I have a Mac mini (2018) running Monterey 12.2.1. In order to test Ventura, I attempted to install Ventura to an external disk. This resulted in a kernel panic boot loop at the very end of the installation process (final reboot). I had noticed the same problem when trying to apply a Monterey update: Monterey 12.3.1 boot failure - "Operation… - Apple Community.
Any suggestions?
- Pie Lover
If a clean install of macOS does not solve the problem, then I suggest "Restoring" the firmware procedure as outlined in this Apple article:
Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac using Apple Configurator - Apple Support
Once the system is updated, the macOS installer will not update it again. This can be seen when people use a third party internal SSD with the Monterey installer. Monterey will not install if the internal drive is a third party SSD. Once Monterey is installed with an internal Apple OEM SSD, then it is possible to install Monterey with a third party internal SSD installed. The macOS Monterey installer will not install with a third party internal SSD if a system firmware update needs to be applied.
The "Restoring" the T2 firmware procedure is for resolving "odd" situations which affect booting & installing macOS. It is basically the most drastic means of solving any 2018+ Mac issues. If a "Restore" procedure does not solve your problem (you must test the Mac before installing any third party apps or migrating/restoring from a backup, and with no unnecessary external devices connected), then it indicates some sort of hardware issue. Restoring the T2 firmware erases the internal SSD and pushes a clean OS onto it.
FYI, When M1 Macs were released there were reports that some Samsung T5 SSDs were not compatible due to the USB chipsets the drives used (T5 SSDs utilized more than one version of the chipset). Plus macOS Monterey is known for introducing compatibility issues with various minor point release updates. Make sure to perform a clean install of macOS to the external drive by erasing the whole physical drive as GUID partition and APFS (top option). Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility.
You may also want to check the health of the external SSD. Maybe it is some sort of problem. You can check the health of the SSD by running DriveDx and posting the complete text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which looks like a piece of paper.
Have you tried using any other external drive?
Does this T5 SSD have USB-A/B ports or USB-C ports? If you are using any adapters to connect to the Mac Mini, then maybe the adapter is the source of the problem.
FYI, Macs have always been picky about the external drives used for booting a Mac. Years ago I encountered a USB drive enclosure that would not work at all with a Mac, but worked perfectly fine on a standard PC.
Thanks. The Mac mini (2018) has a T2 security chip. If I recall correctly, I had to use the Security Utility (set to Medium?) to allow booting from an external disk. My guess is that this isn't the root cause since Monterey 12.2.1 booted from the external drive. On the other hand, I wonder if there could have been a change in security behaviour introduced with Monterey 12.3 (and propagated to subsequent OS versions)?
- Pie Lover
I tried booting into Recovery after setting the Startup Disk to the external disk with Ventura installed. Unexpectedly, the boot stalls at the Apple logo (I did a hardware reset after a few minutes).
Here's the diskutil list output which confirms that there is a Recovery volume.
Also, here is the report (displayed with Monterey) for the kernel panic when booting Ventura (macOS version: 22A380):
I am wondering if the Samsung T5 SSD is no longer a compatible boot device for macOS (since Monterey 12.3).
- Pie Lover
I have two additional APFS volumes. One serves as a backup for photos while the other is a second Time Machine backup volume (of the internal SSD running Monterey). This setup works well with Monterey and prior versions of macOS.
- Pie Lover
I created a bootable installer for Ventura 13.0, erased the OS volume group on the external drive, and installed a fresh copy of Ventura (no user software installed). I observed the exact same behaviour. A kernel panic is generated during the initial boot which restarts, generates another panic, and so on.
So there is definitely a problem macOS booting an unmodified Ventura installation (also observed with Monterey 12.3+) using a Mac mini (2018) with a Samsung T5 external SSD. How can I tell whether it's really an OS issue or, alternatively, an incompatibility with the external drive (with works perfectly well with Monterey 12.2.1)?
- Pie Lover
P.S. The bootable installer took many hours to complete
Exactly. I wanted to install Ventura on an external drive so that I could experiment with new features and confirm the compatibility with my existing software (mostly standard titles).
I haven't tried installing Ventura on the internal SSD (currently Monterey 12.2.1) since it is such a pain to revert the OS to a previous version.
BTW, I just tried changing the Startup Security to the lowest level but the behaviour was the same (I set it back to medium).
I suspect that this problem is somehow related to the Mac mini's (2018) use of the T2 Security Chip. It seems that there was a change introduced Monterey 12.3 (and later versions) which prevents the use of (at least) the Samsung T5 SSD.
- Pie Lover
Thanks very much. You reply makes perfect sense to me based on my own experience. Disabling SIP is a possible workaround but the increased risk the system may not be acceptable to many folks.
- Pie Lover
Thank you for taking the time to provide such a detailed response. Unfortunately, I don't have a second machine to run Configurator.
You raise an interesting point about chipset differences within the same SSD model. I do have another Samsung T5 SDD which I could try. On the other hand, Monterey 12.2.1 installs perfectly well on the the SSD that has an issue with Ventura.
The T5 has a USB-C connector. I connect the SSD to a Thunderbolt/USB-C port on the Mac mini (2018). This configuration enables a maximum transfer rate of 10 Gbps using USB 3.1 Gen 2 (aka USB 3.2). I haven't tried the USB-A interface on the Mac side.
Last night, I installed Ventura on the internal drive. As expected, booting Ventura from an internal drive worked normally. I re-tested booting Ventura from the external drive which results kernel panic boot loop with SIP enabled (as before).
I would consider purchasing another model of external SSD if I could be sure that I could install macOS on it.
- Pie Lover
What are those volumes titled "Time Machine"?
Do you mean from an external (I have not tried), but I boot a 2020 M1 Mini and a 2018 MacBook Pro with Ventura.
I’ll try to create a bootable installer from Ventura and see what I get.
Thanks for the reply. I booted Ventura on the external drive (with SIP disabled). It seems that SSV is working normally:
- Pie Lover
Still waiting for a response from Apple Support for a possible workaround that doesn't require SIP to be disabled.
- Pie Lover
Kernel panic loop prevents boot (after attempted Ventura installation to external disk)
