Mac Pro Sierra install woes

[LogicalVue]

So I had the first Sierra public beta working on my Mac Pro (4,1; firmware upgraded to 5,1) with an Nvidia GTX750ti connected to a 4K (UHD) Samsung display. I had it installed on its own internal SSD.

When the 2nd public beta was announced this afternoon I booted into Sierra to turn off the Nvidia web driver to prepare to do the upgrade. But after doing that, Sierra will not boot. The progress bar under the Apple logo gets to about 60% then it just restarts and I get the "your computer crashed" message.

Booting to the Sierra restore drive does work. A safe boot also crashes.

I did have a similar problem when I before I got the first public beta working. In the end I had to disable the Nvidia web driver in my El Capitan install, which for some reason allowed Sierra to boot. But now that trick is not working now and I'm out of ideas. I've tried:

• Resetting VRAM
• Resetting SMC
• Re-installing Sierra public beta 1

But nothing has worked. Does anyone have other suggestions for me to try? It certainly feels like a graphics driver issue to me.

 

[h9826790]

It seems the Stock OSX Nvidia driver will cause the boot loop. And you should NOT reset PRAM in this case.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-pro-and-how-to-safely-do-os-updates.1981453/

Anyway, if you don't have another GPU, you can just remove 750Ti, your Mac Pro should able to boot now . So that you can install and activate Nvidia web driver via screen sharing / remote control.

 

[LogicalVue]

Thanks for the suggestion. I do still have my old ATI Radeon card, but rather than swap that in (which is more of a pain) I decided to swap in a new drive and install Sierra on it fresh. This worked. Sierra installed and booted properly using the stock OS X driver. Alas, other issues persist:

• If I enable the Nvidia web driver, then Mail crashes when I try to view an email and Messages crashes at launch. Both seem to report an issue with "Metal" something or other in the crash log, so it seems graphics related. Both worked before I installed and enabled the Nvidia web driver.
• I cannot get the Public Beta 2 to start downloading. It shows in the App Store, but when I click "Update" it just sits at 0 bytes and says "calculating". I left it overnight (8 hours) with no change.

So there appears to be lots of bugs remaining in either Sierra, the Nvidia driver or both, at least when it comes to my 750ti (which is flashed for OS X).

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

4,1 can't download Sierra from the App Store. You would need the installer downloaded from a supported machine.

 

[LogicalVue]

4,1 can't download Sierra from the App Store. You would need the installer downloaded from a supported machine.

Hmm. Perhaps you're right, but I thought the 5,1 firmware I've applied worked around that issue.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Hmm. Perhaps you're right, but I thought the 5,1 firmware I've applied worked around that issue.

The firmware hack only works around the installer. At least for now. The release version might need a patcher.

 

[LogicalVue]

The firmware hack only works around the installer. At least for now. The release version might need a patcher.

I noticed on another thread you said you were able to upgrade to DP2 on a firmware hacked machine. Did you not go through the App Store Update for that? If not, how did you install it? I can certainly switch to the DP builds if that might work better than the Public Beta.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

I noticed on another thread you said you were able to upgrade to DP2 on a firmware hacked machine. Did you not go through the App Store Update for that? If not, how did you install it? I can certainly switch to the DP builds if that might work better than the Public Beta.

Download the DP/PB on a newer Mac and then copy the installer to the cMP.

 

[LogicalVue]

I appreciate the tip and I hate to be dense, but I don't see how you can download the installer for the Public Beta 2 update separately. It is only available via the App Store update from what I can see.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

I appreciate the tip and I hate to be dense, but I don't see how you can download the installer for the Public Beta 2 update separately. It is only available via the App Store update from what I can see.

Ah, all I know is that the DP updates are working. PB is best to check the Sierra forum, in the section about running on unsupported Macs.

 

[LogicalVue]

Yep, the Dev Preview builds are working. I wiped my drive and did a Sierra install using the Dev Preview and all is now working fine. DP3 installed with no trouble and Mail and Messages work with the Nvidia web driver.

So apparently this is some sort of weird issue with the Public Beta. I'm surprised they behave differently.

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

Yep, the Dev Preview builds are working. I wiped my drive and did a Sierra install using the Dev Preview and all is now working fine. DP3 installed with no trouble and Mail and Messages work with the Nvidia web driver.

So apparently this is some sort of weird issue with the Public Beta. I'm surprised they behave differently.

It could be a strong sign that the final public release will be harder to install and also hard to update on a flashed 4,1

 

[chrfr]

Hmm. Perhaps you're right, but I thought the 5,1 firmware I've applied worked around that issue.

I have not tested with the Public Beta installers, but the Developer Preview downloads without an issue on a flashed 4,1. There's no reason to expect that the Public Beta is any different.
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Download the DP/PB on a newer Mac and then copy the installer to the cMP.

There's no reason to do that, the flashed 4,1 is fine for downloading.