Brian Williams2

Q: 10.11.6 update has crippled my Mac Pro

Having trouble after update to 10.11.6 - System preferences panes won't open, can't seem to find any app that will open - reports of apps damaged, including disk utility, console, etc. Restart and shut down/restart don't clear it. Came looking for reports - problem seems not universal. Had successful update on my MacBook Pro, but my Mac Pro now seems in dire straits. Went the Recovery route and re-inatalled OS X . 10.11.6 was installed. Still no joy. Application folder shows only a bare few, and not the Apple applications. Cannot open any System Preferences panes. Safe Boot does not complete. Hardware OK - can boot successfully to a clone (CCC) of only a few days ago. Could do a restore (from Time Machine BU), but that is a last resort. Looking for others facing similar challenges and their success at resolving the issues.

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), 3.2 GHz Quad Xeon 16GB RAM, 12TB HD

Posted on Jul 18, 2016 2:58 PM

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Q: 10.11.6 update has crippled my Mac Pro

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  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Jul 27, 2016 9:00 AM in response to audios22
    Level 5 (5,753 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 27, 2016 9:00 AM in response to audios22

    Configuration files: ⓘ

        /etc/sysctl.conf - File exists but not expected

    Normally, this should be empty. Do you remember editing the Hosts File?

    http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-edit-the-mac-os-x-hosts-file-and-why-you-mig ht-want-to/

     

    System Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [not loaded]    9 Apple tasks

    System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

        [not loaded]    44 Apple tasks

    I also see a lot of [not loaded] files. This usually indicates a memory issue.

     

    Do you have an external drive that you could use to create a new El Capitan install? It would need to be formatted as GUID. You could do a test with approx 25-50GB. You wouldn't bring over all your data, just enough to test to see if a new install work correctly.

     

    <Edited by Host>

  • by audios22,

    audios22 audios22 Jul 25, 2016 1:02 PM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 25, 2016 1:02 PM in response to dianeoforegon

    Thanks for the reply.

     

    Not sure where this files exists;

    Configuration files: ⓘ

        /etc/sysctl.conf - File exists but not expected

    And I haven't changed anything in any of the SYS files, hard drives, etc. All I did was update to OSX 10.11.6

    And there's no memory issues with 32GB of memory. As I have checked during boot and running. Why the Apple tasks aren't loading now, I have no idea. I believe it's because any number of those com.XXX lines are from older software installations that I don't use any longer. Or have been replaced by updates.

     

    I don't have an external drive to do a new ElCap install. All drive bays are full and I have 2 SSD drives in slots full of digital VI's and project folders.

     

    I also just did the other two recommendations. One was to establish a new Admin user and see if I had the same problems shutting down or restarting. And I do. No changes regardless of the admin user logged in at any time.

     

    The second thing I did was to download and instal a 10.11.6 Combo file to see if that worked or changed anything. No success there either. So now I suppose I am stuck shutting down with the power button or just leaving the computer on all the time. Which may be safer in the long run and prevent damage to the Boot drive.

     

    Thanks for the help however.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Jul 25, 2016 1:17 PM in response to audios22
    Level 5 (5,753 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 25, 2016 1:17 PM in response to audios22

    The etc file is invisible.Under Go in the Menu bar, select Go to folder...

    go to folder etc.png

    Delete the file in etc.

     

    How much free space on your internal drive? If you have enough space you can partition and install El Capitan clean for testing.

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Jul 26, 2016 1:09 AM in response to audios22
    Level 6 (12,545 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 26, 2016 1:09 AM in response to audios22

    audios22 wrote:

     

    Just did that. System re-booted after instal and all icons, apps and drives are present as before. But my problem still persists. Can't restart or shutdown from the "Apple" icon in the menu bar. I have to force quit using power switch. Which is dangerous, I know.

     

    What exactly happens when you try? Do you get any message? Or nothing at all?

    There must be something in the Console logs that can indicate what prevented the shutdown.

    Open the Console, try to shutdown and see if there are any log entries to the effect that this or that cancelled shutdown, or similar.

  • by audios22,

    audios22 audios22 Jul 26, 2016 4:55 AM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 26, 2016 4:55 AM in response to dianeoforegon

    My Mac HD is 1TB with at least  350GB of feee space. I am now establishing a new partition and to attempt to install the 10.11.6. Combo onto that partition. I'll report back once completed and to see if all is working better on the new boot drive.

     

    Also deleted the ~/etc/syscti.conf file but no changes.

  • by audios22,

    audios22 audios22 Jul 26, 2016 4:59 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 26, 2016 4:59 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

    The screen goes blank, yet I still have access to the menu dock and can open programs which throws up a waring when I try to open "mail". "Shutdown ceased because of Mail". So I close it and still nothing. Same thing happens when I try to log out or restart. The computer tries to shut down but something is blocking it from completing the task. I will also run the console and include the report showing shutdown.

