After Day Mac OS
Summary: This post is about how to fix when Mac won't boot after macOS update. If macOS Big Sur or macOS Catalina update makes your Mac not booting up, you'll know why and how to fix it quickly and easily.
Apple releases macOS and software updates periodically for better user experience. However, it backfires when your Mac is not booting up after macOS update. Especially for some Mac newbies, Mac not turning on would drive them crazy.
OS X Mountain Lion (version 10.8) is the ninth major release of macOS, Apple Inc.' S desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. OS X Mountain Lion was released on July 25, 2012 for purchase and download through Apple's Mac App Store, as part of a switch to releasing OS X versions online and every year, rather than every two years or so. Install Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan on an external drive. (Download El Capitan from Apple’s site.) El Capitan seems to be the last release that can migrate files from Snow Leopard. Mac won't turn on after macOS Big Sur update. The newest major release of Mac operating system is macOS 11 Big Sur, which now is in beta version. Up to now, known boot issues of macOS Big Sur Beta include the following, or more. If you updated to macOS Big Sur 11.0 but not the newest vesion that has fixed existing bugs. Everything for which Mac OS is great for, Windows is not so good Mac OS (with examples) vs Blender – the examples. Blender before version 2.80 was the best tool to use after my day job. If I did not use Quadro workstations at work, every day for 8h minimum, I would not even know Windows exists anymore. (I exaggerate but I will prove a.
Hence, this post will walk you through this problem. Then, you'll know what to do when Mac gets stuck on the Apple logo.
All right. Let's begin with why your Mac is not booting up after the macOS update.
Why is the Mac not turning on after macOS update?
Why won't Mac update successfully? It's fair enough to say, most of the time, Mac won't turn on after macOS update because of software incompatibility and bugs.
As we all know, technology inspires new programs and hardware to be released constantly. So, your Mac needs to update to work with most software and hardware. Sometimes, it's an overall macOS update. And sometimes, it's a tiny patch like this.
In detail, a macOS update could involve those activities.
- Upgrade certain necessary drivers. Sometimes, it simply installs patches to fix bugs. But sometimes, it will replace the whole driver structure to better use hard drives, keyboard, mouse, microphone, camera, etc.
- Upgrade the Kernel programs. Such updates will improve the security, accessibility, and management of core data.
- Redesign or update certain built-in applications. Utilities like Disk Utility, Safari, and Mail come along with the operating system. So, it could be updated for a better user experience.
- Other updates like operating system structure, file system, user interface, etc.
These updates are usually for a better user experience. Or they are for better supporting most of the latest hardware and software. However, as it is pointed out, the updated macOS can only work 'most' of them.
For example, Nvidia GTX 750 Ti can't work with Mac OS X earlier than Yosemite. After such a software update, Mac is not working, or the Mac or MacBook stuck on loading screen after macOS update. Once the third-party software and hardware on your Mac won't work with the latest macOS, your Mac won't turn on，or appears a pink screen on your Mac.
Common boot problems after macOS update
macOS is an improved range of Mac operating systems after Mac OS X. Up to now, there are three macOS systems available: macOS High Sierra, macOS Mojave, and macOS Catalina. Nevertheless, updating to each of them could cause problems.
1. Mac won't turn on after macOS Big Sur update
The newest major release of Mac operating system is macOS 11 Big Sur, which now is in beta version. Up to now, known boot issues of macOS Big Sur Beta include the following, or more.
- If you updated to macOS Big Sur 11.0 but not the newest vesion that has fixed existing bugs.
- You choose a wrong startup disk after installing macOS Big Sur 11.
A Complete List of macOS Big Sur Problems and Solutions
It talks about macOS 11 Big Sur update problems including downloading, installing, apps not working, not booting, battery issues and so on. Read more >>
2. Mac won't boot after macOS Catalina update
Then it comes to macOS Catalina. Even though it should be better than the previous two, (In some aspects, it is.) Catalina update problems like Mac won't boot after macOS update still occur.
Except for APFS conversion, the macOS Catalina update will automatically divide your hard drive into two volumes. One is the read-only Macintosh HD system volume, and the other is Macintosh HD - Data for saving your files. But if there is not enough free space for an update, your Mac will get stuck on a update loop.Whta's worse, you might see the Mac folder with question mark at startup because macOS Catalina update is not found.
