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I want to use Boot Camp on my 17 inch iMac Late 2006, but whenever I open it, it tells me that I need to update my Boot ROM firmware to use the assistant. So I downloaded the latest Boot ROM from Apple's website. However, when I launched the installer, I was given the following error message.

This computer does not need this update.

But it does need the update. The Boot ROM version I have does not match the latest version on Apple's website. Does anyone know how I can get to installer to run properly?

I've already reset the PRAM and made sure my hard drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). And if it helps, I'm running OS X Snow Leopard.

Edit (12/21/14): I made some additional progress in figuring this out, but I'm still stuck.

To start, I tried booting into the Apple Firmware Restoration CD 1.3 and 1.4. However, none of the discs would boot at all. The power light flashes and bleep sound happens, but then it'd just proceed to booting Snow Leopard, ignoring the fact there was a disc. My optical drive is functional, so that's not the problem.

Next, I thought about modifying the installer so it'd ignore the above error message. I unpackaged the installer and dug into the file iMacFirmwareUpdate.dist. That's when I found out why I got the error message. My iMac was failing the hasValidEFI() function because my current firmware wasn't on the list of EFI's qualified to be update, even though my firmware was made for the same machine (IM51).

So I went inside the code and removed the hasValidEFI() check. After that, I was finally able to install the iMac EFI Firmware Update program. But when I opened that program, I got another error message:

The iMac EFI Firmware Update will not update over your current Firmware version of IM51.88Z.008F.B00.0608091133.

So once again, I'm stuck. If anyone knows a method to force a firmware update (or if I even should), I would greatly appreciate it.

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1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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You could try with Apple's Firmware Restoration CD:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA24012

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  • Can you please verify the link, seems to lead to a "page not found" error?
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented May 11, 2014 at 12:05
  • The link works fine here. I get a page titled "Software License Agreement for Firmware Restoration CD 1.3".
    – jksoegaard
    Commented May 11, 2014 at 12:45
  • Interesting, must be a local problem then.
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented May 11, 2014 at 12:49
  • The firmware restoration CD isn't working for me. I followed Apple's instructions, but after every time I place the disc in and the long sound bleeps, it ignored the disc and boot Snow Leopard instead.
    – Applecot
    Commented May 11, 2014 at 16:48
  • You must hold down the "C" key when starting the Mac to instruct it to boot from the CD.
    – jksoegaard
    Commented May 12, 2014 at 9:02

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