Big Sur won't install - reboots back into Catalina

[jbryant705]

Has anyone else had an issue when trying to install the Big Sur beta where your Mac reboots back into Catalina after running through the installer and rebooting to finish the install? I've tried installing it on the main volume as well as a second APFS partition but it does the same thing either way.

I've also tried holding option while it reboots and choosing the installer. When I do that, it says "a software update is required to use this startup disk". Then I click update, it acts like it's updating something, but then it goes back to the same screen saying it failed.

Finally, I also tried to create a bootable installer USB drive. But I have the same issue that I did in the second step when I did that. I disabled SIP and the boot protection options in recovery mode too. I'm at a loss at this point. I think this has something to do with the T2 security chip, but I don't know how to get around it.

This is a 2019 16" Macbook Pro.

 

[ryeclift]

Has anyone else had an issue when trying to install the Big Sur beta where your Mac reboots back into Catalina after running through the installer and rebooting to finish the install? I've tried installing it on the main volume as well as a second APFS partition but it does the same thing either way.

I've also tried holding option while it reboots and choosing the installer. When I do that, it says "a software update is required to use this startup disk". Then I click update, it acts like it's updating something, but then it goes back to the same screen saying it failed.

Finally, I also tried to create a bootable installer USB drive. But I have the same issue that I did in the second step when I did that. I disabled SIP and the boot protection options in recovery mode too. I'm at a loss at this point. I think this has something to do with the T2 security chip, but I don't know how to get around it.

This is a 2019 16" Macbook Pro.

Yes! I am having the EXACT same problem with he official release version. It just reboots back into Catalina every time.

I've tried everything but nothing has worked. Apple can't seem to figure it out. I even formatted my hard disks and tried to install from internet recovery and also from a bootable thumb drive. Still nothing. I ended up having to re-install Catalina and nothing I do is working.

Were you able to resolve this problem? Please share if you have. Would be much appreciated!

 

[Mr.PT]

I also had this issue in 15”MBP late 2018 and was sent to tech repair by Apple support, suggesting hardware issue. In older machines 2013/14 MBP people are solving it disconnecting the I/O board during install and then reconnect after install, look it up in customer support fóruns. You can also see article in mrmacintosh blog