What's more, the 'Full Disk Access' permission might be a lion in the way for some unauthorized applications. For instance, you have a program that requires certain Kernel extensions. But after updating to macOS Catalina, this program can't access the Kernel resource anymore. It doesn't have permission. As a result, your Mac will be frozen at the loading bar because this program keeps asking for resource permission.
A Complete List of macOS Catalina Problems and Solutions
It talks about macOS Catalina problems including downloading, installing, apps not working, not booting, battery issues and so on. Read more >>
3. Mac won't restart after macOS Mojave update
macOS 10.14 Mojave is coming after 10.13 High Sierra. Thus, the same boot problems on macOS High Sierra could also happen to macOS Mojave. As you might know, Apple introduced the System Integrity Protection (SIP) feature since OS X EI Capitan. It was originally introduced to keep system security. But once this feature was disabled previously before you update to macOS Mojave, it could cause boot problems.
For example, the Google software update on September 23, 2019, was shipped with a bug. This flaw damages the macOS file system on computers where System Integrity Protection is disabled. Many video professionals reported that their Mac crashed due to this.
So, just think about it, even Google can't avoid such software conflict, how about other third-party software? That's one of the reasons why many users who disabled SIP previously get Mac crashed after installing macOS Mojave.
4. Mac won't boot after macOS High Sierra update
One of the major updates in macOS High Sierra is the introduction of the Apple File System (APFS). As a part of the upgrade process, the macOS High Sierra installer will automatically convert the SSD to the APFS file system.
Even though Apple claims that the conversion process is supposed to be risk-free, many Mac users still meet problems. And disk corruption during the update is one of them. In this case, it's sure that the Mac won't restart after update. Mac will stop loading after update for such corruption.
Except for hard drive corruption, hardware or software incompatibility is another major reason. As your computer needs to work with so much hardware and software, the in-between conflict is inevitable. Those incompatibilities could slow your Mac down. They could make your Mac not responsive. Or, the Mac won't let you log in with right password. Also, the Mac could freeze on a black or Mac white screen of death.
• Recover/reset your forgotten Mac password to enter your macOS
What to do if Mac can't turn on after macOS update?
Having discussed why Mac won't boot after macOS update, you may find that it's tricky to hit the point. But don't worry, here are some inspirations so that you can troubleshoot this issue step by step:
- 1. Check if the Mac hard drive is corrupted
- 2. Check if any program is not compatible with your macOS
- 3. Check for a hardware incompatibility
Step 1: Check and repair the Mac hard drive in macOS Recovery mode
If your Mac refuses to boot after the update, you should check the Mac hard drive. Chances are that your MacBook ran out of power and the APFS reformatting process was interrupted. Or the hard drive is corrupted for bad sectors.
• How to Boot into & Use M1 Mac Recovery Mode
After Day Mac Os Catalina
In this case, you can try to repair the hard drive with Disk Utility under Recovery Mode. Disk Utility helps Mac boot up in some ways sicne it's the built-in free disk repair tool on your Mac.
Learn how to run First Aid on the startup disk and repair the file system or disk errors.
If no disk error was found by Disk Utility, then the hard drive should not be responsible for this issue. To find out why you can't turn on your Mac after macOS update, you can try Safe Mode.
Step 2: Boot your Mac into Safe Mode
You may be wondering 'why should I do this in Safe Mode?' The reason is that Safe Mode will only launch some basic necessary programs at startup. It’s easier to isolate incompatibility software that makes your Mac unbootable.
Make sense, right? Then let's dive into details on how to do this.
- 1. Press and hold the power button until the Mac forcibly shuts down.
- 2. To start the Mac up in Safe Mode, restart this Mac with Shift key pressed and held.
- 3. Release the key when you see the progress bar.
If you boot into Safe Mode successfully, you'll see Safe Boot at the right top. At least, it indicates that the macOS update is not failed. Then, it should be third-party software incompatibility.
But to figure out exactly which program makes your Mac unbootable, you need to reboot into Verbose Mode. Verbose mode allows you to see what's happening when macOS is starting up.
You can hold Command + V at startup. Then you'll see a live report when your Mac is booting up. Once you find out the culprit, you can simply uninstall the software in Safe Mode
But if you fail to boot into Safe Mode, it means it's a macOS update failure. The system data is damaged or broken. You need to reinsall the macOS in macOS Recovery mode. You can simply boot into macOS Recovery Mode and choose Reinstall macOS. If you don't want to update macOS anymore, you can try your luck with using APFS snapshot to recover your system.
