Another reason to hate #Apple We're seeing more 2018+ MacBook Pro/Air donations — but Apple's T2 chip means even after iCloud sign-out and reset, the firmware stays locked to the original account.
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Another reason to hate #Apple We're seeing more 2018+ MacBook Pro/Air donations — but Apple's T2 chip means even after iCloud sign-out and reset, the firmware stays locked to the original account.
Without donor contact, these machines are useless.

I've upcycled ~1,000 older Macs, but T2 era machines will end that. It's controlling, creates e-waste, and will only get worse. #righttorepair matters — Apple couldn't care less.
@codemonkeymike Can these not run a Linux distro instead of MacOS?
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Another reason to hate #Apple We're seeing more 2018+ MacBook Pro/Air donations — but Apple's T2 chip means even after iCloud sign-out and reset, the firmware stays locked to the original account.
Without donor contact, these machines are useless.

I've upcycled ~1,000 older Macs, but T2 era machines will end that. It's controlling, creates e-waste, and will only get worse. #righttorepair matters — Apple couldn't care less.
@codemonkeymike ugh, how infuriating. Such a waste.
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@codemonkeymike Can these not run a Linux distro instead of MacOS?
@paulywill they can.. of course. But you need to unlock the bootloader to do that.. and you can't do that while its locked

That's the entire issue..
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Another reason to hate #Apple We're seeing more 2018+ MacBook Pro/Air donations — but Apple's T2 chip means even after iCloud sign-out and reset, the firmware stays locked to the original account.
Without donor contact, these machines are useless.

I've upcycled ~1,000 older Macs, but T2 era machines will end that. It's controlling, creates e-waste, and will only get worse. #righttorepair matters — Apple couldn't care less.
@codemonkeymike I don't know the legality of it, but there's a T203 tool from Ali Express plus desoldering and resoldering that is supposed to overcome this. If I had a bunch of these that were legit donations I might try to figure this out, if it works.
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@codemonkeymike ugh, how infuriating. Such a waste.
@coreysnipes it really breaks my brain. And it's just starting..
The ONLY solution seems to be this super long and complicated procedure of literally unsoldering the t2 chip, directly reprogramming it, resoldering it, and then hookign it up to another mac in DFW mode,etc.. HOURS of work just to use a machine you own
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@codemonkeymike I don't know the legality of it, but there's a T203 tool from Ali Express plus desoldering and resoldering that is supposed to overcome this. If I had a bunch of these that were legit donations I might try to figure this out, if it works.
@Victorsigmoid have you seen the video of that? I just watched it and holy shit its intense haha.
I mean I AM considering it.. but what a nightmare.. its' super time consuming.. and you still need another up to date mac to hook it up to in DFW mode..
So even after ALL that.. you still end up needing a current Mac.. god i hate them
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@codemonkeymike this is astoundingly shit
@coldclimate it really hurts every one of my brain cells. How could they not have thought about this?
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Another reason to hate #Apple We're seeing more 2018+ MacBook Pro/Air donations — but Apple's T2 chip means even after iCloud sign-out and reset, the firmware stays locked to the original account.
Without donor contact, these machines are useless.

I've upcycled ~1,000 older Macs, but T2 era machines will end that. It's controlling, creates e-waste, and will only get worse. #righttorepair matters — Apple couldn't care less.
@codemonkeymike Louis Rossman has spoken about this a LOT. It's absolutely awful.
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Another reason to hate #Apple We're seeing more 2018+ MacBook Pro/Air donations — but Apple's T2 chip means even after iCloud sign-out and reset, the firmware stays locked to the original account.
Without donor contact, these machines are useless.

I've upcycled ~1,000 older Macs, but T2 era machines will end that. It's controlling, creates e-waste, and will only get worse. #righttorepair matters — Apple couldn't care less.
@codemonkeymike Does that apply to the mac os installer or also the UEFI thingy for installing linux or windows too?
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@Victorsigmoid have you seen the video of that? I just watched it and holy shit its intense haha.
I mean I AM considering it.. but what a nightmare.. its' super time consuming.. and you still need another up to date mac to hook it up to in DFW mode..
So even after ALL that.. you still end up needing a current Mac.. god i hate them
@codemonkeymike
I'll be curious to see that, do you have a link to it?
@Victorsigmoid -
Another reason to hate #Apple We're seeing more 2018+ MacBook Pro/Air donations — but Apple's T2 chip means even after iCloud sign-out and reset, the firmware stays locked to the original account.
Without donor contact, these machines are useless.

