Installation Failed! High Sierra.

I have a late 2009 iMac 27”. I changed out the HDD for an SSD and all was fine until this update. I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple is checking and expecting the system to be in changed from OEM config. I’m in the process of cloning the drive now to save any data before I try a

Ok just got MBP back from Apple - they have replaced SSD (upgraded it to 256) Logic board and oddly the screen - which was beginning to delaminate (?). Total cost £1051 - but four days within warranty 🙂. The tech guy said that the apple branded ssd installed originally was incorrect type.. So that could be where everyones problems lies.

Just reinstalling from backup so fingers crossed its all ok now.

I am having a similar situation with a Mac Pro Server mid 2012, installer says I must performa firmware update before it will even install High Sierra. I cannot find anything on Apple's west on this issue or where to get firmware updates.

You may need a firmware update too before you can install High Sierra.

medrep wrote:

Did PRAM and SMC reset, still can't install. Can't verify firmware.

Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" with i7.

SMC version 1.68f99

Boot Rom Version MBP81.0047.B3A

MacBook Pro 8,1

A1278

MC724LL/A

I have the same as you, however it did swap out the HDD

for an SSD about 2 years ago and there was no issue installing.

FWIW, it is a Sandisk Ultra II 480 GB.

I know that isn't much help, but I am thinking that it should install

and there should be some hope.

However, there is a seemingly odd mix of machines with this issue

although it seems more common with MacBook Pros, with no particular

model or configuration happening more than another.

I have the same problem and have tried most of the 'fixes' folks have listed on here and various other forums. Have just got off the phone from apple - and spoke to three different people over a period of two hours Diagnostics have now been taken and sent to them for their engineers to look at. They said they would call me be back within the next four working days...

If you get any information regarding your issue. I also have a Samsung EVO 850 SSD and have come upon the same issue. I even tried pre-formatting the drive as APFS, and it’s able to do so, so I’m not sure what the issue is.

For the Mac Pro 2012, if you are using a non-EFI PCI graphics card, you will need to use an EFI card for the firmware upgrade and High Sierra install, then put your non-EFI card back in afterwards. No idea why this is necessary, but it is.

In the question that you posted , as seen in the screen shot is stating quit the installer and restart the machine , upcoming steps would be there , I would suggest take more suggestions about this from apple support itself .

Right. But, if you revisit my earlier posts, you’ll see that when looking at the original startup disk AFTER the failed attempt, you’ll see a APFS volume with other partitions. When restarted, all you’ll see is a flashing folder with a question mark (?).

I’m in the process of backing up all the contents of the drive before doing anything else.

I think (and someone here correct me if I’m wrong) the bottom line question everyone has is this:

Is there a way to simply and effectively re-install or re-initiate the installation (I.e., another attempt) of High Sierra that will retain all user apps, files and data (non-destructive) and getting them to a nice updated system or a similar way to revert back to previous “Sierra” without consequence of losing their data?

To my mind, Apple could go a long way in alleviating any concerns by offering a fool proof installer process whereby any faild, incomplete or interrupted installs are logged and upon restart the user is greeted with a number of options:

- restart, reattempt, fix and continue the installation process of the latest version of the OS (mom-destructive update of current user-state retaining all files, apps, data etc.)

- revert back to the previous version and user-state of the machine

- erase/wiper and install latest version of OS

- erase/wipe and install previous version of OS

possible i do not understand what happens to your system but in my case,

the install fails at same point but when i reboot i was still with the same Sierra (not high) system with all my previous data and applications, hope you did not loose something? but i almost sure that journaling is activated on my disk. (can not check it now)

Damien

I contacted Samsung and they said that their firmware is compatible and that it must be something to do with Apple’s firmware. I’m guessing that Apple doesn’t like that I’m using a 3rd party drive, and is looking for an OEM, which is unfair. If anyone hears anything from Apple, please share!

~Ped

Did they call you back? If so, what did they say? I don't think they've ever called me back when they said they would. I did speak to them about this problem. I was told it was a known issue and that there would be a fixed update out soon. An update arrived today and I tried to install it but got the same firmware error.

No they did not call back - not overly impressed. I have booked into to local Apple store genius bar for next Monday tho' to see if they can help. I have not had a go at installing the update but will have a go now..... 😉

When asked where to reinstall - the only option was to install to the ssd (and this went to the app store and was not available) - the recovery disk was greyed out and locked.

I have printed you solution out and will take them along to Apple on Monday - this surely is their problem...!?!

Alright, well here’s the update...

Still no go. I’m still getting “invalid fsroot tree” error running Disk Utility after another attempt at a re-install of High Sierra

By the way, I was able to successfully install High Sierra on an external SSD.

I had an extra 250GB SSD and I made three partitions:

• a bootable High Sierra Installer
• a full bootable Sierra drive
• a full bootable High Sierra drive

I was able to accomplish this via another Mac over Thunderbolt using an external OWC Thunderbolt Dock.

I started the Mac while holding down the “option” key and selected the High Sierra installer partition and ran the installer and selected the blank partition. HS Installer perfectly.

I can use it to boot up into any Mac over USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt

But Disk Utility still cannot repair the internal Evo SSD. It even let me try installing HS on that drive again but when it rebooted it ended up booting into the Sierra partition.

All the data: music, photos, files etc. still exist though I made a copy of that entire corrupted SSD to another SSD with all the data intact just in case.