The point is that macOS reinstallation will risk your data on the Mac. Thus, you should first check your backups. Or you can recover data from unbootable Mac first.
Learn how to get your important files off the startup disk when your Mac won't boot.
Tips: You can prevent APFS conversion with start to install this time if you want to avoid unnecessary problems. But you are not advised to unless you are a Mac command geek.
Step 3: Ask Apple repair store for help
The toughest thing is that your hard drive is fine. And there is no software incompatibility noticed in Verbose Mode. In this case, you should check the hardware inside your Mac.
The reason is that macOS updates are always for better supporting the latest software and hardware. So, the hardware or drivers on your Mac may be too outdated to work with the newer OS.
In this case, you can ask help from the Apple repair store and reset the Mac. If it's the Mac machine itself is too old, you should replace it with a newer Mac model. Or you simply don't allow automatically update the macOS.
How to avoid macOS update failure?
Every time there is a new macOS update available, you'll receive a notification. It asks 'Do you want to restart to install these updates now or try tonight?'. However, it's not safe to update directly because your Mac could get stuck on update or even lose important files. In case the Mac won’t boot after macOS Big Sur or Catalina update, you surely can do some preparations in advance.
- Read several reviews from tech enthusiasts to learn problems when a new macOS beta is released.
- Make sure your Mac model and its hardware work with the updated macOS.
- Read macOS update instructions carefully when you are up to update your system.
- Back up your files, photos, documents, etc.
- Make sure there is enough free disk space for macOS update.
- Make sure your Mac is connected to power to avoid the black screen of death during macOS update.
So, you'd better do these preparations before you update to any operating system. But if your Mac can't boot up already, you should calm down and follow this guide to fix this issue. If you have any more any feasible solution to enrich this article, kindly drop us a hint at [email protected]
Some questions people have about AppleWorks moving to modern Macs are answered here:
1. Does AppleWorks work on Intel Macs? Yes.
2. Does AppleWorks work on Lion (Mac OS X 10.7), Mountain Lion (Mac OS X 10.8), Mavericks (Mac OS X 10.9), Yosemite (10.10), or El Capitan (10.11)? Not directly.
Conversion to compatible formats (mentioned in question 7 below) before installing Lion, or attaching a bootable external hard drive and installing Snow Leopard or earlier on it and installing Appleworks, is required to ensure your documents remain compatible when you upgrade to Lion.
Snow Leopard client (the most common consumer available version) installation though is not possible for Macs released new later than July 20, 2011. Note, some were released new earlier than that date, however were sold new after that date.
Alternatively, you can run 10.6.8 under virtualization as a server operating system.
To tell the difference between Macs that do or do not need the virtualization solution, go to Apple menu -> About This Mac -> More Info and look for the Machine ID, and in some cases the processor, release name, and speed are needed to be known. Those stated that can run Snow Leopard below do not need virtualization, those that can't run Snow Leopard natively, will need virtualization:
Mac Mini 5,x and later only run Lion and later. Mac Mini 4,x and earlier can run Snow Leopard with at least 1 GB of RAM (that's greater than 768MB of RAM).
MacBook Pro 8,x with EMC#s 2355, 2563, 2564 can only run 10.7 or later, all other 8,x EMC#s can run 10.6.3 or later, and all 7,x can. MacBook Pro 9,x and higher can only run 10.7 and later.
Mac Pro 5,1 that are not EMC# 2629 and earlier can run Snow Leopard. EMC# 2629 and Mac Pro 6,1 and later can only run 10.7 or later.
MacBook with no Air and no Pro on the screen as of 11/30/2011 can all run Snow Leopard with at least 1 GB of RAM.
MacBook Air 4,x and later can't run Snow Leopard, while 3,x and earlier with at least 1 GB of RAM can run Snow Leopard.
iMac 12,1 i3 can't run Snow Leopard, while the 12,x i5 and i7 can run Snow Leopard, and the iMac 1,1 through 11,x can run Snow Leopard with at least 1 GB of RAM. iMac 13,x and later can't run Snow Leopard.
