Removing a 2006-2017 Macbook's EFI Lock/Pincode.

    About a couple of months ago I got a lot of three laptops on OfferUp. They were two 2011 MacBook Pros and a Dell Latitude something. I sold the Dell Latitude for around 250 bucks! But the MacBook's on the other hand, they both had a EFI lock and a Activation Lock (example seen below). I spent some time researching and getting really no where, cause I didn't know where to look. Later on, I found out about EFI chips and how they get flashed, and I managed to unlock both MacBooks! And now, I'm here to share what I've come across in a hopefully helpful guide!

I know there's multiple guides covering flashing a EFI chip and all, but they cover a spefici model of MacBooks in general, either a < 2012 macbook, or some other newer macbook. My goal here to to gather all the infornmation I've found and tell what way is the easiest to do for your MacBook.

(a youtube video may be coming out, so maybe check that out when it releases for a more visual guide)

A simple rundown on WHAT a EFI chip (realitve to a Mac) actually is;

Important information:

This guide will allow you to:

MAKE SURE you buy correct tools for your macbook! Below you can find a "at a glace" guide to identify what you'll need. (you can go on EveryMac's Ultimate Mac Lookup to lookup your MacBook. shout out to them!!!)

I'll be dividing each guide with each generation, they will lead to a universal guide once you have your chip connected to your computer that'll include the software tinkering bits.

Generation One;

This consists of the first batch of MacBooks made, noted as pre-2012.

This includes MacBooks such as;

These MacBooks contain a EFI chip known as a SOCI-8 chip, a standard in computer bios's. These are the easiest to unlock/flash fornunatly!

You can flash with either tool;

I'll be going over the CH341A programmer method, as it's the easiest, and i've actually done it a couple of times. You can check out willzhang05's guide for an Raspberry Pi on Github though!

Before we start with the guide, as mentioned in my "at a glace" guide, almost ALL black pcb CH341A programmers mistakenly outputs 5V on data rails; this could result in your chip damaging itself with each write (doesn't really hurt much for a one job personally, but safety first). But there is a solution to fix this problem on these CH341A programmers; Referring to Sawyer Shepherd's Blog, you can actually do a simple fix to these CH341A programmers. I won't go in depth here, but you can buy a cheap CH341A programmer from Amazon, cut a trace, use a jumper between two pins, and voila! But you can always just buy a green CH341A programmer instead.

You're also going to need a SOCI8 test clip, for easy clipping onto the chip for programming. Most CH341A kits include a clip, so you'll be good!

Now enough talk, let's get started;