Oh no... did I wreck my Mac?

[PowerPCFan]

So, I rebooted my Late 2015 21.5-in iMac to install Rogue Amoeba's Piezo software. It was in an endless boot loop when it tried to start up again. I eventually unplugged it and plugged it back in. Then I pressed Power and it booted just fine (after 10 minutes that seemed like days.) I logged in and got a message that said "Your Computer is being optimized, performance may be affected" or something along the lines of that. Then I looked in About This Mac and it said macOS Monterey 12.6.5. Wait... I was running 12.1 before! Was that "boot loop" actually an unexpected update? If it was, did I corrupt files by unplugging my Mac in the middle of what might have been an update? Or was it a coincidence, and my Mac was actually in a boot loop and updating at the same time?

Edit: The optimization notification looked a bit like the one at the top of this article:

The “Optimizing Your Mac” Notification in Mac OS X Explained

Some Mac users may see a notification alert pop-up from Mac OS X in the corner of their display with a message stating “Optimizing Your Mac – Performance and battery life may be affecte…

osxdaily.com

Edit 2: Just reading over this hours later, I forgot to mention that the Mac still works fine, I am typing on it now!


Have a nice day,
-Charlie

charlies.retro.computing@gmail.com
@PowerPCFan on MacRumors and TinkerDifferent

 

[appltech]

Hi!
There's a Software Update chapter under System Preferences, there is a checkmark and settings under Advanced.
But it starts probably because of a notification popup, sometimes it's possible to hit Install or Apply or Whatever

 

[PowerPCFan]

Hi!
There's a Software Update chapter under System Preferences, there is a checkmark and settings under Advanced.
But it starts probably because of a notification popup, sometimes it's possible to hit Install or Apply or Whatever

Thanks. Auto-updates are off but you're right, it's a shared computer so another family member probably encountered a notification and accidentally pressed "update after next restart" or something like that. The computer works fine so everything is probably fine. But just like Windows says, "Don't unplug or turn off your PC (or Mac!!) during an update!"

 

[appltech]

Thanks. Auto-updates are off but you're right, it's a shared computer so another family member probably encountered a notification and accidentally pressed "update after next restart" or something like that. The computer works fine so everything is probably fine. But just like Windows says, "Don't unplug or turn off your PC (or Mac!!) during an update!"

Yep. Those (emergency restarts) are dangerous from the beginning till the middle of the process. In the end not that critical components are modified, also faced on a Windows accidental shitdowns without consequences.
But on Mac that is a different story, it's better and easier to think twice when setup the update (not that easy to recover Mac if something go wrong with firmware)

 

[PowerPCFan]

I only ever do an emergency restart when my Mac freezes on a black screen or panics, which happens very rarely.

I don't notice a single problem, so am I good to go? Or could there be missing, corrupted, damaged, or other broken system files deep within the OS that I am unaware of?

 

[IngoX]

With Signed System Volume in later macOS you probably would not be able to boot if the system was corrupted. You should get a notice to reinstall the system. But that does not protect file settings and everything else on your data volume. It could be wise to do a check with Disk Utility.

Signed system volume security in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS

iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS 11 add strong cryptographic protections to system content with a signed system volume (SSV).

support.apple.com

 

[Fishrrman]

Turn off automatic updates.

 

[PowerPCFan]

Turn off automatic updates.

it was never on.