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eighteentee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 12, 2018
14
2
United Kingdom
Hi all. So I came to my cMP this morning having just woken it up from sleep to be greeted by a message that an update needed to be installed. This is the most recent update as the system is up to date. So I pressed install and it went away merriley doing it's think. Multiple black screens later (I'm running an unflashed RX9 280) I'm back to login. Now it won't get past showing me my desktop background. No menu bar, icons or dock. Nothing. If I press CMD control Escape I can see Finder is there. If I try to relaunch I just get the spinning pin wheel of death. For some reason I've never been able to get into Recovery so that's not an options. What else can I try?
 

eighteentee

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 12, 2018
14
2
United Kingdom
Why can't you go to recovery mode? cmd + R (and waiting about 2-3 minutes than return)

Nothing happens. Reboot with CMD R and the Mac fires up but no display even if I leave it for an hour. I'm assuming it's because of the video card not being flashed...
 

tommy chen

macrumors 6502a
Oct 1, 2018
907
390
you hold cmd+r for 2-3 minutes?

use a apple original keyboard?

or a PC keyboard?
then hold alt+r !

all of my cMP reaches recovery mode
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,656
8,587
Hong Kong
Did you ever use recover partition? Are you sure it's there?

Anyway, after boot to desktop, can you use Command + Space to open Spotlight, then open anything from there?

If yes, you may open appstore, and try to perform a full macOS installation from there.
Screenshot 2019-11-16 at 4.33.26 AM.png
 

MIKX

macrumors 68000
Dec 16, 2004
1,815
691
Japan
FIRST : Shut down - now whe nyou restart = " cold boot " hold down these keys until you hear the "Happy Mac" CHIME THREE times.

Apple key + Option + P + R

See if your cMP boots up now.

If the same problem persists shut down again and try the Apple/CMD + R again but hold the keys down for at least 2 minutes.

===========================================

If none of the above work . ..

Do you have a USB El Capitan, Sierra or High Sierra installer ?
If so do a new install to a different SSD/HDD formatted to APFS.

( I'm assuming that you have a Time Machine backup )

Then from El capitan, Sierra or High Sierra ( whichever you just installed ) download the Mojave FULL installer here ( hit the "GET" tab , top right corner of the App Store page.

Paste this into Safari or Firefox.

The download ( 6.05gb ) may take some time depending on your internet connection.

NOTE 1. :
Before you go ahead with the Mojave FULL install. . save a copy of the installer in an external ( preferably ) HDD/SSD for future installs.

NOTE 2.
Don't use COMBOs or SUPPLEMENTALS with Mojave. The FULL installer has everything included except for Security Updates.

Hope you get everything working again.
 
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