iCloud problems with Mac OS (setting your mac serial number)
Everything started in 2013 with Nimble Quest, the worms-like game. While on the iOS I was getting the coins from my Guild, in my iMac10,1 coints were not added to the tally.
Also, Facetime was working correctly on my Mac Book Pro, as well as some additional iCloud utilities like Back My Mac, but I was unable to log on in into Apple’s cloud with my iMac. On both machines the App Store and iTunes was working correctly.
The next clue was the Mac OS version. In the faulty machine it is install Lion Mountain (10.8.4), but on the Mac Book Pro I still have not upgraded, so it seem there is no trouble with Lion.
After applying some recommendations from the forums: Log out, log in to iCloud, update your data on the web side of iCloud, things were not getting better, but after reading this post, I remembered after the last servicing by Apple my Mac OS Mountain Lion came back from service with no serial number. It seems this lack of serial number creates problems with some iCloud services. The recommended solution is to go back to Apple Service and ask them to update your firmware with your serial number. Unfortunately my iMac was out of support and I did not want the hassle of discussing with them who had to pay for it, so I decided to upgrade it myself.
So, if you decide to take the risk and do it yourself (probably this is unsupported by Apple) you should follow the next steps:
First of all, check you have no serial number in your firmware checking in the System > About your Mac > More Info… you’ll get a window like this, stating your Serial Number is None or (in my case) System Serial#:
So, if this is your case, you have to write your serial number in your firmware. If you decide not to go to an Apple Support centre, find your serial number using this Apple page.
Download an unsupported, Apple only tool called Blank Board Serializer that will enable you to write a new serial number if the main computer board has none.
Once downloaded, uncompress the file and write the .dmg file to a CD disk using Disk Utility (some people report you can use a USB memory, but the CD way is the recommended way).
Insert the CD in the CD/DVD slot and boot the computer pressing the key C to allow the computer to boot from the CD.
Alternatively, you can use blank board serializer 3t106 063-7137.zip extract the file 063-7137-A.dmg blank board serialiser using Disk Utility, restart holding alt/option, agree to the terms, enter the serial and restart.
After loading the tool, allow some time to bind the bluetooth keyboard or mouse to the computer and follow the tool instructions.
After setting the number, you will be asked to reboot and you’ll be able to check if the process worked correctly in the same screen. In my case, it was corrected (number anonymized just-in-case):
And of course, now all the iCloud services work correctly!
Some caveats:
- This is unsupported and I’m not responsible for anything.
- The tool can only set the serial number on a main board that has no serial number, so if you set the wrong serial number you wont be able to correct the error and will have to visit an Apple Support Service.
- The original page was published in 2013, so some newer models may not be supported (and some older ones may be troublesome)
After all these years of user testing, many people reported back their experience. Their knowledge may be helpful:
Miguel
2013-10-08
My cd unit doesn't work anymore, so there's absolutely no other way to make it bootable ? what about making a usb boot with that dmg ?
kristen
2013-11-04
Thank you SO much for the insightful information. I have spent countless hours and frustrating conversations with Apple after my logic board was replaced, no serial was re-added and recently updated to 10.8.5. As mentioned in your post my scenerio was identical with no serial # listed. This worked perfectly for me.
Thank you again for sharing your knowledge and support.
Felipe Scuciatto
2013-11-05
When booting, I only get a black screen with a white underscore. Any tip?
Jay
2013-10-24
Doesn't boot on my MacBook Air. Throws an EFI error.
VisualPro
2013-10-26
Did a great job with MBP late 2007... You don't need a CD to make this work... just restore to USB stick and hold option key down on boot and select the USB stick to boot from. Works great... Fixed issues with iMessage and FaceTime which create a ssh key chain certificate based off of the serial number for OSX Mavericks version.
Great Job... Thank you
iggipop
2013-10-28
thx in advance roger
i followed your valuable guidance, i made a usb stick bootable and also a dvd but, when i boot from the usb stick or disc, i have only a black screen with an underscore. any suggestion? (i have a macbook pro 17" 2009)
your help is really remarkable!!!
JP
2013-11-21
Thanks for the tip, it worked a charm. I used a USB bootable disk to set the serial number on my wife's early 2008 MBP and it worked perfectly.
Trisha
2013-11-26
Thanks very much! Will this still work now I upgraded to Mavericks?
rogersm
2013-12-02
It should, I have upgraded to Mavericks without any issue. And the tools seems to be designed to work with any Operating System.
lars
2013-12-05
hey, I found this and hoped to fix my mbp late 2008 with your help but I got the same problem as others: after selecting the boot device, I only get the white underscore on black screen.
any hints?
Jesper
2014-03-02
I have a MacBookPro8,1 (13", mid 2011) and get the same problem - only get the black screen with an underscore in the upper left corner.
Does anyone know if the can fix it at an Apple Store?
Jesper
2014-03-02
There are 3 different versions of the Blank Board Serializer, if one fail to work, try one of the others. The one that worked with my mid year MBP 13" was in the package "blank board serializer 3t106 063-7137.zip" ( 2 version in the zip-file) and is named "063-7137-A.dmg"
Jesper
2014-03-02
To clarify:
mid year 2008 MBP 13?
Felipe Scuciatto
2014-03-18
I have tried the 063-7137-A.dmg. It boots ok, but when I try to burn the serial #, I only have a 460 internal error. Any ideas?
rogersm
2014-04-09
@Gregory this is the only tool that has a good percentage of success. Other tools are not reliable.
Anyway, if you are still under Applecare bring your computer to Apple and demand them to update the serial number. All the models have written down the serial in some part of the computer and that number is the valid one.
Gregory
2014-04-08
I'm getting the same error as Felipe. My machine is a late 2011 model running 10.9.2. The software booted fine and allowed me to input the serial number before the error popped up.
When I opened the folder to look for the other versions you mentioned, they weren't there. Only the file named "_ssps_693-6430-01.dmg" was included. Once opened it contained only a couple of documents, I didn't see any other disk images.
Please get back to me soon, Apple is telling me they won't service my machine because of this discrepancy with the serial number, even though my AppleCare is valid until this time next year.
Andrew M
2014-03-24
I was having trouble with my bookmarks in safari syncing. Couldn't log into messages or use FaceTime. I also wasn't able to see it in Find My Mac / iPhone. Used the application on my Mac Pro 2009 and programmed my system serial number. Everything in icloud now magically works.
Ronny
2014-04-16
Thank you. Worked pretty fine with my 2010 MBP 2010 from USB.
Oscar
2014-05-18
worked like a charm on mid-2009 macbook pro 13". but failed on mid-2012 macbook pro 13". both are on MountainLion!!!
Redcoke
2014-09-17
Sorry guys, i would like to know where i can download the 063-7173.dmg or 063-7173-A.dmg i am using 2012 15" Retain Macbook Pro, last week i take it to replace my board, and now the new board without serial number. Thank you for you guys help.
Tachibana K
2014-07-24
Worked just fine on macbook pro retina 15 mid 2012 on maverick 10.9.4, restored using the 063-7173.dmg file, iCloud is working again!!!
For people who having the "invalid argument" problem in disk utility, i fixed it opening the 063-7173 images, then opened again the image after this i just restored the blank board serializer v1.1 to USB.
Thanks Roger
Tom
2014-10-25
This worked for 1 Sec then asked me to contact apple.
MBP2007
hector
2014-05-01
Exactly I had that problem. Working fine with my late 2008 macbook pro unibody. You don´t need burnt a CD, usb is enough. Cheers! Facetime working now after years
jbm
2014-06-22
I already tried to boot with "blank board serializer", but I just could see the black screen with the white underscore. After reading all the comments here, I'm looking for the other version for MCP "13, but when I opened the folder I can't see any other version...
Matthew
2014-06-07
Thanks Roger. Worked perfectly. Leaving this comment for anyone else that may follow in my footsteps.
MacBook Air 13-inch, Mid 2011 - MacBookAir4,2
OSX 10.10 DP1
I downloaded it through bit torrent, the file name is:
"blank board serializer 3t106 063-7137.zip". It contains 2 dmgs.
I restored the "063-7137-A.dmg" blank board serialiser to USB using Disk Utility, restarted holding alt/option, agreed to the terms, entered the serial, restarted and it worked.
Sean
2014-12-16
Thanks so much Christian got it working on a 2012 Mac Air with
Yosemite I wonder what is removing the Ser#, my machine has never had any work done to it .
greg
2014-10-13
used this one and it worked perfect in a late 2012 macbook pro retina
"blank board serializer 3t106 063-7137.zip extract the file 063-7137-A.dmg"
Daniel
2014-07-25
Wow. I don't know how long I've been looking for a solution to this. But yes, this in fact worked for me. Yay! Thanks so much!
Isabelle
2014-09-17
What if I do have a serial number? Will I be able to change it with the BBS too?
Thanks in advance
Daniele
2014-09-09
Hi Roger,
Thank you so much!! It solved my troubles on imac 21,5'' mid 2012.
I used 063-7173-A.dmg.
