Sierra installation stuck at boot

Question

Sierra installation stuck at boot

I am installing Sierra from Lion, using a Macbook Air from mid 2011. The downloads, updates and installations are all well until it gets stuck at the Apple logo with full progress bar. Has anyone else upgraded from Lion to Sierra via the app store and met with this problem? I know it takes time, but in my case, I have left it in that state for more than 24 hours.

I have tried the usual fixes, but none seem to work:

- force restarting

- it doesn't allow safe boot, even when I hold shift and power on

- resetting NVRAM

- repairing Macintosh HD in disk utility from internet recovery doesn't give me any errors

- reinstalling OS not allowed as it says 10.12 is already installed in Macintosh HD

- Command + L doesn't show the Log, so I can't check whether it is still installing anything

Sorry if this question is a re-post, I tried my best to look for solutions but none worked so far. Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

Aaron

MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.5), null

Posted on Oct 15, 2016 1:37 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

rodrigo21sanchez

Level 1

9 points

May 11, 2017 3:20 PM in response to tze haofromsingapore

I tried everything but noting worked. Spent 2 whole days researching blogs and doing all the methods recommended. Nothing worked. Finally I had to erase my hard drive, and install Sierra all over. Worst of all, macbook air worked better before Sierra. Big disappointment I get from mac after many years of enjoying their laptops.

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Answer 2

lals

Level 1

4 points

Oct 11, 2017 5:21 PM in response to tze haofromsingapore

Aaron,

Try: can make a startup disk using a USB drive or key, then use that to install OS on your Macbook (see the link below on how to create a bootable USB disk). I had to do that to install Mac OS my friends's iMac.

/lal

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

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Answer 3

CarloP84

Level 1

8 points

Jun 22, 2017 9:02 AM in response to tze haofromsingapore

Hi Aaron,

i was stuck in the same issue as you, with the same MacBook air model.

After ad day of research i found this guide that saved me :-)

Credits: Justin Silver

https://www.justinsilver.com/technology/os-x-el-capitan-10-11-1-hanging-on-boot- fixed/

I hope it will help someone else that will face this issue.

Regards!

Carlo Politi

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Answer 4

Aug 18, 2017 11:06 AM in response to tze haofromsingapore

I have this problem with a 2008 iMac, but the very same usb drive worked on my 2008 Mac Pro. No idea why the difference except that the iMac has an ssd and the Pro a WD 1TB. I'm going to try booting from an hdd in an external firewire dock to see if it's specifically a usb problem. Seems like Macs are becoming more of a problem every time they 'upgrade' the os. Tired of the Cook and Ive traveling circus.

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Answer 5

lals

Level 1

4 points

Sep 7, 2017 5:40 PM in response to tze haofromsingapore

Hi,

I had same issues yesterday, fan was running hard, once I reboot the Mac, endup same screen has you have above, I managed to log in by using keyboard shortcuts "switch to Desktop2" however, not able to resolve the root cause.

-- lal

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Answer 6

Oct 9, 2017 1:35 PM in response to rodrigo21sanchez

Same exact problem I have on a 1 year old MacBook Air. I have tried everything I know how to do to get it unfrozen. Why doesn’t Apple have a patch for this? No USB port on IPad, which also is very jumpy, slow and battery killing after upgrade. Sorry I upgraded eith, I’m in a mess

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Answer 7

lals

Level 1

4 points

Oct 9, 2017 1:40 PM in response to lals

Hi,

Update: my MacBook pro 2010 (8GB, 1TB SSD, 2.66 GHz i7) is fixed,🙂 I reinstalled Sierra.

note: It took awhile for the process to complete but it worked.

thanks, Lal.

Note: I removed McAfee and then Reinstalled Sierra, so far my MacBook pro seems to ok ..

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Answer 8

AshJoubs

Level 1

8 points

Nov 2, 2017 9:42 PM in response to tze haofromsingapore

None of the solutions on this thread worked for me but something else did. After shutting down and starting up in recovery mode, I exited the screen that comes up and got two options. I chose "Choose start up disk" and after I had done that it automatically restarted my Mac. Then the loading bar that was frozen had restarted and was loading and didn't get stuck at the end! (HALLELUJAH)

Hope this helps someone else :)

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Answer 9

Nov 6, 2017 11:13 PM in response to CarloP84

Thanks for sharing this - I was tearing my hair out and this did the trick. The Apple support team would do well to look at this, as he's identified the root cause. I was in the process of shopping for a new laptop when I found this (and the replacement would not have been a Mac...)

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Answer 10

CarlAVII

Community Specialist

Oct 16, 2016 12:30 PM in response to tze haofromsingapore

Hi tze haofromsingapore,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. I see that your Mac has gotten stuck during the upgrade to macOS Sierra, and I'd like to help you get this resolved.

Since you're not able to reinstall Sierra using macOS Recovery, it may be a good idea to create a bootable USB installer if you have another Mac compatible with Sierra. This will allow you to attempt a reinstall using the bootable installer. Take a look at the following article for more information:

Create a bootable installer for OS X - Apple Support
Take care!

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Answer 11

Oct 16, 2016 9:42 PM in response to CarlAVII

Hello Allen!

Thanks for the quick reply. I tried all night doing all the different solutions in random order and I managed to reinstall Lion using internet recovery, this was vaguely my workflow (starting from my stuck installation):

1) shutdown mac by holding power during stuck installation

2) refresh NVRAM

3) get stuck in Sierra installation afterwards again

4) force restart, hold D to enter Hardware Test, run test

5) test gets stuck at 29 seconds, cursor doesn't respond as well

6) force restart, can't boot anything with a bunch of unix code telling me to press any key to restart again (this keeps repeating)

7) force restart, refresh NVRAM again, right after second chime, enter Internet Recovery mode

8) reinstall OS X Lion (this time it somehow works!)

So after getting my mac in working condition again, I didn't learn my lesson and tried to update to Sierra again.

1) about halfway through the installation stuck, says that it was a Hardware issue and asked me to do a Hardware Test

2) the hardware test stuck again like (6)

3) bought a USB stick to create bootable installer

4) I looked up at how to use a bootable installer and tried it without the USB stick (turn on holding Option)

5) decided to booted the mac in the OS X installer drive (there was only that one option) again because why not

6) installation started, went pass the point where it told me it was a hardware issue (1) yesterday, and went on without a hitch

7) now suddenly I have a working macbook air on Sierra

I am not too sure what happened, but the only possible variables were these :

1) the mac might have been too hot through all those installation attempts during the past few days (the fan was loud too), shutting it off and moving to an air conditioned office

2) the use of Startup Manager to boot into the OS X installer drive, previously I have only used my Macintosh HD in any of these kinds of selections, but in the Startup Manager it doesn't even show up. Now that it has finished installing and everything works fine, the Startup Manager only shows my Macintosh HD, no more OS X installer

Anyway, thanks Allen! Hopefully someone figures out what exactly I did wrong (or right at the end).

Cheers,

Aaron

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Answer 12

lals

Level 1

4 points

Sep 10, 2017 8:42 AM in response to lals

Hi,

Update: my MacBook pro 2010 (8GB, 1TB SSD, 2.66 GHz i7) is fixed,🙂 I reinstalled Sierra.

note: It took awhile for the process to complete but it worked.

thanks, Lal.

Reply