Broken MB Pro

[Fred Clarke]

Hello Mac enthusiasts,

I wish I didn’t have to ask this question, especially as it will ultimately show that it’s my own fault. Why? Well, for one thing, my last Time Machine backup was probably a couple of months ago - certainly pre-Sonoma.

The Problem/s

I have a 2020 MB Pro running Sonoma 14.1.

A few weeks ago when Sonoma first came out, I was foolish enough to download it as soon as I could. The next time I switched on, all my settings were haywire and it took me about a week to gradually get a useable computer again.

About a week ago I finally admitted to myself that the computer just wasn’t right. I would love to give a blow-by-blow account of the processes I went through but honestly, I did so much that they are now all scrambled in my head.

Then Sonoma 14.1 was released and I thought “That was very quick. Apple must have realised they messed up and have now made things right. I’ll update and get my machine back as it should be.” That proved to be another big mistake. You’ve guessed it - settings are all messed up again. Fortunately, this time, I better remember the problems and steps taken. They are numerous but include:

• No wifi/ internet. Can’t detail how but I eventually got back online. However, everything is very slow.
• My Wi-Fi printer had lost connectivity and there was no way I could get it connected again. I eventually used a power line network cable. This worked fine, for just one day. Not having the time to research this yet, I now, don’t have a printer again.
• I think the auto time and date was from a couple of years ago - March 2021. The auto timekeeper in settings would not work, and I had to manually set the date and time.
• I can no longer use Office 2021 and I’ve not yet had a chance to contact MS for their advice.

So, after spending a week and then a further couple of days checking and testing and getting nowhere fast, I decided to reinstall the OS via Apple Recovery Mode.

It said it would take 2 hours and 5 minutes when it started downloading. After about 3 hours, I checked and it said the estimated time was now 148 hours 50 minutes. Yes, one hundred and forty-eight hours. I decided to abandon the download but on a whim, changed my mind to continue it and checked again about 10 minutes later. This time, it was estimated to be 85 hours 40 minutes. I did the same again, reducing the time to 46 hours and 40 minutes. I left things alone for about 6 hours but eventually did abandon the attempt.

I should say that the machine was plugged in and not going to sleep during this process.

I know it’s a big ask but has anyone any knowledge or idea/s about what has happened to my machine? How can I get back to normal? I promise to back up more frequently but HELP, please.

Many thanks.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I know it’s a big ask but has anyone any knowledge or idea/s about what has happened to my machine? How can I get back to normal?"

Well, sometimes it's not such a good idea to "jump blindly" into a newer version of the OS... UNLESS you've done some experimenting with it first. Look before you leap.

What you SHOULD have done:
If you had installed Sonoma onto an EXTERNAL USB3 SSD, for purposes of experimentation, you could have tried out all your applications there.

The idea is to see what works (and what doesn't) BEFORE you commit your internal drive to the new OS.

If things don't work out, you can erase the external SSD and you'll still have the earlier OS "up-and-running" on the internal drive, as it was before.

You can buy a 2.5" SATA 128gb SSD for $20 (or even less) today.
And a USB3.1 gen2 enclosure for about $12.
That's downright cheap.

This gives you the "alternate boot drive" you can use for doing all this.

Looking at your post above, I don't see WHICH VERSION of the OS you were running before the upgrade.

What I think you need to do:
- Download a copy of the earlier OS installer

- Get a USB flash drive 16gb or larger

- Create a bootable USB flash drive installer (I would try to use the free utility called "Install Disk Creator" for this task, it makes it easy).

- Boot from the flash drive installer

- ERASE the ENTIRE internal drive (in disk utility, you MUST go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices" to see the internal drive)

- Install a clean copy of the (older) OS using the installer

- during setup, migrate from your backup drive (an old backup is better than NO backup).

 

[Fred Clarke]

Thank you, Fishrrman.

You are quite right - I don't know what possessed me. To rub salt into the wound, I don't think there's a single thing of benefit for me in the update. Incidentally, I was on Ventura before this debacle.

I think I read somewhere, that you cannot go back to an older OS version these days. I will though look for the Venturer download and try your suggestions. It might take a few days for me to find the time though. I'll update you if I still have a working computer. Many thanks.