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Can’t install macOS after NVME install
- Thread starter spencersmitty
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it’s rough man, there’s very little info about it out there. thank you so much for your interest in helping.
i’m going to try to use target disk mode with another mac to restore my recovery partition. maybe that will allow me to proceed with the OS installation. fingers crossed.
Not really related but Monday I'm gonna upgrade an early 2015 13" MBP with the Sintech adapter and a Crucial P2 drive. I'm gonna be installing Monterey. Is there any chance that for you Mojave is the problem? Can you try with the Big Sur installer? I understand you don't want Big Sur, but just to eliminate an OS problem
update for someone out there that finds this thread useful haha:
I opened up my imac for the third time (FML) and just put my OEM apple blade and HDD fusion setup back in and sealed it up; as much as i didn’t want to do that, it’s the only way the mac would function and i was so tired of trying to get it to work.
After playing around in photoshop for 10 minutes, it kernal panicked again: i was like ‘dude… nooo f***ing way’
turns out some of my new crucial memory was causing the panic (AFTER i put the HDD and apple blade back in, not saying the memory was purely to blame for panics in the past) which means Fishrrman was correct; for some of it. I WAS getting panics listed as ‘NVMe fatal error’ before, leading me to think that the SSD was not compatible and i might have had better luck with a different drive like some suggested.. yikes
there is only so much trial and error you can do before you give up: which is what i did.
i bought a new 2020 i9 iMac with a 2TB SSD from the get-go. it’s pretty sad that i had to take this route since i always like to take things apart and improve them, but i guess apple won this time.
so to your question coso,
go for it, i think you’ll be fine. you might run into all this rubbish like me, or it might start up perfectly fine! i don’t really know what will happen.. i don’t think Mojave was the problem, it was some network error causing the OS to cancel installing, and i don’t know what the root reason was. I wish I could figure out why to have a better understanding behind apple’s security, but nor does else on the internet know why it happens, they just say, ‘try re-downloading, worked for me!’ or something.
(^sorry if you are easily offended by that, no harm intended)
I opened up my imac for the third time (FML) and just put my OEM apple blade and HDD fusion setup back in and sealed it up; as much as i didn’t want to do that, it’s the only way the mac would function and i was so tired of trying to get it to work.
After playing around in photoshop for 10 minutes, it kernal panicked again: i was like ‘dude… nooo f***ing way’
turns out some of my new crucial memory was causing the panic (AFTER i put the HDD and apple blade back in, not saying the memory was purely to blame for panics in the past) which means Fishrrman was correct; for some of it. I WAS getting panics listed as ‘NVMe fatal error’ before, leading me to think that the SSD was not compatible and i might have had better luck with a different drive like some suggested.. yikes
there is only so much trial and error you can do before you give up: which is what i did.
i bought a new 2020 i9 iMac with a 2TB SSD from the get-go. it’s pretty sad that i had to take this route since i always like to take things apart and improve them, but i guess apple won this time.
so to your question coso,
go for it, i think you’ll be fine. you might run into all this rubbish like me, or it might start up perfectly fine! i don’t really know what will happen.. i don’t think Mojave was the problem, it was some network error causing the OS to cancel installing, and i don’t know what the root reason was. I wish I could figure out why to have a better understanding behind apple’s security, but nor does else on the internet know why it happens, they just say, ‘try re-downloading, worked for me!’ or something.
(^sorry if you are easily offended by that, no harm intended)
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i have ruled out some things though if it helps out anyone out there trying this, some things that personally tripped me up.
- adapter does not matter (well… get a sintech), nor does it effect the speed of your drive: that is dependent on your model of iMac and how many lanes it can preform. The adapter it is literally a waferboard with gold pins on it connecting to the apple pins; it just adapts it. i read threads with people claiming the adapter fails after a year, but that’s… just stupid, no way that could be a reason why your iMac is kerneling. maybe if you seated it weird i suppose (is that even possible?).
- if you are going to only install the NVMe and rip the HDD out completely (or not put a SATA SSD back in), then leave the sata cable plugged in to the logic board: i just tucked mine under/in the hard drive bracket. Fans blew at max for me when i took mine out; not saying that’s why they blow at max.. but it fixed it for me.
- NVMe choice sort of matters, i guess ive heard that samsung plus drives don’t work well, i’m living proof. BUT, people that tell you “you shouldn’t mess with apples configuration, the OWC Aura works better because the pin out is the same as apple!” aren’t really giving you beneficial info, haha. M.2 Nvme’s will work fine with an adapter, but it’s all up to firmwares at that point, and if the iMac/Macbook wants to collaborate with it or not depending on the drives firmware working alongside the Mac’s bios/OS.
