Hi Reg It would be interesting to see if it does it on a clean install. (but it depends how much "work" you want to do on it. There may be a clue in Console as to what is happening as well, as they can sometimes say where it is falling over. If it did it on a clean install of just the OS and none of your data/software then that would point to some corruption or issue with your own data. Again, may not be an easy fix as you'd have to go through everything a few times of reinstalling,…and depends on if you want it "right" or can "live with it" lol
Oh, and yes, erasing it via Disk Utility Target mode would have hosed your recovery partition, as it erases the whole drive. Unfortunately without being able to see the system, it could be quite a few things (from a hidden file, corrupt StartupItem, Receipt file/folder, missing folder (I had a StartupItems folder missing on a System that caused issues. Found it via Console), LaunchDameon or Agent causing an issue….and so on…. You could try to reinstalling the Combo Update again, and just after it fails see what is written in Console. (system.log). That may point you to what the culprit may be. Sorry, gotta get back to client work, so may not be able to reply until tonight when home again. Kind regards Daniel Sent from my iPhone 5 --- Daniel Kerr MacWizardry Phone: 0414 795 960 Email: <danielATmacwizardry.com.au> Web: <http://www.macwizardry.com.au> **For everything Apple** NOTE: Any information provided in this email may be my personal opinion and as such should be taken accordingly, and may not be the views of MacWizardry. Any information provided does not offer or warrant any form of warranty or accept liability. It would be appreciated that if any information in this email is to be disseminated, distributed or copied, that permission by the author be requested. On 27/06/2013, at 11:48 AM, Reg Whitely <rwhit...@internode.on.net> wrote: > Hi all > > I've just installed the 10.8.4 combo and again "still" receive the message > "The installation failed. The installer encountered an error that caused the > installation to fail. Contact the software manufacturer for assistance'". > > When I restarted the computer 10.8.4 has indeed been installed. This was the > problem I was trying to solve by reinstalling OS X. What is happening in the > system to cause this, does anyone know? > > Reg > > > On 27/06/2013, at 11:25 am, Reg Whitely <rwhit...@internode.on.net> wrote: > >> Thanks Daniel and Ronni >> >> As an update, I've followed your advice, made a bootable backup using >> CCCloner, backed up to Time Machine, erased the SSD, reinstalled OS X from >> Recovery via a net download, and then restored apps and data from Time >> Machine. All seems Ok at this time. >> >> It wasn't quite as easy as that though, as after restarting with Opt key, >> Disk Utility initially could not erase the disk as it "could not dismount >> the disk", or words to that effect. Using Techtools Pro last week, thinking >> it might fix the troubles I had with the computer, it had installed an >> eDrive partition which simply could not be deleted. Disk Utility could not >> repartition the SSD as again it "could not dismount the disk". Eventually I >> was able to erase each of the separate partitions but the eDrive partition >> remained, albeit I could rename it something else. I'm not sure I wanted >> that to remain so I decided to use the iMac and restarted the MacBook in >> Target Firewire mode. I used Disk utility on the iMac to repartition the SSD >> back to one partition. >> >> Restarting the MacBook Pro with the Opt key down there was then no Recovery >> Disk option (I guess I blew that away too) so the computer prompted me to >> reinstall from the net, which I did. >> >> From there it was easy to reinstall the data from Time Machine. >> >> That entire process took around 6 hours, on and off. I was able to go away >> and do other things as the Mountain Lion was dragged in through the net! >> >> All a bit puzzling to me but as I said, all seems to be well but time will >> tell - when the next OS X update is released perhaps. >> >> *Ah yes I note the installed ML is 10.8.3 so there is a combo update waiting >> in my downloads folder to deal with after I finish this email, so I'll post >> an update when that has been installed! >> >> Daniel, as an aside, I have received a response from Alsoft re Disk Warrior >> and SSDs. I'll post it separately on-list. Look out for it as it may raise >> some eyebrows and discussion ;-) >> >> Regards and thanks >> >> Reg > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
