NEW SECURITY UPDATE 2019-007 10.13.6

The update worked without issue on my iMac 11,2, a 2010 iMac.

That indicates it is not the update, but rather something on your computer that is failing the update.

Before doing any updates, it is a good idea to check the health of the drive with DriveDX:

https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx

Then if it is healthy, run Malwarebytes & Etrecheck to make sure no malware is installed.

Avast is good as well.

If Etrecheck still find stuff after Avast and Malwarebytes that could be problematic like MacKeeper, Advanced Mac Cleaner, or any Cleanup application, remove all of those with Devon Technologies EasyFind and reboot, and make sure Etrecheck does not find anything bad.

I charge $150 for those service and will do it remotely, if you need help.

Only once you are backed up, have no malware on the computer, should you perform updates.

And only when you need software only available on that update or something newer.

Eventually, I restore the whole system from the time machine and it seems back to normal now.

Currently, the security update is back in the App Store available status, so there are no related files in my mac, and seems healthy condition.

I still don't know what causes it.

SSL hard drive compatibility? or just bug of misplacing code?

Either way, I only can say DO NOT UPDATE! Go back for now if you have time machine.

Waiting for APPLE respond.

I too am back in action (after multiple calls to Apple). In the end I was able to restore back to Mavericks (which must have been the OS when the MacBook was new. I was then told I had to take it to El Capitan next - that failed. Then I had to try High Sierra - that failed. In the end I was able to get Catalina to load (so I have by-passed Mojave this time and all now appears well.

That was hard work - and Apple seemed reluctant to say it was the security fix - suggested hardware! From what one of the advisors said at one stage, they did know that there was an issue!

Back to work I suppose.

OMG! Are you kidding? I'm terrified of doing any more Apple updates as they often seem to have bugs and/or other issues afterwards. I had all sorts of problems after doing the 2019-004 update including problems with my graphics cards that I did not have prior to that. Apple stores are an hour away and after setting up an appointment with their people I was told there's nothing they could do and that I should buy a new computer! Well, I did not accept that and after studying other people's issues online and following mods to the code in "Terminal" I was able to get it working again and have avoided updates to the OS. However, this week I've discovered that Google Maps no longer works--I'm running High Sierra and Safari 13.0 but I cannot consider the update because it will require a restart and most likely update my OS and screw things up again. I'm not eager to again make all the changes I had to do last time. Best advice nowadays is to wait before doing upgrades and see what comes up. Good luck! Hope you get it resolved and I doubt that there's an issue with your drive--run some hardware checks and see what you can learn before accepting their word for it.

One thing to note, eventually without the security updates, Safari's ability to function properly may be limited. You may need to use Firefox or Chrome to install certain downloads if you avoid Apple's updates.

Yes thanks, I had already considered that. It's a shame that we can no longer reply on the updates Apple does, and now they are more frequent than the used to be as well. I switched to Apple back in 2007 because I was fed up with the frequency of updates to Windows, security concerns, and the painful "blue screen of death" when it crashed (which was often). I know feel like history is repeating itself.

Yes, I know that all too well--it was happening to me repeatedly and that's why I had to make changes to my settings and make changes in Terminal. Apple kept telling me to reinstall the security update at the time but then Id be right back to where I started each time I tried that and unable to start up, and then having to restore my High Sierra OS all over again.

I don't have the money to buy a new laptop and while my MacBook Pro is no longer supported, it still works perfectly (as long as I don't update it again). Also, I prefer all the bells and whistles that this laptop has that the new models don't have and need to be purchased as add-ons. You get less and pay more the way I see it.

Refer to this page: https://appletoolbox.com/mac-will-not-shut-fix/#Give_Terminal_a_Spin

Follow the instructions in "Give Terminal a Spin."

This solves the problem every time it happens on my machine. (Which is every time.)

Oh, and I should mention I find it best to follow this protocol before doing the update.

The problem seems to happen once the update is downloaded and the system has the routine to run the updater upon restart. This is where if fouls. The terminal commands clear the caches, etc. and the update works as expected. (I'm no expert at understanding the inner workings, but this has worked w/ every Security Update for me.)

If you happen to update and get the black screen w/ cursor, you'll have to try every which way to startup, then run the commands. It's been a while, but my memory is that Safe Mode (https://appletoolbox.com/mac-will-not-shut-fix/#Entering_Safe_Mode) will restart the machine, then you can run the terminal commands, then update.

Just an FYI - not everyone is having this issue. Some people like myself applied the update and had no issue. Which says whomever has the issue needs to submit a bug report so Apple can isolate it.

http://bugreporter.apple.com

http://developer.apple.com signup with Apple ID required.

Good to know, and after 6 restarts it seems my machine is trying to come slowly back to life - seems it's attempting to update printer drivers, although unsuccessfully. I'm trying to help it by locating the drivers it can't find but the machine is dismally slow, running package scripts for a fifteen minute, minute at this point. It's a good thing I always have two separate machines running side by side.

Encountered the same black screen with cursor issue with the 2019-007 security update. Managed to solve it with some commands (https://www.shadowandy.net/2019/12/fixing-the-macos-10-13-6-security-update-2019-007-black-screen.htm).

shadownd,

The commands you issued, if they work, indicate something got corrupted in either Spotlight, or the system caches. Yet some are having this issue on erase and installed systems followed by an update. The only reasons these things should get corrupted is if you are using system optimization tools improperly, or your hard drive is about to fail, Mackeeper, and other optimization tools frequently attempt to fix corruption when the system is itself already running, and leaves the system itself in limbo. Cache file corruption itself can make it so no program can launch. So this is why the only tool you should ever use on your computer is backing up, and diagnosis tools. Not tools that remove critical system files. DriveDX is a great tool to examine your hard drive health.

The reason updates fail is two fold, hardware problems and data corruption as a result of using tools indiscriminately that affect system performance. If you stop trying to cure a problem with the wrong solution, you won’t create more problems for yourself when you update.

A Brody is correct, I believe, as the terminal command that some are using to "fix" the stalled Apple Security update appears to be deleting and recreating the Launch Services data base. This data base associates files and applications and is also used by the Mac to find certain files. If it is corrupted, software (including OS updates) may fail to run properly. A corrupted Launch Services data base is indicative of damage to key files needed by the OS. Deleting this one data base as is being done with the terminal command may get past this one Security Update but the root cause is not being addressed. Without knowing what individuals have installed on their Macs, one cannot say what caused the corruption. But some other online postings indicate that some users are having to execute this terminal command before EVERY OS or Security update, which is certainly a symptom of something wrong that is being persistently reintroduced. As A Brody also points out, hardware damage can also cause this type of corruption, including memory that is degrading or intermittent. Older Macs might be more susceptible to this type of problem.

I have helped a couple of people get past these software update issues by having them make at least two verified complete backups, then boot into recovery CMD-R and erase/reformat their primary internal drive and reinstall a fresh new OS with just one Administrator user that is different from the users on the backed up system. Then, before migrating from the backup, and before installing anything, use that one Administrative user to do all available updates, including the problematic Security Update. This always works because, absent a hardware failure, Apple's updates always work on a plain, vanilla system with no third party tools/software installed. Then I had them use the Migration tool to migrate from the backup user accounts and files only. Then we reinstalled all desired third party apps, being careful to install only the latest version, and not including things that were not required or might be potentially invasive system type tools. It is important to make sure you have at least two reliable backups before reformatting one's disk! But this rather draconian approach removes all latent system corruption (of the type A Brody noted) and starts off with a clean, fresh system. After this, these band aid type terminal commands should no longer be necessary.