Mac mini frozen after attempt to install latest Operating System Update

[sherryk_us]

I seem to be in a catch 22 loop with my attempt to install latest OS update on my mac mini. I got a sort of uninformative frozen screen, just an apple and a frozen progress bar with no time estimate for download. I waited a couple days then tried installing the OS in recovery mode. It looked better at first, but then changed to that same frozen progress bar with not time estimate. I tried restoring from a time machine backup but got the message that I had to install the OS update first. And when I try to do that the same thing happens--frozen progress bar of death. I really need to get my machine functional again. I don't understand why what seemed like a minor update to the OS has apparently wrecked my machine. I ran disk utility and got no complaints on the drive. I fear I've screwed things up. Suggestions please? And thank you.

 

[now i see it]

You’ll likely have to boot up from an external drive then run Disk Utility.
If that doesn’t find anything and it’s still a wreck, you may have to permanently boot from an external drive forever if the internal one went belly up and it’s soldered to the motherboard.

 

[Brian33]

You should mention what macOS version you're upgrading from and what version you attempted to go to (presumably the latter is macOS Monterey 12.1, as that is the most current).

It's odd that installing from Recovery mode also stalled. The complete "nuclear" option would be to make a bootable installer on a flash drive (on another Mac), boot from it, open Disk Utility AND select "View-->Show all Devices", then Erase the entire internal drive (make sure you pick the top-level device, not the possible Container that might appear below it, depending on macOS version). Then install onto the newly-erased internal drive. I'm not necessarily recommending that, but it's an option...

 

[Fishrrman]

It sure helps if you tell us:
Which Mini you have
What year it was made
How much RAM
What kind of drive is inside.

 

[sherryk_us]

Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate the time you all took to reply to my problem. I was finally able to install the Monterey update after I unplugged a pair of headphones I forgot were still attached to my Mac mini!