MacBook (2015) update bootloop, 'too many corpses' error

I don't know the cause of that lugubrious message. The only resolution that I know of is to completely erase the affected volume. Did you try that?

Some have suggested using /sbin/mount-uw and making some changes to the boot cache and rc.server.

From that, you may have already read this reply:

crashed: too many corpses being created

Here are some other relevant Discussions, but to my knowledge nothing fixed it other than to erase the drive.

45min Boot Screen

Mac not booting, stuck on start screen despite disk repair

Too many corpses being created

Update .2Supplement crashing my MacBook & Safe Mode crashing too. Help

High Sierra: qmasterd/opendirectoryd: Too many corpses being created

Did you erase the whole physical SSD? FYI, see the following Apple article for using Disk Utility to erase the whole physical SSD (follow the "If you cannot use Erase All Content & Settings" option at the bottom of the article):

Erase your Mac and reset it to factory settings - Apple Support

Is this laptop using the original Apple OEM SSD which shipped with it from the factory?

If you followed the advice from @D.I. Johnson in your other thread to acquire & create a bootable macOS USB installer, then there should be no issues installing macOS assuming you also erased the whole physical SSD unless your laptop has a hardware issue of some sort (could be with the USB stick used for the installer since the quality of most USB sticks is terrible).

If you are using a third party SSD, then that could be the problem since the third party SSD or the SSD adapter could be incompatible (usually the fault of the adapter).

BxxxFR wrote:

Hi John--Thanks for the response

Why yes, erasing the whole drive is one of the first things I tried as meant by "clean install" in my list.

Apple does not employ that terminology, leading to numerous interpretations of it, resulting in communication errors anger and misery. For example there are many people on this site complained they "clean installed" macOS then were surprised to find out everything got lost.

Erase and reinstall macOS - Apple Support

Erase your Mac - Apple Support

Erase is unambiguous.

Many of the posts you reference I believe are related to other OSs, not Big Sur.

The reason is that I have not heard of it in recent years, and the fact your Mac is over a decade old makes them relevant.

HWTech wrote:

... in your other thread

in which you...

... tried a Monterey USB installer from macosdesign on Etsy.

I was not aware of that fact. I recommend you throw it away. Using it will just complicate matters. Selling one violates Apple's software license agreement. Who knows what it contains.

Was macOS Big Sur or Monterey ever previously installed on this laptop? This is another very important question in addition the questions I asked in my previous post.

Just thought of another thing you can try. Try installing macOS to an external USB3 SSD to see what happens as it would eliminate an issue with the internal SSD. However, if Big Sur or especially Monterey was never previously installed on this laptop, then it may not be possible to do so now if the internal SSD is bad, or if it is a third party internal NVMe SSD.

We need more details about your system & its history. Please answer the questions I asked earlier instead of going back to your old thread which should be considered dead now since the discussion has moved here. And use only official Apple methods for installing macOS and creating bootable USB installers. Using any other methods will just lead to confusion & problems. If you have a good Internet connection, then try using Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to see if it will boot to the online Monterey installer.

Either we are missing some important background details or your laptop has a hardware issue if official Apple methods we have described & linked do not work. I've installed macOS so many times over the years for troubleshooting purposes, I know that it will work unless there is a hardware issue preventing the installation.

BxxxFR wrote:

Hi All!

I'm trying to update from Catalina to Big Sur or Monterey on an early 2015 macbook retina.

Which "early 2015 MacBook retina" is this?

• If it is a 12" Retina MacBook, you cannot upgrade it to Monterey. Big Sur is the end of the line.
• If it is a 13" Retina MacBook Pro, you can upgrade it to Monterey, but no further.
• It presumably isn't a 11" or 13" MacBook Air, as MacBook Airs did not yet have Retina displays.

BxxxFR wrote:

The Macbook's SSD is original equipment. As a last resort, I had thought of trying to install the OS on an external drive (the one I use for Time Machine backups).

I was going to suggest trying to install macOS onto an external USB3 drive as a test. But I would not advise you to use a TM backup drive unless it is an old backup drive you no longer need, otherwise you risk damaging your backups.

However, both Big Sur and Monterey installer do still require using the internal SSD to update the system firmware.

Might this also be a fimware issue? Afterall, Big Sur install keeps looking for a firmlink.

Possibly. It could also be an issue with the internal SSD or drive layout since firmware updates are applied from the internal SSD which requires a valid partition & file system.

apfs_get_firmlink_target_vnode:2013:disk1S1:0 vnode lookupat(Library) failed with error 2

I wasn't familiar with "firmlink", but it appears it is a special type of link for APFS volumes that ties together (aka links) various separate locations in the file system to appear as a single entity to the end user. For example, it makes the two separate macOS volumes in macOS 10.15+ ("Macintosh HD" and "Macintosh HD - Data") appear as one ("Macintosh HD") to the end user so that is what users expect to see since that is how previous versions of macOS appeared.

This is not referring to firmware.

If you can boot the laptop into Catalina, then you can try checking the health of the internal SSD by running DriveDx (free trial period) and posting the complete text report here using the "Additional Text" icon which appears like a piece of paper on the forum editing toolbar.

With the updated information that a properly prepared macOS USB installer is having the same issues, then it certainly seems like this laptop most likely has a hardware issue of some sort.

You have tried using different USB sticks...especially a different brand? The quality of many USB sticks is extremely poor.

Edit: I blanked out the post since the forum was having issues when I submitted the post and two copies were made.