The only thing I do not understand is how it could disappear serial number if i've never replaced the logic board??
Andres
2014-08-29
Hi Roger,
I might Thank you a lot for this guide, it resolved my troubles as I bought this Macbook second hand and Facetime and iMessage weren't working, now everything is up and running.
The File that Worked for me was 063-7137-A.dmg, I burnt in a cd using the disk utility and viola!
Thanks again,
Andres
man bummer
2014-11-24
Thanks for your quick response rogersm. I tried the tool once more but it did not let me proceed saying that it is only meant for blank boards. I am not able to use icloud. So I will look into ways to blank my logic board again.
man bummer
2014-11-23
Thanks. I was able to put a serial number that I found on a sticker on the memory bank of my motherboard. I used the 63-7137-A.dmg version. But later on selfsolve.apple.com, I found out that it was not a valid serial number :(. I want to put a new serial number which is in the battery compartment but afraid to run the tool again as it said setting serial is final.
rogersm
2014-11-23
To man bummer:
No panic: serial number should be final, but as far as I know, nobody reported trying to set up a number again. I suppose the tool will not allow to do it but nothing terrible may happen (anyway, it's up to you to try)
But if after setting the number all the tools work, I would recommend to keep it as is.
Tomas
2014-09-14
Hi Roger:
I was desperate looking into this for months, your fix was "the real deal".
Thanks, you are awesome.
nick
2014-10-17
I'm getting the exact error as Felippe on a MBP Retina late 2013.
The only version that seems to work is 063-7137-A.dmg but I'm gettint a 460 internal error.
Any help would be appreciated
Justin
2014-10-22
This worked for me under Yosemite on a MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) which lost its serial number after installing Yosemite.
Got an 'invalid argument' message trying to burn the 063-7137-A.dmg image to USB. Resolved this by mounting the DMG and doing a restore of the 'Blank Board Serializer v1.1' partition.
Works great, thanks!
Arne C.
2014-10-22
Thanks a lot. Changed disk on my fathers MacBook Air (late 2008) and after installing Yosemite I could not get iMessage to log in... After some googling I found a thread mentioning problems with serial number and iMessage, and I found that the serial was missing.
Anyway, I burned a CD with the original tool and it worked just fine on the Macbook Air (2008) with Yosemite.
Richard
2014-10-08
MBP 17, Late 2007, Mavericks. My CD/DVD burner doesn't work, so I try with USB Key. But I didn't see it when rebooting with alt key. I redo the same with an external usb disk and I succeed to see and use it.
hoham
2014-10-20
Oh.. Forgot... This was also on OS 10.10, 3.1 GHz Intel Core 5
Christian
2014-10-04
Thanks a lot!
After replacing my wife's original HDD with a SSD (a MBP, mid2009, Mavericks) the serial number vanished - leaving iCloud and iMessage out of function.
THE WALK THROUGH SOLVED THE PROBLEM - thanks.
I used the 063-7137-A.dmg (on USB). Strong evidence, that THIS is the file to use...
Find it here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/164994/blank%20board%20serializer%203t106%20063-7137.zip
BTW
Make sure you use a USB with enough space (256 mb can't do it even though the file is app. 40 mb - yep, tried it...). However 64 gb = no problem
I also had the trouble with the black screen and the white underscore. I showed out I didn't restored the USB flash drive in the correct way with a correct file.
Thus" black screen and white underscore" = don't give up:
HOW I DID IT:
1. Dowloaded : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/164994/blank%20board%20serializer%203t106%20063-7137.zip
2. Opened the zip and double clicked the "063-7137-A.dmg"
3. Plugged in my USB (64 gb)
4. Opened the Disc Utility tool
5. (double?) Clicked the 063-7131-A.dmg now showing the subfolder "Blank Board Serializer v1.1" - and clicked it
example:
063-7131-A.dmg
Blank Board Serializer v1.1 <--- this is the one to mark
6. clicked restore
7. dragged the USB device to "destination"
8. clicked restore (NB the USB device is erased!)
9. typed my password....
10. FINISHED
11. shut down the mac (totally)
12. unplugged the USB
13. Turned on the mac (power buttom) + pressing option-button
14. Now showing the installed partitions I plugged in the USB-drive - waited 10 s.
15. The USB-drive got shown
16. Clicked it at followed the instructions...
Again thanks rogersm.net
hoham
2014-10-20
Confirmed on iMac ( 27-inch, Mid 2011).
Reboot using the 'C' key.
Used 063-7137-A.dmg & booted from CDROM
solomare
2014-10-20
Sorry, I made a mistake using the .dmg file instead of the .cdr file. To reboot, you have to press the C key and not the option key, as mentioned in the txt file that comes with the sw.
I confirm it works also on Yosemite.
Bob
2014-10-20
I am sorry but I don't have suggestions other than trying another version. I read some comments about _ssps-693-6430-01.dmg. What happened when you rebooted and held down the option key and then after the HD's showed up you then inserted the USB? For me, I just clicked on the USB drive icon and then it started the process.
solomare
2014-10-20
I tried with both the CD and the USB drive, but with no success in either cases.
I'm running OS Yosemite on a 21.5 iMac 2010, Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz.
Any suggestions?
Thanks
solomare
2014-10-20
Did anybody try this solution on the new Yosemite OS?
Is it safe to use this app with Yosemite?
Thanks
Bob
2014-10-20
Today I followed the procedure suggested by Christian (10.4.14) above (using a USB stick) to fix my serial number. I installed Yosemite this past weekend. I had been dealing with Message and iCloud issues for a long time. It worked perfectly. My Mac is back. Thanks so much.
Inuyasha28
2014-11-08
OMG!!!
Thank you so much Bro..
it's work on my MBA Late 2008 using "_ssps_693-6430-01.dmg" restore to USB.
Now I have iMessage and FaceTime fully working.. :D
Arctic Rat
2014-11-28
MBP mid 2012 retina display. The mother board got changed by Apple. It returned with no serial number indicated under "about this Mac". I asked the fellow at the Apple store if this would be a problem (then). The reply was no. Every thing was working perfectly. EXCEPT after Yosemite installation, I could not use anymore FaceTime or IMessage from the MAC. All other devices worked fine. Got very good help from Apple care people to try and troubleshoot (second level knowledgeable advisor. We even reformatted and re-installed the hard drive. No joy. He mentioned that I should get my MBP to an Apple store for re-implementation of the serial number.
Did not have time to go there and simply the store was too far away. The procedure detailed here worked perfectly for me after a few trials and errors. The procedure detailed from Christian did the trick.
Initially the small program is displayed on a grey back ground and was displayed quite small on the screen with made it very difficult to find the mouse pointer that permitted the selection required from the choice buttons i.e. accept, reject etc.
Thank you very much for this help. It is a shame that Apple, gradually erodes its quality in this way.
Cheers
Barack
2015-01-16
The original instructions...
... _ssps_693-6430-01.dmg
... from https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/164994/Blank%20Board%20Serializer.zip
... worked for me. My mid-2010 27" iMac now has it's serial number back, and Messages is working again. Thank you!
Barry
2014-11-02
Thanks to the Author for the tool and also to Christian for the step by step which helped me with the usb creation and booting.
This tool worked on a 2009 iMac running Maverick.
hnjuk
2014-10-18
Wow It works!!
Thanks a lot!!!
Luis Miguel
2014-10-21
After mother board change in my iMac Late 2009 I had the same issues. Now, with your excellent post I could solve them.
Thank you so much!
Art
2015-03-19
I have upgraded my iMac with new logic board(with better GPU 780 4gb)
ordered it on ebay
but the logic board arrived with no serial number
So my problem is (if it will work on my 2013 iMac)
What serial number should i put in? I don't know the actual serial number of the new logic board..i can put the serial number form the old logic board(but i sold it and it is being used somewhere so i have concerns on behaviour of two identical serial numbers)
can i make up a serial number?
please help
JHF
2014-12-12
Damn, it worked! Followed the walk-through, burned the 063-7137-A.dmg onto an ancient CD-RW I found, rebooted my early 2009 iMac running Yosemite with the "c" key held down, verrrry carefully entered the missing serial number—the iMac had a logic board replacement two or three years ago—and as soon as I restarted, there were a bunch of prompts to log into iCloud, Facetime, etc., which I did, and now everything is fine. Woo-hoo!
THANK YOU and everyone who commented here. The procedure does work on my machine, at least, and with Yosemite, if that helps.
Juan P.
2014-10-26
Thanks a bunch! This was really a cinch! Using Yosemite on a Mid 2012 Macbook Pro. Used the 063-7137-A.dmg. Now all my services are working again! FaceTime, iMessages and am able to make and receive calls on my Macbook Pro. Tried using the BlankBoardSerializer3t106.dmg first, but kept getting a "LoadEFiDriver: Image Start Failed: 0x000000e" error code. Again, thanks for the help!
Lukas
2014-11-11
Wow! Wonderful. Update to Mavericks was never working. Now we're onYosemite! I have never worked with "images" and disc utility tool. So I was afraid to get it working.
