Apple Releases macOS Catalina 10.15.4 With Screen Time Communication Limits and Real-Time Apple Music Lyrics

[honestone33]

Once again, I cannot download it from the App Store. But I also 1) use Onyx and Tech Tool Pro for disk cleanup, maintenance, and repairs, and 2) run SuperDuper! and make 2 bootable backups/clones for each of my Macs to 2 separate external SSDs.

Again, though, did you download it directly from the App Store?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Once again, I cannot download it from the App Store. But I also 1) use Onyx and Tech Tool Pro for disk cleanup, maintenance, and repairs, and 2) run SuperDuper! and make 2 bootable backups/clones for each of my Macs to 2 separate external SSDs.

Again, though, did you download it directly from the App Store?

Yes, I downloaded the 10.15.4 installer directly from the Mac App Store. That was 2 days ago. Not sure why you can’t download it.

 

[honestone33]

Nope, just tried it again with my MacBook Air, and again got the same message about not being available, but ten allowing me to install the OS 10.15.4 updater.

This has been going on ever since Catalina has been released, and other folks have had the same issue. That's why dosdude1's patcher is/was so useful. One could get the full installation file using it. But apparently there is an issue with using that patcher and getting a "bug free" version of the installer.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Nope, just tried it again with my MacBook Air, and again got the same message about not being available, but ten allowing me to install the OS 10.15.4 updater.

This has been going on ever since Catalina has been released, and other folks have had the same issue. That's why dosdude1's patcher is/was so useful. One could get the full installation file using it. But apparently there is an issue with using that patcher and getting a "bug free" version of the installer.

Out of curiosity I just tried downloading 10.15.4 again from the Mac App Store and I was able to do so.

EDIT: Maybe try downloading it from another user account.

 

[honestone33]

Out of curiosity I just tried downloading 10.15.4 again from the Mac App Store and I was able to do so.

Excuse me for asking a basic question, but how exactly did you do that? I actually have not setup an iCloud account, but unsure if that makes a difference or not.

The way I've tried to do it is to "go" to the App Store, enter Catalina in the Search term, then when the one for the Catalina OS comes up, click on Get. But I then get the "not available" message.

 

[Nütztjanix]

dosdude1 did answer, and explicitly stated not to install the OS 10.15.4 Combo Updater, as it will cause issues. Funny, seen posts from some folks who have had (at least as of now) no issues with upgrading using the Combo Updater. But I am going to wait until more definitive information comes out.

No problem here updating via Combo Updater. Used it on Late 2013 MacBook Pro 15", Late 2018 MacBook Air and Late 2018 Mac Mini.

 

[Taz Mangus]

Excuse me for asking a basic question, but how exactly did you do that? I actually have not setup an iCloud account, but unsure if that makes a difference or not.

The way I've tried to do it is to "go" to the App Store, enter Catalina in the Search term, then when the one for the Catalina OS comes up, click on Get. But I then get the "not available" message.

Yes, I have an iCloud account setup and I used it to download the installer.

 

[Damian83]

This sounds like something could be corrupted on your user account. Have you tried booting into safe mode or a new user account to see if the issue still happens? The last thing I would try is a PRAM reset.

I just clean installed 10.15.4 with migration of user data and the system runs great, no issues so far. I am really enjoying some of the changes in Catalina. Really like the new stacking of like documents on my desktop. Helps with reducing clutter.

I now wait until the 10.x.4 release before upgrading the OS on my Mac computers. And I always do clean installs of major OS releases and combo updates otherwise. May not be necessary but I like to keep my systems as clean as possible.

i did a clean install of 10.15.1 on a brand new imac 2019... more cleaner than this... anyway, this is only one of the tons of bugs...

 

[Taz Mangus]

i did a clean install of 10.15.1 on a brand new imac 2019... more cleaner than this... anyway, this is only one of the tons of bugs...

I did notice the zeroing of the Calculator in Notification Center that you mentioned. It appears that in 10.14.6 the value would get zeroed after about 6 seconds after closing Notification Center. In 10.15.4 the value is zeroed out right away after closing Notification Center. I tested it in 10.15.4 on a clean install without any migration of user data from my backup as I was curious about it.

By the way, do you apply combo or incremental updates?

