macOS Sierra Installer won't continue at "Install macOS" selection. Continue button is disabled. In the Utilities Menu, Services indicates "Building"

Question

macOS Sierra Installer won't continue at "Install macOS" selection. Continue button is disabled. In the Utilities Menu, Services indicates "Building"

I created a bootable Sierra installer disk and boots fine. When I select "install macOS" from the utilities menu, the 'continue' button never enables, it stays grayed out. When I pulldown the Utilities menu and click on Services I see the indication 'Building' but never completes.

Sierra 12.5 is installed on the hard disk, but I want to wipe the drive and reinstall macOS.

The disk utility and terminal operate successfully, and disk util finds all storage devices.

Thanks for any help!

MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.5)

Posted on Aug 19, 2017 2:02 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 20, 2017 5:49 PM in response to Dogcow-Moof

Thanks William.

I finally got Sierra to install, using CTRL-OPT-R a few times and it finally installed this morning. My laptop is running at full speed again, so I'm going to assume that the OS installation got corrupted somehow.

Now, on to fixing up apps so they run with the new install.

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,949 points

Aug 19, 2017 2:47 PM in response to andrewfromcrestone

How did you make the installer disk?

You can make a bootable USB stick to install using this free program which will do all the work for you.

Bootable USB Flash Drive – Diskmaker X oruse Apple’s method Create a bootable installer for OS

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Answer 3

Aug 20, 2017 7:41 AM in response to andrewfromcrestone

Well, the installation failed, the log says chunk validation error. Tried to send the log to Apple but that failed too.

Is there a way to restart the installation without rebooting and downloading the installer again?

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Answer 4

Kappy

Level 10

362,259 points

Aug 19, 2017 2:18 PM in response to andrewfromcrestone

How is the SSD prepped? It should use the GUID partition scheme and Format Type of Mac OS Extended, journaled. Then you will need to put OS X onto the SSD.

Clean Install of Sierra or El Capitan on a Clean Disk

Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the Command-Option-Rkeys until a globe appears.
The Utility Menu will appear in from 5-20 minutes. Be patient.
Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
When Disk Utility loads select the drive (usually, the out-dented entry) from the side list.
Click on the Erase tab in Disk Utility's main window. A panel will drop down.
Set the partition scheme to GUID.
Set the Format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
Click on the Apply button, then click on the Done button when it activates.
Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
Select Install OS X and click on the Continue button.

This should install the version of OS X that was pre-installed when the computer was new or Sierra.

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Answer 5

Aug 19, 2017 2:04 PM in response to andrewfromcrestone

Also, there is a new (uninitialized) 240GB SSD drive in the main bay, and a 750GB drive in a disk doubler in the optical bay. 50GB remain on the 750 GB drive.

However, the problem with the installer existed before I added the SSD Drive.

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Answer 6

Aug 19, 2017 3:11 PM in response to Eric Root

I used Apple's method - createinstallerdisk to a 100GB USB Drive. I boot holding the OPT Key and prompts for the boot disk to use. I boot off the bootable installer and the utility menu comes up. So it seems the installer disk is in tact. The Disk Util and Teminal utilities work from the installer disk, but the macOS Install option hangs.

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Answer 7

Aug 20, 2017 7:00 AM in response to Dogcow-Moof

MacbookPro 15" 2011 model. Yes, the Sierra Installer was downloaded from the App Store, so I trust it is the latest.

I tried again last night CTRL-OPT-R and this time it succeeded in downloading the latest installer. I proceeded to install Sierra - but it is taking a long time. The display says 6 minutes remaining, but that was an hour ago - it is about 50% installed now, and display says 3 minutes remaining.

Is it possible that there is a hardware problem? Maybe a failing disk controller that is slowing things down? Is there a hardware diagnostics I can use to verify hardware is functioning 100% ?

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Answer 8

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,951 points

Aug 20, 2017 2:39 PM in response to andrewfromcrestone

Running Apple Hardware Test

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Answer 9

Aug 19, 2017 3:12 PM in response to Kappy

command-option R prompts for an internet connection, then starts a 3 Hr download. I already have the macOS installer downloaded - do I need to download again?

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