This must be highlighted:
The description of Christian from 10.04.14 helped to get it right! I used a USB-drive.
Now the serial is set! Perfekt!
History to the computer: 2009 MacBook Pro, the Mainboard got replaced 2 times. It's with the third owner now. Somewhere the serial got lost. With the new 4GB RAM and the new SSD in place, it kicks very quick!
ckone
2014-11-01
It works on a iMac late 2012, with Yosemite. I used the DMG 063-7137-A. Thanks a lot!
HandsOff, Facetime an IChat are now working.
Asbjørn Ulsberg
2015-01-10
This worked perfectly on my 2008 MacBook Pro (MacBookPro4,1). After setting the serial number, I am now able to log in to Messages and the "apsd: Certificate not yet generated" error message is no longer being continually written to the system console. Brilliant! :)
Kevin
2015-01-11
I used the instructions Christian posted above on 10/4/14 and it worked for a 2010 13" MacBook to solve the issue of not being able to log into iMessage and FaceTime.
Gregor van Egdom
2015-01-27
Awesome, this fixed iMessage and other iCloud services not working after swapping a logic board. I can confirm that _ssps_693-6430-01.dmg works on Model Identifier: MacBookPro3,1 (±2007).
When I wanted to write the dmg to a USB-key, however, I had to make sure to pick the dmg and not the usb-drive from the left panel of Disk Utility, because otherwise it would say "Resource busy" when it wanted to extract the dmg to the drive (wtf)
Gary K
2014-12-15
I was able to get it to work on a late 2012 iMac on Yosemite with a USB drive. The first time I got the error LoadEFiDriver: Image Start Failed: 0x000000e” like some are getting. Make sure you are using Blank Board Serializer v1.1 on your USB drive. The instructions from Christin 10.04.14 are probably the best one to follow. Now FaceTime, iCloud, and iMessage are working like they should. Thanks to everyone that made this possible.
Peter
2014-12-29
Hello!
Not found for my macbook pro 15 retina Late 2013 because I get a 460 internal error. Any solution? Thank you so much.
Ellert
2015-01-06
that was using the 063-7137-A.dmg from the 063-7137.zip file.
Ellert
2015-01-06
The newest image () works on an early 2011 MBP 17".
While i am here posting this positive result, i also found a quick way to do it through an USB stick, something that is certainly worth sharing, see this post on macworld:
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=2009041216314856
excerpt:
First, mount the .dmg file as a block device only:
hdid -nomount "/Volumes/Diotallevi/Clean Checkpoints/WDC Image.dmg"
Second, determine the block device of the image and destination:
diskutil list
Third, use dd with an appropriate buffer size to copy over the whole block image, including partition table and boot sector.
dd if=/dev/disk3 of=/dev/disk2 bs=131072
Fourth, unmount everything and enjoy your copied disk.
Samer
2015-02-06
Followed Christian's method with a USB on an early 2011 MBP running OS X Yosemite (10.10.2) and it worked perfectly. Thanks a lot.
Maroono
2015-01-11
Not found for my macbook pro 15 retina Late 2013 .I get a 460 internal error. Any solution? Thank you
Sigmoria
2015-02-23
Thanks !
Works MacBook Pro 3,1 15col
ArM
2015-02-21
Works like a charm on my MacBook Pro 10,1 Mid 2012 Retina with an Unvailable Serial Number.
Thanks dude ;)
tetburyman
2015-03-16
Followed your steps for iMac9,1 and it seems to have worked like a charm. Thank you very much for taking the time to make this fix available.
CcHuMi
2015-05-10
Thanks a lot.
Works like a charm on an iMac Mid 2013.
I follow christian instructions and in two minutes it was done.
Thanks
CcHuMi
Shefmd
2015-04-05
I tried all three version of this tool on my MacBook Pro retina 15 mid 2014 running Yosemite but nothing worked for me. I always got the message "460 internal error ". Please guys any helpful suggestions would really be appreciated.
Javier Pinzon
2015-04-27
Thanks !! Works with MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012) and i follow this steps for resolve this problem.
HOW I DID IT:
1. Dowloaded : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/164994/blank%20board%20serializer%203t106%20063-7137.zip
2. Opened the zip and double clicked the “063-7137-A.dmg”
3. Plugged in my USB (64 gb)
4. Opened the Disc Utility tool
5. (double?) Clicked the 063-7131-A.dmg now showing the subfolder “Blank Board Serializer v1.1? – and clicked it
example:
063-7131-A.dmg
Blank Board Serializer v1.1 <— this is the one to mark
6. clicked restore
7. dragged the USB device to "destination"
8. clicked restore (NB the USB device is erased!)
9. typed my password….
10. FINISHED
11. shut down the mac (totally)
12. unplugged the USB
13. Turned on the mac (power buttom) + pressing option-button
14. Now showing the installed partitions I plugged in the USB-drive
15. The USB-drive got shown
16. Clicked it at followed the instructions…
and thank you Christian for your steps, works perfect!.
Max
2015-07-09
The logic board in my Macbook Air 11" failed in 2011. Since I didn't want my SSD wiped, I took it to an authorized service center instead of the Idiot Bar at Apple. However, it came back without a serial number. This never caused any problems, but today I happened to google the issue, landed here, and successfully wrote the serial number back to the replacement logic board using 063-7137-A.dmg via USB. Thanks.
Kym
2015-05-20
Worked on my Mac Mini 2012 after SSD replacement. All working now thanks!
Used Javiers instructions and worked for me, although I had mouse and keyboard lag/jerkiness it worked eventually with persistence.
Gerrit
2015-10-29
Christians procedure worked for my 2007 MBPro 15" running Capitan 11.11.1
Yay! Could update Pages now.
Norm
2015-07-20
This worked on a Mid-2007 iMac (24 inch) that I purchased used. It did not not have a serial number because I suspect the seller had replaced the logic board and forget to mention it to me. I followed Christian's instructions above and it worked like a charm. The serial number I used was on the underside of the iMac's stand.
KapitanKurt
2015-10-08
Loaded from 063-7137-A.dmg on USB, got all the way to the select screen. Wired keyboard and BT mouse inoperable. Waited 30 minutes. help!
Jacob
2015-10-23
2008 20" iMac Core2Duo (A1224), couldn't sign in to Apple ID after ElCapitan. This worked like a charm. Thank you so much!
OJ in Germany
2015-10-08
Roger!
If you ever make it to Germany near my town I will be buying the drinks all night. The 063-7137-A.dmg tool dd'ed to a stick did the job instantaneously. Thanks for the blog.
Tom
2015-10-09
Archie's instructions worked great on my early 2009 iMac running El Capitan (10.11).
Thank you for posting this!
Mervas Dayi
2015-06-06
Works great.
MacBook Pro (Retina, mid 2012)
OSX Yosemite 10.10.4
adrien
2015-09-17
Hi,
Is anyone having the 460 internal error fixed the problem ?
I've a MBP 13" mid 2014...
Thanks in advance for any help !
Juergen
2015-08-17
Does this work on a mac pro 2013?
Daniel
2016-02-03
Fantastic, thank you - this has been driving me absolutely nuts for ages, but this worked a treat - even using the external superdrive (as the mac air doesn't have a built in drive)
Yet another Apple blunder - having replaced the logic board, but without telling the machine what the serial number was!!
Thanks again
The Dane
2015-12-01
It was Archie’s step-by-step description from September 26, 2015 that fixed my missing serial number on a Mac Pro. But it only worked with the 063-7137-A.dmg file.
It reminds me of the previous Mac OS systems 8 + 9 from the 90’s that constantly had conflicts with programs and extensions.
Hurray for this home page and all your comments!
Shame on Apple for lousy support on this particular problem…
rahaf
2015-11-03
I've been suffering 3 years ... since i replaced the logic board
first no serial N0. then after updating Yosemite facetime and messages stopped working , with elcappitan cant login at all ..!!
really really you saved my life .. thank you So0o0o much!!
For whom facing black screen and underScore ..
Do this steps :
1. Dowloaded : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/164994/blank%20board%20serializer%203t106%20063-7137.zip
2. Opened the zip and double clicked the “063-7137-A.dmg”
3. Plugged in my USB (64 gb)
4. Opened the Disc Utility tool
5. (double?) Clicked the 063-7131-A.dmg now showing the subfolder “Blank Board Serializer v1.1? – and clicked it
example:
063-7131-A.dmg
Blank Board Serializer v1.1 <— this is the one to mark
6. clicked restore
7. dragged the USB device to "destination"
8. clicked restore (NB the USB device is erased!)
9. typed my password….
10. FINISHED
Rachel W
2015-07-13
Thank you so much for this, my iCloud, iMessage, Facetime is working now!
I mounted 063...dmg file, then in disk utility went to my USB then to 'Restore'.
I dragged the Blank Board Serialiser file that was extracted into 'Source' and my USB into 'Destination'.
Restarted it while holding on to the 'alt/option' button (this is for USB) and followed the instructions then viola! :)
(Just wanted to share some really detailed step-by-step help here for IT dummies like myself)
SRG
2015-08-31
It doesn't work with MBP Retina 13" Late 2013 =(
Roska
2015-10-01
Hi!
