A2141 (2019 16" MB Pro) Strange macOS install issues. NAND? WIFI? FIRMWARE?
Hi All.
Sorry ahead of time for the text wall. This is a strange problem and I have tried to explain it as best I can. I realise this is a hardware forum (mostly), but I am still not sure if this is even a hardware fault! I am hoping that someone more knowledgeable than me in the area of understanding installation logs, or someone that has had a similar issue in the past may have some ideas of what might be causing this.
The issue:
Unable to do a clean install of any macOS versions supported for this model, even after fully erasing and formatting the internal SSD, DFU revives/restores, and fails regardless of method used for installation. Install process dies with different errors at different stages (depending on macOS version being installed and installation method).
Background of the machine:
An A2141 16” 2019 MacBook Pro (820-01700 logic board with 1TB onboard SSD) that is having issues with installing macOS (any of the supported versions for this model) onto its internal (onboard) SSD. The client tried to do an upgrade to Monterey (not sure what it was running before that), and the upgrade process apparently died part way through, and the machine has been unable to successfully install any macOS since. The board is pristine, runs well, and without any noticeable issues. No signs of liquid damage or corrosion, and not even a speck of dust to be seen. It came to me as a hardware fault with suspected failed onboard SSD (NAND chips) I know that this model is renowned for failing NAND chips, however after inspecting the board and doing some measurements and software related tests I am not convinced that the issue is hardware related. I still think that it looks more like firmware, disk encryption, or possibly even network related? I could be wrong of course, and it could very well still be NAND chips, but it doesn’t seem to behave in the same way as others I have worked on with failed NAND chips.
What I have tried so far:
- At first it sounded like corrupt firmware to me, so ran several revives and restores in DFU mode. All complete successfully, however the issue persists when attempting to reinstall macOS.
- Have tried installing Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, and Ventura and all fail with similar errors (will attach installation logs for some to this post).
- Have tried installing from external USB installer to internal SSD using all macOS versions mentioned above. All error out at different stages but all do error out.
- Have tried installing from external USB installer to external HDD/SSD (which should bypass internal SSD completely?) using all macOS versions mentioned above which also all error out with the same messages.
- Have tried installing using internet recovery (+Shift +Option +Command +R) which installs Catalina, and installation fails with similar errors.
- Have tried installing using internet recovery (+Option +Command +R) which installs Ventura, and installation fails with similar errors.
- Have tried cloning above macOS versions from previously installed ext. disks to int. SSD using Carbon Copy Cloner. Only Catalina boots and runs properly afterwards from the internal SSD. (Monterey onwards isn't supported anymore by CCC as far as I know when cloning a boot drive?)
- Can boot and run perfectly fine and stable from any external disks that are preinstalled with any of the macOS versions mentioned above, including Monterey (haven't tested Ventura yet on external disk).
- Internal SSD seems to work perfectly well and is not reporting any errors when formatting or being accessed from other instances of macOS. SMART status of internal SSD is listed as "verified" so looks to be fine SMART wise.
- I have made sure that SIP is enabled, and also set the start-up security "Secure Boot" option to "Full Security" - have also tried "No Security" option though to no avail as well.
- I have zeroed the first part of the internal SSD using dd and writing /dev/zero to it to destroy all partitions. This didn't help.
- Have run diagnostics (Holding “D” key), and no issues found.
The errors being seen:
I will upload the Ventura installation log, as well as the Catalina installation log. All were done from Internet Recovery. Sorry for it being zipped, but had no choice seeing as both were way over the maximum size allowed for txt files. Ventura and Monterey both show an exceptionally useful message when they fail: "An error occurred loading the update.". Catalina installation dies with a message saying “An error occurred installing macOS” then wants me to run diagnostics.
There also seems to be a lot of DHCP errors in the install logs. Not sure if that is normal. I did manage to get 2 Catalina installations to actually complete successfully. I changed the DNS servers in my DHCP scope to 1.1.1.1 during testing at one point, and then when I tried an Internet Recovery I had successful installations (twice only), however this only worked twice, so could have been total coincidence. Fact remains though that it does seem to intermittently install successfully.
The only other thing I plan to try to attempt to eliminate the network side of things as a cause, is I have ordered a Thunderbolt 3 to Gigabit adapter which should arrive on Friday. With this I plan to try to do an Internet Recovery over the wire rather than over the air in case the machine has some sort of wifi related logic board fault causing all of this weirdness.
I am stumped and have tried just about everything I can think of. If anyone can see anything in the logs that might point me in the right direction to get this fixed, I would be eternally grateful!
