"Why Won't My Mac Pro Restart After the Latest Software Update?"

I have a 2010 Mac Pro 5,1, and after downloading a High Sierra security update from the App Store last night, trying to restart landed me on a black screen with a cursor, and that's all. I could power down by holding down the power button and then boot back up, but my next attempts to restart failed the same way.

Checking online, I saw that the update included new EFI firmware, and that gave me a clue how to fix it. My boot volume was on a Sandisk SSD, but I had another system volume on an original Apple SSD meant for this Mac Pro. For past firmware updates to this machine, I'd had to boot into the Apple SSD volume to get the firmware installed. So, I tried that again, and sure enough, I was able to download the update and restart, with the update proceeding just fine.

Unfortunately, this boot volume didn't have my latest files. So, back I went to my Sandisk SSD volume, used SuperDuper to copy all files to the Apple SSD volume, then booted back into that and updated it AGAIN. (That took two separate trips to the App Store -- it didn't all update at once.) Once THAT volume was square, I copied everything BACK to the Sandisk SSD volume -- and then that volume too worked perfectly.

To recap, the update apparently failed when attempting to install firmware for my Mac Pro because it disliked the Sandisk SSD and/or the adapter I bought to install it. I had to update on the Apple SSD boot volume, then copy the updated system to the Sandisk SSD. That process also got rid of the update installer on the Sandisk so that the installer wouldn't keep causing failure at restart.

A whole evening down the tubes.

Since my problems with firmware updates from the Sandisk SSD have gotten worse, not better, I've returned to using the Apple SSD volume as my main boot volume, despite it being specced as considerably slower. I don't know why Apple can't handle firmware updates on a third-party SSD plus adapter, but their continuing botched updates with the old Mac Pro make me wonder how long I can even keep this machine running. If that original Apple SSD goes out on me, another buggy update could be even more trouble than this one.

Maybe I should buy another Apple SSD as a backup? Or maybe just get a new Mac before they stop running 32-bit software?

UPDATE, April 2, 2019 -- Apple apparently screwed up the original High Sierra update, because they've reissued it with "restored" security fixes a few days later, giving me the chance for further experiment. It looks like the trouble Apple was having on my Sandisk was in unmounting a system volume that shared an APFS partition with other volumes. Trying the update on a system volume that was alone in its partition on the Sandisk, the installer had no trouble at all.

Whether I would have had trouble with a multivolume APFS partition on the Apple SSD, I can't say. In general, though, I'm finding it safest and less troublesome to stick to one volume per APFS partition on my Mac Pro.

But if you do have multiple volumes in a partition and run into such an installer hangup, you might avoid it by using Disk Utility to unmount the other volumes before restarting. Worth a try, anyway.

So, here's my formula for the most trouble-free setup on an old Mac Pro: Stick to one volume per partition, and keep your main startup volume on an official Apple drive.

UPDATE, Sept. 1, 2019 -- The latest High Sierra security update, 2019-004, has restricted configuration safety even more. It could not find the installer resources on my Apple SSD with two MacOS partitions on it -- one with High Sierra, the other with Mojave. I had to delete the Mojave partition to get the update to complete.

UPDATE, Nov. 15, 2020 -- One more High Sierra security update, 2020-006, and this one again failed to install, bricking my Mac Pro. I have given up on all Apple security updates. At this point, the biggest security threat to my Mac Pro is Apple itself. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"How Can I Still Create PostScript Files with Acrobat's Adobe PDF from InDesign in Snow Leopard?"

"How Do I Stop the Clicking Noise from the Hard Drive of My MacBook or Mac Mini?"

"How Do I Make My HP LaserJet 2100 (or 2100M or 2100TN) Work with Snow Leopard?"