Big Sur 11.3 major issue

[NelsonTX]

Just update iMac 21.5, late 2019 to Big Sur 11.3 16gb ram, 256 SSD.
Upon restart notice two thing:
Avatar changed from a custom avatar back to the globe.
My name "changed" from nxxxxx mxxxxx to Nxxxxx Mxxxxx.
It is not accepting my password to unlock the iMac.
My 2020 MacBook Air M1 is still running BigSur 11.2.3 and will not be getting updated anytime soon.
Anyone else having this issue. I smell a re-install of macOS, but I hope not.
Any help appreciated.

 

[harrisonjr98]

Just update iMac 21.5, late 2019 to Big Sur 11.3 16gb ram, 256 SSD.
Upon restart notice two thing:
Avatar changed from a custom avatar back to the globe.
My name "changed" from nxxxxx mxxxxx to Nxxxxx Mxxxxx.
It is not accepting my password to unlock the iMac.
My 2020 MacBook Air M1 is still running BigSur 11.2.3 and will not be getting updated anytime soon.
Anyone else having this issue. I smell a re-install of macOS, but I hope not.
Any help appreciated.

Are your initials capitalized on your name as entered in your Apple ID?

 

[blackxacto]

11.3 is worst update experience in twenty years w Apple. Cable and router crashed. Restarted. No iMessage. Safari slow as Christmas. I have the same Comcast cable connection and stream tv perfectly, but the 19,1 iMac is wonky. Tried to sign out of iMessage and back in, but my Icon and name do not show in iMessage Preferences. Photo app asked me to import half my photos stored in iCloud. Waited awhile, now I don't need to import any photos, but the iMac acts like it did when I uploaded my library the first time. I don't need to upload anything, that's the point of iCloud and Optimize Storage, right?

 

[NelsonTX]

Are your initials capitalized on your name as entered in your Apple ID?

originally no. my name in my Apple ID has never changed-until now, and I did not do it.

 

[NelsonTX]

11.3 is worst update experience in twenty years w Apple. Cable and router crashed. Restarted. No iMessage. Safari slow as Christmas. I have the same Comcast cable connection and stream tv perfectly, but the 19,1 iMac is wonky. Tried to sign out of iMessage and back in, but my Icon and name do not show in iMessage Preferences. Photo app asked me to import half my photos stored in iCloud. Waited awhile, now I don't need to import any photos, but the iMac acts like it did when I uploaded my library the first time. I don't need to upload anything, that's the point of iCloud and Optimize Storage, right?

Never had issues before. This is totally unacceptable. Like I said the MacBook Air is not getting updated for the foreseeable future.

 

[throAU]

I'm rebooting into it now, will give my experiences.

Cable and router crashed.

Did your toilet not flush since 11.3 as well?

I'd suggest a lot of apple services are flaky right now (e.g., iMessage, update downlods, App store downloads, etc.) due to load. I had issues signing into iCloud via Spark last night; probably around the time new releases went live.

Unless you're willing to ride out some bumps, holding off for a few days is always a good idea.

I've got other boxes i can quite happily use if my Apple gear dies and they're all backed up so... yolo

 

[Acidsplat]

Try resetting the SMC. I had this issue on my 2019 16” MacBook Pro, and that seemed to fix it for me.

 

[throAU]

Bearing in mind that I do not log in with an iCloud account (but use one after signing in with local account)

• signed in just fine
• all my previously running apps have fired up
• fan is spinning, but guessing its re-indexing.

so far so good?


edit:
5 mins in, fan has stopped.

 

[fteter]

11.3 update is a huge Apple misfire. Think I'm sitting this update out and will wait for 11.3.1.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

I have been running the 11.3 Betas for some time now, and have not noticed any major problems like that.
However, I do find that after 5 or 6 updates, one on top of the previous, the whole system does get a bit sluggish, so I then do a backup, full wipe and re-format of my drive, and a clean install. That fixes many problems, regardless of the operating system.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I had no problem with the update on my M1. I did a standard update and then an hour later, I did a clean install once I found out the full installer was available.

