Need help upgrading to Sierra, installation hangs

[kurick]

Hello all. I have a fully working El Capitan installation with Clover as my boot loader. From the Sierra install guides I have read, they say I should just be able to upgrade to Sierra, but it is not working for me. I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction. My pertinent hardware information is below, and I have attached some screenshots for reference.

Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy ridge
Nvidia GTX 960

 

[cmn699]

Hello all. I have a fully working El Capitan installation with Clover as my boot loader. From the Sierra install guides I have read, they say I should just be able to upgrade to Sierra, but it is not working for me. I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction. My pertinent hardware information is below, and I have attached some screenshots for reference.

Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy ridge
Nvidia GTX 960

View attachment 270610
View attachment 270612

I presume you are doing a Direct Upgrade [that is without creating a new Sierra USB installer Flash Disk.]

• What version of macOS Sierra have you downloaded?

• Did you update your Clover version on Current el Capitan to the Latest Clover EFI bootloader BEFORE you clicked the Sierra download from Application Folder?
  • Sierra 10.12.4 and beyond needs newer Clover EFI .

 

[kurick]

I presume you are doing a Direct Upgrade [that is without creating a new Sierra USB installer Flash Disk.]

• What version of macOS Sierra have you downloaded?

• Did you update your Clover version on Current el Capitan to the Latest Clover EFI bootloader BEFORE you clicked the Sierra download from Application Folder?
  • Sierra 10.12.4 and beyond needs newer Clover EFI .

Thanks for responding. I will try to answer you questions the best I can, for what I understand of them.

I think I have macOS Sierra version 12.0.49

I originally downloaded it a while ago, but I had trouble doing the install at that time and I gave up. As far as Clover, I did read that I should upgrade Clover to the most recent version, so since I have given this install another try, I have upgrade Clover with the following install package,
Clover_v2.4k_r4114.pkg

My motherboard is is not a EFI motherboard, its traditional BIOS, if that plays a role in the question you asked.

 

[cmn699]

Thanks for responding. I will try to answer you questions the best I can, for what I understand of them.

I think I have macOS Sierra version 12.0.49
View attachment 270617

I originally downloaded it a while ago, but I had trouble doing the install at that time and I gave up. As far as Clover, I did read that I should upgrade Clover to the most recent version, so since I have given this install another try, I have upgrade Clover with the following install package,
Clover_v2.4k_r4114.pkg

My motherboard is is not a EFI motherboard, its traditional BIOS, if that plays a role in the question you asked.

The uploaded boot screen even after a second look , did not show me any pathognomonic sign that tells me the EXACT Cause for the freeze. It almost looked like it should proceed booting to its destination screen. That is why I asked for ancillary causes for freeze such as incompatible Clover Bootloader or the wrong version of the macOS Sierra for the existing bootloader.

Since your MoBo is Z68, I guessed you might be using Legacy (=BIOS) rather than UEFI boot mode. It was very nice of you to alert the readers of your post that fact.

Using the updated Clover bootloader was good.

Delete the current macOS Sierra Installer or dmg from your Application folder and re-download and you might even get macOS Sierra 10.12.6 installer to your Application folder and then try again[ You can even keep a copy saved on to an external disk or Flash drive to avoid having to re-download BEFORE you click it to start the installation]. If I can find the link to the new installer , I shall edit this message to include that.

Tonymac has the link to macOSSDierra 10.12.6 installer :https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?mt=12

 

[kurick]

The uploaded boot screen even after a second look , did not show me any pathognomonic sign that tells me the EXACT Cause for the freeze. It almost looked like it should proceed booting to its destination screen. That is why I asked for ancillary causes for freeze such as incompatible Clover Bootloader or the wrong version of the macOS Sierra for the existing bootloader.

Since your MoBo is Z68, I guessed you might be using Legacy (=BIOS) rather than UEFI boot mode. It was very nice of you to alert the readers of your post that fact.

Using the updated Clover bootloader was good.

Delete the current macOS Sierra Installer or dmg from your Application folder and re-download and you might even get macOS Sierra 10.12.6 installer to your Application folder and then try again[ You can even keep a copy saved on to an external disk or Flash drive to avoid having to re-download BEFORE you click it to start the installation]. If I can find the link to the new installer , I shall edit this message to include that.

Tonymac has the link to macOSSDierra 10.12.6 installer :https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?mt=12

I now have macOS Sierra installer 12.6.03. I ran it and it seems to have stopped in the about the same place as far as i can tell. I actually walked away from my PC and and therefore let the installer run longer, at a point where it looks like it had been stopped for a long time, and there are 2 or 3 more lines than what I was originally getting. But, I don't know what it means.

 

[cmn699]

I now have macOS Sierra installer 12.6.03. I ran it and it seems to have stopped in the about the same place as far as i can tell. I actually walked away from my PC and and therefore let the installer run longer, at a point where it looks like it had been stopped for a long time, and there are 2 or 3 more lines than what I was originally getting. But, I don't know what it means.
View attachment 270748

The above Screen shot shows one of the most enigmatic of all error messages in hackintoshing : " APPLEACPICPU timeout".

