Have I Experienced a Kernal Panic?? >MBP Now Cannot Boot Up. *UPDATED

[Scoot65]

Regarding my mid 2012 13" MBP running macOS Sierra with an internal Samsung 860 EVO SSD harddrive.
I also have a bootable copy of the internal HD done using Carbon Copy Cloner (maybe could have ran this a bit more recently if I'm honest)

I got the spinning beachball whilst browsing the web and going in between two web browsers, the laptop became unresponsive so I shut down via the power button.

Upon restarting I briefly get a screen with black blocks with with white text (I did see the words "cpu panic 2 caller") and then another screen showing a message stating "computer restarted because of a problem" it then goes to the grey Apple boot screen. Then I get circle with a line through it and then the screen loops back to the "computer restarted becasue of a problem" dialogue box.

I've used cmd + R to get into disk utility mode and have ran First Aid on the following:-
Apple disk image ........ First Aid reported OK
OS X Base ................First Aid reported OK

Macintosh SSD ...........First Aid could not unmount the volume for repair operation failed
Samsung SSD 860 ....... First Aid found corruption that needs to be repaired. To repair the start up volume, run First Aid from Recovery. Problems were found with the partion map which might prevent booting. Click Done to contiue.
When I click on Done it takes me back to the beginning of this process as stated above

How do I run First Aid from Recovey? Have I not already done that as stated above by using cmd + R?

The CCC bootable clone external hard drive is not as up to date as it could be so I'd like to save the internal SSD data if possible.

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

 

[okkibs]

That's a kernel panic, unless you get it often or have issues with the machine I'd ignore it. That hardware is now more than 10 years old and it's known to panic sometimes with third party SSDs which isn't a defect, it can just happen and the Mac will eventually reboot and be fine. If it happens more often please post the kernel panic log. Once you get the small window informing you that your Mac has rebooted due to an issue you can then press a button to see details and copy that log.

 

[Grumpus]

How do I run First Aid from Recovey? Have I not already done that as stated above by using cmd + R?

I would boot from an installer USB and run first aid from there. You'll need to use an installer for Sierra or newer, as long as the installer OS version is supported by your hardware (up to Catalina, I believe).

 

[Scoot65]

Many thanks for the reply.
The Samsung internal SSD has worked flawlessly for since being installed about two or three years ago, no kernal panics at all.

I'm now stuck in the look indicated by the pictures. I can't see any button to press to see / copy log.
Laptop boots, appears to load as normal, then kernal panic text appears briefly before the the third screen picture is seen.

If I press a key or wait until it reboots, it's the same outcome. Stuck in this loop.

The only difference is if I press cmd + R and get the Disk Utility screen and then it's the same process / loop as mentioned in my OP.

I do have an external HDD bootable clone done via CCC and I have the original HDD (now in an external case) which is also a bootable clone done via CCC. Can these be used to resolve the problem?

 

[Grumpus]

If you can successfully boot one of your bootable clones, that would suggest that there's a problem with your internal drive. I would still try to boot from an installer USB and run First Aid on the internal drive from there.

 

[Fishrrman]

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE
Do this (do it RIGHT NOW if the computer is near):

1. Power off the MBP, completely (hold down the power button if you must)

2. Connect the CCC cloned backup.

3. Put your finger on the OPTION key and keep it there

4. Press the power on button (keep holding OPTION)

5. Does the startup manager appear? Do you see the CCC backup in it?

6. If so, select the CCC backup with the pointer and hit return.

What happens next?

 

[Scoot65]

OK, I've tried booting from my external bootable drives.

When I connect the external bootable HDD (USB connection), press the power button and upon start up I press the alt/option key....... is this corrrect?

I then get the booting up screen as normal and then get the circle with line through icon. This happens each time I try to boot from each of the volumes in picture one (I don't try the Macintosh SSD Volume).

I then tried to boot from the macOS Sierra installer UDB stick. Again, boot up screen looks normal and then the circle with a line through it icon appears

Am I doing something wrong as I thought having a external clone HDD would be straight forward to book from?

Thanks again for any support.

 

[Scoot65]

BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE
Do this (do it RIGHT NOW if the computer is near):

1. Power off the MBP, completely (hold down the power button if you must)

2. Connect the CCC cloned backup.

3. Put your finger on the OPTION key and keep it there

4. Press the power on button (keep holding OPTION)

5. Does the startup manager appear? Do you see the CCC backup in it?

6. If so, select the CCC backup with the pointer and hit return.

What happens next?

I'm in!

I followed Fishrrman's instruction to the letter and I'm now booted from my external cloned HDD.

