mike 2.0

Q: macOS Sierra installation (from El Capitan) fails with "Internal error" message

Tried updating to macOS Sierra and it looked like everything was fine, but at the every end of the process it wouldn't finish the install. Sierra downloaded OK, and when I clicked install it went through a process for 15-30 minutes, restarted, and then looked like it was finishing the install for a few minutes. But then I got the error-like message (a light grey window on a dark grey screen, with a round Sierra icon near the top):

 

"macOS could not be installed on your computer.

An internal error has occurred.

Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again

[Restart Button]"

 

I have a Macbook Pro Retina Mid 2012 with a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB graphics, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM, and an APPLE SSD SM768E flash hard drive. I've run Disk Utility, and it says everything is fine. I've tried different approaches, multiple times, but no matter what I try, I can't seem to install the new macOS Sierra. I've even wiped my entire computer and started from scratch, installing a clean OS X 11 (El Capitan) and then trying to install Sierra, but still it doesn't work. This is making me think it's possibly an issue with my App Store account? But since I was logged in, I'm not sure what that could be. Or maybe it's hardware related? I dunno. Even the Apple Sr. Advisor I was talking with on the phone was stumped.

 

Super frustrated, definitely would love some guidance, thanks!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), null

Posted on Sep 21, 2016 7:44 PM

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Q: macOS Sierra installation (from El Capitan) fails with "Internal error" message

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  • Helpful answers

  • by TruthSayer2016,

    TruthSayer2016 TruthSayer2016 Sep 22, 2016 6:27 PM in response to mike 2.0
    Level 1 (39 points)
    Sep 22, 2016 6:27 PM in response to mike 2.0

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201262

     

    Try booting into Safe Mode and see if you can install it then

  • by Zanvettor,

    Zanvettor Zanvettor Sep 24, 2016 5:34 PM in response to mike 2.0
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 24, 2016 5:34 PM in response to mike 2.0

    I am facing the same "internal error" trying to install Sierra in my imac 2014 27"with 8GB.  I thought the error had to do with my El Captain environment, so I created a Sierra boot USB drive, erased my HD, and tried a fresh isntall from this USB.  Same error occurred again.  Frustration is high because my HW is compatible.  How can I get Sierra installed??

  • by Zanvettor,Helpful

    Zanvettor Zanvettor Sep 26, 2016 2:43 AM in response to Zanvettor
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 2:43 AM in response to Zanvettor

    I got a workaround, I am now back to normal, using Sierra from a fresh install, and after a few hours of manual recovering my apps, data and configuration.  A full backup of my HD was mandatory, as I had to recover my files on top of a fresh install of macOs Sierra.

     

    Here it is: after erasing my HD I started my mac in Internet Recovery mode.  I then got a Yosemite version reinstalled from scratch in my iMac.  Then, using Apple Store, I was able to go through the usual steps to upgrade it straight to macOs Sierra ("bypassing" El Captain), successfully.  Only then I did a manual recovery of all my apps, mailboxes, files from cloud, music, etc..

     

    My conclusion is that there is some issue when upgrading from El Captain to Sierra, that was causing this "Internal error" flaw.  I even tried to upgrade from El Captain using a bootable Sierra USB drive (to overcome Internet as a possible point of failure), but the same error stopped the process.  Would be nice to have Apple guys to take a look at it and provide a fix.  In the meantime, hope this helps users facing the same problem I did.

  • by allertonm,

    allertonm allertonm Sep 25, 2016 8:15 AM in response to mike 2.0
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 8:15 AM in response to mike 2.0

    Ran into this same issue, upgrading my 2x2.4 quad core Mac Pro 5,1 from El Capitan. I also tried installing from USB with same result. 14GB RAM, 120GB Corsair Force GT SSD boot drive, home directories on 1.5TB Seagate HD FWIW.

     

    It's also worth noting that in my case, when restarting after the error message, the machine was essentially bricked - it would spend a long time with the progress bar at about 66% then kernel panic. First time I booted to the recovery partition and got El Capitan back. The second time the installer from the recovery partition would not work - claimed that this was not a valid way to install El Capitan and told me to download it from the app store. Fortunately had another machine available with which to make a USB bootable El Capitan install to get things back. I didn't try a third time!

     

    FWIW my 2013 Retina MBP upgraded from El Capitan without issues.

  • by freediverx01,

    freediverx01 freediverx01 Sep 25, 2016 11:57 AM in response to mike 2.0
    Level 1 (90 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 11:57 AM in response to mike 2.0

    Not sure if related, but I'm also having "Internal Error" issues with Sierra on one of my computers, a Late 2009 iMac, running macOS 10.12 (16A323). The OS itself installed without issues and seems to be working fine. But I'm running into frequent errors with some third party apps. I have no such issues with the same OS and third party software running in an Early 2013 Retina MacBook Pro.