* The release names Early and Late can be gotten by plugging the serial number of the machine in
One other possibility, though it isn't one many might think of, you can install Windows on your Mac with Lion. For options for installing Windows, check the Windows software community, to enquire which is the best option for you. Apple did release Appleworks for WIndows. It runs on:
After Day Mac Os Download
A Pentium Intel-based PC running Windows
95/98/Me/XP or Windows 2000
32MB RAM
QuickTime 4.1.2 or later
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later
This would allow you to have continued use of Appleworks, until you are able to migrate all your data to Lion compatible versions, without having to reinstall Snow Leopard. Options for running Windows on a Mac are shown in this tip. The Windows version of Appleworks is not available for sale from the Apple retail stores any longer. Finding a legal copy may be cost prohibitive, however, depending on your needs and if a different alternative is not practical, you may want to consider it.
3. Does AppleWorks work with Mac OS X 10.6.8 and earlier? Yes.
4. Does AppleWorks come with Mac OS X retail? No.
5. How to install AppleWorks if you erase and install Mac OS X? Use the restore CDs that came with your Mac if it is a PowerPC Mac Mini (with 2 USB ports as opposed to 4 in the rear), PowerMac G5, G4, or G3 iMac, eMac, or iBook, following the restore directions or using an AppleWorks 6.2.9 retail installer CD. Note the license agreement restrictions on the CD used.
Also, OS X support was added with AppleWorks 6.2 sometime in late 2001. Most install disks from then & later will install in OS X. For example, the separate AppleWorks installer included with a G3/600 Late 2001 iBook has an OS X-aware installer for AppleWorks 6.2 with an updater to 6.2.2.
After Day Mac Os Update
6. If I have Appleworks 6.0 through 6.2.7, how do I make it work with Mac OS X? Run the 6.2.9 updater. For some versions of Mac OS X, the recent items folder in your Users -> Documents -> AppleWorks data needs to be emptied to avoid unexpected quits.
Note AppleWorks 6.2.4, 6.2.7 & 6.2.9 all work & are stable in OS X. Some recommend not using 6.2.7 as it was very buggy. But if you need to open any ClarisWorks 4 or earlier files, you need to use 6.2.4 or 6.2.7. AppleWorks 6.2.9 returns an I/O error with about half of those files.
7. Are there Intel & Lion Mac native software titles that I can substitute for AppleWorks?
iWork (Version 9.1 is Lion compatible) - takes care of spreadsheet, presentation, and word processing functionality.
Less expensive alternatives if you already converted to Microsoft Office data formats include:
Zoho, Google Docs both offer online collaboration of word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications with Microsoft Office compatibility.
Neo Office, LibreOffice, and OpenOffice each offer open source Microsoft Office word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation functionality.
EazyDraw (version 4.0 for Lion) - is able to replace drawing functionaity without some table features found in Appleworks Draw. Ask Eazydraw's author if you think such an object may not be able to be read.
Another similar application for Draw support on Lion is Intaglio.
Color It (Rosetta compatible, not available yet for Lion), MacGimp (version 2.6.11 for Lion), and GraphicConverter (version 7 for Lion) are all popular alternatives for Paint functionality. No program will open Appleworks Paint documents directly, though Paint can save to TIF.
A database exported as tab-delimited text can be imported to Filemaker Bento (version 4.0.4 for Lion) or numerous other database programs. You may also want to check out Filemaker Pro (version 8.5v2, 11.03 for Lion).
8. Additional conversion options include, again only available for 10.6.8 and earlier:
Dataviz Maclinkplus - no longer produced.
In summary, only certain Draw and Appleworks 6 Word and Spreadsheet documents are usable under Mac OS X 10.7 and up without added software.
Virtualization of Windows, or Mac OS X 10.6.8 server presents solutions that allow the use of Appleworks on machines
that can't run 10.6.8 natively. Buying, or keeping older hardware capable of running 10.6.8 or earlier natively may be yet a third alternative.
Presentations, databases, raster images, and Appleworks 5 and older Clarisworks documents all need to be converted to a more usable format before upgrading to 10.7 or later, or a Mac that was hardware updated on or after July 20, 2011.
If upgrading to 10.7 is required for iCloud, see this tip.
If updating to a Mac with 10.7 and above see this tip: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6271
If updating from a Mac with a PowerPC processor to Intel, read this tip: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2295
If interested in Microsoft Office alternatives, see this tip: https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6941
If you would like to know if you have a system that can run 10.6 natively and Sierra, see this tip: