Problems upgrading to macOS Mojave on MacBook Pro 2018

dmauch: I have some instructions here for you to do some investigation on that file.

1. In Finder from the Go menu: select Go to Folder

2. In the box type /etc

3.click OK

4. In the folder locate the file you renamed that was sysctl.conf

5. Open the file with TextEdit

6. If need be, drag the file to your Desktop, you may be prompted to enter your administer password for permission to move the file.

Look for anything regarding networking in that file. Since it's not on any of my stock installs that Apple does by default, it sounds very strange, and possibly like it shouldn't exist.

I would look at the file myself, but wasn't sure if you knew how to share files, either with google drive, or dropbox.

dmauch, I don't have a specific answer for you, or anyone else who had the file created. However, it looks like in your case something tried to tune your network settings for better performance and created the file according to this site:

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20060616112919669

It's not exactly like your file, but it looks like that's what happened and why you ended up with the configuration.

Interesting. Like my Dad used to say, “You don’t get points for trying,” especially when the result completely screws up your system. Still hard to believe the beta testing didn’t reveal this...shalll we call it an “anomaly?”

In a case like this, unless you specifically created the file yourself and configured sysctl. Then you either had internet software that did it, or another piece of software such as one of the utilities, etc.

I feel confident in saying this though: Since you have been running Mojave, have you checked to see if the file has been recreated (since you renamed the one that was there?). If it has, then possibly the Mac is doing it, or a piece of third party software. If it hasn't been, then whatever created it the first time, hasn't either been run since, or it doesn't need it now.

It does make sense to see where it came from though, especially for those who had it interfere with the upgrade so next time, you can make sure if it's an incompatible piece of software doing it, you can disable or delete it prior to more upgrade issues.

I removed it from my iMac (which had the detritus from a lot of Migration Assistant episodes over the years), upgraded to Mojave, and just checked and it is not there. So, Mojave didn't seem to recreate it.

Ann,

If you read my post to dmauch, I went back and checked every version of the Mac OS from High Sierra to Snow Leopard in VMware Fusion. NO version of macOS creates it on an Apple stock install. So that's why, it's either created by the person specifically, or a piece of third party software. At least that's what it looks like currently.

If I can come up with a specific solid answer that will give people specific info to help prevent this in the future, or even resolve issues people haven't resolved yet, I will post here.

With that said, the sysctl Utility is installed, but it has to be configured manually, hence no conf file by default.

One file that should be present by default is syslog.conf, also in /etc

Again, with that said, syslog.conf is the only file containing "sys" in it's name by default in /etc

I am not a UNIX person, and I usually just do whatever the installer does on 3rd party applications. It takes a lot of courage for me to open Terminal and copy and paste these posted remedies into it.

Something probably came into my Macs with Migration Assistant. I have been using Migration Assistant to set up new computers for a long time. I will check for the sysctl file on my new MBP 2018, which came with High Sierra but which has only had a fraction of my old stuff moved to it so far. I started to run Migration Assistant and stopped it when I saw it was bringing over entire Documents and Applications folders instead of letting me pick out what I wanted to bring over.

Just checked - “No file found or directory,” and I renamed the file rather than deleting it. I‘m with Ann Laux. I would not normally fool around with “Terminal” either, nor would I knowingly create files. But it would be interesting to know how it was created in the first placeo or from what 3rd party software.

dmauch, after checking with a friend, it seems like the most probable cause for you, and Ann's files is from legacy software that was passed down through your Time machine backups, especially hers since she said she's had the same backup going for years. If you have as well, it's very possible the same. What I would recommend at this point, to avoid further issues, is to make sure your system is stable and the way you want it, and start a fresh clean time machine backup from this point in time. That way you can get rid of all the legacy stuff that may cause future issues .

As long as everything you need is on your current install / setup, there is no harm in starting over with time machine from this point.

Sounds like a reasonable explanation. Interestingly, I just recently installed a new WD My Passport for Mac as my TM destination via Super Duper. In fact, I sent an inquiry to WD asking what they would recommend for reformatting now that I have Mojave— stay with HD+ or change to APFS. BTW, my HD gets backed-up routinely using Smart Update daily.

