System dead after MacOS X El Capitan upgrade attempt

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Level 1

4 points

System dead after MacOS X El Capitan upgrade attempt

I finally decided to upgrade my MBP 2011 from Yosemite to ElCapitan via the AppStore since I assumed after the first ElCapitan update is out the upgrade process should work like a charm - man was I wrong. The upgrade process started and after a while the system rebooted and then my system just shut down. And now my system won't boot properly anymore, it automatically shuts down during the boot process.

After enabling the verbose boot mode I was able to see what causes the shutdown:

OSX FIPS Integrity Test: HMAC comparison failed

FIPS USER Space POST: Integrity test failed!

FIPS_POST failed!

Mon Nov 2 18:47:15 2015 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] <Emergency>: Boot task failed: fips

Mon Nov 2 18:47:15 2015 localhost com.apple.xpc.launchd[1] <Emergency>: Shutting down in 3 seconds

What is going on here? What is the "FIPS Integrity Test" and why does it fail?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Nov 2, 2015 10:08 AM

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Answer 1

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,739 points

Nov 3, 2015 9:18 AM in response to iDev1

If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data, then reinstall the OS.* You don't need to erase the startup volume, and you won't need the backup unless something goes wrong. If the system was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you may need the Apple ID and password you used.

There are ways to back up a computer that isn't fully functional. Ask if you need guidance.

If you installed the Java runtime distributed by Apple and still need it, you'll have to reinstall it. The same goes for Xcode. All other data will be preserved.

*The linked support article refers to OS X 10.11 ("El Capitan"), but the procedure is the same for OS X 10.7 ("Lion") and later.

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Answer 2

iDev1 Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 3, 2015 9:18 AM in response to Linc Davis

Thanks for the hint Linc! After restoring my system to Yosemite via TimeMachine and attempting another upgrade to ElCapitan with the same failure result, the "reinstall" option from the ElCapitan internet recovery boot menu finally did the job.

I still wonder what the "FIPS integrity test" is about. However, I have to say: the worst MacOS upgrade experience I've ever had ...

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