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Level 1

7 points

Failed 10.13.5 system update

Had a problem with waking from sleep on 10.13.4 on my late 2015 iMac with a Fusion Drive. Support thread suggested turning off FileVault (encryption), which I did a month ago and solved that problem. Turned off Time Machine backups at the same time, as I preferred that they were encrypted, too. Thread I’ve been watching suggested the new 10.13.5 fixed the issue, so tried to install it yesterday through the App Store.

During the install, I got a message that the installation failed and I was to quit the installer and restart the computer (seem to recall "Error 0” in the explanation, but that’s a bit foggy). Hit the provided restart button. The computer looked like it was starting up, but then shut itself down without a sound. Tried to power it up, but the same thing happened.

To date, I’ve tried the following:

Restart in Safe Mode (shift key down): No help

Restart in Recovery Mode (command R): I can get into recovery mode. Tried Reinstall macOS, get “permission denied”. Tried First Aid on MacintoshHD, failed, "couldn’t fix size of the logical volume". Have not tried erasing the disk with First Aid and restarting with Time Machine, as that backup is a month old (my last resort).

Cleared the PRAM (option command PR): No help

I read that I can attempt to download a bootable system installer for macOS to an external USB and try to install the system from there. I don’t see where anyone has had my problem and tried it yet. Is this worth a shot, or should I just wipe the disk from First Aid and start from my month old backup? Any help would be appreciated.

Posted on Jun 2, 2018 1:13 PM

Best reply

IowaMac84 Author

Level 1

7 points

Posted on Jun 4, 2018 2:30 PM

Just an update to the original problem. I called Apple support, and they eventually suggested getting an external drive and downloading the new system update to that drive through recovery mode. When I did that, the computer booted up on the external drive, using the hard drive as a new “external”. I was then able to get some of my files off the internal hard drive onto a flash drive. We were still unable to erase the iMac internal Fusion drive. The support tech walked me through using the Terminal application to erase the portions of the hard drive individually. At that point, I was able to upload the new system to the Fusion Drive and install my old files through Time Machine. The computer works just fine now.

Good luck to the rest of you with your problems. I would suggest calling Apple support as they have been very helpful to me.

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Failed 10.13.5 system update

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