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Big Sur Install Loop

My iMac retina 4k, 21.5inch, late 2015, refuses to install Big Sur. No problem downloading, but the installation process fails after about 40 seconds, reboots, fails, reboots....... I gave up after 10 reboots, but found it looping again today having failed to auto update overnight. I have tried starting from Recovery, reinstalled Catalina, run Diagnostics with no error (ADP000), reset NVRAM, all to no avail. Anybody got any clues about this?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 14, 2020 9:30 AM

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31 replies

Nov 15, 2020 7:43 AM in response to dfqls

You can save you and us a lot of time and effort if you do the following:


Please navigate to the Mac App Store or navigate to www.Etrecheck.com and download the free version of EtreCheck. Once you have you downloaded the app and installed it, please run the report and save it. This report will help us get a good idea what has been installed on your system and help us be able to diagnose what may be wrong.


When you have your report, you can attach it when you reply to this message and we can then review it and help you determine what is needed to get your system running well again. 


For instructions on how to download your EtreCheck report and attach it to your reply to this message please click https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250000211


Nov 15, 2020 9:25 AM in response to dfqls

The best antivirus, cleaning app, and overall maintenance app for Mac OS is Mac OS itself. All you need to do with Mac OS to keep it secure and running well is to keep it up-to-date and do periodic (about 1x per week) restarts. Other than that, leave it alone. Adding third party antivirus, cleaning, security and other types of maintenance apps to Mac OS adds no additional level of security. The only thing these apps do is have the opposite affect users want. They make Mac OS slow, unstable, generate odd behavior (much like you are experiencing) and make Mac OS appear buggy. 

 

Please locate the developers uninstall instructions for Trusteer and follow to the letter. Then restart in Safe Mode per the directions in Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac and then restart normally. 


Feb 8, 2021 4:33 AM in response to jock_king

Looks like you've identified the problem. There's another community thread about it here;

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252034376?answerId=253913988022&page=1

Apparently Big Sur tries to install exclusively on the SSD part of the Fusion Drive, but during the installation demands > 40GB storage , which is then much reduced afterwards. My Fusion Drive SSD (disk0) only has 24GB:-


 diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                *24.0 GB    disk0


   1:                        EFI EFI                     314.6 MB   disk0s1


   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk2         23.7 GB    disk0s2




/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):


   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER


   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk2         1000.0 GB  disk1s2


/dev/disk2 (synthesized):


   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      APFS Container Scheme -              +1.0 TB     disk2

                                 Physical Stores disk0s2, disk1s2

   1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD - Data     290.7 GB   disk2s1

   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 86.8 MB    disk2s2

   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                528.9 MB   disk2s3

   4:                APFS Volume VM                      3.2 GB     disk2s4

   5:                APFS Volume Mac Built In            11.2 GB    disk2s5


I don't hold out much hope of Apple fixing this for Fusion Drive 2015 iMacs because they're next in line for obsolescence :( I'm staying with Catalina!

Nov 14, 2020 9:56 AM in response to dfqls

I am guessing at this point, but you may be trying to install a corrupted file. Look in the Applications folder to see if there is an installaller file there. If so, move it to the trash and try another download. Be sure to use a wired Ethernet connection, not Wi-Fi as that often results in the corruption. I hope this works for you. Good luck.

Nov 15, 2020 6:49 AM in response to Ronasara

Thanks for your reply. I've followed your suggestion, downloaded the update file over ethernet, and encountered the same reboot loop, which repeated for more than an hour without the progress bar getting past about 10%, and no "xx minutes remaining" ever being displayed. Bizarrely, I can no longer start up in Safe mode, and I have to use the Startup Manager to boot into Catalina. If I don't use the Startup Manager, the system tries to run the Big Sur installation without giving me any choice, even after I've moved the MacOS Installer to the bin and emptied the bin. I'm baffled!

Dec 17, 2020 1:46 AM in response to Pilots01

No, and the problem persists with the latest version of Big Sur. I've also tried reinstalling Catalina, but I can't get rid of the Big Sur installer volume, so I have to use the Startup Manager to boot into Catalina. Big Sur persists in trying to install itself overnight unless I disconnect power altogether.

Dec 28, 2020 6:17 AM in response to dfqls

I have the exact same issue except i am using an iMac Late 2015 27' (with Fusion Drive).


I was hoping that Big Sur 11.1 would rectify this issue however i end up in exactly the same loop - watching my pc try to start the installer, see a mouse cursor for 2 secs before the computer reboots, over and over again. Like you i've also ended up with an install partition i cannot get rid off and have simply select the mojave boot as the default for present.


I've tried all the advice on this forum and from Apple Support to no avail. Am hoping that this issue can be resolved soon as is very frustrating. Can only hope someone in Apple is looking at these issues and a fix will be added to a future release of Big Sur.

Jan 8, 2021 3:31 AM in response to ToinenMoinen

I gave up trying to install. To get rid of the failed installer I eventually used one cloned disk as a source, booted into another external disk copy of the clone as the OS, and cloned my September 2020 clone of Catalina back on to the Mac's native disk. It worked well, but slowly because one of my clones was on a HDD. My cloning software is Acronis.

Feb 5, 2021 1:11 PM in response to rkaufmann87

I've just tried installing big Sur using option command R. Which boots into recovery mode and gives the option of installing the latest MacOS. However, this fails with a permission denied message. I looked at the disk with the disk utility app and the disk is not writeable. This would probably explain why you can't install using recovery, and maybe why it's failing to install down the normal route. When you boot into recovery using command R which gives the option of reinstalling the installed OS (in my case Catalina) the disks are writable. All very odd.

Feb 6, 2021 2:22 PM in response to Orthic_thrench

same Thing happened to me, I tried all the things mentioned in this message board, but eventually learned it’s cause of the lack of memory available on my computer. You think there would be a prompt prior to letting you go all the way. I ended up having to completely wipe my laptop and start back with Mac OS X and update several times, high Sierra, Catalina, Big sur. Definitely a pain. Before you download a good website I found was this one

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.iphonetricks.org/macos-big-sur-not-enough-free-space-to-upgrade/amp/



Big Sur Install Loop

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