Macbook Pro 2016 stuck on “restarting” after installing mojave

hangmacbook promojavesoftware-update

Whenever I try to upgrade my macbook with updates which require a system restart, it will begin the update then freeze on the screen with an apple logo and partially filled progress bar with the text "restarting".

System Info:

  • MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports)
  • 2.9 GHz Intel Core i5
  • 8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3

  1. This began when I was running macOS 10.13.4 and attempted to upgrade to mojave (without installing 10.13.6 first). The same issue as described above happened so I powered the system off and restarted it.

  2. The update was not installed but it booted up fine and worked normally so I tried again, this time leaving it on overnight but the same thing happened.

  3. This time I tried to install the 10.13.6 update before mojave but got the same results when installing 10.13.6. Upon reboot the system was still at 10.13.4

  4. I tried installing the 10.13.6 combo update, same thing happened

  5. I tried resetting my PRAM with Command + Option + P + R but that didnt change anything

  6. I booted into recovery mode and ran first aid on my disk

  7. I booted into recovery mode and reinstalled the macOS. This succeeded and set me at 10.13.6, hooray.

  8. I opened the app store and tried to install the security update before moving on to mojave, just in case. System rebooted, began install, then froze on the "restarting" step.

I am under the impression there is an error during the install which also prevents the reboot sequence but I don't know how to track it down. Does anyone have insight into what is happening here?

Best Answer

I ended up trying to install the updates from safe mode and that worked. It doesn't solve the issue but is an acceptable workaround for me.

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