Unable to install El Capitan

[AndreaM]

I can't resolve a failure to install El Capitan. I received the message 'File System verify or repair failed.' I've tried everything I can find (or understand) and still can't get a solution. I tried a disk repair as it said it needed repaired but then said it couldn't be repaired so I then tried to reinstall Yosemite but when I reached the part to select a disk, there was nothing listed! I also tried using Time Machine but it only lists a few backups from 2013 which can't be used.

Please someone help me - I have essential files on it which I need every day and don't want to have to buy a new laptop again as this one is only two years old.

One other thought has also occurred to me. I installed extra memory earlier today (replacing 2 x 2gb with 2 x 4gb) but the laptop started up fine again after it and was displaying 8gb memory as expected.

 

[honestone]

I'm assuming by your statement "this one is only two years old" that your Mac laptop is a "qualifying model" onto which El Capitan can be installed.

Also, how exactly did you try to do the repair of your internal drive? The only way you can repair it (I'm assuming you do not have a more robust disk maintenance/repair program like Disk Warrior or Tech Tool Pro) is to boot your Mac to the (hidden) Recovery HD partition. This link describes how to boot to that partition, and what one can do from there:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

Additionally, do you happen to have the file entitled "Install OS X Yosemite" anywhere?

Finally, did your machine come with Yosemite already installed on it?

 

[AndreaM]

Yes, it is late 2012 and the El Capitan update was on my list of updates. I managed to obtain Yosemite using Internet install but the same problem exists where it isn't showing any disk to select.

I tried again to repair the disk using Disk Utility and it gives the following reasons for failure:

The volume Macintosh HD could not be verified completely.

Error: Disk Utility can't repair this disk....disk, and restore your backed-up files.

A pop-up alert also says: Partition map repair failed while adjusting size for logical volume.

Could this by any chance be to do with the extra memory? Is it worth replacing the old memory before trying again?

Edit: I tried again to install from Time Machine and this time it is looking like it might work. At least, it has begun restoring from the back-up I did earlier today but it's going to take 5 hours so I'm off to bed and will see what's happened by the morning!

 

[AndreaM]

Eh, no - it didn't work. Once it completed, it shut down, restarted and now all it shows is a 'No Entry' sign.

 

[honestone]

Again I ask: how did you try and use Disk Utility? If you just started it after you booted your machine normally, you cannot do repairs on your startup disk. As I mentioned above, you can only do that by booting your Mac to the (hidden) Recovery HD partition.

Another thing that is not clear is that when you obtained your late 2012 laptop, was it brand new? And, if it was, was Yosemite already installed on the machine? Your statement "I managed to obtain Yosemite using Internet install" is confusing.

 

[AndreaM]

I'm afraid I don't know enough to sensibly answer your questions. When I start up, I get a dark grey window of OS X Utilities and this is where I accessed Disk Utility. When I select 'Verify Disk' is shows no errors and confirms that the volume (serial no.) is okay. Repair Disk does nothing either as is doesn't seem to be finding a problem (which is an improvement on previous attempts).

If I select Reinstall OS X, it wants to install Yosemite (which is fine as that's what I want) but there was no disk shown to select so I couldn't get any further. However, I tried again this morning and this time it showed Macintosh HD so I've so far managed to sign in to the App store and have the message:

OS X Yosemite

Downloading additional components.

It is expected to take around 9 hours to complete so it will be quite a while before I can see if this did any good. Somehow I'm not that confident.

 

[AndreaM]

Well, it is with enormous relief that the reinstall of Yosemite finally worked! I've no idea what was different this time as I'd been at the same stage numerous times before but tinkering around with other options must have coincidentally resolved whatever was wrong. The only damage I have noticed this far has been trivial, with having to reload all saved Mail messages, and I've lost the icon for Mail and Bento on my desktop, even although they still display on the original program in Applications. Both of these programmes are still accessible from the alias on the desktop, it's just that the app's icon is replaced with a blank sheet of paper. I don't suppose there's any way to replace it, is there? I tried moving the Mail icon to the bin and making a new alias but it still refuses to use Mail's postage stamp icon.

 

[honestone]

Glad to hear you are just about back in business. After all this, do you have the file entitled "Install OS X Yosemite" someplace on your system? It typically will be in the Applications folder, but after an installation of the OS, that file goes away. If you don't have it, I suggest you get it from the App Store, make a couple of copies of it in different locations, and also place a copy on an external device.

Also, did the reinstall get you to OS 10.10.5, which is/was the last version of Yosemite?