— it sounds like the regular 970 evo seems to work fine, not the plus… even with the firmware update 😔
- use a heat sink for the ssd, apparently they get hot. i used the ‘MHQJRH’ brand on amazon, it barely fit against the inside of the shell lol.
- if you put everything back together and go to turn it on but get no life, check your fan/speaker connectors.. they are small and easy to forget; yes apparently they can stop the computer from starting (which i guess is a good thing!)
that’s about it. it’s been a rocky journey and i WOULD try this again IF in a couple of years the internet gets filled with more information on this swap; for now it’s too scarce. it could be something simple that prevents it from working that i couldn’t figure out, but having to cut adhesive multiple times cause you tested it before sealing it up and it worked great, but when you seal it kernels, is just… cmon.
- also, getting the screen to be flush on the edges and look like factory (no gap at the bottom) is pretty tricky.. take your time, no rush.
this is it for me, i’m moving on; thank you everyone for your suggestions. If anyone figures this out, i’ll be following this thread still. 😋
good luck everyone, cheers
- adapter does not matter (well… get a sintech), nor does it effect the speed of your drive: that is dependent on your model of iMac and how many lanes it can preform. The adapter it is literally a waferboard with gold pins on it connecting to the apple pins; it just adapts it. i read threads with people claiming the adapter fails after a year, but that’s… just stupid, no way that could be a reason why your iMac is kerneling. maybe if you seated it weird i suppose (is that even possible?).
- if you are going to only install the NVMe and rip the HDD out completely (or not put a SATA SSD back in), then leave the sata cable plugged in to the logic board: i just tucked mine under/in the hard drive bracket. Fans blew at max for me when i took mine out; not saying that’s why they blow at max.. but it fixed it for me.
- NVMe choice sort of matters, i guess ive heard that samsung plus drives don’t work well, i’m living proof. BUT, people that tell you “you shouldn’t mess with apples configuration, the OWC Aura works better because the pin out is the same as apple!” aren’t really giving you beneficial info, haha. M.2 Nvme’s will work fine with an adapter, but it’s all up to firmwares at that point, and if the iMac/Macbook wants to collaborate with it or not depending on the drives firmware working alongside the Mac’s bios/OS.
— it sounds like the regular 970 evo seems to work fine, not the plus… even with the firmware update 😔
- use a heat sink for the ssd, apparently they get hot. i used the ‘MHQJRH’ brand on amazon, it barely fit against the inside of the shell lol.
- if you put everything back together and go to turn it on but get no life, check your fan/speaker connectors.. they are small and easy to forget; yes apparently they can stop the computer from starting (which i guess is a good thing!)
that’s about it. it’s been a rocky journey and i WOULD try this again IF in a couple of years the internet gets filled with more information on this swap; for now it’s too scarce. it could be something simple that prevents it from working that i couldn’t figure out, but having to cut adhesive multiple times cause you tested it before sealing it up and it worked great, but when you seal it kernels, is just… cmon.
- also, getting the screen to be flush on the edges and look like factory (no gap at the bottom) is pretty tricky.. take your time, no rush.
this is it for me, i’m moving on; thank you everyone for your suggestions. If anyone figures this out, i’ll be following this thread still. 😋
good luck everyone, cheers
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ACK! I bought a two 2TB 970 evo plus. Works fine as a FAST drive, can't boot from it on a 27" 2017 Retina iMac 18,3.
The other one boots fine in an external m.2 to usb3 adapter.
Any suggestions???
You should check out this thread devoted to SSD upgrades to iMacs. One of the more experienced posters there, mbosse, who has done several of these, wrote:
"I currently wouldn't use Samsung 970 Evo Plus (newest version) or a Samsung 980 in a Mac that runs Monterey - while very fast in the beginning, there are more and more people who report on increasing startup times over time due to extending TRIM operations at startup - see, e.g., here: #905
Older 970 Evo Plus or 970 Pro seem to be working fine."
Durnit, I was really hoping to use this in a fusion config.
Edit: Swapped the Samsung for an Intel 670p, boots just fine and FLIES!
Edit: Swapped the Samsung for an Intel 670p, boots just fine and FLIES!
Intel 670p Series M.2 2280 2TB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 QLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) SSDPEKNU020TZX1
The Intel 2TB 670p NVMe M.2 Internal SSD is designed to provide you with the capacity and performance to handle everyday tasks such as multitasking applications and playing games. Featuring the latest QLC (Quad Level Cell) NAND technology, the 670p is designed to deliver sequential read speeds of...
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