Q: System wont boot after OS X 10.11.2 update

Gestler,

Try to reformat the Mac volume. You can do this to get into SUM: power on and hold option and then arrow over your Mac hard-drive. Hold command-s at the time of holding the command-s press return.

Or,

Here is a very similar thread. So, is better that you refer that thread in order to resolve your problem.

Same problem, and Apple genius did not help because my 6.5 years iMac 24" is classified as "vintage" and no more supported by Apple.

Really...

Rebooted twice and it didn't help, the same freezing problem at about 75% of the update.

Solved by going backwards to the previous version - rebooting from Time Machine that had the 10.11.1 version.

Hi Gestler,

Thank you so much for your suggestions.

it is likely that the issue I had was related to Symantec end point protection that my company's IT had installed.

However, I have no way to disable the antivirus once I boot from external disk.  My external disk is taking a long time to boot (I fear that the clone I made on my external disk is not good either).

if you have any pointers to selectively disable AV during boot up it will be good.

I Do know that the TM Back up of a couple months ago is working fine.

Cheers

Yogesh

Just to add - I never installed antivirus. But 10.11.2 froze the same.

I have tried to perform the upgrade to 10.11.2  4-5 times now Macbook pro - late 2013. The boot fails in a very early stage. I could restore everything to 10.11.1 form the backup every time but it takes hours. I have disabled(removed)  everything from StartupItems. That does not help either. The startup disk is sane and ok, but it looks as if there are some essential files missing from the boot area. I will try the suggestions cloning external disk ->upgrading that external disk -> booting from external disk and finally if everything is OK clone the external disk again to the startup disk. Or maybe apple releases a fix first? Where is the quality?

beljake wrote:

 

I have tried to perform the upgrade to 10.11.2  4-5 times now Macbook pro - late 2013. The boot fails in a very early stage. I could restore everything to 10.11.1 form the backup every time but it takes hours. I have disabled(removed)  everything from StartupItems. That does not help either. The startup disk is sane and ok, but it looks as if there are some essential files missing from the boot area. I will try the suggestions cloning external disk ->upgrading that external disk -> booting from external disk and finally if everything is OK clone the external disk again to the startup disk. Or maybe apple releases a fix first? Where is the quality?

If the install fails there is no guarantee that you arrived at a stable state, so restoring to a known good state seems to be appropriate.

Another good thing to try when there are problems with updating, is to use the "combo" update.

Actually, that is what I always do except for .1 updates. A 10.11.2 "combo" update includes everything to go from 10.11 or 10.11.1 to 10.11.2.

You can try downloading the combo and see if it works that way.

Download OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 Combo Update

I tried the combo update twice but that did not make a difference. I also tried a fresh install of OS-X (that did not work either) Maybe a significant detail, my Retina display is broken and I can't see what is displayed on it (but booting command-R shows it content nicely on the other connected screens) If the boot process asks a question before the other screen-drivers are loaded it can't work.

Anyway the update process is visibly not working correctly. Not enough tested. I upgraded my macbook air without issues from 10.11.1 ro 10.11.2

SUCCESS!!! FINALLY!!!

After being unable to install 10.11.1 or .2 (wouldn’t boot up), but sure that was due to some software incompatibility, I reformatted a big external volume and installed 10.11.2 successfully (no surprise), then repopulated it step by step, app by app, with all the stuff I use on my main (AirBook) drive (going from high-priority stuff like the MS Office and iWork suites, down to ever lower-priority stuff), with frequent cloning (to save what was good, and avoid a hung state) (yes, lots of time! ). One of the last apps was Kensington’s TrackballWorks 1.2.1 for Mac: BAM!!! No question about it. I removed the app and the associated .kext, and everything works fine. Actually, my trackball was misbehaving on and off since the initial 10.11, as if the pref pane had stopped registering the device; easy to correct, but unusual, and a pain.

This may not be the only SW causing the problem, and others may have other stuff, but I’m all OK now. It’s surprising that a big outfit like Kensington hasn’t updated their SW for El Capitan (it was issued June 22, 2015), but I hope they do so soon, because I really like their trackball.

Perhaps what is causing so many aleatory problems for us trying to install the upgrade is what you just mentioned - incompatibility of one or more apps.

I think that when installing Yosemite apps that wouldn't be compatible where automatically dumped into an Yosemite-generated folder called "Not compatible software", and seems it avoided the hung state El Capitan is causing.

Wishful question   : is there a way to anticipate what apps won't be compatible with El Capitan or the 10.11.2 and remove it before hand ?

I think there is are least some fair assumtions which might be useful - at least, that’s how I proceeded. The safest apps would likely be ones that Apple themselves had made; the iWork suite tops that list. Then come those that are so widely used that both Apple and the publishers are interested enough and have enough resources to make sure they’ll work, such as the MS Office Suite, and Skype. Dropbox and iPassword would be almost in the same league. After that, there’s a lot of guesswork and intuition involved, including your opinion of how widely an app is used, and whether the publisher has the resources (and connections) to make timely, important changes. I use Graphic Converter a lot, so I tried it, and it’s OK. Same with iClip and PopChar. But the aleatory can’t be entirely eliminated, as demonstrated when it turned out that a Kensigton driver was at fault, because I thought they’d be big enough and astute enough to have tested it, and fixed it, in time.

Another important criterion is whether you really need the app at all. I found I had quite a few which I’d hardly ever used, or not in a long time, so I dispensed with them.

Two apps I use and like have been mentioned in this thread as being potentially dangerous, but cause me no problem: CleanMyMac and Avast, an antivirus app (I know about "no viruses on Macs", but I can’t help think it’ll happen some day, and Avast, being free and problem-free seems to be a good investment).

But when you start experimenting like I did, it’s pretty risky unless you have a external clone to work with (I use SuperDuper! for that, which is also no problem), rather than risk your main boot drive. With such a clone, all you risk is your time.

I was just reminded today of a helpful site that does try to anticipate which apps will work with which Mac OS.

Visit http://roaringapps.com

They have a pretty comprehensible list of compatible apps.

Great list, would've possibly saved me a lot of time, and I'll keep it for future reference. But he was wrong about Kensington's TrackballWorks; maybe he only tested it on 10.11, and only briefly, where there were just intermittent problems. But with .1 and .2 it's definitely a no-go. I just wrote him.

I am a computer-user veteran but not a computer-expert but I am willing to try what you did.

Can you help me with the process?

I understood:

1. Have handy a reformatted (empty) large disk.

2. Install 10.11.2 to this disk

3. From my main disk (or Time Machine?), manually copy and paste apps to the reformatted

5. Clone the reformatted after each app transfer (here a question: clone it where to?)

6. BAM ! , next question: not clear to me, you mean the app will not work?

7. Where are the .kext located?

Thanks!

Mikile, I, too, am only a veteran, and not any kind of IT guy. I'll post better instructions in about an hour or so.