     

    With Little Snitch 3.7, I get an error and crash/freeze when I try to resize or maximize the Configuration window.

     

    Exception Name: NSRangeException

    Description: Cannot remove an observer <NSScrollView 0x6000001cb9a0> for the key path "contentLayoutRect" from <NSWindow 0x6000003f4800> because it is not registered as an observer.

     

    Little Snitch Error.png

     

     

    In Aperture, an internal error (and crash/freeze) appears whenever I try to switch to full screen.

     

    ExceptionName: NSInvalidArgumentException

    Description: *** -[__NSArrayM inserObject:atIndex:]: object cannot be nil

    Aperture Error.png

  • by allertonm,Solvedanswer

    allertonm allertonm Sep 25, 2016 3:26 PM in response to freediverx01
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 3:26 PM in response to freediverx01

    I found a solution to my problem thanks to this thread: Re: Can't upgrade to OS Sierra

     

    It seems that - in my case at least - the install was confused by the "&" symbol in the name of the install volume. My install volume was called "OS & Apps". I renamed it to "Startup" and ran the install again and it succeeded.

     

    This (to my naive eye) looks like a problem with quoting or escaping in a shell script executed during the install. So if you are having this problem, take a look at the name of your install volume and if you have any symbols try renaming the volume and install again. One poster above solved the problem using a fresh install but I wonder if the install volume was renamed along the way and this was the true fix.

     

    Cheers

     

    ..Mark..

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Sep 25, 2016 4:30 PM in response to mike 2.0
    Level 5 (5,724 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 4:30 PM in response to mike 2.0

    Before making any major update, you should backup with Time Machine and a clone backup. A clone is bootable where Time Machine is not.


    You can boot from the clone by selecting the clone drive in System Preferences > Startup Disk.

    Use Disk Utility, run First Aid on your drive to verify.

    If you have not done a clean install in several years, you might find that erasing your drive and doing a clean install will give you better results than trying to clean and fix problems by installing over your current drive.

     

    http://www.macrumors.com/how-to/macos-sierra-clean-install/

     

    Create a Clone backup:

     

    A clone is an exact bootable copy of your internal drive. Unlike standard copying of all files to another drive, the clone software copies hidden files along with other in-use files that are not available  when you copy over files to another drive.

     

    Software used to Clone:

    SuperDuper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/

    CCC http://www.bombich.com/download.html

     

    • Verify your date and time is set correctly.
    • Verify installer if not corrupt and fully downloaded. More info
    • Check your drive name and avoid using punctuation and symbols in the name.
  • by allertonm,

    allertonm allertonm Sep 25, 2016 6:00 PM in response to mike 2.0
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 6:00 PM in response to mike 2.0

    I found a solution to my problem thanks to this thread: Re: Can't upgrade to OS Sierra

     

    It seems that - in my case at least - the install was confused by the "&" symbol in the name of the install volume. My install volume was called "OS & Apps". I renamed it to "Startup" and ran the install again and it succeeded.

     

    This (to my naive eye) looks like a problem with quoting or escaping in a shell script executed during the install. So if you are having this problem, take a look at the name of your install volume and if you have any symbols try renaming the volume and install again. One poster above solved the problem using a fresh install but I wonder if the install volume was renamed along the way and this was the true fix.

     

    Cheers

     

    ..Mark..

  • by MattRMinnesota,Helpful

    MattRMinnesota MattRMinnesota Sep 26, 2016 2:46 AM in response to allertonm
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Sep 26, 2016 2:46 AM in response to allertonm

    Removing the "&" symbol in my computer name fixed the error problem for me. Thank you!

  • by mike 2.0,

    mike 2.0 mike 2.0 Sep 26, 2016 2:45 AM in response to freediverx01
    Level 1 (21 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 2:45 AM in response to freediverx01

    That sounds awful, but doesn't seem related to my issue, which happened during installation.

  • by mike 2.0,

    mike 2.0 mike 2.0 Sep 26, 2016 6:30 AM in response to allertonm
    Level 1 (21 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 6:30 AM in response to allertonm

    That's it! Thanks, Mark!

     

    I had a "<" in the name of my hard drive when installation was giving me an error message. After removing the "<" from my hard drive's name, the installation went through. If anyone knows how to get this info the Apple engineers so they can fix this in the next macOS point update, that would be great.