If you're not planning on using the built in Time Machine functionality, then you should format your backup drive to whatever the source is. So if you're backing up an APFS source use an APFS backup.

The only reason that solution doesn't work for Time Machine is because of how time machine uses hard links which APFS doesn't support, so in that case the time machine drive needs to be HFS+.

I have both SuperDuper!, and Carbon Copy Cloner, as well as the built in Time Machine functionality of the OS.

All good solutions with their pros and cons.

The only other time I would recommend against APFS is:

1. you plan on using software not compatible, such as an older version of the macOS.

2. or you backup solution doesn't support it.

Now that you have Mojave, and your Fusion drive has been converted to APFS, you now have snapshots right on the system drive, so if you need to roll back, you can do it now right from the system drive. (similar to Windows restore points.). Keeping an external backup now, is just a way of having the content backed up to another source.

I'm sharing this, because if you were to have something happen to the external backup. APFS would still have a backup from the last 24 hours. It does a snapshot every hour for the last 24 course. So you should always have a current backup of the last day on your APFS drive.

iFrog is right: Time Machine volumes still need to be formatted with HFS+, but a clone is different: APFS is now a lot more mature than at the beginning, and I believe you can safely clone to an APFS-formatted volume. I do, and there have been no problems. Just keep in mind that if your Mac has a T2 chip, the cloned volume will only be readable by the Mac that created it. (I haven't tested this yet, but it's what the developers of Carbon Copy Cloner wrote.) Due to the T2's encryption-at-rest, you must definitely have a second backup solution, in case your T2 Mac is fried beyond repair. Otherwise you won't have access to your data anymore. For most people that second solution would be Time Machine. I currently only use BackBlaze, but I'm going to reactivate Time Machine backups as soon as I have my Synology NAS.

PS: you can also enable additional FileVault encryption on the clone, but it must be done while being booted into the clone volume.

Hey Kladdy

I'm so glad to hear that I am not the minority. I have endured the worst experience I have ever had with a computer of any brand - including Dell with the upgrade of Mojave. MackBook Pro 2017 13" was on High Sierra and I jumped early to Mojave. As a brief summary, this is what happened;

Slow and unresponsive

Boot Camp booted to blue screen in Windows

External hard drives not recognised

Bluetooth not working in Boot Camp (when it eventually worked)

Power draining while charging over night

Printers on the network not being recognised

Internet recovery not showing option for factory reset

Apple Support was not able / willing to provide any assistance for boot camp as they insisted it was a Windows issue. I have been resetting NVRAM daily to keep it working and reviewing Discussions and Reddit for help but nothing was working. The local service agent was wanting to charge me to investigate what was wrong with the laptop. I have ended up enforcing Consumer Rights with my retailer and I now have a new MacBook Pro running High Sierra. All issues have been resolved. My retailer has been superb (JB Hifi in Australia and NZ) and we determined the Mojave install has corrupted firmware and therefore unable to be resolved. This would explain the several restarts while Mojave was being installed.

Been a Mac use for 15 years and never had a major problem and any issues that have occurred I have been able to resolve myself. The experience in dealing with Apple has left a sour taste. To make matters worse, I live in a small city on the far side of the world where we do not have an Apple Store. Almost makes me want to revert to a Windows laptop.

😁 thank goodness High Sierra is solid on my MBP2018 and that there aren't any super compelling reasons to update to Mojave at this point in time - the thought of reverting back to Windows makes me shudder.

I do wish Apple would hurry up and fix this Mojave issue though.

Same here, i.e. High Sierra is solid on 2018 MBP, though I am getting three warnings when running Disk Utilities' First Aid on the boot volume (T2 and FileVault encrypted):

Checking the fsroot tree.

warning: crypto_val: object (oid 0x4): invalid state.major_version (0)

warning: crypto_val: object (oid 0x4): invalid state.key_os_version (0x0)

warning: crypto_val: object (oid 0x4): invalid state.key_revision (0)

Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

I have a 1:1 clone, also T2 and FileVault encrypted, and when I run Disk Utility First Aid on the cloned drive, those errors don't occur.

It's a bit weird, but I tend to believe the people online saying that this is allegedly not something to worry about.

I did have some issues with bridgeOS panics at wake, but I managed to solve those problems myself with tweaked power management settings.