I have read them in this Forum and elsewhere and nobody has come up with very convincing explanation and a troubleshoot for this. Those who have had this never come back and report how they finally fixed it.

I have seen some claiming that if you wait for hours finally it goes away and the system completes the boot. I would not have the patience to wait overnight hoping for such an outcome. Even if that resolves, without a ready explanation for the cause and reproducing and fixing it with whatever methods, I have difficulty accepting 'watchful waiting and masterly inactivity' as a troubleshoot strategy.

Having said that, the "pci8086, 100" next to the APPLEACPICPU on this uploaded screen seems to suggest some thing in your PCI or PCIE socket that has something to do with this freeze.

Looking ahead to the next line suggests that it might be your Video card as usually that is the line that precedes login screen.


Can you tell me what are your boot flags during this reboot from Clover Boot Manager >Options>Boot Args ?
I am interested specifically with the flag relating to Graphics.

If you could copy the contents of "Graphics Injector" menu under "Options" and post in your message, , that could also be helpful to understand the problem better.

 

[kurick]

The above Screen shot shows one of the most enigmatic of all error messages in hackintoshing : " APPLEACPICPU timeout".

I have read them in this Forum and elsewhere and nobody has come up with very convincing explanation and a troubleshoot for this. Those who have had this never comes back and reports how they finally fixed it.

I have seen some claiming that if you wait for hours finally it goes away and the system completes the boot. I would not have the patience to wait overnight hoping for such an outcome. Even if that resolves, without a ready explanation for the cause and reproducing and fixing it with whatever methods, I have difficulty accepting 'watchful waiting and masterly inactivity' as a troubleshoot strategy.

Having said that, the "pci8086, 100" next to the APPLEACPICPU on this uploaded screen seems to suggest some thing in your PCI or PCIE socket that has something to do with this freeze.

Looking ahead to the next line suggests that it might be your Video card as usually that is the line that precedes login screen.


Can you tell me what are your boot flags during this reboot from Clover Boot Manager >Options>Boot Args ?
I am interested specifically with the flag relating to Graphics.

If you could copy the contents of "Graphics Injector" menu under "Options" and post in your message, , that could also be helpful to understand the problem better.

First I would like to thank you for the time you have spent helping me. I appreciate you're help.

Here is a picture of my Clover boot args:

Since you mentioned the video card being a potential issue related to the error message you noticed, I will mention this: I have a Nvidia GTX960 which to my knowledge does not have native support in MAC OS. As least I don't think it did in Yosemite or El Capitan. I can't remember which version of the OS is was when I had a similar issue, but when I was originally doing the installation or upgrade, some kind people on this forum pointed out that my card did not have native support. I had to install an older card I had, a GTX560 I believe in order to do the install. Once installed and booted up I was able to download the Nvidia drivers and swap my GTX960 back in. Could this be the problem again?

When I first started having issues, I thought this might be the problem, so I removed the video card and tried to do the install with my onboard Intel graphics, but that failed too. I can't remember if the install stopped in the same spot.

I might have my GTX560 up in my attic that I could try doing the install with. Do you think that is worth a shot?

 

[cmn699]

Try booting with nv_disable=1 in the above interface it will be

• [√] Set Nvidia to VESA

• Uncheck [ ] Use Nvidia WEB drivers

• [√] Verbose [-v]

Let us see if you can pass the current hurdle.
I will watch your thread as often as I can.

Edited to include:

When I first started having issues, I thought this might be the problem, so I removed the video card and tried to do the install with my onboard Intel graphics, but that failed too. I can't remember if the install stopped in the same spot.

Sorry , in my hurry to go with the next step, I did not answer your question properly.

Yes , that was indeed one of my suspicions and that's why I asked for supporting evidences and a way to bypass the problem. Since you are about to Install Sierra and the kext is yet to be installed, your directive (config.plis /Boot flags) to use a driver nvda_drv=1 and [√] Use NVDIA WEB drivers can drag the booting process down.

With the above nv_disable or sometimes using Safe Mode (-x) we can verify if Video was the issue causing boot problem

The Intel PCI 8086, 100 (8086=Intel) there could be other devices like Ethernet but I want to consider video first.

 

[kurick]

No problem. So before you're response I tried removing my video card and doing the installation , but surprisingly it failed at the same spot.

I then tried it again with the card back in wit the boot flags(not the safe mode one) and it failed at the same spot again.

Lastly I tried with the boot flags you recommend and safe mode and it just kept repeating "invalid sandbox profile for pix XXX (bad address)" where XXX is a 3 digit number.

 

[cmn699]

No problem. So before you're response I tried removing my video card and doing the installation , but surprisingly it failed at the same spot.

I then tried it again with the card back in wit the boot flags(not the safe mode one) and it failed at the same spot again.

Lastly I tried with the boot flags you recommend and safe mode and it just kept repeating "invalid sandbox profile for pix XXX (bad address)" where XXX is a 3 digit number.

View attachment 270807

Sorry, I am without any more ideas about this problem.

I don't have your board to run some live real world trials.

But I have read about successful Sierra Installation on this board but in UEFI mode with an updated BIOS [ making it UEFI ready] and fresh installation NOT Upgrade. [see a reference:http://z68x.mcdonnelltech.com/