Mac wont boot after successful High Sierra install

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Level 1

20 points

Mac wont boot after successful High Sierra install

Hey,

I've recently successfully updated my MacBook Pro (2012) from Sierra to High Sierra and was actually bug free for most of it now. Until yesterday, alas.

I don't remember having any trouble when I shut it down last time but it won't boot anymore now. The progress bar runs toward the middle as usual but then stops and continues so slowly you barely see ist. After around 10 minutes it reaches the end and the bar ist completely black but nothing changes from then on. I let him give it a try over night but nothing again.

So I tried:

-Safe Boot

-First Aid in Disk Utility in Recovery Mode

-Single User Mode: fsck -fy

-Reset NVRAM

-Reset SMC

-Re-Install High Sierra in Recovery Mode (where the time had to be adjusted because of "The recovery server could not be contacted")

-Safe Boot with Verbose Mode (it said "Process[1xx] crashed: opendirectoryd. Too many corpses being created" before and after re-install-attempt and goes on infinitely)

nothing worked. The next step would be to use the Time Maschine but being the idiot I am, the last backup was 2 months ago. I'd love to avoid losing that data.

Has anyone else encountered that problem? From what I read, at least one of these methods did the trick for other people or they were smarter and used their Time Machine more responsibly.

Thanks for your answer!

lilninja9

Posted on Oct 25, 2017 1:47 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

lilninja9 Author

Level 1

20 points

Oct 30, 2017 2:52 AM in response to tyronjc23

(My) Solution: Restore internal drive to external, erase internal drive and re-install the OS. I saved my data but have to adjust everything from the start, i.e. install my apps.

Yes, I did but alas with quite the effort and not as I had intended to. But I have to admit, I didn't contact the support since I did not have time to chat or call.

No Target Disk Mode available

Since I did not have somebody with a Mac around, I could not connect my Mac via Target Disk Mode. It would have been possible with my Windows PC but it doesn't have a FireWire or Thunderbolt Connection. An adapter from these to USB was about 100€ on Amazon.

Restore to external drive as backup

Instead, I bought another external drive the same size as my internal. I plugged it in and started in Recovery mode (Cmd + R). There, I opened Disk Utility and selected the new external drive and clicked "Restore" (didn't work at first, the error "Restore Failure: Recovery partition restores can only be done on GPT partition maps" appeared, so I erased and re-partitioned it, I think, I am not exactly sure anymore). In the following menu, I selected the internal drive with my data to be the source, meaning everything gets copied exactly the way it is from my internal to my external drive so I had a backup. I made sure it had worked by installing MacDrive on my Windows PC (allows it to read Mac OS Extended - Journaled format) and was happy to find my pictures, texts and everything on there. I definitely had my backup.

Erase drive and re-install OS

I went back to Disk Utility in Recovery Mode and selected my internal drive and clicked "Erase". After that, I re-installed the original OS (Recovery Mode: Shift + Opt + Cmd + R), which was Mountain Lion in my case, and went from there. (I continued to Yosemite as it was the only OS besides High Sierra that I found in the store)

El Capitan and Sierra can't be found via search anymore and don't appear in your Purchased-Tab anymore so I searched the internet for links leading me there (I hope posting is okay... El Capitan: https://itunes.apple.com/de/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?mt=12 Sierra: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?mt=12).

Since I was on Yosemite, I didn't need El Capitan for upgrading and installed Sierra instead. Since everything is now gone, I have to re-install all my apps, transfer my files back, adjust the settings etc. On the other hand, my Mac is set up new and clean again 😉

I'd be happy if there was another solution to it, i.e. repairing the damage in the OS or something like that, but time was short since I needed my friend so I went with the violent option.

Best of luck saving your data!

lilninja9

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Answer 2

raina_b22

Community Specialist

Oct 26, 2017 1:58 PM in response to lilninja9

Greetings lilninja9,

Thanks for using the Apple Support Communities.

I see that you are having an issue starting your Mac that is running macOS High Sierra. It's important to make sure that you can use your Mac fine without any issues, so I'll be happy to help assist you.

It looks like you've done some good isolation and troubleshooting steps. Since you are still having this issue, I would like you to contact Apple Support.

You can contact Apple Support here: Contact Apple Support .

