Monterey Reinstall on Mac Studio – Eighty Hours..?

[spetznatz]

I decided to reinstall Monterey on my two month-old Mac Studio because of myriad problems I’m having with it (endless SBOD, applications locking up and not responding, continually losing contact with external drives). From the Recovery Partition, it told me that the process would take over EIGHTY HOURS. The first time, the next morning, there was no signal going to the monitors, even after unplugging and replugging them into the Studio, turning them on and off. Turned the Studio on and off, and it wouldn’t start up. Progress bar got to 20% and wouldn’t go any further. Reinstall again, get the 80-hour message again. In the end it took about twenty hours, but still that’s an unacceptably long time for a reinstall… however, at the end of the process, the Studio still wouldn’t start up: the progress bar just stops at about 20%.

I tried restoring from a Time Machine backup (from the Recovery Partition), but it said that I would have to use Migration Assistant to do that and to do that I’d need to reinstall Monterey…

I thought that after nursing my 12 year-old Mac Pro (patched, flashed, OpenCore, AC wi-fi upgrade, etc.) that the Mac Studio would be plain sailing but, if anything, it’s worse… downloads are glacially slow, even with a wi-fi 6 mesh system: I fired up the Mac Pro again today, and downloads that are estimated at MONTHS on the Studio came down in minutes on the Pro. I fired the Pro up to download the Monterey installer to make a bootable USB, because the Recovery Partition is a nightmare…

Has anyone else had similar experiences? I can’t believe how bad this Mac Studio is…

 

[DeltaMac]

If you made a bootable USB installer, did the reinstall go any faster?
If not, you may simply have an internal flash storage issue, and Apple would perhaps need to replace SSD or logic board.
With your existing issues - it does sound like you will be able to use your warranty...

 

[spetznatz]

If you made a bootable USB installer, did the reinstall go any faster?
If not, you may simply have an internal flash storage issue, and Apple would perhaps need to replace SSD or logic board.
With your existing issues - it does sound like you will be able to use your warranty...

I’m going to leave it run from the Recovery Partition: it should complete by morning, here. If it doesn’t work, I’ll try the bootable installer. It certainly seems that I’ve got a ‘Friday-Afternoon’ machine here…

 

[haralds]

I have found any installation time estimates to be ludicrous. Yours is probably estimating based on some slow network.
That being said, I prefer to use a USB installer for recovery. It gives me more control over the process. Actual install is less than an hour. Application Migration might be more. But on a 2TB plus content system is has been < two hours with fast drives.

 

[D3ggy]

View attachment 2099725

How’s life on Magarathea?

 

[haralds]

Something is definitely weird on your network. I ran into intermittent issues on mine (wired and WiFi Erro 6 Pro) that turned out to be a bum cable for my MacBook Pro on the Switch! Switch ports should not impact each other, but one of them might have been spraying noise. I am replacing the old Netgear 1GB unmanaged with a managed switch for better debugging.

 

[spetznatz]

Well, the reinstall from the Recovery Partition failed: no signals going to the monitors this morning, so restarted. As before, on restart, the progress bar gets to about 20%, then hangs…

So, tried with the bootable USB: everything came up in the disk picker. Clicked on ‘Install MacOS Monterey’ then it went into ‘Discovering Volumes’. FOR OVER AN HOUR. Finally managed to select my startup volume, clicked install. Time estimate: 55 minutes, so I’m assuming that it’s booting from the USB.

Walked away for about an hour, come back to… a startup progress bar stuck at 20%… seriously, this Mac Studio has been a POS since day one…

It’s obviously still under warranty, but I can’t get to the Apple Store at the moment due to torn rib muscles..😡

 

[Fishrrman]

First suggestion:
Take it to an Apple Store and have them look at it.

But you said you can't do that, so let's go to my second suggestion:

If you are backed up, FORGET about reinstalling the OS.
Instead, try this:

Will it boot at all?
Can you get to the finder?
If so, boot to the finder.
Then...

