Brand new 2018 mini will only boot via recovery?

[nampramos]

I just picked up a brand new 2018 mini (i5/8/256) today and connected it to a Samsung 4K display via USB-C to DP adapter and then used the DP cable that came with the display (full size DP on both side).

No problems with the first boot up, since I guess that's some sort of recovery start up as well.

I did several reboots after, with no problems either.

But then I wasn't able to update to 10.14.2 from the current 10.14 that the mini came with (and still haven't been able to update), so I decided to do a full shutdown on the mini, instead of just a reboot.

Surprise, it won't boot, or at least the screen isn't coming on. After several presses of the power button, it comes up to a "Language" selector screen and after that to a "Reset Password" screen. When I press Exit on that, an Apple comes up, then a progress bar under the Apple, and finally shows a message box with no title, a yellow triangle with a ! and the message "A software update is required to use this startup disk. You can update now or select another startup disk."

When I select "Update", nothing ever happens since the screen will eventually go dark and won't come up again. When I select "Startup Disk..." it shows me the internal boot disk, which I then select and I'm asked to input my password to unlock it (FileVault). Once that's done, it finally boots into macOS. Any reboot after that works fine but if I shutdown once again, the same happens.

So there's two problems here:
1. Is it completely impossible to boot from a total shutdown via the TB3/USBC port? Or is there some other problem? I don't have an HDMI cable at home and don't want to use one since my display only has HDMI 1.4 and that won't do 4K/60Hz/10bit.
2. Why am I not being able to update to 10.14.2?

Thank you!

 

[astrorider]

I'm not sure why you can't update to 10.14.2, but it does sound like your screen isn't powering on early enough when it boots up. Since you can't see the Filevault login screen, it's eventually bringing up the Reset Password screen. I would try hooking up your monitor differently, or try a different monitor, so you can troubleshoot why your setup isn't powering the monitor early enough. Might be the adapter you're using, or connecting to a different port on your monitor is needed.

The "software update is required to use this startup disk" looks like it's related to "Full" or "Medium" security boot settings. You could try setting it to "No Security" for now, until you can get your software update and monitor issues worked out: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208330

 

[nampramos]

The screen works fine after every reboot though and also worked fine when I first started up the mini for the first time.

I have two DP ports on the monitor, both due the same. I'll order an HDMI cable and see if that changes things, although I rather not use the HDMI at all since it doesn't support the full potential of my monitor.

 

[Ploki]

you can always disable filevault

 

[nampramos]

I'd like to keep FileVault on and I'm wondering if there's no way to boot from a shutdown via TB3 port?

 

[seble]

I also had this problem. I shut down the machine after going away for the holidays. Came back and it did as you described.

Didn't need to disable Filevault. If you click the menu options at the top you can 'select startup disk' and then 'enter a password' (how specific). After a couple of attempts at this I was able to get it to boot back to Mac OS. I haven't restarted the computer properly since, but updated to the latest version of Mojave without any issues.

 

[nampramos]

That's what keeps happening to me. I'd like to be able to properly shutdown the mini without this problem. I'm going to get an HDMI cable now and test it out. Even if it works with the HDMI, I'd like it to work via TB3 port too. I'm wondering if anyone using a TB3 to DP has this problem or not?
I still haven't been able to update. Maybe the cable is preventing it? I'll test it out soon and will report back.

 

[nampramos]

UPDATE:

Just got back home with an HDMI cable and the shutdown issue is resolved when booting with the HDMI cable connected to the screen. I can then switch to the TB3-DP cable. This isn't ideal though and I'd like to be able to skip HDMI at all since it does not support 60Hz on my screen, while DP does.

Can anyone confirm that they can boot for a cold shutdown with only TB3-DP cable? I'm not disregarding that the problem might be my adapter. If that's the case, then please let me know which adapter/cable you are using that makes it work for you.

