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EFI Firmware Updates Don't Get Along with Safari

Mac users are reporting Safari issues after updating to the latest EFI firmware

Apr 11, 2008 08:09 GMT  ·  By
  

Apple Discussion has been bombarded with Safari freezing complaints, keyboard freezing, lacking ability to web browse (and more) following installation of Apple's latest released EFI firmware updates for MacBook and iMac.

"I installed the EFI update on my MacBook Pro and Safari ceased working. It took about 20 minutes of Apple tech support to fix the problem (setting up a test account, downloading a new version of Safari using another browser, deleting .plist's, etc..)," one Mac user wrote.

Apple Tech support mentioned that he had either updated with a different EFI software or system failure calls.

Another reader writes: "Updated my firmware last night, for the iMac and the aluminum keyboard. All went ok. Everything was fine this morning, too. Came home from work now, clicked on Safari, and it hung. Keyboard didn't work; did a hard reboot. All worked fine -- opened Safari, went to my.yahoo.com, and put cursor over a url. the bubble that normally gets displayed, came up behind the window. Opened Omniweb -- all worked as expected. Closed Safari, re-opened it -- everything worked as expected! Strange!"

Another user reported a similar issue: "After downloading the Firmware 1.5 update, I can't use Safari 3.1 anymore. I am able to connect on-line (e.g., I can search successfully for updates), but I cannot web-browse. I reloaded my ISP software, and that is not the problem."

Safari, currently the most popular mobile web browser in the US, is the standard web browser on all of Apple's platforms. The company has previously been bashed because of Safari. Weeks ago, the Cupertino folks issued Safari 3.1. The web browser is also compatible with Windows, as are Apple's iTunes and QuickTime, for which the company uses the same software update mechanism. Safari 3.1 was released for Windows users too, in the form of a "software update." However, non-users of the Safari web browser got the same software update. Some of them were mislead into thinking they were updating a piece of software, while they were actually downloading something new.