 

[fteter]

I had no problem with the update on my M1. I did a standard update and then an hour later, I did a clean install once I found out the full installer was available.

I have been running the 11.3 Betas for some time now, and have not noticed any major problems like that.
However, I do find that after 5 or 6 updates, one on top of the previous, the whole system does get a bit sluggish, so I then do a backup, full wipe and re-format of my drive, and a clean install. That fixes many problems, regardless of the operating system.

 

[fteter]

Oddly enough, I had no trouble with the Betas. Only the production release. But now that the full installer is available, I may try that route.

 

[throAU]

For what its worth i just updated "normally" without the full installer. Zero issues.

I don't run betas any more so maybe thats a contributing factor.

 

[buckrock]

For what its worth i just updated "normally" without the full installer. Zero issues.

...

I agree: download the 11.3 full installer from Apple Store. Make a USB installer -- shut down and restart with option key to get Apple system picker -- choose MacOS Install drive and reapply the full 11.3 on top of your existing installation. This will not harm your data.

Just have to ask: do you have File Vault enabled? Some folks have reported errors if so.

 

[Honza1]

11.3 is worst update experience in twenty years w Apple. Cable and router crashed. Restarted. No iMessage. Safari slow as Christmas. I have the same Comcast cable connection and stream tv perfectly, but the 19,1 iMac is wonky. Tried to sign out of iMessage and back in, but my Icon and name do not show in iMessage Preferences. Photo app asked me to import half my photos stored in iCloud. Waited awhile, now I don't need to import any photos, but the iMac acts like it did when I uploaded my library the first time. I don't need to upload anything, that's the point of iCloud and Optimize Storage, right?

I have seen similar statement about literally EVERY release. iOS or MacOS, every single release...
How in the world would update of iMac crash your router? And how do you crash cable (I assume modem)? Apple is capable but this borders with miracle.
As suggested above, reinstall system using installer. Something went wrong during update. Happens. Life. No need to get agitated.

 

[throAU]

I agree: download the 11.3 full installer from Apple Store. Make a USB installer -- shut down and restart with option key to get Apple system picker -- choose MacOS Install drive and reapply the full 11.3 on top of your existing installation. This will not harm your data.

Just have to ask: do you have File Vault enabled? Some folks have reported errors if so.

I have filevault enabled. But like i said, this machine has had no betas, just official apple releases, updated the normal app-store way (not full installer download) since the MBA early 2020 was new.

I used to run betas back in the pre High Sierra days, but since then I've been reasonably happy to wait until release (i've got too many devices to all shift over to beta to play together nice, family sharing, etc. - its just a pain).

This one has been a lot less painful for me than the big sur release, which took hours and had my mac sitting on a black screen for a disturbing amount of time, seemingly dead 🤣

 

[vanhaze2020]

I agree: download the 11.3 full installer from Apple Store. Make a USB installer -- shut down and restart with option key to get Apple system picker -- choose MacOS Install drive and reapply the full 11.3 on top of your existing installation. This will not harm your data.

Just have to ask: do you have File Vault enabled? Some folks have reported errors if so.

Wow, i didn't know that your data is not harmed when doing this.
I always thought that your data would be wiped, like a Clean Install of OSX.
Great info, thank you !

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Wow, i didn't know that your data is not harmed when doing this.
I always thought that your data would be wiped, like a Clean Install of OSX.
Great info, thank you !

Well, I didn't do it that way. I downloaded the full installer, booted from the drive I wanted to update, and ran the installer.
The system was updated from 11.2.3 to 11.3 with no loss of my user data.

 

[buckrock]

Well, I didn't do it that way. I downloaded the full installer, booted from the drive I wanted to update, and ran the installer.
The system was updated from 11.2.3 to 11.3 with no loss of my user data.

