Nothappyclaire

Q: Can't restart MacBook after Mac OS Sierra installatio

I am having problems with installing Mac OS Sierra. It jammed last night at about 90%. I shutdown. This morning I tried to start it with no success. I then started it with Command and R and choose to reinstall software. This seemed to work, took forever, but when it re-started at the end of this process the little white progress bar got all the way to the end then froze. I've just spoken to apple and have been told to try this again, which I am. It took about 3hrs this morning. I've checked my HD there is 117GB space. Anyone else had same problem and has managed to fix it?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, iOS 10.0.2

Posted on Oct 6, 2016 7:41 PM

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Q: Can't restart MacBook after Mac OS Sierra installatio

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  • by Carolyn Samit,

    Carolyn Samit Carolyn Samit Oct 6, 2016 7:46 PM in response to Nothappyclaire
    Level 10 (123,559 points)
    Apple Music
    Oct 6, 2016 7:46 PM in response to Nothappyclaire

    Startup holding down the Command + R keys again so you can access the built in utilities to verify and repair the startup disk if necessary then try installing Sierra.

     

    About macOS Recovery

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 6, 2016 7:55 PM in response to Nothappyclaire
    Level 10 (271,691 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 6, 2016 7:55 PM in response to Nothappyclaire

    Rather than re-installing I suggest you follow this protocol:

     

    Install Sierra from Scratch

     

         Backup if possible before continuing.

     

    1. Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command and R keys until the Apple logo appears. When the Utility Menu appears:
    2. Select Disk Utility from the Utility Menu and click on Continue button.
    3. When Disk Utility loads select the volume (indented entry, usually Macintosh HD) from the Device list.
    4. Click on the Erase icon in Disk Utility's main window. A panel will drop down.
    5. Set the Format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
    6. Click on the Apply button, then wait for the Done button to activate and click on it.
    7. Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
    8. Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.
  • by Nothappyclaire,

    Nothappyclaire Nothappyclaire Oct 6, 2016 8:02 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Oct 6, 2016 8:02 PM in response to Kappy

    Is there a way to backup with external drive when you can't restart computer?

    I'm reluctant to erase HD unless I really have to as (obviously) my last back up was longer ago than it should have been and I don't want to loose everything.

  • by Kappy,Helpful

    Kappy Kappy Oct 8, 2016 3:45 AM in response to Nothappyclaire
    Level 10 (271,691 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 8, 2016 3:45 AM in response to Nothappyclaire

    Depends. Do you have another computer available? Do both computers support Firewire and/or Thunderbolt? If so, then you could use Target Disk Mode to access the disk on the computer that is unable to boot from one that will. You can remove the non-working disk and install it in a USB enclosure to access the disk from another computer.

     

    I'm leery about suggesting another re-install given the past two tries have not been successful.

  • by Nothappyclaire,

    Nothappyclaire Nothappyclaire Oct 8, 2016 3:54 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Oct 8, 2016 3:54 AM in response to Kappy

    YOU ARE A LEGEND! THANK YOU!

    I managed to connect to my computer HD using target disc mode and copy all my work from last 2 weeks onto a USB (since last backup). I then tried to do a time machine backup via friends laptop and then tried to use that under recovery mode to restore my computer, interestingly it all seemed to go well until the restart and then again jammed so something from the bodged system install has stuffed files. I then restored using backup from 2 weeks ago and it worked, yeah....! I can now manually transfer the work that I saved from being to access HD under target, so still happy.

    So I'm back in El Captain OS and wondering now how I try and update to Sierra - why was it such a disaster? Was it due to anti-virus software? Any ideas on how to go forward would be appreciated.

    Thanks for your time.

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Oct 8, 2016 9:44 AM in response to Nothappyclaire
    Level 10 (271,691 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 8, 2016 9:44 AM in response to Nothappyclaire

    Any upgrade can go bad if the system being upgraded has problems. The upgrade can and usually will exacerbate those problems. I always prefer erasing the drive, installing the new system, testing it out, then restoring what I need from my backups. I maintain two or three regular backups. Something I would recommend for all users.

     

    If you have space on your startup disk or if you have an external disk you can use, then it may be preferable to install Sierra on a newly made partition on your startup disk provided you aren't using a Boot Camp partition. In this case, you must use an external disk. This way you can check it out as well as use your third-party applications on the startup disk to be sure they work properly with Sierra.

  • by Nothappyclaire,

    Nothappyclaire Nothappyclaire Oct 8, 2016 2:06 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Notebooks
    Oct 8, 2016 2:06 PM in response to Kappy

    Thank you, great advice, will do.