Q: El Capitan 10.11.1 Install Problems

Perhaps it would be helpful to share what has led to your 100% success rate, or, share what you feel might be the problem that appears to plague many of us.

I for one have had no problem with any OS upgrade in 25 years of Mac use, since my initial IIsi, hopefully through being careful with how I manage my machines, and diligent with sensible house-keeping and updating. Hence my surprise and irritation with this one.

So, I would love to have your opinion as to what you think is causing this unusual phenomenon of 'bricking' machines. And, of course, given your apparent Level 8 expertise, your recommended solution.

I've downloaded the standalone 10.11.1 update but am not minded to use it until someone explains why this relatively unusual problem is occurring, and some suggested steps to ameliorate the issue.

Most often it is 3rd party software, almost invariably 'cleaners' and 'anti virus' crap. Obsolete software comes next. Did you check all your apps for compatibility before passing go?

How do you check for compatibility before installing 10.11.1? Software update?

Also, we're talking about a relatively minor upgrade from base El Capitan (10.11) to 10.11.1. If El Capitan was running fine, then one wouldn't expect compatibility problems to show up between 10.11 and 10.11.1.

The #1 improvement Apple states for 10.11.1 is "improves installer reliability" and most folks on this thread are encountering problems with installation! Evidently Apple changed some code in the installation process. While it may have improved things for most, it screwed up things for others.

Agree.

This update screwed me.

Do Apple expect me to time consumingly restore previous backup for screwed up .1 "stability update"?

*****.

This possibility makes no sense, as those of us that had the issue and reinstalled the OS to eventually get it working made no changes to our "3rd Party Software".  Furthermore, I have no "cleaners" of "anti virus crap" and had this very same issue that is being discussed.

Honestly, I am wondering if this as something to o with my running an external SSD through a thunderbolt port as my start up drive.  Anyone else having this issue running similar hardware?

1. I was not addressing you, stop answering questions not addressed to you

2. Speak for yourself

3. If you think my suggestions make no sense feel free to fix this yourself

4. Good day to you.

Rude people notwithstanding, the bulk of the people who are having issues here seem to have machines that are pre-2013 release.  The people who I have spoken to who have not had any issue with the update all seem to be on 2015 machines.  Maybe it has something to do with the physical hardware on the older machines?

Sanjaya Kumar wrote:

 

How do you check for compatibility before installing 10.11.1? Software update?

What you would expect and what actually happens are not the same, don't speculate.

To find out what is actually running on your Mac (in real life) please download Etrecheck, run a report and post it here, for information not specific to your installation go to roaring apps.com.

Once again, thanks for your opinion. I'll file it somewhere appropriate.

I have now succeeded in installing the .1 update on my late-2010 MBA.

Per my previous post, I have:

1. Created a 10.11.0 USB installer stick from my iMac running 10.11.0
2. Got the MBA to boot to the USB drive (using OPTION key whilst booting the MBA)
3. Ran Disk Utility - nothing to report
4. Ran the installer and re-installed 10.11 (with no loss of any settings or data I might add), and , new information here onwards..
5. After two days of stable operation back with 10.11.0, downloaded the .1 installer direct from Apple
6. Run that from a USB stick
7. Completely different progress experience - initial grey screen progress bar was now accompanied by a % progess statement underneath (it was not last time)
8. Also, when it auto-restarted at the end of step 7, I then got a new OS X 'installling' screen which suggested about 18mins and counted down  (took less than 10)
9. Booted (quickly) into normal login screen
10. Usual 'enter apple ID' and all that iCloud re-confirmation guff
11. Now a working and apparently fully-functional machine
12. Have restarted it to ensure that it, er, does... All fine

Not sure if this is any help to anyone, but suffice to say it has worked for me.

My installations include 2 x 2010 and 1 x 2009 machine, they all run fine. As do all the 2011, 12 and 13 machines I own, speculation is a waste of time (especially based on input from this site)

Huge help.  Thank you very much for the detailed explanation.

Thanks. Both Etrecheck and roaringapps.com are useful applications that I didn't know about and will use in the future.

But what's with all this castigation? I see that you have a ton of Internet points and so must be knowledgeable, but when you say my problems are caused by 3rd party apps, is that not speculation as well?

Sanjaya Kumar wrote:

 

Thanks. Both Etrecheck and roaringapps.com are useful applications that I didn't know about and will use in the future.

Do you intend to try and interpret the Etrecheck report yourself rather than posting it here?

As for the rest of your post I'll ignore it, if you do not wish for me advice that is all I need to know. There are many here needing help, I have no time for personal commentaries.

No, I don't because as I mentioned earlier in this thread I returned the new iMac that was having the problem for a full refund. Thanks for your offer of help.