PSA: macOS 14 Sonoma Beta 4 Not Installing Properly for Some Users

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Apple today released the fourth beta of macOS 14 Sonoma, but it might be wise to hold off on installing the new software right now due to issues that some Mac users have reported.

macos sonoma feature green brown
A handful of people have downloaded and installed the beta only to be greeted with an entirely black screen and a non-functional device. The mouse pointer is visible, but nothing shows up on the display. Affected Macs include an M2 14-inch MacBook Pro, an M1 MacBook Air, and an M1 Max ‌MacBook Pro‌, but not all users are having installation troubles.

There are multiple reports from people who have had no issues installing the beta, so it is not clear where the problem lies. On Reddit, one user was able to fix the issue by going into recovery mode and reinstalling the beta, and another had luck with multiple reboots, but that does not seem to solve the problem for everyone.

On the MacRumors forums, there are also reports of issues with widgets not showing up properly and the Music app not opening, which were fixed by restarting. Given the number of problems with the software, those who are using macOS Sonoma on a main machine might want to wait to upgrade to the fourth beta.

Related Forum: macOS Sonoma

Top Rated Comments

posguy99 Avatar
posguy99
33 months ago
Zero sympathy. You don't install beta software on production devices.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jdclifford Avatar
jdclifford
33 months ago
All good here. M1 MBA, M1 iMac, M2 MBA and M1 14"MBP ?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nutmac Avatar
nutmac
33 months ago

Jason Snell, I don't think this aged well:
[HEADING=2]WHY YOU SHOULD INSTALL APPLE’S PUBLIC BETAS ('https://www.macworld.com/article/2000748/')[/HEADING]
To be fair, Jason was talking about the public betas, which tend to be released a day or two after developer beta. While public betas are far from very stable, they tend to at least not cause the device to brick nor have major issues.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dantracht Avatar
dantracht
33 months ago
Thus, beta.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr. Dee Avatar
Mr. Dee
33 months ago

I'm not sure I understand your point here. As the other commenter said, the public betas "tend to be released a day or two after developer beta" so that the public beta users aren't exposed to issues like today's.

I mean, this article is about the dev beta release, right? Not the public beta release which will be "based on" today's dev beta release once this issue is understood and resolved.

There is no public seed of DB4 yet, so that should not be at issue.
The point is, its still a beta and it should not be installed on a production computer, especially one that would be mission critical. Jason gives the impression that Apple betas have become harmless these days that anyone can install them because they are not like the rough and tumble days of Rhapsody and OS X betas. Sure, if you have a spare Mac, have it, but this is a reminder, don't rush to install, dev or public betas on your one and only machine.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rettro Avatar
rettro
33 months ago

Zero sympathy. You don't install beta software on production devices.
Didn't see anyone looking for sympathy. Just people discussing issues.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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