. Whatever the reason, many users are unhappy that some or all of their RAM is no longer functional, and want Apple to do something about it. According to Mr. Dasilva:

A web page has been set up to guide users adversely affected by Apple's recent Firmware updates to a petition requesting an immediate fix from Apple:

http://homepage.mac.com/dax/fix.html

As you already know, many of us have lost a production machine to this update, with no fix or official response from Apple in regards to the situation one full week after the issue became known.

Please help us encourage Apple to do the right thing.

Thanks,
Dax Dasilva
dax@mac.com

You can find more information about Apple's firmware updates at the Apple Web site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

While we understand that some users are upset for Apple doing something to disable memory, we happen to think that the firmware update is by and large a good thing. Two different computers used by Mac Observer staff members were suffering major problems with OS X, only to realize that the problems were caused by "bad" RAM.

For whatever reason, OS X seems less tolerant of sub-standard RAM, so those wanting to use the OS must make sure memory modules are up to specifications. This is a difficult situation for Apple to be in, and for Apple to put users in. However if people are using RAM that is not up to par, it might not be such a bad thing to have it disabled.

Either way, this is sure to be viewed as a controversial move on Apple's part. Perhaps the best solution would be to offer users a new firmware updater that will again recognize RAM that the most recent one did not. That way users can proceed at their own risk, and try to run their system with "bad" RAM if they so desire, knowing that Apple has more or less suggested that the memory in question be removed or replaced. That solution might lead to a happy medium, one in which both Apple and users get what they want.

The other side to all this is that if Apple knew that some RAM that was previously considered tolerable was going to be disabled, they should have let the people running that RAM know before they downloaded the Firmware updater. Had they done so, there would be no controversy.

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