What about any upgrade? The tool not work for my macbook (2014)...460 error. Any suggestion?
Thanks!
George Shafnacker
2015-12-21
Oh my God thank you so much!!! You have done such a service for so many people. My Macbook Pro 10.9.5 works perfectly after using image file “063-7137-A.dmg”. . What a treat!!
Rod Moody
2015-10-23
2008 macbook pro, i dowloaded program to a CD and rebooted, worked perfectly, thank you so much, make sure the serial number is registered with apple, no mistakes
Elias
2015-09-18
Tried all with a Retina 15" late 2013 and it returned a 460 error. As others have commented before, I have to infer that it's because none of these serializer versions are compatible with devices from Late 2013 up to present. Nevertheless thank you very much for posting this information and for saving so many macbooks from this serial unavailable plague.
Danny West
2015-11-14
I have a macbook pro retina 15 and I went to a apple service center they put the serial but when I go to icloud preferences > my devices the serial still unknown, the same on icloud. Com, however en about this mac the serial appears, I have access to all icloud, facetime, etc but I want to my serial on icloud. Com how I can do it?
Thanks
Matt
2015-10-28
You're my absolute hero, Rogersm - and so is Archie, with his step by step instructions (USB Stick). I had the serial on my iMac 27" (mid 2010) lost after updating Yosemite to El Capitan. I couldn't use iMessage, Facetime and had other issues in keychain and iCloud. This tool worked perfect and solved all my problems - while an hour of Apple support on the phone didn't. Thank you all for attributing here and helping people who lost hours by this serial problem. Fantastic job :-).
Greetings from Switzerland,
Matt
Steve
2015-08-16
063-7137-A.dmg worked for a Mid 2012 Macbook Air. Cheers.
rocker
2015-10-17
Did everything suggested, but as with KapitanKurt, couldn't accept terms to get to input serial number because the cursor wasn't present or arrows wouldn't work, even with an attached keyboard (with BT mouse on a 2009 iMac). I'll try again and wait even longer for something to happen. Thanks for providing this information whether or not it works for me. At least others are enjoying success.
Kenny
2015-09-11
Tried with my mid 2014 MBP. Didn't work. 460 internal error. :-(
shadow
2016-01-04
dramaru how did you do it with el capitan i cant get my usb to be bootable please help
shadow
2016-01-04
someone help please i cant figure out how to do this in el capitan
Remida
2016-01-04
Thank you SO MUCH
I've set again the serial of my Mac 12,2 without any problem.
Aldo
Pieter
2015-11-15
It worked on my old "iMac (24-inch, Mid 2007)" running OS X El Capitan
some hardware got replaced and the iMac "forgot" its identity (even how old he or she was sad sad story). Never was a problem until El Capitan (weird)
Thnx!
Jordan
2015-09-02
This just saved me with my 2012 Retina Macbook Pro! Thanks for making this available. I had done a clean install of my OS and swapped in a new SSD and my serial number was gone.
L.Shaner
2015-09-05
Totally worked for me on my late 2009 iMac after I replaced the motherboard myself. THANKS for the utility, YOU ROCK! =D
Rob
2015-10-07
Works fine on my iMac 24" mid 2007.
Thank a lot, Roger!
Kp Krishnamoorthy
2015-11-08
This worked like a charm on my Mid 2011 27-inch iMac.
I used the Blank Board Serializer and restored the 063-7137-A.dmg onto a 32GB USB flash drive, booted from that drive, and typed in the serial number etched onto the bottom of the iMac's stand.
After writing the number and rebooting, I could successfully login to the App Store using my Apple ID, immediately.
Thanks a lot for your help!
Mieru
2015-10-08
Thanks you page point me to the solution
Tom
2015-10-15
As others noted, after upgrading to El Capitan 10.11 the app store doesn't seem to work any longer without a serial number (at least that's what happened to me). Updates kept hanging.
So the problem became very annoying after upgrading to 10.11 and I found this page.
Thanks a lot for these tools and the links to all commenters and Roger!
Gary
2015-09-16
Thank you - this worked after years of problems following a logic board replacement.
I did this on the El Capitan beta and the process is a little different (the different part is between the ******, the rest of the process is the same but I have replicated some of it anyway.
This video is also great but need the same changes to the process as below; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys7fcyWoPlY
1) Download the 063-7137-A.dmg file.
**********************************
2) Find it in the downloads folder and then double click it to mount it.
3) Open Disk Utility (you should see the file mounted as Blank Board Serializer v1.1 - it will not be mounted as 063-7137-A.dmg so don't look for that)
4) insert a USB, click on it an click erase - make sure to select the format as MS DOS (FAT)
5) Once erased click on the erased USB to highlight it (usually called UNTITLED).
6) Go to the Edit menu at the top and click Restore
7) In the drop down menu select Blank Board Serializer v1.1
**********************************
8) Once the USB stick has been prepared restart the Mac
9) continually push the alt/option key until you get the screen to select where to boot from, select the USB then follow the instructions.
Hope that helps.
Davey
2015-11-19
OMG i could Kiss You!!! ever since I beta Yosemite i haven't been able to use half the features of iCloud including messages and FaceTime.
Turns out thats the same time my new motherboard arrived from Apple California and I refitted it along with some other upgrades.
I've reinstalled 3 different versions of OS X trying to get this working and now i have the solution.
Achim
2015-10-05
Same case and same procedure like Matthew - only difference : already on system 10.11 (El Capitan). Used USB-stick, worked perfectly !
Thanks ROGERSM !!!
Mike
2015-10-05
I screwed up the last character on my serial number, so now trying to find a way to erase the serial number so i can run through this process again and enter the correct number. Anyone have any ideas how to erase a serial number???
Omer
2015-10-22
I setup original serial number perfectly with your instructions, thank you for that. However, my iCloud, Messages and FaceTime don't login with my Apple ID. I'm using MBP 2012.
Any solutions or more steps to make them work?
rod
2015-10-06
works fine, macbookpro 3,1, el capitan
siamwhale
2015-10-07
My MBP is MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011)
OS X El Capitan 10.11
I used the 063-7137-A.dmg (on CD)
!!!! IT 's WORK !!!!
THANK U SO MUCH
fulvio
2015-11-29
any news on new hardware? it doesn't work for new models like 2013 retina mbp.
is there a new version of the software that supports newest macs?
thanks
Osman
2015-10-28
I got a 13 inch, early 2011 MBP just like @Susana. Everything she explained happened to me too. I've fallowed her instructions and I got 460. That's really interesting.
Al
2015-11-13
Question: My logic board was replaced many years ago and I have no idea what the serial number is. If I input the original serial number of the iMac (which I have) will that be OK or will it turn my iMac into a paper-weight?
Carlos
2015-10-28
Thanks a million! It worked exactly as advertised. I've had this problem for a long time. Thank god I found this website. Much appreciated. This cleared my problems with iCloud, Facetime, iTunes, Appstore and who knows what else.
Archie
2015-09-26
Like Gary, I needed to do this to run El Capitan properly. This is a late-2007 17-inch MacBook Pro, which I use for testing and teaching, and had a new motherboard about 4 years ago.
However, it was simpler for me than Gary's procedure:
1) Download the .zip file provided by Roger
2) Insert a new USB key
3) Using the (dumbed-down) El Capitan Disc Utility, select the USB key
4) Click on Erase, selecting Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
5) Via the Restore command in the Edit menu, select the USB key
6) Click the Image button and navigate to the 063-7137-A.dmg file in he Downloads folder, then click Restore
7) Restart with Option held down, selected Bland Board Serializer v1.1 [sic]
8) Enter the serial number
9) Restart when prompted.
Thanks for the brilliant fix; I can now connect properly to iCloud and to the Mac App Store!
Lorena
2015-11-29
OMG i'm so happy! I spent so much time trying to fix this. Thank you so much!
I actually know nothing about computers but managed to do your tutorial all by myself.
I have a mac air 11' mid-2013 and I did it with the .zip file with the 063-7137-A.dmg
Daniel
2015-10-03
Couldn't connect to the app store on El Capitan. Serial number was not availble. I had the mainboard replaced about 5 years ago on my MBP 2009 13".
After applying the fix from CD everything back to normal. Thank you so much!
rogersm
2015-12-08
@Rafael,\n\n Yes, that's the one to use.
Mark
2015-10-21
I used Christain/Javiers instructions on a early 2008 15" MacBook Pro with OSX 10.7 that I scarfed from a recycle pile (bad charger, bad battery, noisy fan, a couple of worn keycaps). The program worked very well with a couple of minor hiccups.
I created the restore drive on a Mac Mini running OSX 10.6. I could not drag the volumes to the source/destination windows. I had to right click on the volume names in the left hand panel and select "Use as source" and "Use as destination".
The MacBook would not boot the USB drive unless it was plugged in BEFORE powering on the machine. So power off the machine, plug in the USB drive, power on the machine, when you hear the chime hold down the OPTION key until the boot drive select screen comes up.
shlomi
2015-10-04
Hello,
Any news about fixing the 460 error code?
