Latest update to Sierra - iMac stuck at end of install

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Have you tried reinstalling the OS as suggested in the answer marked solved?

Thanks for the super quick reply! I’m attempting macOS reinstall and hoping I pick the option that doesn’t erase my data. Currently it’s been hanging for 10 minson a screen saying ‘starting internet recovery this may take a while. I’m on super fast broadband so hope this is normal!

Mike

You are welcome. Internet Recovery is very slow to load and takes awhile to install. Hopefully, you have a backup in case of an oops. Could you not reinstall using the Recovery Partition (command - R on a restart)?

35 mins later still on same screen! I do have a time machine backup fortunately! I used option-command-r because that was the option on the link that would upgrade to latest compatible version so I felt as that is what I’m ultimately trying to do it seemed ok.

Hopefully we be not messed up. I’ve had the Mac since 2012 and never had a problem till now so not used to all this!

Don't do the Internet Recovery, that will NOT solve the problem, as Eric Root very friendly said.

Try the solution as in this thread. Otherwise try the Recovery Partition, CMD+R, (not the Internet Recovery Partition) as Eric said also.

Had very similar problem. Managed to upgrade to Sierra from El Capitan successfully - (using a Sierra Upgrade Install that had been downloaded a while ago - so may not have been the most recent release from Apple(?)). Machine booted into Sierra ok. Immediately offered 10 updates in App Store - one of which was a System Update. Took the system Update - which required a Restart - upon which I fell into this problem. Apple screen with completed black bar - hung. Eventually went to Verbose mode (Command-V) and spotted that I was hung, getting the "SmartBattery - finished polling Type 4" reports. Followed the thread here to delete the HuaweiDataCardDriver from the Extensions folder.

Solved the problem. This driver has been there through several OS System upgrades - why does it create a boot problem now? (It hasn't worked as a dongle driver since at least El Capitan if not before - no upgrade offered by Huawei)

I am now at OSX 10.12.6 and being offered a System Security Update 2017-001 10.12.6. I am not going to apply it until I have a full Image backup - because this is when the trouble started last time.(Hopefully the removal of the driver extension will any potential problem).

Another 24 hours with no machine.

Have now set the NVRAM to boot in Verbose mode permanently - might spot these problems a bit faster in future.

Thanks to the folks who posted the solution here - would never have solved it otherwise.

Wonder what the next challenge will be with High Sierra ?! - one-step-at-a-time.................

It is plain easy.

High Sierra seems to be more of the same, if you look for "problems with High-Sierra" in Google.

So not to update at all.

Where is that company that was customer oriented? Now they are forcing its constituency into trouble and misery and have become a "problem" more that a "solution" and stubbornly unresponsive.

Really disappointing.

It's all getting too complex - too many historical machine architectures / applications / drivers / upgrade pathways.........must be an internal nightmare. Would love to keep all User data totally divorced from System - and do clean installs of new Operating Systems. Never been clear to me that there is a bombproof way of doing this on the Mac. They always talk about re-initialising the hard drive and starting again............

You can select to put your data on an external drive or partition your internal drive into two partitions. Currently, I have my Applications, Library, System & Users Library on my boot drive. I keep my documents, desktop, pictures, movies, music and downloads on an external drive. If I need to start over, I only have to setup my Mail and other iCloud apps in System Preferences to start over.

If you are interested in how to, let me know.

You said: "I am now at OSX 10.12.6 and being offered a System Security Update 2017-001 10.12.6. I am not going to apply it until I have a full Image backup - because this is when the trouble started last time.(Hopefully the removal of the driver extension will any potential problem). "

Very good thinking to wait with this (last) security update:

for many problems it is useful to install the so-called "Combo Update" of the OS. The latest Combo Update of Sierra will not run anymore when that latest security update has been done !!!

You have an alternative to restoring from Time Machine. You can drill down into the Backups.backupdb files and drag your files to your Mac.

Hello and welcome to Apple Support Communities, Gim010.
If I understand your post correctly, the installation of macOS Sierra stopped part way through and you haven't been able to complete the installation. The panic message you saw appeared only when trying to boot into safe mode and your only backup is several months old. I'd like to help.
Follow these steps:

If you're reinstalling for other reasons

You can install macOS over the same version or earlier version, without removing your data. You don’t need to remove or disable the existing system first.

1. Start up from macOS Recovery by holding down Command (⌘)-R immediately after turning on or restarting your Mac. Release the keys when you see the Apple logo. Startup is complete when you see the utilities window.
   
2. If you want to erase your disk before reinstalling, open Disk Utility from the utilities window, then use Disk Utility to erase the disk. Quit Disk Utility when done.
   Erasing the disk isn't necessary unless you're transferring your Mac to a new owner, partitioning your disk for use with Boot Camp, or attempting to resolve an issue that Disk Utility can't repair.
   
3. Choose Reinstall macOS (or Reinstall OS X) from the utilities window, then follow the onscreen instructions.
   This installs the latest version of macOS that was previously installed on your Mac.

For more information see the full article:
How to reinstall macOS
Let us know if that resolves this issue for you.
Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities. Take care.

I did that. It did not help. I don't want necessarily this specific update. But what about the next updates. And I am concerned, that there is something wrong with my hardware.

The latest update is the last. It is mainly for better security.