Now the other issue that the HDMI cable did not resolve (didn't think it would), it that the Mac mini simply won't update to 10.14.2 via System Preferences. It show's that the update is available and ready to install but it never does install it. It says it will Reboot the system but it fails to reboot and to install the update.

 

[seble]

UPDATE:

Just got back home with an HDMI cable and the shutdown issue is resolved when booting with the HDMI cable connected to the screen. I can then switch to the TB3-DP cable. This isn't ideal though and I'd like to be able to skip HDMI at all since it does not support 60Hz on my screen, while DP does.

Can anyone confirm that they can boot for a cold shutdown with only TB3-DP cable? I'm not disregarding that the problem might be my adapter. If that's the case, then please let me know which adapter/cable you are using that makes it work for you.

Now the other issue that the HDMI cable did not resolve (didn't think it would), it that the Mac mini simply won't update to 10.14.2 via System Preferences. It show's that the update is available and ready to install but it never does install it. It says it will Reboot the system but it fails to reboot and to install the update.

Can't help you with updating as I was able to update mine. Perhaps might be best to disable FileVault to update and then add it back in.

 

[nampramos]

Why would FileVault be preventing the update? I have FileVault active on my MBP and never had problems updating.

I have now download the 10.14.2 update directly from Apple's support page and when launching the dng it says: "macOS 10.14.2 Update can't be installed on this disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update."

 

[macdos]

Why would FileVault be preventing the update? I have FileVault active on my MBP and never had problems updating.

I have now download the 10.14.2 update directly from Apple's support page and when launching the dng it says: "macOS 10.14.2 Update can't be installed on this disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update."

Download the full installer from the apple application store.

 

[nampramos]

Download the full installer from the apple application store.

Isn't that what I just did by downloading the DNG from the support page?

Or do you mean download the entire Mojave installer just like I would do to do a fresh install?

I called Apple and they weren't sure what was happening. Got me to launch the mini in to recovery mode and perform a new install of Mojave via recovery mode. It's now doing so and will find out soon what version it actually pulled from Apple on its own.

They'll also look into the USBC-DP issue I'm having once I called them back again. The lady I talked to said this was the first time she was hearing about it.
[doublepost=1546614930][/doublepost]UPDATE

After almost 30min and several automatic reboots and progress bars, the mini booted back up and is now running 10.14.2 that was installed via recovery mode. Apple Support does not know why it needed to be done that way though and advised to keep an eye on any other strange behaviour.

I'm currently on hold while my support guy is trying to figure out what's up with the TB3-DP monitor connection not working after a cold shutdown but works fine when booted from recovery mode or after sleep/reboot.

 

[macdos]

Or do you mean download the entire Mojave installer just like I would do to do a fresh install?

Yah, this is not a new problem, and it has nothing to do with your TB3. Installing combo updates or doing a full install are common remedies.

 

[nampramos]

The USBC issue with the monitor connection has now been escalated to engineering. Might take a while to solve since I'm going abroad for a week on Tuesday but curious to see what they say first from all the videos I made of the issue.

Also, this morning, it took about 30min for the mini to connect to a Magic Keyboard while the MBP next to it would connect to it in 1sec or less. While it didn't connect, it wouldn't boot up to the login screen.

Feeling like I should just return it and get a new one...

 

[enri1357]

The USBC issue with the monitor connection has now been escalated to engineering. Might take a while to solve since I'm going abroad for a week on Tuesday but curious to see what they say first from all the videos I made of the issue.

Also, this morning, it took about 30min for the mini to connect to a Magic Keyboard while the MBP next to it would connect to it in 1sec or less. While it didn't connect, it wouldn't boot up to the login screen.

Feeling like I should just return it and get a new one...

What I do now for the moment is manually press the power button of the display First, then press the power button of the Mac Mini.

 

[nampramos]

Yes, that almost always works for me, but not 100%.

Apple Support did say it shouldn't like that though. The mini should be able to wake up the monitor after a shutdown, since it does it fine after a reboot or sleep.

I'll know more in a week or two, since I'll be going abroad on Tuesday for a week.