I think my problem previously was that I was pressing the power button and then pressing the option button rather than option key first before powering up.

 

[Scoot65]

So now I'm running from the external clone what should I do next?
Step by step instructions please.

Such a relief to have some progress!!

 

[dmccloud]

So now I'm running from the external clone what should I do next?
Step by step instructions please.

Such a relief to have some progress!!

This would be the time to run Disk First Aid on the internal drive to check for problems with the SSD itself. The results of that would dictate the next steps to take.

 

[Grumpus]

In your second image, you should have selected Install macOS Sierra. You do what you like, but personally I would shut down your CCC clone for now and boot from Install macOS Sierra, which will put you into a recovery mode that doesn't lock your internal drive. From there, run Disk Utility's First Aid on your internal drive. If your internal drive is corrupt, First Aid may be able to repair it. SSDs do fail, but in my experience they fail "all at once" and you don't get a chance to repair anything.

You could also run Disk Utility from the CCC clone, but as it's your (precious) backup, I wouldn't put it at risk at this point.

 

[Scoot65]

In your second image, you should have selected Install macOS Sierra. You do what you like, but personally I would shut down your CCC clone for now and boot from Install macOS Sierra, which will put you into a recovery mode that doesn't lock your internal drive. From there, run Disk Utility's First Aid on your internal drive. If your internal drive is corrupt, First Aid may be able to repair it. SSDs do fail, but in my experience they fail "all at once" and you don't get a chance to repair anything.

You could also run Disk Utility from the CCC clone, but as it's your (precious) backup, I wouldn't put it at risk at this point.

Thanks for the ongoing input.
The second image is as it appeared on the screen.

I did indeed select "install macOS Sierra" When I tried booting from the "install macOS Sierra". The boot up screen looks like it progressing as normal and then the circle with a line through it icon appears and that is as far as it goes. I did this a couple of times.

HOWEVER....... I was pressing power button before then pressing the option key rather than option key first before powering up as Fishrrman's instructions. Maybe I should try doing it thay way now and see what happens?

 

[Grumpus]

HOWEVER....... I was pressing power button before then pressing the option key rather than option key first before powering up as Fishrrman's instructions. Maybe I should try doing it thay way now and see what happens?

Well, that's what I'd do, but you can run Disk Utility while booted from your CCC clone - it's just a little riskier.

I think we all suspect (and hope) that your SSD is corrupt and that Disk Utility can repair it without loss of data. Given your computer's age, it's also possible that there's a problem with the disk controller (booting from USB uses a different controller) but let's be optimistic, even though today is Friday the 13th

 

[Scoot65]

OK, another update...

I've booted from the macOS Sierra installer USB stick and after what seemed likes AGES, I've now reached the Disk Utility screen of the USB installer.

So, to run the Disk Utility First Aid, do I select internal > "Samsung SSD 860" or internal > "Macintosh SSD" (the first two options listed in Disk Utility)

I'm very grateful for the support as I have nobody I know with a Mac and there's no computer shops near where I live.

Thanks again!

.... I hadn't realised that today is Friday the 13Th lol

 

[Grumpus]

First select Macintosh SSD and then click and run First Aid. If that succeeds, then click Samsung SSD... and run First Aid. If that succeeds, shut down and try to boot from the internal drive.

 

[Scoot65]

Just ran the First Aid and here are the results, pics below.

Macintosh SSD > First Aid could not unmount the volume for repair.
Samsung SSD 860 EVO > First Aid found corruption that needs to be repaired. To repair the start up volume, run First Aid from Recovery.

I feel like I'm so close to getting this done and getting an outcome........one way or another.

Can someone state the correct steps to run First Aid from Recovery.

I really don't want to mess it it up after all this time and support.

 

[Grumpus]

You are running First Aid from Recovery (the Recovery provided by the installer USB). I would try running First Aid again, in the same order. If the results look better, then shut down, remove the USB and try to boot normally. If First Aid fails again, then the SSD may be too badly corrupted to repair. In that case, my next step would be to try and erase the drive and either reinstall or recover from your CCC backup.

 

[Scoot65]

Not looking good.......

I ran First Aid again as you said. In fact I ran it a couple of times and got the same reports as my pictures in post no. 16 show.

Looks like it's going to have to be an attempt to erase the HD try recover from my CCC backup. If that doesn't work I'll try a reinstall.

Just one last question before I sign off for the day.....

I have two CCC bootable clone hard drives. One is the hard drive I took out when I installed the Samsung SSD. If I put this drive back in the laptop, will it work straight away or does some work need to be done to get it back to being a standard startup disk?

Anyway, thank you very much for all the help and time, it's very much appreciated. I did think at one point towards the end that we were going to have a good outcome. Not to be unfortunately.

