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Clean install of Ventura 13.1 freezes at Language selection screen

I have created a bootable external drive with Ventura 13.1 for M1 Silicon devices. It successfully installs just fine on MacBook Air (M1,2020), Mac Mini (M1,2020).


However when installing on a MacBook Pro - at the language selection screen, as soon as I select a language it freezes for ~20 minutes - the cursor will respond in jerky fashion the whole time but won’t accept input - occasionally showing the beach ball. However, after 20 (approx) minutes, it will drop the language selection screen and show an all grey background (plus jerky cursor) for another 10 minutes, before it finally moves to the next screen and then suddenly installation continues normally.


MacBook Pro Apple Silicon

Posted on Dec 19, 2022 1:17 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 20, 2022 4:20 PM

Hi MEADEN,


Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. If you are still experiencing this issue, since it happens with your MacBook Pro and works OK with your other Mac, we'd recommend using Disk Utility on the impacted Mac to check for errors. Start up normally, then use the guidance from How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility to check for and repair any errors. The following guidance from that article will get you started.


"Open Disk Utility

In general, you can just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. However, if your Mac doesn't start up all the way, or you want to repair the disk your Mac starts up from, open Disk Utility from macOS Recovery:

  1. Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:
    • Apple silicon: Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until you see the startup options window. Click the gear icon labeled Options, then click Continue.
    • Intel processor: Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold these two keys until you see an Apple logo or other image: Command (⌘) and R.

2. You may be asked to select a user you know the password for. Select the user, then click Next and enter their administrator password.

3. From the utilities window in macOS Recovery, select Disk Utility and click Continue."


Find your drive there and run First Aid which should help you discover and repair any issues. Then, try the installer again. We hope that helps.


Take care.

Similar questions

10 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 20, 2022 4:20 PM in response to MEADEN

Hi MEADEN,


Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. If you are still experiencing this issue, since it happens with your MacBook Pro and works OK with your other Mac, we'd recommend using Disk Utility on the impacted Mac to check for errors. Start up normally, then use the guidance from How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility to check for and repair any errors. The following guidance from that article will get you started.


"Open Disk Utility

In general, you can just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. However, if your Mac doesn't start up all the way, or you want to repair the disk your Mac starts up from, open Disk Utility from macOS Recovery:

  1. Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:
    • Apple silicon: Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until you see the startup options window. Click the gear icon labeled Options, then click Continue.
    • Intel processor: Turn on your Mac, then immediately press and hold these two keys until you see an Apple logo or other image: Command (⌘) and R.

2. You may be asked to select a user you know the password for. Select the user, then click Next and enter their administrator password.

3. From the utilities window in macOS Recovery, select Disk Utility and click Continue."


Find your drive there and run First Aid which should help you discover and repair any issues. Then, try the installer again. We hope that helps.


Take care.

Jan 13, 2023 12:05 PM in response to MEADEN

I'm experiencing a similar issue. Bought a new MacBook Pro 14 (came with Ventura 13.0), migrated from my old MacBook Pro running Monterey 12.4. Everything seemed fine until I updated to 13.1. Getting the same response with jerky cursor / occasional beach balls on the language selection screen. Tried a reboot with similar results. After about 20 minutes the language list disappeared leaving just the small text at the bottom, which also disappeared a minute or two later. Next I got a screen with "Recovery" and "Examining volumes", then it dropped me to full Recovery mode indicating I need to reinstall Ventura. First Aid showed no issues with the volumes. Now trying to reinstall Ventura.

Dec 23, 2022 7:20 PM in response to MEADEN

I've also been experiencing this today. I might have found a workaround, though I can't be sure because I've only done a very small number of tests.


I've found that if the internal disk is already wiped, then the language selection dialog works as you'd expect, with no slow down. I've done this twice.


But if the internal disk already has an installation of macOS Ventura, then the language dialog freezes as you've described. I've seen this 3 or 4 times before I searched for the problem and found your post.


If this behaviour is consistent, then the workaround would be:

  • Make a bootable external drive with Ventura 13.1. Unplug it.
  • Use the disk utility in the built-in recovery assistant (not your bootable external drive) to wipe the disk.
  • Boot from the external bootable installer and use it to install Ventura 13.1.

Dec 20, 2022 7:51 PM in response to faith185

Thanks, faith185 .. I've marked that as helpful, as it is good advice anyway - but in this instance, no problems found with the disk or volumes.


It isn't a show stopper - more of a show delayer - it did cause me to lose a lot of time at first, since I assumed it had locked up tight the first couple times, so I would force shutdown and restart the process - then recreate the install media and so on - all to no avail. It was only on one occasion that it happened, and I couldn't be bothered so left it alone - only to discover when returning it had moved past that point.


Most users I get are not going to be doing fresh installs after completely deleting the previous volumes - but I test a lot of software and various builds and sometimes need to start from a 'clean slate'.


Thanks again.

Dec 23, 2022 10:43 PM in response to mbrcknl

My experience is on a clean installation disk. I create the external install media, boot from that ("hold down power key") erase the disk (which then requires a restart and verification - but it does this from the recovery partition), then I shut down and boot from the installation media again - then install to the fresh disk - but, with this problem.


I haven't tried installing over existing media, since I don't have that need - but if I get a chance next time, I will give it a go to see if I have the same problem or not.


Whilst our experience is different, I appreciate you taking the time and sharing yours.

Jan 12, 2023 5:44 PM in response to MEADEN

I am dealing with the same thing but from a different angle: New M1 Pro 16” MBP, trying to enable system extensions for Sound Source, boot into recovery, select options and it freezes on language selection. Just awesome. Apple lockdown+apple bugs means I can’t use my paid software. Excellent, premium experience. This literally wouldn’t be an issue for me if they weren’t so unnecessarily ornery about system extensions. Not happy.

Jan 12, 2023 7:14 PM in response to MeJohnC

Hey MeJohnC,


I use SoundSource from Rogue Amoeba too (a great app btw for anyone reading this that doesn’t know what it is), though once I get past that first install screen even before setup, every other time I go into recovery is smooth sailing.


It does seem to be a challenge in loading the language selection - since that is consistent with when mine borks out (although it eventually gets past it).


Thanks for your post. Let’s hope it gets resolved in a future release.

Clean install of Ventura 13.1 freezes at Language selection screen

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