Download Apple MacBook Pro Software Update for Mac to patch your MacBook Pro early 2011 model.

Mac won't start/boot after macOS High Sierra update/installation, help!

'I upgraded my iMac into latest macOS High Sierra last night. And when I completed the update process, tried to start the computer. It won't boot.
I tried to hard reboot Mac computer, but nothing showed up. What else can I do to wake up the computer and make it work again with macOS High Sierra?'

Although Mac hard drive boot failure issue is not a new problem anymore. But it's still a tough case for ordinary users to fix when their Mac computers fail to boot after macOS High Sierra update or installation. If you are having such a problem, relax! This tutorial article will show you how to quickly fix and resolve Mac hard drive won't boot issue after macOS High Sierra update. Just follow any one of offered methods to get your Mac computer back to work again now:

Quick Fix 1. Reset SMC to fix Mac won't boot after High Sierra update

Sometimes, if the Mac computer cables are not connected properly, you may not be able to boot it normally. So if Mac cannot boot after system update, you can reset SMC to fix Mac won't boot issue after macOS High Sierra update:

1. Shut down Mac computer and unplug all cables;
2. Wait for a few minutes and then plug the cables back;
3. Restart Mac computer to see if you can enter the system or not.

• New MacBook Pro Facing Another Awkward Problem 06/14 Update: Google still insists that the Chrome rendering problem lies with Apple, while Apple has insisted to me that it does 'not have anything.
• I'm running a MacBook Pro 13' mid 2012, 8GB Ram with the i7 CPU, using OSX 10.11.6. I'm trying to update Pages to the newest version in order to use the collaboration feature, but it won't download. When i open Pages on my Mac it tells me that there's a new version of Pages in the App Store and it sends me to the Updates section.

Quick Fix 2. Force to reboot Mac and reset NVRAM to fix Mac won't boot issue

1. Press and hold Power button for a few minutes till Mac turns off;
2. Wait a few seconds and press Power button to turn on Mac;
3. Hold Command + Option + P + R keys while booting Mac to reset NVRAM;
4. Reboot computer again to see if the problem gets solved or not.

Note: If these two quick fixes didn't help, continue with below complete solutions to get your problem resolved now.

Complete solution to fix Mac won't boot/fails to boot error after macOS High Sierra update

Step 1. Recover data when Mac hard drive won't boot from High Sierra

If you have important data saved in Mac computer hard drive, do remember to restore data before taking actions to fix Mac won't boot error.

Professional Mac data recovery software with bootable disk can help you effectively restore your data out of Mac hard drive when the computer fails to boot. You can directly purchase EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac with Bootable Media to create a bootable media for Mac and apply it to restore data from fail to boot Mac computer now:

1. Insert the created bootable media into Mac and turn on Mac computer, immediately press and hold the Option key and select EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to boot;
2. Connect an external storage device to Mac computer;
When EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac launches, follow this tutorial to restore lost files on Mac.

Step 2. Fix Mac won't boot error after macOS High Sierra update
Fix macOS High Sierra won't boot issue

Method 1. Boot Mac from Safe Mode to fix Mac won't boot issue

1. Turn on Mac, press Shift when you hear the startup sound and release it till you see Apple logo;
2. After Mac fully starts, restart the computer normally without holding any keys/buttons.
3. Wait patiently till Mac computer finish the reboot process.

Method 2. Use Disk Utility to restore Mac from Recovery Mode when macOS High Sierra won't boot

1. Boot Mac up, press Command + R during the boot-up process;
2. Click Disk Utility option > Click First Aid and try repairing Mac's disk;
3. Disk Utility will automatically run a fsck (file system check) operation to help you repair macOS High Sierra fail to boot error;
4. If this fails, try restore from Recovery mode.
5. Reinstall OS X in Recovery Mode will automatically download and install the latest macOS High Sierra for your Mac device.

Method 3. Run Terminal to repair Mac hard drive won't boot error due to High Sierra update

1. Open Terminal >Applications >Utilities;
Enter: system_profile SPExtensionsDataType > ~/Desktop/kextList.txt and hit return;
2. Open the kextList.txt file on desktop > Press Apple(Command) + F to bring up find;
3. In the find field insert 'Obtained from: Not Signed' and copy the destination to the .kext file to a list for use later;
4. Click Next to cycle through all of them, for example: /System/Library/Extensions/JMicronATA.kext
5. Browse your drive to /System/Library/Extensions and remove all unsignedkext files;
6. Reboot and your Mac boot problem shall be all set.

Method 4. Reinstall macOS High Sierra to resolve Mac won't boot issue

The last method that you can try is to download macOS High Sierra and create a new bootable drive to clean install macOS High Sierra on Mac computer so to make it boot up normally and work smoothly again.

1. Connect USB bootable drive on Mac and restart Mac by holding Option till you hear the reboot tone;
2. Select disk called Install macOS High Sierra in the drive list that appears on screen;
3. Once USB drive is booted, select Disk Utility > Choose Mac's startup from the list > Click Erase;
4. Once Mac's startup disk is formatted, return toUtilitieswindow and select Install macOS > Choose just erase startup drive to install macOS > Follow onscreen prompts to complete the installation.

This may take you a few hours to complete the task. And of course, if you have important data, follow Step 1 to get all saved data out firstly.

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 won't boot after macOS update. Especially for some Mac newbies, Mac not turning on would drive them crazy.

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.

1. 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.
2. Upgrade the Kernel programs. Such updates will improve the security, accessibility, and management of core data.
3. 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.
4. 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 worknig, or the Mac or MacBook gets stuck on a loading bar after update. Once the third-party software and hardware on your Mac won't work with the latest macOS, your Mac won't turn on.

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.

My Macbook Pro Won't Update

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.

Macbook Pro Updates Won't Install

A Complete List of macOS Catalina 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.

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.

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

Macbook Pro Won't Download Software Updates

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.

Macbook Air Won't Update Software

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]