I am trying to set up the serial with no success.
Igor
2015-10-21
I had the same error (460) on MBP late 2013... Does anyone have any news about fixing the 460 error code?
Philip Janz
2015-12-15
I'm flabbergasted! I've been without basic services for so long now, as I had a missing serial number as well. I can't even remember when it dissapeared! In any case, I followed your instructions on a bootable DVD on a PowerBook Pro Late 2007 (2.2), using El Capitan. I'm back!
Thanks so much.
JB
2015-11-26
DAN,
DO YOU HAVE TO DD AND WRITE THE IMAGE TO THE USB DRIVE AND MAKE IT MS DOS FAT? OR CAN U SIMPLY FOLLOW ARCHIES INSTRUCTIONS AND WRITE THE USB DRIVE AS OSX EXTENDED AND RESTORE THE IMAGE TO THE USB DRIVE?
Ron Lockhart
2016-02-17
Thank you, thank you, thank you! A missing serial number was my problem and the software you recommended worked perfectly to correct it. I had a faulty motherboard (broken Ethernet connector) that was replaced under warranty several years ago, and apparently the Apple tech forgot to reinitialize the serial number. It never made any difference before El Capitan. This unsupported software worked perfectly on my early 2009 iMac running 10.11.3. The only tricky part was correctly putting the DMG onto the CD so it was bootable, but tricky is probably overstating it.
I also was having repeated problems with both Intego and Sophos AV software that refused to run. As soon as I re-enabled the serial number, everything fell right into place and the Sophos AV software runs perfectly.
For the record, I replaced my iMac's Superdrive with an SSD, so my Superdrive is connected via USB and it still worked.
Thanks again!!
Christobal30
2015-11-09
Hello everybody, I am successful in making the USB key but I can not boot on it even if I press the alt key during start-up process. Any Idea ??
Thanks a lot
David Watt
2015-10-10
Thank you so much.
With Photos app in Yosemite could not access shared folders. Upgraded to El Capitan. Problem persisted. After El Capitan upgrade could not access App store either.
After internet search realised missing serial number was the problem.
This site and comments thread worked perfectly.
Mid 2011 13" MacBook Air
Susana
2015-10-11
I got a 13 inch, early 2011 MBP
My friend who sold it to me had logic board replaced a few years ago, but she doesn't use any Apple stuff, so never noticed errors with iCloud.
Shortly after I got the MBP, I upgraded to El Capitan and during setup was unable to sign into iCloud, it would just hang. I eventually skipped it and everything seemed fine. I was able to setup iCloud in System Preferences. Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Reminders worked perfectly. However, iTunes, iMessage, FaceTime, and App Store did not. Every time I logged in, it would just hang until I force quit the app. I restored the MBP again, but it didn't fix it.
Luckily I found this page with instructions. With El Capitan I have no clue how to burn the CD, I wasted 4 CDs before I tried with a USB.
063-7137-A.dmg did the trick
Inserted USB and erased and formatted OS X Journaled
Open 063-7137-A.dmg
Selected USB and clicked Restore
Selected 063-7137-A.dmg
Restart
Hold Option Key
Selected USB to boot
Followed instructions
Finally worked!
Now everything works like a charm!
I couldn't believe it!
Thanks everyone who posted instructions! :)
Paulus
2015-12-20
On my MacBook Retina 15" mid 2012, the number had suddenly disapeared.
This method works and I can use all services again!
Thanks very much for the posts and the clear step by step.
And....... yes you really need a 64Gb USB stick.
vienna
2015-10-27
Hi there.
I got "Internal error" (460:0). Read here and suprisingly quite a few people have this 460 error.
I have tried all three versions, but no luck, still 460 error.
Does anyone have a clue or workaround?
asphixmx
2015-12-03
Thanks!! I was frustrated because I couldn't sign in @icloud, the problem was the serial number. I burned a CD with the blank serializer, booted, writed my serial...and voila! everything is working again.
Lxixboss
2015-12-03
You sir, are a godsend! After replacing the trackpad and flash drive in a mid-2011 Macbook Air 13.3 running El Capitan 10.11.1, my serial number became "unavailable" in the "About this Mac window". I first tried Blank Board Serializer 692-6430-01 but that gave me an EFI error. Fearing that this was a red herring, I nonetheless persisted and found 3t106 063-7137 and it worked beautifully!!! My Macbook is now on the mend. Of note that several keys on my keyboard are non functional (due to the liquid spill that started all of these problems... a new keyboard is no the way but it's coming from China and won't be here for another few weeks). So, I used the Apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse from my Imac 27. I found that I had to wait at least a minute after booting into Board Serializer before my bluetooth keyboard and mouse became usable (I suppose the pairing process takes a while). So, to those previous posters who said that they couldn't use their bluetooth setup with Board Serializer, maybe you just have to wait a little longer for the pairing process to complete. Also, the bluetooth mouse was quite laggy while I navigated Board Serializer but, all in all, it was a miracle. To hell with Donald and Hillary... ROGER FOR PRESIDENT!
Roman
2015-10-28
MacBook Pro 13 (Mid 2012)
Yep, i have a 460 internal error too, seems it's incompatible error.
I used latest version of BBS which i found over internet (2.3), and i think newly versions after are distributed with Apple Service Toolkit, which required Apple GSX account to use it. So... guys, seems to we can't install SN w/o Apple Authorized Service, says many thanks to Apple!
PS. by the way i thought problem in my hardware, althought i never repaired. I'll test my notebook /w Apple Diagnostic Tools and all hardware is passed test, haha.
Phil Burgess
2015-10-13
The greatest solution to one of the most vexing computer problems I have ever had! The best explanation (for me anyway) in this thread is from Archie on September 26th above. He outlines a few intermediate steps that were missing from the explanations of others....steps crucial to this working for me after having spent countless hours trying the same things over and over. Thank you Archie.....and of course, thank you ROGERSM!
Pieter
2015-11-15
@Al (same here and it worked for me) its on the base of the computer.
See
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201626
Wauters
2015-11-15
Don't give up if the first .dmg does not work.
I used the 063-7137-1.dmg file for my MacBook Pro late 2008.
This worked PERFECT for me!
Thank you very much!
Al
2015-11-15
@Wauters : Do you mean 063-7137-A.dmg (dash A)? Where did you find a 063-7137-1.dmg (dash 1)?
Al
2015-11-15
My late 2009 iMac running El Crapitan was fixed by using Archie's walk-through above. I had called Apple yesterday and the tech advisor said I had to go to the Apple store for them to 'flash' the serial number into the logic board (that had been replace many years ago.) But the 063-7137-A.dmg did the trick... I can now get into the Mac App Store again.
Note, because the iMac only has 4GB of RAM it took about a minute before the start-up selection screen (via holding option key down during boot) mated with the Magic Mouse. I kept clicking it and finally I got a moving pointer.
Once I entered the serial number it only took about 10 seconds (if that) to write it out. I then took the shut-down option, held my breath and said a short prayer to the Apple gods that I didn't turn the iMac into a paperweight! It booted up and let me sign into the App Store, however it didn't accept the password until the third try... but at least it gave me the error message. Earlier it would just 'hang.'
ROGERSM, you saved me a long drive to the Apple Store tomorrow. THANK YOU! (And yeah, I'm yelling!!!)
unsubscriber
2016-01-02
Thank you thank you thank you!
Success with a USB stick restored (using Disk Utility) from your provided image. Amazing to think that my 2007 2.2GHz MBP is happily running El Capitan. (This is the oldest model possible, I think, and luckily it takes 6GB of RAM.)
Un. Be. Lievable
2015-10-15
While upgrading a 2008 17" MBP from Yosemite to El Capitan iTunes and all other Apple ID based service stopped responding. Beachballs forever.
After days of research and digging in the net we came across the info that the board serial might have been blanked during upgrade. Your hint actually worked and all is fine now.
After 20 years of working with Apple hardware this was one of most annoying and tricky problems I solved. I cannot believe Apple doesn't know about this.
It might be just a really strange way to try to tell you: "Go and buy new hardware!"
Apple has become the new M$.
Chilibean
2015-10-18
Works on my 2008 MacPro. I couldn't login to App Store, ICloud, ITunes. I have been looking for the solution for days since upgrading to OS X 10.11. Now everything works. Good work!!
Thank you very much for the posting !!!!
Daliana
2015-10-19
I so glad I found this site.
As told for many others, after upgrading Yosemite to El Captain, my system crushes, and I got beachballs over and over.
I reset my hdd and then, the os worked fine, except for the missing serial number. Then, I was unable to connect to apple services.
So I used 063-7137-A.dmg, put the serial, and everything is working properly!!! I have a MBP early 2011 13". Thank you!
Sephiroth
2015-12-12
first i use Serializer 692-6430-01 but that gave me an EFI error
but when i use 7173 in El capitan with my MBP mid 2012 (no retina) it work !!!!!!
Very THx alot ^ ^
Tim
2016-01-17
Hi Roger, why DOS (FAT) instead Extend (Journale) ? Thanks. And my Serial No was there b4 , it just disappeared would you know what is the problem. Thanks again.
Rafael Colucci
2015-12-07
What serial number did you guys used? The one that is written in the back of he Mac?
ymurak
2015-12-23
Early 2015 MacBook Pro - didn't work with the dmg. Guess newer serializer needed. Any one can help?
Dan
2015-11-19
Thanks a million and 1 millions!
Since Apple took away the ability to make a bootable USB in disk utility I was able to make a bootable USB of the 063-7137-A.dmg file by following the instructions from this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mndO508xq08
So easy and now have a serial number and am able to log in to appstore.
BTW...I wasnt able to directly boot this dmg by holding ALT on restart. I had to create the bootable USB. 2007 macbook pro with a replaced motherboard.
Thanks again...legend!
Mike
2015-11-06
Bummer. I have a 2011 iMac that I just put an SSD in. After powering back on, the serial is gone.
I tried all three DMGs via USB and the first two via CD:
_ssps_693_6430-01.dmg
063-7137-A.dmg
BlankBoardSerializer3t106.dmg
I could boot into the utility each time, enter my serial number, hit proceed 4 times and each time a blasted Internal Error (460:0) results.
It's so painful because the computer was suddenly like new and now it's junk in these days of El Capitan.
sty0pik
2015-12-09
Doesn't work with MacBook PRO Retina Dispaly late 2013 (El Capitan).
Any idea how to fix it? Does anyone know any other simillar software that will work with such model of MBP as mine?
Wes
2015-12-25
Awesome write up, you save me on Christmas! I bought an iMAC from a friend for Christmas and used apples tools to move all his settings over to the new MAC. The friend had taken the iMAC in to service just before moving here and I had noticed there was no serial number. It would not let us log into anything with our iTunes account, just a forever spinning wheel. Not the App Store, not iTunes. After a couple hours searching and trying this and that with no success I came across your article, with links and detailed instruction. Thank you so much, I was able to save the serial number from the box and instantly everything works properly. I'm kinda shocked service fails to enter the serial number often enough that I could find a fix for it! Thanks again!!!
Gabriele Cano
2015-12-26
Damn god! It works!!!! The file "063-7137" worked on my Macbook Air early 2014... Thanks a lot Rogersm.net and Christian, who explained perfectly how to do this. For helping others:
HOW CHRISTIAN DID IT:
1. Dowloaded : https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/164994/blank%20board%20serializer%203t106%20063-7137.zip
2. Opened the zip and double clicked the “063-7137-A.dmg”
3. Plugged in my USB (64 gb)
4. Opened the Disc Utility tool
5. (double?) Clicked the 063-7131-A.dmg now showing the subfolder “Blank Board Serializer v1.1” – and clicked it
example:
063-7131-A.dmg
Blank Board Serializer v1.1 <— this is the one to mark
6. clicked restore
7. dragged the USB device to "destination"
8. clicked restore (NB the USB device is erased!)
9. typed my password….
10. FINISHED
11. shut down the mac (totally)
12. unplugged the USB
13. Turned on the mac (power buttom) + pressing option-button
14. Now showing the installed partitions I plugged in the USB-drive – waited 10 s.
15. The USB-drive got shown
16. Clicked it at followed the instructions…
qualityhardware
2015-12-10
Have an early 2009 Mac Pro that stopped displaying the serial number and thus working with iTunes, AppStore, et al. after the El Capitan install. I did the USB flash drive install and all is working perfectly. Thank you much to all that developed this little app. Sad to see Apple becoming so much like MSFT nowadays.
jpg001
2015-12-15
ok with an imac mi 2007, no problem with the first method.
no ok with an iMac late 2013 3,1 Ghz. When i restart the iMac i see the volume but when i click on nothing.
Can you help me ?
aurin
2015-12-31
Amazing, this serial number tool really worked, after i found the serial inside the battery compartment (and finally found out that "restore" is called "återställ" on this swedish macbook:)
After the serial number was there it finally accepted the icloud login and immediately started loading photos and addresses and much more, felt like magic after giving up on logging in
The reason for this macbook aluminum to loose its number was putting in a new sdd disk to replace the original harddrive, seems the mac thought it was a new machine...
am0_oma
2015-11-14
it is giving
it can't load EFI error at start using _ssps_693_6430-01.dmg
result error 460:0 when set the serial using 063-7137-A.dmg
El capitan - macbook pro retina 13 late 2014
plz help I can not login to anything plz help.
Vigyan Anand
2015-12-21
vigyananand.va@gmail.com
Thank you,
you are a life saver. worked great on my macbook pro 2009
I restored the serial number at the bottom of my machine through your app. restored the disk image on a usb drive and booted with it to get into the utility.
apple service center rejected to do anything with my machine. couldnt get apple support. no imessage or facetime. it was crazy after that mainboard replacement by previous owner.
now its all perfect again.
thank you once again
Pinjia
2015-12-12
Not found for my macbook pro 15 retina Late 2013 because I get a 460 internal error. Any solution? Thank you so much.
Michael Groves
2015-12-30
Worked great on a 2007 MacBook Pro.
Thanks!!!
barencesat
2015-12-16
In 2010, Apple replaced the logic board in my 2008 Mac Pro to solve random shut downs and fan issues. I thought all was well...
However, as I upgraded to each new release of Mac OSX, I steadily lost access to services as Apple added more "features". Recently, I upgraded to El Capitan and could no longer sign in to iTunes, FaceTime, iMessage or iCloud in Settings--attempts to sign in would hang for days.
I stumbled across this website yesterday and was able to successfully write my serial number using the CD method and image file "063-7137-A.dmg". Before using this utility, my serial number was listed as "Unknown" in About This Mac.
Thank you for the solution!
Alex
2016-01-21
Roger, many thanks! Followed your instructions using the "Blank Board Serializer" burnt to a CD. Worked like a charm on my 2007, 17" MBP. My problems started when I installed an SSD and updated to El Capitan, but now everything runs smoothly again.
soualmi
2016-01-21
its doesn't work on el capitan !! please there is any issue or upgrade for el capitan
Applicator
2016-02-26
Thank you so much!
Because of your guide, download link and all those helpful comments i managed to get the serial into my MacBook Pro retina 15" (10,1) .
I used the the 063-7137-A.dmg as well as a 1Gig Flash drive. Worked like a charm!
Best Regards from Germany
DraMaru
2015-12-26
I've to do something different. My MB Air lost the serial after changing the battery for a new one
First, I downloaded the 063-7137-A.dmg
I used Disk utility under El Capitan and erased & unmounted an USB stick, and used OS Journaled, Master boot
Then I copied to the master boot UsB stick the .dmg and all the files that this file opened when I clicked on it
I rebooted my MBA mid 2011 and choose the efi disk from the USB stick and followed the instructions
The serial number got written in my MBA and the I rebooted without the USB plugged in, and the problem got corrected.
It was tricky to get my USB stick bootable since in El Capitan the Disk Utility has a very different interface, but it works perfectly. Thanks Roger!
Andrea
2016-01-20
Thanks a lot!! Got back my serial number on my macbook pro 13-inch mid '12.
But my Apple ID still recognize my machine as UNKNOWN when I log in my account...
Ed
2016-03-21
Worked great for my iMac from 2010. I used 063-7137-A,dmg via USB and it worked perfectly. I used the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys7fcyWoPlY. Disk utility looks a little different with El Capitan, but the same concepts apply. Now I can log into imessages and facetime!!! Thank you so much!!!
Paulo Teentim
2016-01-19
Using iMac 2011, OS 10.11.2.
Couldn't send to flash drive cause new Disk Utility is very poor, btw, sent to a CD using Finder, then everything's okay: iMessage, FaceTime, iTunes, AppStore, etc.
Thanks a lot!!!
nsmithies
2016-02-25
Worked for me on Macbook 5,1
- serial in battery compartment
-using USB media
Thank you for this guide and all the best
pcwizard7
2016-02-15
This tool worked perfectly
iMac 21.5inchLate 2009
Run Off USB
girltech
2016-02-25
This came to light for me after upgrading to El Capitan and finding that my perfectly functioning 2008 mac had suddenly been rendered useless! (according to apple I had a new logic board put in the past and they didn't write the serial back to the machine- thanks for that) but it's continued to work all this time until this upgrade. They no longer support this 'classic' model so now I am on my own. I tried following your instructions only to learn that El Capitan has also removed all disc writing facilities from the Disc Utility as the new macs don't use CD's. Well all this had me exasperated. At this point itunes, icloud and iphoto were not working! Thank goodness for these forums, it turns out you can still write to CD/DVD RW using the finder window. I was able to write the disc from there, restart in boot mode and low and behold, after a rather scary message asking do I really want to do this?? all is well and working again in my mac world. (not much thanks to Apple I would like to add)
Martin
2016-02-29
I used the 063-7137-A.dmg for my Mac Mid 2012 and worked perfectly!!
Thanks a lot Roger for this tip.!!!!!