Thanks again!

 

[Fishrrman]

You can put the original platter-based HDD back into the Mac, and it should boot.
BUT... you really don't want to do this, because it will run MUCH SLOWER than an SSD.
Hmmm....
Is the CCC backup (that you booted with) a 2.5" drive?
If so, is it also an SSD?
You could put THAT inside, and it should boot.
But again, I wouldn't if it's a platter-based HDD.

You followed my advice and got booted earlier in the thread.
I'm going to give you some more advice.
I suggest you PRINT OUT this reply if possible, and "checkmark it" line by line as you progress.

We are going to boot to INTERNET recovery.
This is NOT THE SAME as "the recovery partition".

1. Power down again, ALL THE WAY OFF. The MBP you have has an ethernet connector, is this correct?
If so, is there any way you can plug it into an ethernet connection (such as on the back of your router, etc.)?
If you can, DO SO.
If you can't, don't worry about it and go to step 2.

2. DISCONNECT the CCC backup for now. Set it aside for safekeeping.

3. Now, PRESS AND HOLD THESE KEYS AND DO NOT LET THEM GO FOR LIFE:
Command-OPTION-R

4. While holding down those keys, touch the power on button.
DO NOT LET GO OF THOSE KEYS !!!!
(all shouting is intentional)

5. In a little while, you'll be asked for your wifi password (unless you're plugged into ethernet).
NOW you can take your fingers off the keys and enter it.
If you're connecting via ethernet, you can let go of the keys when you "see the globe".

6. You should see "the spinning globe" as the internet utilities load.
It takes a little while so be patient.

7. When the utilities are loaded, open Disk Utility.
VERY IMPORTANT STEP: go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices".
NOT ALL versions of DU have the "view" menu -- if you don't see it, skip and go to Step 8.

8. Look at the "list on the left". The topmost item should be the physical drive inside.
Under it will be several additional lines, each representing a logical volume on the drive.

9. DON'T erase the drive yet. Let's try to repair it first.
Start with the top line. Click it to select it, then click "first aid".
Let DU run first aid on it (you can look at the report).
When that's done, go to THE NEXT LINE (volume) DOWN, and REPEAT THIS.
Do it for every line.
See if the reports object to anything.
DU will tell you if it finds and repairs errors, etc.

10. When DU is finished, quit it and open the OS installer.
ACCEPT WHATEVER VERSION OF THE OS YOU ARE OFFERED.
Remember Fishrrman's "Mac Rule Number 1":
A Mac that boots (to any version of the OS) is preferable to one that won't boot at all.

11. The installer should offer to re-install the OS "over" the old one. This won't hurt any personal data on the drive -- all it does is replace the OS itself.

12. Start clicking through. The Mac will restart several times, and the screen may go dark for a minute or more with no other indication of activity. Just be patient.

13. When done, you should see you old login screen. If you do, just log in and "look around".

Remember, print this out and follow every step as presented.
Good luck.

 

[Grumpus]

I have two CCC bootable clone hard drives. One is the hard drive I took out when I installed the Samsung SSD. If I put this drive back in the laptop, will it work straight away or does some work need to be done to get it back to being a standard startup disk?

I'm not a CCC user, so I have no special knowledge, but I would guess that you can put the CCC drive into the laptop and use it. However, I would not do so at this point!

Disk Utility complained that Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting. The partition structure for GTP disks provides some redundancy in that the partition table is written to the disk twice - the primary partition table lives at the beginning, and there is another copy at the end of the disk. I would've expected Disk Utility to be able to recreate the primary partition table from the backup copy, but it failed to do so. It seems unlikely that both partition tables would be bad if the disk was simply corrupted, so it's possible that the problem is a failing disk controller. Putting your CCC drive into the computer could corrupt it too, which you definitely don't want.

In your place, I would try putting another spare drive into the computer and installing Sierra onto that before taking the risk of putting your CCC drive in. If you don't have a spare drive, now might be a good time to get one I also like having one of these around for situations like this.

EDIT: Oops, that's "GPT" disks. I'm sure "GTP" is something, but I don't know what.

 

[Grumpus]

Remember, print this out and follow every step as presented.

Please consider actually reading the thread.

 

[Scoot65]

Well, I followed Fishrrman's instructions and got as far as point 10 and things were looking good. Looked like Catalina would be installed .....
I then got a message stating that macOS Catalina cannot be installed on "(null)"

I waited a little while and then I got another screen asking which drive I wanted Catalina installed on. Great! I thought, but then I got another screen message stating that the operation couldn't be completed. Permission denied.

