Level 1

19 points

Catalina 10.15.4 Supplemental Update Has Issues

The 8 April 2020 Supplemental Update for Catalina 10.15.4 brought the system down for a few hours. Since the screen only showed a white apple on the screen for the whole time I shut it down and restarted it. I got a thick white circle with a thick white line through it in the middle of the screen, the same size as the apple usually is. Repeated shut downs did nothing. Could not go to safe mode without the circle and line so I went to Recovery Mode, ran the Disk Utilities First Aid and then rebooted again. My screen came up and I was able to sign in. I had a notice that the update was available for installation. I am not going to do that since it appears it is not going to work on my iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017). Is this a temporary issue or should I ignore all further updates?

iMac 27" 5K, 10.15

Posted on Apr 8, 2020 7:42 PM

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Jayseph

Level 1

51 points

Posted on Apr 11, 2020 7:13 AM

I am not sure how many people this long post will help, but hopefully it will help some:

I was unsure why my MacBook Pro would install this supplemental update without a hitch, but my one month old iMac would not. Every time I rebooted my iMac, even after a Time Machine restore that seemed to work, I would get the circle/slash symbol and not be able to boot up my machine. After texting Apple Support last night, they advised that I should bring my computer in as it seems like there is a hardware failure. I didn’t see how in the world that would be possible with just a software update and a brand new machine.

This morning, I called Apple Support and talked to someone who was really great. She was very helpful as I discussed the issue. And then we tried something different. I removed all external hard drives and my CD-ROM drive and then booted up my machine. I was shocked to see that it booted up just fine. No dreaded circle/slash symbol. When my machine was back up, I then installed the supplemental update, this time without any issues.

There is one issue that is still there and that is if there are any externals attached when rebooting my machine, it will give me the slash/circle symbol and not boot up properly, but when they are disconnected everything is fine. Obviously, this is annoying and something that needs to be fixed, but at least I know that it is not a hardware issue with my computer and I don’t need it serviced.

Catalina has been a nightmare of an OS. I am hoping that these issues are finally taken care of and that there is a stable system put into place soon.

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69 replies

hi5arp

Level 1

8 points

Apr 8, 2020 11:04 PM in response to tim01

I too had got this issue, after restart.

There was the white screen with mouse brick. But i forcefully restarted it.

Ran through the update installation which took more than half an hour. But alas, it is successful .

The only issue i got after update, while charging laptop, both of the mouse trackpad side gets vibration on & off coming as intermediately with regular intervals though. Raised this issue with CC though.

Jayseph

Level 1

51 points

Apr 9, 2020 8:22 AM in response to tim01

I had the same issue. I restored from a Time Machine backup and my iMac is running now. I am wondering if this was just a fluke and I should try to update again or if I should wait. The update worked fine on my MacBook Pro. The iMac is the latest model, while the MacBook Pro is a few years old.

Apr 9, 2020 4:28 PM in response to Jayseph

I installed the update on two MBpro, one 2019 (16") and one 2015. No problems although the install screens looked different.

Install on a 2018 MacMini is not working. It shows the notification for the update "requiring restart" and after restart, it goes back to the same notification. Will wait a few days & try again

tim01 Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 10, 2020 4:00 AM in response to tim01

A few hours after my last comment here I attempted to install the Catalina 10.15.4 update, again. Brought me into a panic since after three hours with no more then the Apple image on the center of the screen I shut down to reboot. Everything failed with the white circle with the white line through it repeatedly showing up on the reboot. Same when attempting to get into Safe Mode. I went into Recovery Mode a few times and ran Disk Utility then attempted to reload the OSX, which also failed giving me the circle with the line through it. I just kept doing the Disk Utility and attempting to get into Safe Mode. On my last attempt at Safe Mode it produced a startup bar under the apple logo that said 40 minutes remaining. That actually looked good to me since I could not get that far earlier. After 15 minutes it still said 40 minutes so I left. When I returned 7 hours later,, the iMac was in regular mode with apps loaded and a folder with the label "Relocated Items." That folder listed a group of files that had been relocated (makes sense). I don't understand what that means since the text file added to the folder basically states that "...configuration files were modified or customized by you, by another user, or by an app." With the Apple stores closed. I can't just take this iMac into the store for repairs.