Open System Preferences.
Go to the "System Preferences" menu in the menu bar, and choose "Erase all content and settings".
This will invoke the "erase assistant".
Just follow the directions and "click through".

WHAT THIS IS GOING TO DO:
It's going to erase ALL data/settings/3rd-party apps/accounts that you installed on it since you took it out of the box. It will wipe the "Macintosh HD Data" volume.

What you'll be left with:
The original "Sealed System Volume" will remain.
This cannot be modifed by the user, anyway.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN IT'S FINISHED:
You should see the same setup screen as you did when you first took it out of the box:
"Choose your language".

Next step...
Find your backup drive, and connect it.
Start clicking through.

Setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate from another drive or backup.
YES.
"Point the way" for setup assistant to find the backup, and give it time to digest everything.
I suggest you just migrate everything.
Turn setup assistant loose.

See if this works, good luck.

 

[spetznatz]

First suggestion:
Take it to an Apple Store and have them look at it.

But you said you can't do that, so let's go to my second suggestion:

If you are backed up, FORGET about reinstalling the OS.
Instead, try this:

Will it boot at all?
Can you get to the finder?
If so, boot to the finder.
Then...

Open System Preferences.
Go to the "System Preferences" menu in the menu bar, and choose "Erase all content and settings".
This will invoke the "erase assistant".
Just follow the directions and "click through".

WHAT THIS IS GOING TO DO:
It's going to erase ALL data/settings/3rd-party apps/accounts that you installed on it since you took it out of the box. It will wipe the "Macintosh HD Data" volume.

What you'll be left with:
The original "Sealed System Volume" will remain.
This cannot be modifed by the user, anyway.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN IT'S FINISHED:
You should see the same setup screen as you did when you first took it out of the box:
"Choose your language".

Next step...
Find your backup drive, and connect it.
Start clicking through.

Setup assistant will ask if you wish to migrate from another drive or backup.
YES.
"Point the way" for setup assistant to find the backup, and give it time to digest everything.
I suggest you just migrate everything.
Turn setup assistant loose.

See if this works, good luck.

It won’t boot up. I can’t get to the Finder.

 

[DeltaMac]

I think you definitely have a hardware problem on your new Mac Studio.
Call AppleCare.

I bet they will tell you to bring it in to Apple store.

 

[Fishrrman]

Have to agree with DeltaMac.
If you want it to run again, you need to take it to an Apple Store.

 

[spetznatz]

Apple store is looking increasingly likely, but I’ll have to wait for my ribs to heal: I’m going to give it one last shot with an attended install: if I can catch it doing whatever it’s doing before the monitor powers off, I might have a chance…

 

[tonmischa]

Have you tried Apple Hardware Test?

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics, formerly known as Apple Hardware Test, can check your Mac for hardware issues.

support.apple.com

EDIT: I agree with other forum members: It sounds like you have a bad unit.

EDIT 2: I installed several MacStudios in the last 2 month and in my experience this thing is blazingly fast.

 

[yellowhelicopter]

Looks like a hardware problem. Either with the Studio or with periphery, try to disconnect everything except monitor and mouse/trackpad/KB and delete the volume via recovery, create a new one, and try again.

 

[spetznatz]

Have you tried Apple Hardware Test?

Use Apple Diagnostics to test your Mac - Apple Support

Apple Diagnostics, formerly known as Apple Hardware Test, can check your Mac for hardware issues.

support.apple.com

EDIT: I agree with other forum members: It sounds like you have a bad unit.

EDIT 2: I installed several MacStudios in the last 2 month and in my experience this thing is blazingly fast.

Thanks, ran diagnostics: ‘APD00 No Issues Found’.

”…blazing fast”? This Studio has been a SPOD monster from day 1…

 

[spetznatz]

Looks like a hardware problem. Either with the Studio or with periphery, try to disconnect everything except monitor and mouse/trackpad/KB and delete the volume via recovery, create a new one, and try again.

