It seems that being an early macOS Big Sur adopter has brought terrible consequences to several Apple users. Several reports claim that the latest macOS software update is bricking their MacBook Pros, and complaints can be found on several sites, including Reddit and Apple Support Communities.
You may want to wait a bit longer before you decide to upgrade your Mac to the latest macOS Big Sur. Several users who own late 2013 and mid-2014 13-inch MacBook Pro units are reporting that the update has bricked their machines. There are several threads found in MacRumors, Reddit, and Apple Support Communities, which means that this issue is very common.
bradbomb
macrumors 6502
“Anyone else have the MacBook Pro stuck on a black screen. I have tried force restarting and then also holding Option. The only choice on the boot screen is MacOS Installer and it goes back to the black screen.”
nuoptik
“I saw that there was an update to Big Sur today so clicked update. It all downloaded fine and I clicked all the items to go ahead. It said it’d be a while so i stepped away from the computer. When i returned the screen was black – no status bar, no nothing, but I could tell the LED was on. Nothing would wake it up so I eventually held the power button to force a shutdown.
“Now it won’t boot.
Tried SMC, PRAM, holding shift, option keys, recovery mode etc etc. Tried all many many times.”
u/josha57
“A word of caution about updating to Big Sur… It seems to have bricked my mid-2014 13” MBP. I’ve found others online with the same problem, and they seem to all be mid-2014 13” models.
“I’m getting a black screen with backlight when I power on, can’t enter recovery mode, no startup sound, nothing. Not impressed at all. Apple support tried getting me to reset the PRAM, SMC, etc., and when that didn’t work, they asked me to take it for in-person servicing.”
Users claim that their devices are now stuck displaying a black screen, and there is no way yo bypass the static black screen, as key reset combinations including NVRAM, SMC, Safe Mode and Internet Recovery are all inaccessible after trying to install the update. The most affected 13-inch MacBook Pro models are the ones from late 2013 and mid 2014, but that doesn’t mean that other models haven’t been affected by this situation.
We also have to understand that these are the oldest MacBook Pro models supported by the macOS update, so we could say that a couple of issues may have been expected. Whatever the case, the problem has already reached Apple’s engineering team, so Cupertino should now be aware of the situation. Some of the users have already been told by Apple support to bring their devices in for repair.
Source MacRumors