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Appalling iMac Pro Experience
- Thread starter Alchemist
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I originally posted that I thought it was Mojave that was the problem - then I asked our IT lady about the Macs that had the upgrade issues. All T2 chips models! The one guy without a problem - no T2 chip. I also found out someone with a 13 inch non-touch bar MBP upgraded without telling anyone. She had zero issues. It's anecdotal evidence, but it lines up with putting the blame on the T2 chip.
A couple of them are fixed and successfully running Mojave at this time, but those two machines take a long time to boot. A few others decided to stay on High Sierra and still boot fast.
Man, what a mess.
Interesting, my iMac Pro never had these problems, I just updated to Mojave 10.14.2 this morning which was my second Mojave update. My iMP originally came with High Sierra.
My iMP and 2018 MBP with T2 chips also run fine. I do not believe it is the T2 chip by itself that is the issue, more likely an issue with some driver or installation configuration.
The last thing I would do is upgrade my OS to a very new one thats been out for 2.5 months on a mission critical system. It's one thing if it shipped with Mojave but I always opt for more mature software for anything critical.
The mystery deepens! What the heck is going on with this upgrade?
Our IT person has forbidden Mojave after wasting so much time on the machines that went wrong here.
I thought I'd report back with an update.
My replacement iMac Pro turned up on Friday. Also a refurb. I've been working all weekend (I'm a wedding photographer) so only got a chance to have a go at getting it setup today. Much smoother process this time around. Aside from running disk utility, which showed a similar warning under High Sierra as before, the install ran smoothly. I updated to the latest HS and then onwards to Mojave 10.14.12 and all went well. No bizarre shutdowns; the computer is essential running as expected. I do wonder if the crypto warning disk utility was throwing up was something to do with APFS/T2 under High Sierra. It was the same on the last machine and in both cases it resolved and did not show again when running disk utility under Mojave.
Also, very satisfyingly, my new Drobo installation went equally as smoothly with disk pack migration working as it should. Always a stressful few minutes. Despite the existence of emergency backups!
Hopefully all continues to run well, but if not I shall let you know!
My replacement iMac Pro turned up on Friday. Also a refurb. I've been working all weekend (I'm a wedding photographer) so only got a chance to have a go at getting it setup today. Much smoother process this time around. Aside from running disk utility, which showed a similar warning under High Sierra as before, the install ran smoothly. I updated to the latest HS and then onwards to Mojave 10.14.12 and all went well. No bizarre shutdowns; the computer is essential running as expected. I do wonder if the crypto warning disk utility was throwing up was something to do with APFS/T2 under High Sierra. It was the same on the last machine and in both cases it resolved and did not show again when running disk utility under Mojave.
Also, very satisfyingly, my new Drobo installation went equally as smoothly with disk pack migration working as it should. Always a stressful few minutes. Despite the existence of emergency backups!
Hopefully all continues to run well, but if not I shall let you know!
Good to hear it's running. I would have been scared to upgrade to Mojave if I had the last iMac Pro experience you did!
I wonder what the real issue is since the install went fine on this machine?
I wonder what the real issue is since the install went fine on this machine?
One thing I've noticed is the version of macOS that ships with machines has been ... unstable? I've always recommended a clean install immediately after purchase, even though it shouldn't be necessary and do nothing on paper, just so that you know the OS isn't shipping with weird issues. From there you can usually migrate a little easier.
My working theory is that with SSDs, the shipping might have passed by something with a magnetic field, and flipped some bits around. Nothing major, but very subtle errors that cause slight instability.
Same here with the newest MacBook pros (multiple machines) and the newer Mac minis.
Hmmm, a computer version of the tinfoil hat theory.
I don't think there's any substance to that. Not that a clean install can hurt, but I've never done a clean install of a new computer and have never had instability issues with a shipped machine. Nor has anyone I know.
Possibly. All I know is I've had to blow away the installations on just one too many default Macs.Hmmm, a computer version of the tinfoil hat theory.
Yes, I don't doubt that. But I can't see how it would be attributable to some magnetic effect on the SSD. They're pretty well encased deep inside the shipping package, and I think it's revealing that no manufacturer shields SSD's inside the case.
As I said, just a theory. Or, if even that is too much of an assertion, a hypothesis that fits the facts.
Haha, true that. Do I detect mathematician in you?As I said, just a theory. Or, if even that is too much of an assertion, a hypothesis that fits the facts.
In any event your theory is probably more likely than most of the other theories about Apple put forth on this forum...
Computer Science, so I took a lot of math and logic courses. Not far from the mark!Haha, true that. Do I detect mathematician in you?
For what it's worth I've never had problems with base install OSes on new Macs being a problem before. Over the years I have owned a lot of Macs. Personal ownership history:
My next question is whether the VESA mount issues have been resolved with the iMac Pro. I have a 3rd party VESA mount kit for my iMac 5K which is inelegant but works perfectly well. I'd love the cleanliness of the official VESA mount but I worry about the screws breaking as there have been issues reported with that. Anyone know of any updates on that front?
- Motorola Starmax 3200
- PowerMac G4 Sawtooth
- iBook G3
- iBook G4
- iMac (White - Intel 20")
- iMac (24" - Mid 2007)
- iMac (27" - Late 2009)
- Macbook 11"
- Mac Pro 5,1
- iMac 5K (Late 2014)
My next question is whether the VESA mount issues have been resolved with the iMac Pro. I have a 3rd party VESA mount kit for my iMac 5K which is inelegant but works perfectly well. I'd love the cleanliness of the official VESA mount but I worry about the screws breaking as there have been issues reported with that. Anyone know of any updates on that front?