The MacBook is unable to complete install of higer OS than Catalina 10.15.7 after attempt to install the latest Ventura release from the first release of Ventura OS. Installation of BigSur is also crashing. Is this a hardware issue? Do I need a new Motherboard/SSD? Thank you,
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
If you are initiating the installer from within macOS, then most likely you have some third party software installed which is interfering with the normal operation of macOS. Try booting into Safe Mode and initiate the installer. If the problem is with the second phase of the install process, then boot into Safe Mode again for phase 2.
Otherwise you can try installing macOS Ventura from Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R)....however, some Macs may instead boot into the installer for the OS which originally shipped with the Mac from the factory.
If you have modified the security settings for the laptop by using the Startup Security Utility to allow booting from USB drives, then you can try using a bootable macOS USB installer instead.
FYI, both Internet Recovery Mode or a USB installer will require a lot more free space on the boot drive....something like 50GB free.
In extreme cases where none of these methods work to install macOS, then you may need to "Restore" the firmware to reset the T2 security chip which will also destroy all data on the internal SSD. Afterwards you will need to use Internet Recovery Mode to reinstall macOS as a USB installer will not work since you will not be able to authenticate to allow booting from USB due to the reset.
If you don't already have a good backup, then I highly recommend you make one now before doing anything else. There are a lot of ways to permanently lose access to your data on the 2018+ Macs.
Thank you for your detailed response. I tried all you recommended but still facing the same issue. That is why I starting to lean toward suspicion of some kind of hardware issue. After two attempts by Ventura and BigSur installations failed, restoring back to Catalina made everything work very fast and snappy but the Reminders does not work. Any OS upgrade still fails. Sometimes even installations of some apps fail the first time but after restarting and a second attempt usually, succeeds. Another bummer is that Office 365 needs min. OS v11 for local installation. However, OneDrive is working. This sick and spazzy MacBook Pro has been a nightmare in the last 4 years, even the screen failed and had to be replaced regardless of 1st class delicate usage. I am not alone, my colleagues are complaining about Ventura crashing, and MS Teams crashing or not running at all. My old Dell desktop still with mechanical HDD is humming away with no issues last 5 years of daily use (main PC). Thank god this is from my work. After seeing this, I will never buy any type of MacBook Pro myself. I'll live with Catalina until I get something newer that will be capable of handling the newer OSes.
at what point does an installation fail, and with what GROSS symptoms and error messages?
My MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) is unable to complete install of an OS higher than Catalina 10.15.7
