Then after 2 weeks I decided the burn a backup DVD but what’s this? Where the heck is my Superdrive?? My burning software can’t see it, it doesn’t even show up in the system info “Disc Burning” section, WTF? Careful analysis of the log file shows the following: during the Software Update 2 items were downloaded, the Mac OS X 10.4.10 update and the Apple superdrive firmware update 2.1. Here’s the scary thing, after the 10.4.10 update was installed it continued on installing the firmware update. However, right in the middle of the firmware update the 10.4.10 update decides it’s a good time to reboot my Macbook Pro! I can’t remember what I was doing during the update procedure but I guess I just continued working on after the reboot..for 2 weeks. Now comes the worse part, my Macbook Pro warranty expired just 2-3 days before the update!! So there I was, bricked superdrive, no Apple warranty, no AppleCare since I spent the extra €400,- maxing out the Macbook Pro with disk and RAM. Stupid, stupid!!

A quick Google search showed up quite a few posts of people in the exact same predicament as me! However, not a single post offered any sane fix other than bringing the Mac in for repairs, if you were lucky enough to have it under warranty or had AppleCare. Aargh!! Oh well, got nothing to loose so I called Apple Benelux and explained my situation. The kind person on the other side suggested I bring in the machine to an authorized dealer to check it out. Okay, so I brought it to RAF Amsterdam, which is the closest Apple authorized repair service to me. 3 weeks and a lot of calls to RAF later (apparantly their Mac guy went on vacation and they forgot to mention that during the intake) I finally got the verdict, new superdrive required, price tag: €410,- @#$@!!@#$%??!!!! That’s got to be the most expensive DVD burner on the planet!

I called Apple again explaining them I was really upset I had to dish out this much money to fix a problem that was clearly caused by not properly testing their update procedure. I mean how hard is it to detect and stop a reboot in a firmware updater?? Firefox annoyingly stops reboots all the time, so a piece of Apple software should definitely be able to do this do. “I understand sir, let me talk to the tech people.. please hold..”.. 2 minutes later: “Sir, we have OK’d this repair under warranty..”.. WOAAH!!!

One week later I picked up my Macbook Pro, new superdrive installed, everything working. Charge: € 0,00!!

Big kudo’s to the Apple Customer Satisfaction department!! That was 2 weeks ago.. It must be said though that a lot of folks around the world did not have this much luck with Apple. As of today there is also not a single official word from Apple regarding this issue, the firmware update was silently pulled from Apple’s website and all traces of it have disappeared.

Forum thread 1: Superdrive update 2.1 killed my drive.

Forum thread 2: Superdrive Update 2.1 killed drive.

Still keeping an eye on how Apple handles this…