I've upcycled ~1,000 older Macs, but T2 era machines will end that. It's controlling, creates e-waste, and will only get worse. #righttorepair matters — Apple couldn't care less.
@codemonkeymike I haven't donated mine yet (I was just going to take it to the apple store for recycling after wiping it) - as long as I, the user, wipe it first, it's OK..?
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@codemonkeymike I haven't donated mine yet (I was just going to take it to the apple store for recycling after wiping it) - as long as I, the user, wipe it first, it's OK..?
@noodlemaz Apple will just shred it.. so it's "recycled" for the metal.. but they're not re-using it.
In my experience, it's best to wipe it, then set it up with a new local account with a dummy admin password.. then put it as a sticky note on the keyboard.
If you plan for it to be useful again. You don't need an icloud password, just a local admin password.
Hope that helps!
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@coreysnipes it really breaks my brain. And it's just starting..
The ONLY solution seems to be this super long and complicated procedure of literally unsoldering the t2 chip, directly reprogramming it, resoldering it, and then hookign it up to another mac in DFW mode,etc.. HOURS of work just to use a machine you own
@codemonkeymike That's just malicious.

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@codemonkeymike Does that apply to the mac os installer or also the UEFI thingy for installing linux or windows too?
@cygnathreadbare thing is.. the t2 disables ANY boot from USB.. so you need to set the boot security to none.. but you can only do that from inside the recovery center.. which.. you guessed it.. you need to authenticate to even use.

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Another reason to hate #Apple We're seeing more 2018+ MacBook Pro/Air donations — but Apple's T2 chip means even after iCloud sign-out and reset, the firmware stays locked to the original account.
Without donor contact, these machines are useless.

I've upcycled ~1,000 older Macs, but T2 era machines will end that. It's controlling, creates e-waste, and will only get worse. #righttorepair matters — Apple couldn't care less.
@codemonkeymike Link to information about this? Are you saying that the donors failed to clear these machines properly before getting rid of them, or that it is impossible for them to do so?
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@codemonkeymike That's just malicious.

@coreysnipes textbook Apple.. I hate it so much.
Like, I can't even tell you how many lives have been improved and SAVED because I was able to install linux on an older mac and give it to someone.
This kills that..
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@codemonkeymike Link to information about this? Are you saying that the donors failed to clear these machines properly before getting rid of them, or that it is impossible for them to do so?
@LoneLocust on more than one occasion i've had a user go through ALL the steps to clear the computer. And yet.. even with all that, I still can't unlock the boot security without a local admin password.
The only thing that seems to work is for someone to wipe it and then set up a dummy account.
But you have to be a motivated user to do all that. Most people are just going to toss it to donate it. Or inherit it, etc.. thats a huge percentage
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Another reason to hate #Apple We're seeing more 2018+ MacBook Pro/Air donations — but Apple's T2 chip means even after iCloud sign-out and reset, the firmware stays locked to the original account.
Without donor contact, these machines are useless.

I've upcycled ~1,000 older Macs, but T2 era machines will end that. It's controlling, creates e-waste, and will only get worse. #righttorepair matters — Apple couldn't care less.
@codemonkeymike those rapscallions
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@codemonkeymike Link to information about this? Are you saying that the donors failed to clear these machines properly before getting rid of them, or that it is impossible for them to do so?
@LoneLocust i feel like Apple should be FORCED to unlock this when a user deletes a device from their appleID devices list.
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@paulywill they can.. of course. But you need to unlock the bootloader to do that.. and you can't do that while its locked

That's the entire issue..
@codemonkeymike I am interested to see if you have tried this method
And
You need a second Mac that works and you control the one with a firmware lock using Apple Configurator. I have converted Apple Macs to run Linux but all of them have been 2017 or earlier.