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Macpro won't boot after update

Hello!


I'm in dire straits since my old Macpro won't boot after system update.

I tried to update through the app store, which failed, gave me a "not found" error. So I downloaded the latest update for Sierra (a 2019 update), ran it and now the computer is stuck at startup. The apple icon show, and the progress bar starts to fill, just to grind to a halt.


I've reset the NVRAM, the SMC, no luck. The worst thing is I can't get it to boot into safe mode, or recovery mode! I have Time Machine, so if I could just get into that and make a recovery boot it would be fine.


Any ideas??


Specs: Macpro 2009, updated to 2012 processors. Nvidia gtx680.


Thank you!

Mac Pro, macOS 10.12

Posted on Mar 5, 2020 8:56 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 5, 2020 9:55 AM

  1. Reboot holding down the shift key - does that work? If so, does normal reboot work now too?
  2. Reboot holding command command-R. Does that go into Utilities mode? If so, use Disk Utility to repair the internal drive then reboot. Does normal reboot work now too?
  3. Report back!

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9 replies

Mar 6, 2020 11:13 AM in response to Laoswoodin

OK. You might be able to force your Mac to start in Setup Assistant mode, create a new user account and then regain access to your initial account.


This could work because the Mac avoids the normal starting process (which is failing) in favour of assuming you're a new user.


Take a look at this:


http://www.theinstructional.com/guides/how-to-re-run-the-os-x-setup-assistant

Mar 9, 2020 6:03 AM in response to The_Knowledge_Seeker

So I tried different versions now, all except the Setup Assistant mode.

  • Shift key into safe mode gives a prohibition sign on boot instead of the apple. So that's not an option. Upon releasing shift, it goes back to the apple icon, and progress bar which freezes at around 40%.
  • Command-R does not go into recovery mode, but just the apple icon and the progress bar, freeze at 40%.
  • Alt key gives two disks to choose from, the first being "Time Machine". Choosing this gives the apple icon, and progress bar, freeze at 40%. The second disk says "Recovery 10.12.6". Choosing this gives the exact same result: apple icon, progress bar, freeze at 40%.

Mar 5, 2020 10:21 AM in response to The_Knowledge_Seeker

Hello, and thank you,


Neither of these work! The outcome is the same , i.e the apple icon shows up, the progress bar starts to fill, and then halts somewhere around 40%.

However, it's been inconsistent. Right after the update, the screen was just black. This I suspected was because I'm running an unflashed gtx980Ti with Nvidia's web driver. So the update might have killed that. I then re-installed and old gtx680 for Mac, and got an image using the DVI port. This showed the apple icon, with the progress bar completely emtpy, and not moving at all. I then reset the NVRAM, after which the progress bar went up to around 50%, then froze. Then I reset the SMC, which pushed the progress bar to around 80%. But all subsequent tries have reached around 40% on the progress bar.

No luck booting into safe mode, or recovery mode.



Mar 9, 2020 7:51 AM in response to Laoswoodin

Shift key into safe mode gives a prohibition sign on boot instead of the apple. So that's not an option. Upon releasing shift, it goes back to the apple icon, and progress bar which freezes at around 40%.

Diagnosis: the boot section of your drive is unavailable; either the drive has physically failed or the boot system data is corrupted.

Command-R does not go into recovery mode, but just the apple icon and the progress bar, freeze at 40%.

Recovery mode uses a different section of the disk to boot from. If that's failing too, this also suggests that the either the drive has physically failed or the boot system data is corrupted. In this case, it looks like you'll need to erase the drive completely and try to set up up from scratch.

Alt key gives two disks to choose from, the first being "Time Machine". Choosing this gives the apple icon, and progress bar, freeze at 40%. The second disk says "Recovery 10.12.6". Choosing this gives the exact same result: apple icon, progress bar, freeze at 40%.

Again, this suggests a complete erase and reinstall of macOS is needed.


I'd boot into Internet Recovery Mode (Hold Shift-Option-Command-R on startup), erase the drive, reinstall macOS. Upgrade macOS to the version you were using and finally reboot into recovery mode (Command-R on startup) and restore from your Time Machine backup.


This only works, of course, if the drive (or something else like the logic board, RAM, etc.) itself isn't physically faulty.


Good luck

Mar 26, 2020 5:06 PM in response to Laoswoodin

I have a 2014 macbook pro. I have the same issue. I'm on the login screen, enter password, password is accepted, then the progress bar stalls, and I'm kicked back to the loading screen. I have tried safe mood, disk utility, and even changing the date to the terminal to the day after the OS was released. I cannot figure out how to get this to work. Please help!

Macpro won't boot after update

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