A Macos 26 Bug Bricked My $3,700 Mac Studio - Here's How I Miraculously Got It Back

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• A MacOS Tahoe upgrade went southbound connected a brand-new machine.
• The solution to retrieve is not for nan faint of heart.
• If your Mac Studio is bricked, a DFU Revive/Restore is necessary.

Earlier this month, I received my caller Mac Studio M3 Ultra computer. I decided to make nan acquisition because I was doing bigger and bigger video projects, and my Intel-based iMac wasn't up to nan task. 

The caller instrumentality has 96GB of RAM and that screaming M3 Ultra chip. Yeah, it's gonna beryllium blazing fast.

As soon arsenic it arrived, I began nan process of unboxing everything, moving my iMac to different location, and mounting up nan Mac Studio. Everything went conscionable fine... until it didn't.

After astir an hr of utilizing nan machine, MacOS informed maine that nan update for Tahoe was available. Given really overmuch I emotion MacOS 26 connected my MacBook, I decidedly wanted it connected my Mac Studio. So, I okayed nan upgrade. 

The upgrade kicked disconnected and seemed to beryllium doing everything right. And past disaster struck.

Also: M3 MacBook Air vs. M2 MacBook Air: Which Apple laptop should you buy?

The Mac Studio rebooted arsenic it should, but coiled up pinch a achromatic screen. I waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing.

I decided to reboot. Same results. I thought I could conscionable footwear into betterment mode and hole nan issue. Nope. No matter what I did, I couldn't get nan instrumentality into betterment mode. After a spot of research, I discovered what was happening.

In September 2025, a bug was discovered wherever nan installer loads nan MacOS Tahoe driver for nan Apple Neural Engine, but past a hardware cheque fails, and nan installation process is aborted. Most users reported that nan installation simply grounded and rolled backmost to Sequoia. In my case, nan installation wasn't aborted; it failed, and nan OS was incapable to load.

It seemed arsenic if location was thing I could do... that $3,700 machine was bricked. Thankfully, I recovered nan solution.

With MacOS, there's thing called nan DFU Firmware Revive/Restore, which is simply a heavy betterment process for unresponsive Macs. To tally a DFU Revive/Restore, you person to person different Mac to update aliases reinstall firmware and nan OS via a USB-C cable.

It's tricky and, successful my case, didn't activity arsenic expected.

How to do a DFU Firmware Revive/Restore

To propulsion this off, you person to plug a suitable USB-C cable (one that tin grip some accelerated complaint and information transfer, and not a Thunderbolt cable). You can't, however, conscionable plug that cablegram into immoderate aged port. Instead, you person to usage nan DFU port, which tin beryllium recovered successful nan pursuing locations:

• 14-inch MacBook Pro pinch M4 aliases M5 chip: The rightmost USB-C larboard erstwhile facing nan near broadside of nan Mac.
• Mac Studio: The rightmost USB-C larboard erstwhile facing nan backmost of nan Mac.

If you person a different Mac, cheque retired this page to find retired which larboard is nan DFU port.

Also, make judge thing is plugged into immoderate different USB port.

Here's really nan DFU Revive/Restore works:

Plug nan USB-C cablegram into nan affected Mac first and make judge it's powered off. Next, make judge nan different Mac is powered connected and that you are logged in. Unplug nan affected Mac from power. Press and clasp nan powerfulness button, and past plug nan Mac backmost in. Keep pressing nan powerfulness fastener until nan DFU Finder model opens connected nan different Mac. In that window, you'll spot 2 options:

• Revive - updates a Mac's firmware and betterment OS (recoveryOS) to nan latest type without erasing personification information aliases nan MacOS volume.
• Restore - erases everything and reinstalls nan OS from scratch.

Also: 5 ways to tally Windows apps connected MacOS - and 2 are free

First, I ran nan Revive option. That took complete an hr and, successful nan end, didn't work. When that failed, I ran done nan process again, only this clip selecting nan Restore option.

Guess what? That didn't activity either. I was definite I'd person to lug nan Mac Studio to my section Apple Store and person it flash nan firmware for me. On a whim, I decided to unplug nan Mac Studio, hold a moment, plug it backmost in, and boot. Luck was connected my side, and nan login model appeared. Breathe in. Breathe out. Relax.

Naturally, I decided to disregard immoderate notifications for a Tahoe upgrade because I do not want to spell done that again. Even though Apple has apparently fixed nan issue, it intelligibly hadn't, because my M3 Ultra Mac Studio grounded connected nan upgrade.

Why I usage Linux

In astir 30 years of utilizing Linux, I person ne'er had specified an issue. Between Windows 11 taking everlastingly to instal and MacOS suffering from bugs that ceramic brand-new machines, it conscionable solidifies my sentiment that Linux is nan superior OS.

Don't get maine wrong, I'll still usage MacOS because I dangle connected DaVinci Resolve, which still has issues connected Linux installations without NVIDIA GPUs. Will I ever spot different MacOS upgrade? Who knows, but I tin show you that I'll beryllium very hesitant to spell done pinch immoderate upgrade successful nan early without doing my research.

Also: How to determine betwixt Linux and MacOS - if you're fresh to ditch Windows

Apple should ne'er merchandise an upgrade that bricks 1 of its astir powerful machines. That's conscionable bad form. Fortunately, nan OS does person built-in devices that tin resoluteness nan issue. However, successful this case, I would surely not counsel those without plentifulness of exertion skills to effort a DFU Revive/Restore. If this happens to you, unplug that Mac and caput to nan Genius Bar.