For those who want to use it from a USB. Go to disk utility, select your USB (the second option, THE PARTITION!), then Edit, Image, and create. As I did not select the partition the file did not work.
Thanks a lot!
F***ing Happy Guy
2016-03-26
Oh MY GOD! This fucking worked! You guys can't even begin to imagine how happy I am! This has been pissing me off for months, probably more than a year! Since my machine came back from an authorized apple support (they replaced the machine since they would receive the board from apple) FaceTime, Appe Store, iTunes... Nothing would log in! After trying this a bit, with the tips the guys put in the comments, this really worked for me!!!
Special thanks to Gabriele Cano on the detailed comment. The same file worked for me...
The comment that worked for me was:
DECEMBER 26, 2015 AT 8:32 AM
Damn god! It works!!!! The file “063-7137” worked on my Macbook Air early 2014… Thanks a lot Rogersm.net and Christian, who explained perfectly how to do this. For helping others:.....
Jan Hammershaug
2016-03-06
Thank you! My parents iMac 20/2,4 early 2008 is finally able to log into App Store and Messages. It took my a while to figure it out, but the missing serial number led me to your site. I just booted into 063-7137-A.dmg. Very easy. Had to wait for my BT mouse to connect btw.
I guess the serial number disappeared during a clean install from Maverick to El Capitan and RAM upgrade yesterday. Bad Apple.
I am very grateful, so thanks again!
Jan Hammershaug, Norway
masliliks
2016-03-06
Thanks Roger. Mine's macbook air 5.1, with 063-7137-A.dmg inside "blank board serializer 3t106 063-7137.zip”
I'm using dd to write it to usb stick
sudo dd if=Downloads/blank board serializer 3t106 063-7137/063-7137-A.dmg of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=1m
James
2016-03-06
Finally managed to fix my iMac! Thank you!
I used 063-7137-A.dmg via USB, worked perfectly.
Gabriel Kanawite
2016-05-10
This worked on my Early 2008 (15 inch) MBPro. Used the Blank Board Serializer; I was able to use USB to boot. Followed the instructions and watched a YouTube video that followed the steps. I was able to re-serialize my board again after having replaced the Motherboard a few weeks ago myself. So it works. Thank you very much for this.
Owen
2016-03-22
Hi Friends,
I tried with all versions and I was no lucky .
These are the details:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,2
Boot ROM Version: MBP81.0047.B27
Please let me know if anyone solved the problem for this version.
zan\'s
2016-04-09
Yeah! It's really worked. Although i've faced more than 20 times trying on this. I'm not sleeping yet over the night until morning and finally i got it. My serial number is become unavailbe since 3 years ago, and u'll know how frust i am. -_-
BTW THANKS very much FOR SHARING THIS...
MacbookPro 13" Early 2011. (OS X Yosmite 10.10.5)
Anders
2016-04-13
Is there any workaround if the great people at the apple reseller, managed to type in a wrong serial number instead of just leaving it blank?
So frustrated with this. The logic board or other main component was changed very early after the purchace of the mac in 2009, and this iCloud/iMessage problem has been around since Apple introduced these features.
Kriss
2016-04-30
Does this work with a PPC iMac G5? I (still) have one and the S/N was gone after the logicboard was replaced (ages ago).
jb
2016-05-01
HAHAHAH AWESOME!!!! 2008 MAC PRO, LOGIC BOARD WAS REPLACED A VERY LONG TIME AGO, AND WHEN EL CAPITAN CAME ALONG, IT WAS ODD, ITUNES AND IMESSAGE WORKED WHICH WAS ODD, but now THIS WORKED!!! WROTE MY SERIAL # TO MY MAC AND WALA!!! UPDATES AND EVERYTHING WORKS AMAZINGLY WELL YET AGAIN~!!!! THANKS TO ALLL!
i used a usb 64 gig stick....did it in journal, and rebooted..... very simple very fast and easy!!!
ottan
2016-05-03
Hi.
MacBook Pro with Retina (Late 2013)
OS X El Capitan 10.11.4
_ssps_693-6430-01.dmg
-> LoadEFiDriver: Image Start Failed: 0x000000e
063-7137-A.dmg
->460 internal error
It would help us if you would advice.
Thanks.
Nisha
2016-06-22
soo happy today. mine got fixed. it's macbook air, early 2014.
i was having trouble finding the restore option in El Capitan.
first double click the 063-7137-A.dmg
1. open disk utility. select your usb drive, mine was just 8 GB
2. look up at the minibar, edit -> restore
3. in the "restore from" bar select the dmg and hit restore.
this is how I restored my usb. hope it helps someone having trouble like me.
thanks for the help, i was so worried.
WojtekM
2016-05-28
Thanks a lot!!! It worked on MacBook Pro, 13 inch, late 2011. I used USB boot drive exactly as described above by Gabriele Cano.
Darwin Castaneda
2016-07-31
Thanks! This worked on MBP 15 early 2013. My serial disappeared after upgrading to Sierra Beta and downgrading back to El Capitan. It's all good now.
Alex
2016-07-11
hello,
MacBook Pro with Retina (Late 2013)
OS X El Capitan 10.11.4
_ssps_693-6430-01.dmg
-> LoadEFiDriver: Image Start Failed: 0x000000e
063-7137-A.dmg
->460 internal error
It would help us if you would advice.
Thanks.
Leo
2016-07-19
When click on "set serial number" after boot up, it says "LoadEfiDriver: Image Start Failed: 0x8000000e
Are you able to help me with this??
Forrest Gump
2016-09-07
Worked! on Macbook Pro 2012 Retina on El Capitan 10.11.6
The method of Christian worked, written on OCTOBER 4, 2014 AT 4:06 PM
Scroll back for his step-by-step guide. Ty.
Keith
2016-09-07
_ssps_693-6430-01.dmg worked on a late-2011 MacBook Pro 17". It was tricky to get the .dmg onto the USB stick; dragging the entire "Blank Board Serializer" folder containing the .dmg directly onto El Capitan Disk Utility's "Restore From" drop-down menu is the only way that didn't result in errors.
richard
2016-10-04
Works great!
I have macbook pro 13" mid 2012
running on OS X El Capitan 10.11.2
I followed all the instructions, and it works. I already have my serial number back.
FYI, i'm not using neither CD or USB, i'm using 4 GB SD card and plug it into the Card Reader.
The File that i used is 063-7131-A.dmg
Thanks a lot guys!
HOW I DID IT:
1. Dowloaded and extract the zip file (063-7131-A.dmg will appear)
2. Plugged in my SD Card (u can use USB or CD)
3. Opened the Disc Utility tool
4. Click File -> Open Disk Image -> 063-7131-A.dmg
5. Blank Board Serializer v1.1 (this will appear after you open 063-7131-A.dmg)
6. Choose USB / SD Card / CD, then clicked Edit -> Restore -> Choose Restore From : Blank Board Serializer v1.1
*NB the SD Card / CD / USB device is gone!
7. Now it's time to restart the Mac
8. Press Alt / Option while restart
9. Then u just have to follow the instruction
*NB : Don't forget to find ur serial number first https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204308
majid azam
2016-09-24
I have MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014 and my serial number disappeared after installing Mac OS Sierra
tried using the tools you suggested but get errors (460)
can u suggest a solution?
Roman
2016-09-25
@Juergen
All 3 Versions do not work with Mac Pro 2013.
Only the "blank board serializer 3t106 063-7137.zip" is bootable. But it can not write the 12 digit serial. You get an "internal error" message.
(For booting I used a "Zalman ZM-VE400 Drive Enclosure" as an cd Rom emulator. Therfore I extracted the zip file and renamed the .dmg to .img)
Mike Hardy
2016-11-01
This worked on a mid-2013 13" MacBook Air as well - specifically using DiskUtility to restore 063-7137-A.dmg to a USB stick, then "option" booting the USB stick and following the instructions.
My root problem appears to be a failing logic board so this is likely a temporary fix, but you can't even run hardware diagnostics ("D" booting) without a serial number, so this was nice to fix
Chris Lillyman
2016-10-19
All I can say is huge THANK YOU!
For weeks and weeks now I have been having problems with my iCloud account in particular Messages, Facetime and Back to my Mac.
I thought this may have been due to an installation of a new SSD and it wasn't until I checked many forums that I decided to look for my serial number. This was missing. I am not sure whether this was removed due to my installation or a software update, as I had been using a beta of the Mac operating system for testing. I had spoken to Apple support who seemed helpless and confused by my situation.
I downloaded the software after finding your site and using the 063-7137-A.dmg burnt to do disc, I proceeded.
Straight away I was able to re input my serial number which I had found on the base of my Mac Mini, and then I hit reboot.
After signing back in to my iCloud account, ALL the services were working perfectly.
My specification is as follows:
Model Name: Mac mini (late 2012)
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.6 GHz
And I am running Mac OS Sierra. (10.12)
Thank you again for all your effort and for sharing your information.
maclover
2016-09-10
Hi.