Yes, either way works fine and leaves your data, Apps, and settings unchanged. I just prefer to run the installer after a shutdown; I used to need to run a Terminal command (csrutil disable from the Terminal of the installer to run the early Big Sur 11 betas on my unsupported rMBP. Just force of habit!

 

[blackxacto]

11.3 is worst update experience in twenty years w Apple. Cable and router crashed. Restarted. No iMessage. Safari slow as Christmas. I have the same Comcast cable connection and stream tv perfectly, but the 19,1 iMac is wonky. Tried to sign out of iMessage and back in, but my Icon and name do not show in iMessage Preferences. Photo app asked me to import half my photos stored in iCloud. Waited awhile, now I don't need to import any photos, but the iMac acts like it did when I uploaded my library the first time. I don't need to upload anything, that's the point of iCloud and Optimize Storage, right?

I bought 4 drives to CCC5 backup my work every day, including 11.2.3 Time Machine. I spent several days migrating from these backups, and each time I had no Apple Store, or Safari was crawling. I reset every computer restart keystrokes there are. Finally after several days of bizarre migrations to 11.3 from 11.2.3, I took the advice of the Apple Tech who said to start completely fresh. Migrate nothing. I did grab old Photoshop settings though. Everything works now. But there was NO MIGRATION. I have no idea why 3 backups and Time Machine were unable to correctly migrate 11.2.3 to 11.3, but none of them worked. Only the clean installation of everything.

 

[Honza1]

I bought 4 drives to CCC5 backup my work every day, including 11.2.3 Time Machine. I spent several days migrating from these backups, and each time I had no Apple Store, or Safari was crawling. I reset every computer restart keystrokes there are. Finally after several days of bizarre migrations to 11.3 from 11.2.3, I took the advice of the Apple Tech who said to start completely fresh. Migrate nothing. I did grab old Photoshop settings though. Everything works now. But there was NO MIGRATION. I have no idea why 3 backups and Time Machine were unable to correctly migrate 11.2.3 to 11.3, but none of them worked. Only the clean installation of everything.

Starting fresh is great way of cleaning up some problematic configuration or app from prior system. My migrations over ~4 years carried forward incompatible kext for hardware I used briefly, until I identified it as causing instability in my new system... Migration assistant is simple, easy to use, quick, usually working - but carries crud forward, which is bad.

Of course, it is annoying if you need to reconfigure lots of stuff as that may take forever. But in your case it looks like it would have saved your time if you started fresh early. This is sad story and I feel with you.

Now, I hate to poke in this, but I'd really like to know how did upgrade to 10.3 on your iMac managed to crash your cable and router as you reported earlier. Can you elaborate, please?

 

[blackxacto]

Starting fresh is great way of cleaning up some problematic configuration or app from prior system. My migrations over ~4 years carried forward incompatible kext for hardware I used briefly, until I identified it as causing instability in my new system... Migration assistant is simple, easy to use, quick, usually working - but carries crud forward, which is bad.

Of course, it is annoying if you need to reconfigure lots of stuff as that may take forever. But in your case it looks like it would have saved your time if you started fresh early. This is sad story and I feel with you.

Now, I hate to poke in this, but I'd really like to know how did upgrade to 10.3 on your iMac managed to crash your cable and router as you reported earlier. Can you elaborate, please?

And that my friend is the $64,000 question. I have no idea why the router crashed during upgrading to 11.3, nor why all the backup drives migrated corrupt data (Each provided no Apple Store and crawling Safari). All my cables and plugs were intact. Carbon Copy Cloner 5 normally provides beautiful service. Its running now on my fresh installations. Time Machine has picked up where it left off. I did not reformat it preferring to keep old files. All other drives were wiped and backed w 11.3 & data. I saw a report where someone else had no Apple Store after migration from 11.2.3. Felt good to know I wasn't alone.