As for the icons for Mail and Bento, I assume you are talking about the Dock, where they are missing from. Not sure if you tried already, but just drag the icon for each app to the Dock, and see what happens. I don't use either product, preferring Outlook for my EMail client.

Going forward, I would suggest you do some "periodic" disk cleanup/maintenance on the internal hard drive. One excellent third party product is Onyx. It is free, solid, and works very, very well. You can get it from here:

http://www.titanium.free.fr/onyx.html

Make sure to get the second one on that list, version 3.0.1. Onyx has quite a few useful features, including Repairing Permissions, and some good disk cleaning functions. I use it every Saturday as part of my disk cleanup/maintenance/repair, and backup processing for both of my Macs, and I would not be without it. (I also use the excellent third party disk cleanup/maintenance/repair program TechTool Pro, and SuperDuper! for my backups). It has been around for a number of years.

If you use Onyx, and then use Disk Utility, via the Recovery HD partition, to cleanup your drive, that would be prudent. Again, I do my extensive cleanup once a week, but in between, I am constantly cleaning off unneeded stuff from my drives (SSDs in my case). It's of course up to you how often you want to do this.

 

[AndreaM]

I see I have a file called OS X Yosemite in the Apps folder. Is this the one you mean? I also had El Capitan but moved that to trash, and yes, it restored to 10.10.5.

I don't use the dock for some of my programmes and prefer to have an icon on the desktop from where to launch them. This is the icon I am meaning. In these cases, I ave created an alias from the original in the apps folder, and moved the alias to the desktop where it serves as an easily accessible way to access the programme. In the case of Mail, the icon is the familiar postage stamp until I move it out of the folder onto the desktop but it still opens when selected.

I think I will need to start doing a regular cleanup of my disk. Despite doubling the memory from 4GB to 8GB, I haven't noticed any improvement in speed and my laptop is still extremely slow to respond to anything. I'll try the free programme you mention.

Thanks for your help. I'm just to relieved that I managed to restore order as I really thought the damage was permanent.

 

[honestone]

The file should be named "Install OS X Yosemite". If that is the name, then that is the one I was referring to. You need to make a copy of it in at least one other location, and also on an external device. Having it somewhere else will come in handy in case you need to do a full installation.

Not sure why the alias of Mail is not functioning properly. I have aliases of FireFox, Google Chrome, Outlook, and Safari in a folder on my desktop entitled "Internet Apps", and the aliases look fine, and work flawlessly.

How much free space do you have left on your internal drive? Not having "around" 20% of free space left can typically cause slow downs. And yes, it would be an excellent idea to clean off as much unneeded stuff as possible. As I mentioned, I clean off stuff almost every day on each of my machines, and also move some stuff to an external drive (I just did that earlier today with some folders that were anywhere from 2 to 13 gig in size).

Also, not sure if Mail works the same as Outlook, but when I delete an EMail in Outlook, it actually does not get deleted from Outlook's Identity file (kind of a database). Microsoft provides a procedure to have that identity file rebuilt, and that gets rid of deleted EMails. I run that every Saturday as part of my disk cleanup, maintenance, and repair, and backup, processing. So, fi Mail works similarly, you could have quite a few deleted EMails still around. Again, though, I am unclear about that. Maybe someone else around here could provide some assistance with that. (I just did a google search for "How to permanently delete EMails in Apple's Mail program", and all these "hits" came up:

https://www.google.com/search?q=How...ome..69i57.21014j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

That second one on the list, https://support.apple.com/kb/PH19164?locale=en_US, looks informative, especially since you are running Yosemite.

Finally, it would very, very wise to download and run Onyx, and also Disk Utility, on a periodic basis. I can tell you from direct experience that you will not encounter issues about 95% of the time by following such a practice. I rarely, if ever, have issues with any of my Macs. It's just like owning an automobile. The more you take care of it, the less problems you'll have.

 

[AndreaM]

I don't seem to have the File you mention so can it be downloaded and kept (without reinstalling it of course)?

I have checked and have more than 50% free disk space so I don't know why my Mac should be so terribly slow. I've also downloaded Onyx and performed a cleanup but I can't say I notice any difference in performance.

I also had another look at how to get my folder icons back as more of them had disappeared. I found a way to replace all of them, except Mail which just won't play ball. All that was required was to right-click over the folder and 'Get Info.' Since the original icon shows there, I only needed to select the small icon at the top and copy and paste it. This replaced the icon in all affected programmes except Mail. I even downloaded an alternative icon and managed to replace it in the original Mail application but as soon as I drag it out of the applications folder, the icon goes blank again!