  • by audios22,

    audios22 audios22 Jul 26, 2016 5:49 AM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 26, 2016 5:49 AM in response to dianeoforegon

    I did a partition (75GB), erased it so it would show as a GUID format. However, I can not instal OSX 10.11.6 on that partition without OSX 10.11 already present. Now what?

  • by mepcc,

    mepcc mepcc Jul 26, 2016 6:00 AM in response to Brian Williams2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 26, 2016 6:00 AM in response to Brian Williams2

    Same problem here - was able to reboot into Recovery mode and reinstall OS X - same version though - came back to a black screen but think that was just because I left it too long and iMac went to sleep - Started up OK and working better but still having issues with Safari not shutting down and have to Force Quit - also some slow down - am seeing a lot of twirling beach balls.

  • by John Taylor,

    John Taylor John Taylor Jul 26, 2016 6:37 AM in response to spacebuoy
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 26, 2016 6:37 AM in response to spacebuoy

    Me too - a proper godsend.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Jul 26, 2016 11:24 AM in response to audios22
    Level 5 (5,753 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 26, 2016 11:24 AM in response to audios22

    You will need to download El Capitan again under Purchases tab in App Store. Select to install on the partition.

     

    A combo updater can only be run over an installed version of OS X.

  • by audios22,

    audios22 audios22 Jul 27, 2016 4:50 AM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 27, 2016 4:50 AM in response to dianeoforegon

    OK. Resolved. I did a lot of digging here and other Mac blogs about this same issue. Some reported this problem back to 10.10.1. But most are having this shutdown/restart issue in the latest ElCap. I did take Diane's suggestion and delete the /etc/ file in the ~/etc/ hidden folder. Plus I deleted all startup programs under users. Then I found this;

     

    I think i found the problem! :

    Although no specific error I found out that it had something to do with Avid CoreAudio driver.

    Finally after removing /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/HAL/Avid CoreAudio.plugin the system finally shuts down normally.

     

    I did have this plugin from an older version of Pro Tools. And sure enough, after deleting this file, doing a "repair permissions", sudo /usr/libexec/repair_packages --repair --standard-pkgs --volume / to the Mac HD, the computer now shuts down and restarts from the finder icon. Wuuu Whoo. And I am not upgrading to a new OS again. Now it's not broken, so why fix something that's not broken. Thanks all for your input . Highly appreciated.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Jul 27, 2016 10:22 AM in response to audios22
    Level 5 (5,753 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 27, 2016 10:22 AM in response to audios22

    Glad you were able to track down the culprit.

     

    This is why doing a clean install is often the best option. Many complain that it takes too much time, but it often takes more time to troubleshoot than doing a clean install.

     

    And I am not upgrading to a new OS again. Now it's not broken, so why fix something that's not broken.

    Just don't get too far behind. Apple is only offering security updates going back two versions now. If you wait too long you will be way behind learning new features and the cost of having to upgrade some apps all at once can be a hard hit to the wallet.

  • by Sairamark,

    Sairamark Sairamark Jul 27, 2016 1:23 PM in response to Brian Williams2
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 27, 2016 1:23 PM in response to Brian Williams2

    Similar problems on Mac Pro 4.1, Mac won't go to sleep! No internet connection after reboot, just after a 1-2 min.

  • by ckahn,

    ckahn ckahn Jul 28, 2016 7:10 AM in response to Brian Williams2
    Level 1 (13 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 28, 2016 7:10 AM in response to Brian Williams2

    Updated MacBookPro8,3 to 10.11.6 this morning and after reboot got sporadic spinning wheel and unresponsive-ness for about 25 minutes, couldn't launch any apps, but the spinning went away and apps could launch.  Now running time machine.  I notice the menu bar is missing a bunch of app icons (like menu meters el capitan port), so I'll reboot after the time machine backup and see if they come back.

  • by lockhartt,

    lockhartt lockhartt Jul 28, 2016 8:36 AM in response to spacebuoy
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jul 28, 2016 8:36 AM in response to spacebuoy

    Thank goodness for this post and my bootable USB drive!

     

    I installed OS X 10.11.6 update through Software Update and had near zero responsiveness and the app-is-damaged-or-incomplete error for anything I tried to launch.

     

    I tried just installing the Combo Update while booted from the USB drive thinking the install had aborted prematurely (it happens to all of us at some point), but it failed and I found myself here seeking wisdom - and found it.

     

    So, while I was able to log in fine, the instructions linked from spacebuoy's post for Fix for El Capitan stuck at login restored all functionality for me.

     

    Never had anything like this happen during a Mac OS upgrade before, and I started with Mac OS 6.0 25 years ago

     

    Hope it never happens again, but nice to know the Mac user community remains as valuable a resource as ever!

     

    Thanks spacebuoy and robertk1!

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