MacBook Pro with Retina (Mid 2014)
OS X El Capitan 10.11.6
_ssps_693-6430-01.dmg
-> LoadEFiDriver: Image Start Failed: 0x800000e
063-7137-A.dmg
->460 internal error
It would help us if you would advice.
Thanks.
Chunkygrooves
2016-11-15
This is great thanks, but if i dont know the serial number of the installed logic board ( I purchased a used machine, seems like the logic board was replaced) where can I find the serial number of the new board?
2015 Retina Macbook pro 15.4
thanks in advance of help
PeDitX
2016-10-01
mac book pro (mid 2012) thats work for me !!! thats awesome !!! thats happend cuz i using developer version of macOS sierra and then losing my S/N on about my mac !! after many researching and googling finally found your solution for my problem !!! first file i used not working with error EFI (i think this file for oldest HWs) then install file 2 (had to files in one zip file) and burning the dvd with the numbers name file in the disk then boot and the goooooo !! ihave imsg-facetime-icloud and no errors ::smile:: ::smile:: ::devilePokerFace::
César
2016-10-02
Amazing, I called the Apple support Brazil, they could not solve my problem, much less knew because the serial was gone. It worked perfectly on my mac mini mid 2011 via USB drive. Thank you so much
Tony Ross
2016-10-21
TOTALLY AWESOME! Worked on my iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) running OSX Sierra.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!
art
2016-11-22
iMac 27 retina late 2015
nothing works
also i do want to clarify a few things
there is only two versions
063-7137-a.dmg
and _ssps_693-6430-01 (same as BlankBoardSerializer3t106)
also formatting in os x journaled with guid partition works the same way.
in my case i get the 0x8000000000000..3 cannot Load EFI/Drivers/TestSupport.efi error
Marco
2017-01-15
My serial number disappeared after installing Mac OS Sierra and this worked om my MacBook Air 2011, i used the _ssps_693-6430-01 File, Thnx
jlster42
2017-01-06
Worked on my MBAir Mid-2009. Thanks
Nicolas
2017-03-13
Hi, in my 2015 Retina 13" did not work.
Someone can help me?
Thanks
Jaka
2017-03-01
Thaks! Worked on MacBook Pro 2017 late. I tried the first link.
mario raposo
2017-03-16
link off
Prot
2017-03-14
Thanks. Worked on a MacPro late 2008. No more annoying console messages.
person mcnamehaverson
2017-03-14
v1.1 worked like a charm on a late 2013 21.5"
rogersm
2017-03-26
Mario,\n\n thanks for noticing! It should work now.
Lar
2017-04-01
How can a get a hold of the "063-7137-A.dmg" file? I tried the "693-6430.dmg" file, but I just get a black screen with blinking cursor. Please help.
Lar
2017-04-01
Nevermind. I found it on the other page. Sorry and thank you for providing this solution. I hope this works!
Nicolas
2017-04-24
Hello, there are any solution for "New Macbooks Pro"? I mean, 2015 Retina MBP 13", because I try with both solutions and can't setup my serial number.
Thanks
brent
2017-05-02
i used the alternative zip file, which contained two DMG files. I restored the first one (the one not named BlankBoardSerializerXXXX) to an SD card. It booted perfectly on my MacbookAir6,2 (2013), and accepted my serial number. This is the first time one of these crazy solutions actually worked. Thank you!
Brent P
2017-07-19
The general consensus I'm seeing is that model and year matters most. I have a Late 2013 MB Pro 13" that neither of the tools will work on. 693-6430 throws the black screen, white text, 0x800... EFI error. The 063-7137 version looks like it will work until you hit the final confirm screen and it throws the Internal Error 460,0 message.
I took the laptop into a local Apple Store and the genius bar techs ran their tool (which I assumed would be a newer version than either of the above since these are dated 2007 and 2012) and their latest was the 2012 version as well. Same 460,0 error. I asked if they had a newer version and they don't. This (they claim) works on all current boards and if they were to do the MB swap in-house, they'd use this and it'd work for them. Since I did the MB swap, they can't go any further with it.
I read on iFixit where a commenter said those models (like this) too new for the Apple Store have to send it out to the Service Depot for them to use an even more secret updated tool that can do it... This is in direct contrast to what the techs told me locally saying they'd use the 2012 version on my model usually... but clearly it didn't work, so who knows?
Either way, now I'm stuck returning this MB to the seller and paying $$$ for Apple to do the repair at a store... that I've already done.
Frustrating.
Aaron
2017-09-21
Great job man! thanks ,. you saved me a trip to the apple store ..
Hofi
2017-08-27
Mac mini (Late 2012)
Worked fine, Thanks!
Few important notes.
- only 063-7137-A.dmg worked for this Mac
- although the readme.tx on the mounted image stated that only physical keyboard supported by that custom efi, a bluetooth one will work fine too
- nobody mentioned, but you need a mouse too (also a BT one will do) as without that you can get through even the acceptance of the license terms (I could not find a valid keyboard combination for the accept button, only the enter worked that activated the default refuse button)
Joe
2017-10-21
Can someone please repost the link...
Unable to download for my macbook pro retina early 2013.tried another version of BBS giving efi error 00008.
Any help would be highly appreciated.
Seth
2018-06-26
Hey I wanted to confirm that when entering your Serial Number, it should be what was on the back of your Mac, the original Serial Number? Not what is associated with the new parts
iri
2018-08-28
Confirming that 063-7137-A.dmg worked on my Mid 2012 Macbook Pro 13".
It was a school device that probably was serviced by Apple in the past, and they forgot to write the new S/N to the board.
Needed this in order for DEP to work with the device.
Mihasoft
2019-03-12
Roger, thank you very much, the solution helped a lot! I had a serial number on my Macbook Pro 13 mid 2012 after replacing the thermal paste (they removed the motherboard). I made a bootable USB flash drive with Bot Serializer V. 1 and registered the serial number! Everything worked !!! Thanks !! !
Yann
2019-04-13
Hi,
i've tried and tried again... MacBookAir mid 2012 with Mojave installed.
Unabled to boot on usb neither cd..
I think efi upgrade changed possibility to use this tips...
Is someone could help me please...
sorry for my bad english.. I'am a froggy man.
Ricardo Robles
2019-05-30
I'm trying too but with no results... also have MacBookPro mid 2012 with Mojave installed. Unabled to boot on usb neither cd..
Please Help!
2012 macs are the best :P
2019-07-13
It worked for my 2012 MBP !!!! The one from the zip archive. I restored it to a usb stick because the dvd is dead. Thanks a lot.
Maciej Onichimiuk
2019-08-01
Apple product 2015 year >... not work BBS all version !!!
Hector
2019-09-29
Does anyone know how to serialize an iMac 2017 ??? BBS does not work, EFI boot appears on boot instead of the USB pen
Aleks Iralda
2019-10-11
This not work on MacOS Catalina, I've Upgrade from Beta Version to Public Official but my Serial Number is missing... All work in my Mac, except Facetime and Messages... I've try all, but its seems not work...
Christophe Chalaye
2019-10-15
Catalina seems not be supported. When boot with "alt" the usb key is selected and after a quick terminal window the system start normally.
Matt
2019-11-21
Having the same trouble with Catalina as mentioned by Christophe above.
Abdul Manan
2020-01-14
Matt, Aleks Iralda and Christophe Chalaye I think booting from USB has nothing to do with OS version these board programs are independently run.
Blank board serializer works when the EFI has the MLB number programmed or retained. If the MLB number is not there, serializer do not work. The other option is to dump the EFI firmware and use HEX editor to write manually. There might be some people wondering if the OS update will erase it and the answer is "No". Once it is set it will be there unless someone intentionally mess with the EFI ROM.
Jordan
2020-01-16
How can I dump the EFI?
How can I use a HEX editor to write it manually?
I'm having the same problems as Christophe, Matt and Aleks
Jordan
2020-01-16
I'm having the same problem as Matt, Christophe and Aleks. I have a mid2013 MacBook Pro running Mojave and can't get the BBS to run.
How would one go about to dump the EFI firmware?
And how would one go about getting and using a HEX editor to write it manually.
Mark Colman
2020-02-22
MacBook Pro Mid 2012 (9,2) running OS X Catalina (10.15): Tried the 2 Intel versions of Blank Board Serializer linked in the original article. Neither worked for me as a bootable CD or USB stick. My serial number problem happened right after an upgrade from El Capitan (10.11) to Sierra (10.12). Did an online chat with Apple Tech support and they referred me to a local Apple Store. Even though my MBP is no longer covered by Applecare, they fixed it free because it was a result of my OS upgrade. The Advisor there said that Apple pulled support for the serializer app some time ago. Watched him use a standard online Apple diagnostic app. If it doesn’t find a serial number, it lets you enter one automatically. He did so and solved my problem.
Joseph Talley
2020-03-03
Honestly i'am not good at reading but your blog is really easy to understand, thanks for sharing...
Quan Tran
2020-03-16
Struggling with my MBA (early 2014) running OS X Catalina.
I tried the both BBS links but it still not work! I restored the disk many times but it all failed: "Restore process has failed"
I think it is not work for Catalina anymore...