Apple fixes bug in macOS Monterey upgrade that bricked T2 macs

Apple has fixed a bug that could prevent Macs with a T2 chip from booting. That issue was introduced with upgrades from macOS Big Sur to Monterey and affected “a very small number of users,” according to Apple.

That news comes out via Apple YouTuber Rene Ritchie. Apple claims these are Macs with a T2 security chip, but at the time of the first reports of the problem, there were also reports that older Macs that don’t have a T2 chip also wouldn’t start. Perhaps in those cases it is a different problem. The chip is in some of the Intel Macs from the years 2017 to 2020. M1 macs do not have a T2 chip.

In any case, Apple has updated the update by providing updated firmware for the T2 chip with updates to macOS. However, affected users are now useless and are advised to contact Apple customer service. Users may be able to resolve the issue themselves using the Apple Configurator 2 and another Mac along with it.

The problem does not seem to be happening on a scale as large as with the upgrade to Big Sur. At the time, it also caused bootloops if the user turned out not to have enough disk space. The upgrade process nevertheless continued in those situations, when it was not intended to.