Sorry ahead of time for the text wall. This is a strange problem and I have tried to explain it as best I can. I realise this is a hardware forum (mostly), but I am still not sure if this is even a hardware fault! I am hoping that someone more knowledgeable than me in the area of understanding installation logs, or someone that has had a similar issue in the past may have some ideas of what might be causing this.
The issue:
Unable to do a clean install of any macOS versions supported for this model, even after fully erasing and formatting the internal SSD, DFU revives/restores, and fails regardless of method used for installation. Install process dies with different errors at different stages (depending on macOS version being installed and installation method).
Background of the machine:
An A2141 16” 2019 MacBook Pro (820-01700 logic board with 1TB onboard SSD) that is having issues with installing macOS (any of the supported versions for this model) onto its internal (onboard) SSD. The client tried to do an upgrade to Monterey (not sure what it was running before that), and the upgrade process apparently died part way through, and the machine has been unable to successfully install any macOS since. The board is pristine, runs well, and without any noticeable issues. No signs of liquid damage or corrosion, and not even a speck of dust to be seen. It came to me as a hardware fault with suspected failed onboard SSD (NAND chips) I know that this model is renowned for failing NAND chips, however after inspecting the board and doing some measurements and software related tests I am not convinced that the issue is hardware related. I still think that it looks more like firmware, disk encryption, or possibly even network related? I could be wrong of course, and it could very well still be NAND chips, but it doesn’t seem to behave in the same way as others I have worked on with failed NAND chips.
What I have tried so far:
- At first it sounded like corrupt firmware to me, so ran several revives and restores in DFU mode. All complete successfully, however the issue persists when attempting to reinstall macOS.
- Have tried installing Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey, and Ventura and all fail with similar errors (will attach installation logs for some to this post).
- Have tried installing from external USB installer to internal SSD using all macOS versions mentioned above. All error out at different stages but all do error out.
- Have tried installing from external USB installer to external HDD/SSD (which should bypass internal SSD completely?) using all macOS versions mentioned above which also all error out with the same messages.
- Have tried installing using internet recovery (+Shift +Option +Command +R) which installs Catalina, and installation fails with similar errors.
- Have tried installing using internet recovery (+Option +Command +R) which installs Ventura, and installation fails with similar errors.
- Have tried cloning above macOS versions from previously installed ext. disks to int. SSD using Carbon Copy Cloner. Only Catalina boots and runs properly afterwards from the internal SSD. (Monterey onwards isn't supported anymore by CCC as far as I know when cloning a boot drive?)
- Can boot and run perfectly fine and stable from any external disks that are preinstalled with any of the macOS versions mentioned above, including Monterey (haven't tested Ventura yet on external disk).
- Internal SSD seems to work perfectly well and is not reporting any errors when formatting or being accessed from other instances of macOS. SMART status of internal SSD is listed as "verified" so looks to be fine SMART wise.
- I have made sure that SIP is enabled, and also set the start-up security "Secure Boot" option to "Full Security" - have also tried "No Security" option though to no avail as well.
- I have zeroed the first part of the internal SSD using dd and writing /dev/zero to it to destroy all partitions. This didn't help.
- Have run diagnostics (Holding “D” key), and no issues found.
The errors being seen:
I will upload the Ventura installation log, as well as the Catalina installation log. All were done from Internet Recovery. Sorry for it being zipped, but had no choice seeing as both were way over the maximum size allowed for txt files. Ventura and Monterey both show an exceptionally useful message when they fail: "An error occurred loading the update.". Catalina installation dies with a message saying “An error occurred installing macOS” then wants me to run diagnostics.
There also seems to be a lot of DHCP errors in the install logs. Not sure if that is normal. I did manage to get 2 Catalina installations to actually complete successfully. I changed the DNS servers in my DHCP scope to 1.1.1.1 during testing at one point, and then when I tried an Internet Recovery I had successful installations (twice only), however this only worked twice, so could have been total coincidence. Fact remains though that it does seem to intermittently install successfully.
The only other thing I plan to try to attempt to eliminate the network side of things as a cause, is I have ordered a Thunderbolt 3 to Gigabit adapter which should arrive on Friday. With this I plan to try to do an Internet Recovery over the wire rather than over the air in case the machine has some sort of wifi related logic board fault causing all of this weirdness.
I am stumped and have tried just about everything I can think of. If anyone can see anything in the logs that might point me in the right direction to get this fixed, I would be eternally grateful!
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