Kind Regards.

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Answer 3

Nov 23, 2017 2:50 AM in response to raina_b22

I've call the apple support. The only thing he said to me was that has a apple client, I should have done a backup before the uptate and that he can't do anything for me.

Well, that was not helpful at all.

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Answer 4

jesseye

Level 1

4 points

Nov 26, 2017 3:43 PM in response to lilninja9

Thank you for posting. I'm in the same predicament. I am confused though -- if I purchase an external HD now, will I be able to back up the data on my macbook even though I can't boot? I've never had an external HD and know very little. I know that I do not have very much on my internal HD (84 GB I think?) but I'd like to save it before erasure.

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Answer 5

lilninja9 Author

Level 1

20 points

Nov 26, 2017 9:39 PM in response to jesseye

Although the operating system itself won't boot, the Recovery Mode should work and boot just fine. You can try accessing it (hold Cmd+R immediately after pressing the startup button until the loading bar appears) before buying an external HD but it is the designated helper in cases like this; when the operating system ist shot to pieces. You can do the backup / restore there. Note: Restore makes a copy of the internal HD to the external and you can access your data afterwards just like on a normal external HD or USB Stick.

Note: I have no clue if you can access your data that way of the drive has been encrypted!

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Answer 6

Jan 10, 2018 10:34 PM in response to lilninja9

After high Sierra I can no longer get into recovery mode! Aaahhhh. Even tried a new hard drive with no data to do a clean install. What the heck did apple do!! Laptop was working great prior to install. Did they mess up the firmware?

All the solutions seem to start with “boot to recovery,” so... what if you can’t get to recovery?

Only thing that works is holding down option. This lets me log in to WiFi then select the drive. After that... a lot of waiting then screen either goes white or laptop will actually turn off. Tried a dozen or more times.

Tried to post a pic but guess forum does not support pics from iPhone... can’t make this crud up. Apple... what happened??

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Answer 7

Jan 22, 2018 7:28 PM in response to Newfienight

I have been unable to get my MacBook up and running. I don't have any other Macs around. I have the original installation disk after waiting a while, get to the blue screen... no further. Internet recover starts, spinning globe and all, then ends up on white screen. Let that on for 12 hours once out of frustration, still nothing. I can get to the hardware test, everything checks out. So upset at this... was working great prior to High Sierra.

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Answer 8

Feb 1, 2018 1:04 PM in response to lilninja9

I had exactly the same problem, but how you fix it? How to move internal drive to external drive? (From machintosh hd to new drive) when on external drive i try to restore from machintos hd to the new drive it said “eror need to apply GPT partition maps”. So I do like u said (on macintosh hd internal I partition into 2 map side by side. Is it correct? Can you help me reply exactly how to move em? Im afraid my data will get lose. I want to restore eveything like a new MAC cause now my laptop totally freeze on a loading apple (gray and white) wasnt like that after install the high sierra., please help.. best regard thanks

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Answer 9

D29842

Level 1

4 points

Feb 4, 2018 5:36 PM in response to lilninja9

I just want to put in my 0.02. I have a mid 2012 MBP and had the same catch exactly from the loading bar to the sign in problems to the corpses being created. Apple Support informed me I'm screwed and have lost everything since I didn't do a back up. I performed these steps and have all of my information back as usual. Thanks @lilninja9!!

P.S.-I however (since knowingly having all of my stuff NOW backed up) went all the way back up to High Sierra and do not have any issues now.

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Answer 10

JPM333

Level 1

9 points

Feb 5, 2018 4:35 PM in response to lilninja9

I have this issue as well. I don't have my data backed up to a HD. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I sort of trusted an update from Apple to not screw up my machine, I know I know what a fool but can you blame me. Who would have thought Apple would have released a software update that would crap out a iMac you spent $2000 dollars on?

Get this, that was my second iMac, I am currently typing this on a retina MacBook, I have a iPad, iPhone 7S two apple TV devices and I see I should have backed up my iMac before loading an update from some nefarious place, wait no check that, it was from Apple.

Now I'm hoping someone from Apple will contact me. Because I'm a little upset. I've been promoting Apple for years because they didn't blue screen like PCs.. Right now lets just say that opinion is close to changing.

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