Can't reinstall Catalina after Big Sur Upgrade failure.

[Buttky]

Hey Folks,

Yesterday, after some "3rd party Catalina unsupported software installation issues", i decided to try upgrading to Big Sur. The system was working like a charm before this stupid decission, besides I could never get the Thunderbolt card to work. The thing is after trying the upgrade the installation failed and I couldn't boot the system anymore.

I have a backup disk done with Carbon Copy Clone but it doesn't show up in the Open Core boot menu. I checked after the installation that booting from it was possible, and it worked. But not anymore. I've also tried to restore the system through a bootable USB and the Carbon Copy drive, but it got stucked in the end of the process and it didn't work either.

I've also tried to re-install Catalina with both Unibeast/Clover and Open Core but after choosing the drive where to install, the installer reboots and then I come back to the Open Core Boot menu, and then it comes the loop. I can't progress with the installation, as I get stucked again and again in the OC boot menu.

Anyone able to help me out with this problem, please? It's really frustrating after every new attempt with no progress.

Thanks a million in advance for your help.

Cheers.

 

[Feartech]

Hey Folks,

Yesterday, after some "3rd party Catalina unsupported software installation issues", i decided to try upgrading to Big Sur. The system was working like a charm before this stupid decission, besides I could never get the Thunderbolt card to work. The thing is after trying the upgrade the installation failed and I couldn't boot the system anymore.

I have a backup disk done with Carbon Copy Clone but it doesn't show up in the Open Core boot menu. I checked after the installation that booting from it was possible, and it worked. But not anymore. I've also tried to restore the system through a bootable USB and the Carbon Copy drive, but it got stucked in the end of the process and it didn't work either.

I've also tried to re-install Catalina with both Unibeast/Clover and Open Core but after choosing the drive where to install, the installer reboots and then I come back to the Open Core Boot menu, and then it comes the loop. I can't progress with the installation, as I get stucked again and again in the OC boot menu.

Anyone able to help me out with this problem, please? It's really frustrating after every new attempt with no progress.

Thanks a million in advance for your help.

Cheers.

please update your hardware profile to allow others to help you easier

https://www.tonymacx86.com/account/account-details

"Intel I9" is a bit vague....

 

[Buttky]

Hi Feartech.

Thanks for your reply. And yes, sorry, yesterday with the stress of the troubleshooting I forgot to mention my hardware profile. I'll update it now. The processor is an Intel I9 10900-K 3,7Ghz.

I finally managed to reinstall Catalina successfully. I changed the USB installer stick, and re-formatted again the Main Drive, as well as creating a small partition of 600MB on that drive using disk utility from the Installer USB stick. It worked. I could also restore from the Carbon Copy backup via Migration assistant. SO now it's again working like before.

But still need to upgrade. Not sure if I wanna attempt again to upgrade to Big Sur but to Ventura. In that case, any recommendation? Do you think the OCAT guide should be a good option? My knowledge is very limited, but I will definitely have a safe backup this time.

Thanks.

Best,

Buttky

 

[Feartech]

Hi Feartech.

Thanks for your reply. And yes, sorry, yesterday with the stress of the troubleshooting I forgot to mention my hardware profile. I'll update it now. The processor is an Intel I9 10900-K 3,7Ghz.

I finally managed to reinstall Catalina successfully. I changed the USB installer stick, and re-formatted again the Main Drive, as well as creating a small partition of 600MB on that drive using disk utility from the Installer USB stick. It worked. I could also restore from the Carbon Copy backup via Migration assistant. SO now it's again working like before.

But still need to upgrade. Not sure if I wanna attempt again to upgrade to Big Sur but to Ventura. In that case, any recommendation? Do you think the OCAT guide should be a good option? My knowledge is very limited, but I will definitely have a safe backup this time.

Thanks.

Best,

Buttky

as long as your boot loader and your kexts are up to date, it shouldn't be an issue

 

[Buttky]

I started with upgrading opencore with OCAT and the validate option gave me many errors with the EFI. I will now go one by one and try to correct them. Thanks again Feartech.

 

[Feartech]

I started with upgrading opencore with OCAT and the validate option gave me many errors with the EFI. I will now go one by one and try to correct them. Thanks again Feartech.

OCAT can also fix errors with your config.plist, make sure to use the correct version in the options