Feels like I got so close but failed near to the finish line.

Also, the drives which have the CCC bootable clone on are both spinner platter drives, one is a 2.5" and the other is in an external case from the manufacturer (WD).

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote above:
"Well, I followed Fishrrman's instructions and got as far as point 10 and things were looking good."

Hmmm....
Let's see here.
I believe that to install Catalina, your SSD must be "pre-formatted" to APFS.
What format is the drive in NOW?
I'm going to take A GUESS that it's formatted HFS+.

So, in this case, I'm thinking that you would have to erase the internal drive, install the new OS, and then re-install your data from the CCC backup. But what does this do for the (newer) data that's currently on the SSD? (unless you don't mind losing it)

Thinking...
The "permission denied" alert in the reply above is something I don't recall seeing very often.
Almost as if the internal SSD was now "locked", or something.
I have had SSD's "go dark" on me, but I've also read that sometimes an SSD can fail into "read only mode" -- that is, you can read data from it, but can't WRITE TO IT any longer. And from that point on, there's "no fixing it".

OK, I don't make this next suggestion lightly, but you do need to get a working MBP again.
Do you have the tools and skills to open the back, and put the ORIGINAL HDD back into the MPB again, at least for now?

That's what I'd do.
Then... see if it boots to the finder.

THEN... I'd get an external enclosure for the 2.5" SSD (you might have one already), or a USB3/SATA docking station.
With the MBP booting again (even if the personal data on it is older), you can now "attack" the problem SSD more easily.

The object will be to see if we can get the [defective] SSD mounted on the desktop.
EVEN IF YOU CAN'T BOOT FROM IT, it MIGHT still be mountable as a non-bootable drive.
If you can get this far, YOU CAN GET YOUR CURRENT DATA OFF OF IT.

That's what I'd suggest right now.

You need to:
a. secure your data to another drive
b. see if the SSD can be erased and a new OS installed
c. restore data to the SSD
and then...
d. if it will "test boot" ok from an enclosure or dock, then "re-implant" it back into the MBP.

Alternative:
Get another 2.5" SSD, restore to that, and then put THAT into the MBP.

Oh... one other thing...
Did you know that the m3 and m3pro MacBook Pros are on sale right now?
Some VERY good prices to be had on these...
(just sayin'...)

 

[Scoot65]

Yes, the current internal SSD is HFS+ formatted as it has macOS Sierra on it.

I would like to retreive the the newer data that's currently on the internal SSD if possible as I've not been as diligent with my CCC backups as I should've been. Nothing life changing, but still a nuisance to lose the data.

Yes, I'm able to open the back up (I did it to install the current SSD) and put in the original HDD, however it is a platter HDD and it's one of my two CCC bootable clones. If this goes bad, then I'll only have one other backup clone drive.

** I have had one of my cloned HDDs connected externally to the problem MBP and it booted / ran OK (albeit slowly compared to SSD speeds) I don't know if this indicates anything?

I don't know if it's better to wait until I get a cheap 2.5 just to put in and reinstall Sierra to see if it will boot into Finder or do a quick swap with my original HDD as you suggest to see if it boots into Finder.


Or, thinking about it further, should I pull out the SSD, get an enclosure / cable etc and just see if it will mount on my wife's 2012 MBP (the one I'm tying on now) it is also running Sierra and see if I can drag files from it??

Saying as it's turned 9.00pm here in the UK, I'm going to call it a day now and see what tomorrow brings.

Thanks again for all the support / time / effort.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"** I have had one of my cloned HDDs connected externally to the problem MBP and it booted / ran OK (albeit slowly compared to SSD speeds) I don't know if this indicates anything?"

Well, sure, this "indicates" something:
That the MBP itself is fine, and that the SSD that was in it is not.

You can continue to boot and run the MBP this way for now, if you wish.
Or... put the OLD drive back in, and run it that way.

It's actually better to have the problem SSD OUT OF the MBP, it makes it easier to "work on".

"Or, thinking about it further, should I pull out the SSD, get an enclosure / cable etc and just see if it will mount on my wife's 2012 MBP (the one I'm tying on now) it is also running Sierra and see if I can drag files from it??"

OK, so you DO have "a second Mac" from which to boot and work.
This makes things easier.

Either get a 2.5" SATA/USB3 enclosure
OR
Get a USB3/SATA "docking station".
The docking stations tend to be VERY handy to have around.

Again... my suggestion as a "quick and dirty solution to get your MBP bootable RIGHT NOW" is to put the original factory-installed HDD back inside, and see if boots that way.

Then you'll have the "problem SSD" "in your hand", and there are numerous different ways to proceed with it from that point.