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Best OS X to go back to that's prior to M1 silicon update issues?

My iMac 27" 2016 32Gb RAM, 4Tb GPU is having issues with the latest Big Sur 11.2.3 update. Im getting the ball of death all the time, plus Photoshop is having issues. Ive got 500Gb+ free HD so there should be no issues.


Has anybody done a format and clean install of an older OS X to get rid of the latest OSX problems?


If so which OSX version is best?

iMac 27″, macOS 11.2

Posted on Apr 5, 2021 8:41 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Apr 5, 2021 9:13 AM

anthonyhague wrote:

Do you think a clean install of Big Sur 11.2.3 might fix my wheels of death issues?

Please note I'm not the only older Mac user to be having issues, they are very common right now so it could be OSX related. But clean installs have often fixed issues in the past, especially when theirs been a change in HD format or something big.




A first step would be to

Uninstall any and all third party Antivirus, Cleaners, Optimizers, VPN, speeder uppers....



There is no harm in trying a clean install.


Alternatively—

You can  get a good look at your System config. and reveal conflicts or issues, you can download/run this trusted utility https://etrecheck.com  


If you need help interpreting the report you can post it here in its entirety in the "Additional Text" box in the editing toolbar below, in your reply.




Similar questions

9 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 5, 2021 9:13 AM in response to anthonyhague

anthonyhague wrote:

Do you think a clean install of Big Sur 11.2.3 might fix my wheels of death issues?

Please note I'm not the only older Mac user to be having issues, they are very common right now so it could be OSX related. But clean installs have often fixed issues in the past, especially when theirs been a change in HD format or something big.




A first step would be to

Uninstall any and all third party Antivirus, Cleaners, Optimizers, VPN, speeder uppers....



There is no harm in trying a clean install.


Alternatively—

You can  get a good look at your System config. and reveal conflicts or issues, you can download/run this trusted utility https://etrecheck.com  


If you need help interpreting the report you can post it here in its entirety in the "Additional Text" box in the editing toolbar below, in your reply.




Apr 5, 2021 9:03 AM in response to anthonyhague

anthonyhague wrote:

Best OS X to go back to that's prior to M1 silicon update issues?

My iMac 27" 2016 32Gb RAM, 4Tb GPU is having issues with the latest Big Sur 11.2.3 update. Im getting the ball of death all the time, plus Photoshop is having issues. Ive got 500Gb+ free HD so there should be no issues.

Has anybody done a format and clean install of an older OS X to get rid of the latest OSX problems?

If so which OSX version is best?


?


iMac 27" 2016 is an Intel Mac— this has nothing to to do with the new M1 SoC Macs...


How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Revert your Mac to a previous macOS version
https://support.apple.com/en-lamr/guide/mac-help/mh15216/10.15/mac/10.15

Apr 5, 2021 9:05 AM in response to anthonyhague

anthonyhague wrote:

Yes mate, I know my old iMac does not have the M1 chip, but the latest issue of Big Sur 11.2.3 has been causing issues.

Thanks for those links though ill see if they help :)


Big Sur 11.2.1 is no longer available, this is an outdated version—the current version is macOS 11.2.3

unless you have a backup prior to this update, you are not going to find 11.2.1

.

The update is to sorts issue, not cause issues—unfortunately you do not state what is your issue in an effort to fix this as a starting point...




If you have issue reverting— verify you are using the Safari browser to download/initiate the macOS links:

older macOS installer backups on this server:

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT211683


Apr 5, 2021 9:14 AM in response to leroydouglas

Ive got pretty good at clean installs actually, I do screen grabs of software installs, my desktop icon dock, all sorts of stuff that I messed up with from previous clean installs. I like to do one every year actually because it get rid of clutter, fixes conflict issues from old bits of software hanging around, so it speeds the machine up massively.


This is the first time I've done it with Big Sur though :-0


Thanks for your continued help and advice, I want to try and leave you feedback support or whatever its called.

Apr 6, 2021 11:41 AM in response to anthonyhague

OK Ive done my clean install for the second time. The first time I had issues because my user somehow got onto the new partition. Oh yes, OSX 11.2.3 seems to partition the hard drive into two equal amounts which is 2x 1TB in my case, adding the extension .DATA onto the second partition which is not removable with my talents in the disk utility. Im assuming this is for the Rosetta software that my machine doesn't need.


The last time my iMac needed a clean install was when the HD changed from Mac Extended to APFS, I think the new issues were down to formatting the partition. Neither of these issues can surely be done properly without a separate drive running the OS. So a clean install was inevitable.


Shame we don't get warning with thee option to update, like "update 11.2.3 brings compatibility with the new M1 computers and software but is 90% likely to bugger up your system leaving it in need of a clean install" this message would allow me to do it properly when I'm ready. Oh well


Best OS X to go back to that's prior to M1 silicon update issues?

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