i can't update to OS X el capitan beta 5

Hi Sara,

I'm sure it's fixable - could you answer some questions to help with that:

Did you have VirtualBox installed?

Can you boot into Recovery Mode or Safe Mode?

Do you have another Mac you can connect up to your rMBP?

Do you have a Time Machine backup?

Max

Hi Max,

My apologies, I've been a bit busy ....

OK, it will reboot if I close it by holding down the on/off button. It functions fine when its been rebooted this way.

But when I try to udate to the next beta of course it asks to restart, and that's the bit it wont do, and the only way to shut it down is to use the above method.

I dont have a virtual box

I have no other mac

I no longer use time machine.

I have no weird software installed!

Is there a way to easily revert to Yosemite?

Many thanks,

Sara

Hi Sara,

if I understand correctly that you can get into your OS so long as you force the shutdown beforehand, then yes I can post the steps you need to revert to Yosemite. You would need a 8GB+ USB drive and you would end up with a clean install of Yosemite - i.e. your user data would be gone. You'd have to copy over files that you want to keep to a safe place so that you can copy them back when you're done.

Is that viable for you or would you prefer that we try to troubleshoot the issue with El Capitan so you can continue with the betas?

Max

My post above presented two options. These are the steps for the first. If you want to pursue the second option instead, that will have to be collaborative - i.e. there'll be a bit of back and forth where you post the output of certain commands in Terminal etc.

Anyway, to do a clean install of Yosemite, first download the OS X 10.10 Yosemite installer from the Mac App Store in the Purchases section (you may need to hold alt/option while selecting Purchases). Once it's downloaded, just quit the installer and set the downloaded file's name to InstallOSXYosemite.app (make sure only .app, not .app.app)

1. Plug in your USB drive into the computer and open Disk Utility (in Applications).
2. Select the USB drive from the left sidebar and click on Erase tab.
3. Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in the format box and set the name be YosemiteInstaller
4. Now click on Erase button and wait until the format process completes.
5. Then choose Partition tab and select 1 Partition from Partition Layout dropdown menu. Click on Option and ensure GUID Partition Table is selected as the partition scheme, with its name set to YosemiteInstaller.
6. Launch the Terminalapp (in Applications/Utilities) and copy-paste the following command in, and then hit Enter:

   sudo /Applications/InstallOSXYosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/YosemiteInstaller --applicationpath /Applications/InstallOSXYosemite.app --nointeraction

7. This will create the bootable USB flash drive. This takes between 10-20 minutes. Do not interrupt the Terminal or eject the flash drive during the process. Once the process completes, you will see the message "Copy Complete. Done."

The OS X Yosemite bootable USB flash drive will be ready for use and you can start the clean installation process.

Next to clean Install OS X Yosemite on Your Mac

1. Ensure the bootable USB flash drive is plugged into your Mac and restart the computer. As soon as the start-up chime plays, press the Option key (Alt).
2. Choose the USB drive on the start-up drive selection screen and hit Enter/Return on the keyboard.
3. Wait until the Yosemite installer appears on screen. This could take a few seconds or minutes.
4. Click on Disk Utility and then hit Continue.
5. Click on Macintosh HD from the left hand-side pane and then hit Erase tab on the top-right portion of the window. Leave all the settings at their default values and then hit Erase button at the bottom right. This will wipe all files stored on your startup hard drive.
6. When the erasing process is complete, return to the first screen where you selected Disk Utility. Now click on Install OS X and then hit Continue.
7. Choose the Macintosh HD partition you erased in step 5 and then click Install.