Thanks, looks like erasing is my next step forward…

 

[spetznatz]

Erase and install from bootable USB did the trick, although iCloud setup failed during setup: just got to get all my apps transferred back over. Thanks for all the help and suggestions, guys 👍👍👍

 

[spetznatz]

How’s life on Magarathea?

Sorry, only just got this… still tinkering with my fjords…

How’s life on Magarathea?

Sorry, only just got this… still tinkering with my fjords…

 

[spetznatz]

Just to report that, now that everything's reinstalled, it's every bit as bad as it was before: glacially slow wi-fi performance, endless SBOD, TV.app and Finder keep locking up ('not responding') folder contents taking ages to display in dialog boxes, etc., etc., etc... and, on top of all that, the SSD in my Mac Mini music server has died...

 

[DeltaMac]

What did AppleCare tell you when you called? (If you haven't done that, it's your next step...)

I might suggest booting to your USB installer now (when you have everything set up), and do a simple reinstall of macOS.
If you were already having problems before you began to setup/install your various apps, then there's probably not a good reason to continue with this.

Maybe one question... What devices do you have plugged in to your Studio?

 

[spetznatz]

What did AppleCare tell you when you called? (If you haven't done that, it's your next step...)

I might suggest booting to your USB installer now (when you have everything set up), and do a simple reinstall of macOS.
If you were already having problems before you began to setup/install your various apps, then there's probably not a good reason to continue with this.

Maybe one question... What devices do you have plugged in to your Studio?

I didn’t phone AppleCare.

 

[Rob__Mac]

I didn’t phone AppleCare.

YMMV but when I've called in the past and said I can't physically visit a store they've always set me up with a return box, all paid for… might be worth a go.

 

[spetznatz]

I

YMMV but when I've called in the past and said I can't physically visit a store they've always set me up with a return box, all paid for… might be worth a go.

If you read the posts, you'll see that I've managed to reinstall the OS.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you've reinstalled the OS, and it's STILL slow, then I'm thinking that there's something "in your account" that is slowing things down.

Here's something you can do that will "test" that.
It's quick n easy, and won't hurt anything:

a. open the "users & groups" preference pane
b. in the lower left hand corner, click the lock icon and enter your password
c. now click the "+" sign to add a new user account
d. BE SURE that you give this account administrative privileges.
e. give it a new, different username/password that you can easily remember.
f. now, log out of your regular account and log into the newly-created account.
g. log into the NEW account.

Now, just try a few things.
Are things still slow, or does it "feel faster".
If things suddenly start running faster, that indicates that there could be something in your regular account that is "clogging things up".
It can be a lot of work to "find out what it is".

If this doesn't work.
AGAIN.
Take it to an Apple Store.

 

[spetznatz]

If you've reinstalled the OS, and it's STILL slow, then I'm thinking that there's something "in your account" that is slowing things down.

Here's something you can do that will "test" that.
It's quick n easy, and won't hurt anything:

a. open the "users & groups" preference pane
b. in the lower left hand corner, click the lock icon and enter your password
c. now click the "+" sign to add a new user account
d. BE SURE that you give this account administrative privileges.
e. give it a new, different username/password that you can easily remember.
f. now, log out of your regular account and log into the newly-created account.
g. log into the NEW account.

Now, just try a few things.
Are things still slow, or does it "feel faster".
If things suddenly start running faster, that indicates that there could be something in your regular account that is "clogging things up".
It can be a lot of work to "find out what it is".

If this doesn't work.
AGAIN.
Take it to an Apple Store.

Thanks, but I’d already done that before the reinstall saga. I’ll give it another go tomorrow … another thing that I’ve noticed is I/O connectivity: I’ve got all the disks from my old Mac Pro in a YottaMaster 5-bay chassis, attached via USB-C. The disks in the YM will spontaneously unmount, several times a day. I pointed the finger at the YM enclosure (cheap, AliExpress) but I’ve had it plugged in to my old Mac Pro now for three days and it’s been rock solid. I’ve also got a two-bay, quick-swap caddy and the Studio will just NOT see it, although it mounts flawlessly on my Mac Pro, Mac Mini and MacBook Pro…