MacOS 12.3 breaks refurbished MacBooks

Earlier this week Apple released updates for all operating systems - including macOS 12.3. Although for most users the update is not caused problems, owners of the 2021 MacBook Pro (14″ and 16″ on the M1 Pro and M1 Max) faced a serious problem.

When trying to install the update on laptops with macOS 12.2.1 and earlier, the device turns into a brick or goes into an endless reboot if the computer was previously changed logic fee. It does not matter whether the repair was carried out in an official Apple service or an independent workshop.

According to the forums, the problem started still on the third beta version of macOS 12.3. In the discussion thread notedthat contacting the official service does not help: the employees only offer to re-replace the logic board, but this does not fix the error during the update.

The only working way to save your MacBook is to roll back to macOS 12.2.1. This requires a second Mac with the Apple Configurator 2 app and a macOS 12.2.1 IPSW file. The faulty MacBook must be put into recovery mode, connected to a second Mac using a USB-C cable, and reinstalled the firmware following the instructions on the screen programs. This will save the data on the device and bring the computer back to life. More detailed instructions are available at

site Apple tech support.

The problem will probably be fixed in one of the next builds. If you have one of these MacBook models, we recommend that you do not update macOS until Apple announces a fix for the issue.