Reinstall Bless Tool?

Question

Reinstall Bless Tool?

I'm trying to install Yosemite on my 2009 silver Mac Pro and every avenue seems blocked.

The most common error is "The bless tool was unable to set the startup disk."

I have had Yosemite installed on this machine before, however, after an update it started acting erratically,

and having to get work done, i wiped the drive and installed Ubuntu on the SSD. Ubuntu runs fine on it and

Ubuntu will run on an HDD that I have, although that is currently set up just for storage.

I've tried to reinstall Yosemite many times on the SSD but always come back to the bless tool error message.

I've just bought a 240GB OWC SSD and the PCie adapator and am now again trying to reinstall on this Disk,

So I can keep Ubuntu on the other.

The disk is currently formatted as Mac Extended Journaled with GUI partitioning.

I tried slightly shrinking the partition and then installing. No Joy.

If I run the Yosemite install app I get an "bless tool can not set the start up disk" error and the install quits.

A bootable partition on an external that I made with DiskMaker X ran through the installer only to get an error at the end.

I currently have a cloned copy of Snow Leopard on the SSD that I can boot into.

I can boot into the recovery partition withe the Option/Alt select disk hotkey

and disk repair and permissions show no errors.

I seem unable to reset NVRAM. The hot key combination does nothing, it just boots as normal.

My Mac Pro no longer does the start up chime but I've tried to reset at every

possible instance of the reboot cycle. No Joy.

Ive done a SMC reset by unplugging and waiting.

I can access the man page for the nvram terminal command but trying to run it with any arguments gives the error

"nvram: nvram doesnt work on this computer" or something to that effect

or cant find ioDeviceTree

I've tried to use the bless tool from the command line but that doesnt work either.

I've removed and reinserted the motherboard battery which should have reset NVRAM, but that didn't change any of the errors.

Is it possible to reinstall or replace the bless tool so that it wont keep preventing me from installing?

2009 Mac Pro 2.66Ghz 8-core

20GB RAM

Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Jun 25, 2015 2:12 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Jun 25, 2015 2:22 PM in response to harajukushonen

I have seen this problem on one of my new SSDs. Seems to be the SSD because replacing it with another I had no problem. Oddly, they were both the exact same models and make. Go figure.

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Answer 2

lllaass

Level 10

210,513 points

Jun 25, 2015 3:08 PM in response to harajukushonen

Go the the SSD manufacturer's support site and see if there is a firmware update available for the SSD.

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Answer 3

Jun 25, 2015 8:13 PM in response to harajukushonen

>>"I seem unable to reset NVRAM."<<

Some variables require administrator privilege to get or set.

...this means in practice you need to type:

sudo nvram

and enter your login password, to get it to do anything useful.

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Answer 4

Jun 25, 2015 9:52 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Even using sudo I get the following response

"nvram: nvram is not supported on this system"

I downloaded the OWC firmware installer, burned it to a dvd and booted from it but it said no firmware updates were required by my drive for my Mac (2009 MacPro4,1)

I've ordered a PRAM battery to replace and try and a copy of snow leopard install DVDs in case something about the cloned copies is screwing it up but I'm not extremely hopeful.

Thanks you for your responses.

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Answer 5

Jun 25, 2015 9:56 PM in response to harajukushonen

As a note, this is the 4th drive that has given me these errors. 2 mechanical and this is the second SSD, so I'm fairly certain at this point it's something to do with the board and non volatile ram. The problem being that that seems to be an issue I can't fix.

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Answer 6

lllaass

Level 10

210,513 points

Jun 26, 2015 1:29 AM in response to harajukushonen

Have yo ran Apple Hardware Test or Diagnosis as applicable?

Using Apple Hardware Test

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Answer 7

Jun 26, 2015 7:31 AM in response to lllaass

I dont have MacPro disks, though I have some for MacBookPro and an iMac.

Being a new SSD and, since holding D on bootup does nothing, I'm pretty sure there is no hardware test partition.

I downloaded the MacPro4,1 hardware test dmg from github, burned it to a disk hoping that I could just boot into it.

But it doesnt show up in the "Option" start up disk selection and "C" boot from disk doesnt work.

Can I access the hardware test from one of the other installation disks?

thanks again everyone

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Answer 8

Jun 26, 2015 8:14 AM in response to harajukushonen

Does holding down Option at Startup get you the Startup Manager screen?

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Answer 9

Jun 26, 2015 11:13 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

To use snag keys such as C-for-CD, D-for-Diagnostics, or Alt/Option for Startup Manager, your wired keyboard must be plugged into a USB port directly on the chassis, not on a display or other Hub. Hubs are made active too late to change the course of Startup.

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Answer 10

Jun 26, 2015 12:36 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Mouse and keyboard are directly plugged in.

Option seems to be the only startup key that works, although only on 1 in 3 bootups although I'm being fairly consistent with when I hit it after the grey screen comes up (no boot chime)

I got the snow leopard installation disk and started it while running in a clone of snow leopard on an external (installing to the internal).

Ran to the store and when I came back the Mac had powered down. Booting into the SSD brought me into Yosemite recovery mode (from an old attempt, I guess the snow leopard installer did nothing.). The reinstall option, as usual, says that this is not a supported method of installing and to use the app from the app store.

I just booted from the install disk and after 15 minutes of blue screen I'm back working through a clean snow leopard attempt.

All of these attempts seem to fail when the installer goes to set the startup disk so they just give up.

I'll report back.

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Answer 11

Jun 26, 2015 5:26 PM in response to harajukushonen

The PRAM battery is a BR 2032 coin cell half-hidden behind the graphics card slot. It is a non-recharging long-life lithium battery that measures a bit over its nominal 3 Volts when new. In a pinch it can be replaced with its "poor cousin" the CR 2032, which has a shorter life and a narrower operating range. The CR 2032 is used in garage door remotes and car key fobs, so it may be more available.

It is difficult to get an accurate measurement in circuit. With the AC cord in place, you will instead read the always-on power supply rather than the Backup battery. It make take a while to drain down the residual charge, so best bet is to remove it and measure in hand.

Lithium batteries tend to "fall off a cliff" when getting tired, so if yours is discharged, it should be apparent.

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Answer 12

Jun 26, 2015 5:29 PM in response to harajukushonen

Option seems to be the only startup key that works, although only on 1 in 3 bootups although I'm being fairly consistent with when I hit it after the grey screen comes up (no boot chime)

That timing recommendation is only important if you are using a wireless keyboard. If you are using a wired keyboard, feel free to hold that key from Startup, or even during Shutdown.

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Answer 13

Jun 26, 2015 8:07 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Oh man. I've wasted so much time and stress trying to nail that timing.

Update is that booting into the snow leopard installer works but it doesn't recognize the ssd in either the start up disk or installation options which is wierd since it did when run from the external clone.

I'm gonna take it in to a local apple certified shop on Monday.

Let sigh

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