Jayseph

Level 1

51 points

Apr 10, 2020 11:42 AM in response to tim01

I thought maybe the first time I tried it was a fluke, but the same thing happened again this morning when I tried to update my new iMac. I texted back and forth with Apple Support and they said that it must be a hardware failure. I advised them when I restored with one of my Time Machine backups everything worked fine. I was hoping that they could help with getting this update taken care of. I also pointed them to this thread as it seems like I am not the only one having this issue. I don’t think that this can be a hardware failure considering that everything is working fine when I restore with a backup, right?

nartana1

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2020 12:12 PM in response to Jayseph

We got a similar response (it must be hardware issues) when we called Support, today. Our two Macs glitched within the same hour, yesterday. They're both configured to Auto-Update. The late 2015 iMac started crashing and now it's locked in a circle/slash loop on boot. The 2018 MBP started displaying striations across the screen. Different problems, different models. Neither had recent issues (though, the MBP has been rebuilt twice by Apple, so it's been a handful). Anyways, it was almost spooky the way they both developed bad issues in the same hour (until I realized, a few hours later, they'd both updated simultaneously.) We've never needed our computers more, as is the case for many, I'm sure. And, since Support says it must be hardware failure, we're pretty much stuck, with the stores closed.

tim01 Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 13, 2020 5:47 PM in response to tim01

Reading every one of the responses to this issue I think it is an issue in the software update. Today, I opened the System Preferences and opened the Software Update icon which has had that red circle with the number one in it. It's had that since I tried to install it 5 days ago and jumped through hopes to get my 2017 iMac up and running again. But instead of having the System Update listed it had an update for my Epson printer. It does that sometimes so I installed that. Everything went fine. Then I noticed that the statement on the screen after that said "Your Catalina 10.15.4 is now up to date" and I no longer have that red indicator that there is a Catalina 10.15.4 update waiting to be installed. How does that happen? Has that OSX update been pulled? If I see that another update has been posted, I'll come here to see how YOU guys are doing.

AdamG001

Level 1

4 points

Apr 28, 2020 8:44 AM in response to tim01

I Too am having issues.. 2019 MacBook Pro, will not take the supplemental update. Machine will appear bricked, after doing multiple attempted commands (forced restart, restore mode, safe mode) it randomly starts up hours later with the update not completed, this has happened close to 10 times. I have turned off auto update for now as I can't afford to brick my machine

Jayseph

Level 1

51 points

Apr 11, 2020 8:21 AM in response to hi5arp

I meant that I removed all of the external hard drives for extra storage that I have hooked up to my iMac that were attached by USB, including my Apple SuperDrive DVD-ROM.

7thworld

Level 1

4 points

Apr 11, 2020 12:11 PM in response to tim01

I updated my Mac Pro and 2 MacBook Pro's yesterday, 4/10/2020, with supplemental update for Catalina 10.15.4 and experienced no issues at all. Something must have been fixed between 4/8 and 4/10.

Apr 14, 2020 2:59 PM in response to markhowellsmead

Same here. It will need sending into Apple unless you have another USB C Mac to hand which you can use to restore the T2 chip with Apple Configurator.

May 12, 2020 8:18 AM in response to WynneChang

ps. only update to new version.

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,090 points

May 13, 2020 7:23 AM in response to WynneChang

You should start your own post to get specific help on your problems. At the top of the page, choose Discussion from the Post popup menu.

May 29, 2020 1:24 PM in response to Jayseph

10.15.5 was an easy, problem-free update for me -- a nice change from 10.15.4. Took about 20 minutes for me. I did disconnect my USB drives before applying the update, though.

tim01 Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 9, 2020 5:21 AM in response to Gubi

I see by the responses that some people had the same or similar issue and some had no issues at all. I did do a Time Machine backup prior to attempting the update. I was going to do the "Reinstall MacOS" if the Utilities First Aid didn't fix it, but after the First Aid and reboot, the system came back up. I will wait until later today to attempt the that update again.

Thanks again for all the responses

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Catalina 10.15.4 Supplemental Update Has Issues