 

[Damian83]

By the way, do you apply combo or incremental updates?

i dont understand what it means. everytime there is an update available, i update immediately, so from 10.15.1 i updated 3 times (praying everytime at least ONE bug will be fixed)

 

[Taz Mangus]

i dont understand what it means. everytime there is an update available, i update immediately, so from 10.15.1 i updated 3 times (praying everytime at least ONE bug will be fixed)

There are several ways you can install an update: 1) You can use the full 10.15.4 installer from the Mac App Store 2) You can do an incremental update using Software Update from System Preferences 3) Download the combo update which has all the previous updates in it, from Apple and apply that (https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2037?locale=en_US).

I have seen issues resolved by applying the combo update. By the way, have you tried booting into safe mode to see if your restart issue happens?

 

[Klickst]

Just installed 10.15.4 clean on my MacBook Pro 16" without any data migration. No external display attached. Each time I restart the MacBook the screen brightness increases bit by bit.
"Automatically adjust brightness", "True Tone" and "Night shift" are all unchecked.
Did someone else notice that on his MacBook Pro 16"?

 

[drlunanerd]

10.15.4 STILL doesn't fix the power management issues! Please Apple fix the bugs!

Apple Releases macOS Catalina 10.15.2 Update With Apple News Improvements, iPhone Remote Control Support for Music and TV Apps

Hopefully this fixes the power management bugs with older MacBook Pros.

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Damian83]

There are several ways you can install an update: 1) You can use the full 10.15.4 installer from the Mac App Store 2) You can do an incremental update using Software Update from System Preferences 3) Download the combo update which has all the previous updates in it, from Apple and apply that (https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2037?locale=en_US).

I have seen issues resolved by applying the combo update. By the way, have you tried booting into safe mode to see if your restart issue happens?

so u mean that installing combo its "cleaner"? but how it works? it deletes previous updates, then updates from 10.x.1 (overwrite) or it ignore previous updates and installs only the last one?

 

[balph]

I'm sorry to hear this man! I just updated my 27" 2019 iMac from Mojave 10.14.6 to Catalina 10.15.4 without any issues. Really strange that this happend, hopefully this will issue will be fixed soon for you!

Fortunately it did succeed after a few tries, although I'm still a bit worried since the "folder with question mark" error apparently could indicate a failing SSD. For now everything is still working and I hope it will keep working for some time since it will be hard to bring a Mac in for repair in the next few weeks, all the Apple Stores are closed currently.

 

[Taz Mangus]

so u mean that installing combo its "cleaner"? but how it works? it deletes previous updates, then updates from 10.x.1 (overwrite) or it ignore previous updates and installs only the last one?

A combo update would not delete anything, only overwrite all files from previous updates and the current update. Give it a try and see how it works. Plus, I still suggest you try booting into safe mode and see if your restart issue still happens. Safe mode is essentially a sanity check when things aren’t working correctly.

 

[Wonder Warthog]

I just upgraded and everything is faster.
The Minute Waltz plays in 30 seconds now!!!!

Just kidding, but smooth sailing here.
Then again never had any issues with any version of Catalina, not even with my eGPU (Razer Core X + Radeon RX Vega 64)

 

[DinkThifferent]

Fortunately it did succeed after a few tries, although I'm still a bit worried since the "folder with question mark" error apparently could indicate a failing SSD. For now everything is still working and I hope it will keep working for some time since it will be hard to bring a Mac in for repair in the next few weeks, all the Apple Stores are closed currently.

Isnt there a program in the utilities folder of macos that can check the hard drive for errors? And do you have an ssd or fusion drive? I have the original fishing FUSION drive which for me is quick enough

 

[balph]

Isnt there a program in the utilities folder of macos that can check the hard drive for errors? And do you have an ssd or fusion drive? I have the original fishing drive which for me is quick enough

Yes, I did a First Aid check with Disk Utility but everything seemed to be OK. I have a 256 GB SSD. It's been running fine for a few weeks now, also rebooted a few times and never got the "folder with question mark" again so I think (and hope) that everything is fine. It did remind me again how important it is to do daily automatic backups

 

[NauticalDan]

I have some early optimism that this seems to fix the standby issues with my Dell U3818DW ultrawide monitor.
No more having to plug it out of the combined power/display usb-c cable to avoid it waking up all the time making the "connected" sound.

Fingers cross it really is solved.

was it solved? I really want to get that monitor, but likely going to get my 2nd choice LG instead due to compatibility concerns.