Big Sur Update 11.2.2 stops USB hubs Killing MacBook M1 systems but breaks Logic Pro. How to Fix.

1. Warning! USB Hubs can Kill your MacBook M1

We will get to Apple’s BigSur late Feb 2021 11.2.2 fix for USB power computer destruction problems later in this article but for now, here is the background of the issues as of February 2021.

There have been plenty of reports of MacBook M1 systems being bricked (control boards killed, no display, end of MacBook!) by using USB 3 multiport hubs and USB 3 screens that actively power the Macbook through the same USB-C connection.

The evidence for this is beyond speculation and I think M1 owners should be especially cautious. Here are a couple of credible references.

https://www.reddit.com/r/macbook/comments/kge24m/dead_m1_mac_with_usbc_multiport_adapters/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/bricked-macbook-pro-m1.2273991/

To my knowledge there is no list of good or bad USB hubs and this all feels like a game of Russian roulette. General wisdom dictates that you should avoid charging/powering your MacBook from such devices until we know this issue is fixed. Use the hub by all means, but have the MacBook power it up and only power up using the Apple PSU power cable coming into directly into the second port on the M1 13”.

From my research I have concluded that Thunderbolt hubs do not cause the problem. This is can be confusing as Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3 protocols both run on the same physical USB-C connector found on the side of the MacBook. MacBook M1s have USB-C physical connections that are USB4 compliant and can therefore speak to either Thunderbolt 3 or USB3 devices and be powered by them.

My goto reference for understanding USB 2, 3, 3.1, 3.2, Gen1, Gen2 and Thunderbolt 2 and 3 (!!!) is here:

https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/08/24/usb-3-usb-4-thunderbolt-usb-c----everything-you-need-to-know

Some may have seen my M1 Air vs M1 Pro comparison video ( https://youtu.be/Iy2Olv1clEE ) when I discuss the Brydge Stone Pro Hub. This is a Thunderbolt 3 device and thus has a different power management protocol which we think is immune to the “brick my M1) problem as the power management specs for Thunderbolt are tighter than USB. I still wanted to upgrade to MacOS BigSur 11.2.2 just in case.

2. The 11.2.2 Upgrade

Apple themselves state this for the 11.2.2 update:

macOS Big Sur 11.2.2
macOS Big Sur 11.2.2 prevents MacBook Pro (2019 or later) and MacBook Air (2020 or later) models from incurring damage when they are connected to certain third-party, non-compliant powered USB-C hubs and docks.

So, they are implying that the bricking was caused by “bad, naughty” hubs and docks, yet this is a problem they can fix on the M1 itself…. Ok…... Who are we to argue?… let’s update to be safe….

3. Logic Pro in Rosetta is Now Broken

Opps.

Readers will know that I have done extensive testing with Logic Pro running third party plugins from Waves, Liquidsonics, FabFilter and Softube. See

Logic Pro on M1 with Third party Plugins
https://youtu.be/KSWE-Ruj1Nk

Optimizing Logic on M1 Systems
https://youtu.be/W3zabsRfT8c

8GB Air vs 16GB Pro for Office, Logic and FCP
https://youtu.be/Iy2Olv1clEE

I made all of this super reliable by running Logic in Rosetta mode (Do an info on the Logic application package in Finder and tick the Rosetta box). Although this is theoretically sub-optimal for the Logic code part of the DAW, the non-native plugins (most of them are still not translated over to M1 (Feb 2021)) became happier talking to a Rosetta translated Logic speaking the same language on the intel side of the fence.

This made all of my “stuff” work. No crashes, great performance. Brilliant.

… Except now, after the 11.2.2 update, Logic in Rosetta mode shows you a bunch of ghostly blank screen windows. You can create the most basic session with one audio track and it is all very broken on the display side.

I was about to reach for the Time Machine backup and go back to 11.2.1… but on a hunch I tried turning Rosetta mode off for Logic. I was expecting Crash City again as this never worked well before but to my surprise, it all runs fine! My most complex sessions load and run well.

Something has been broken yes, but something has been fixed also. Logic in M1 Native code is now much happier dipping in and out of Intel coded plugins.

So I am going to stick with 11.2.2 and see what happens next….

Mark

Sections

0:00 - Intro
0:59 – The problem with USB powered Hubs and Displays
4:02 - BigSur Update 11.2.2
5:04 – BigSur 11.2.2 Breaks Logic Pro