Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Questions and answers about 3Dconnexion devices on macOS.

Moderator: Moderators

DiverLaura
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:40 pm

Re: Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Post by DiverLaura »

Installing the driver on my 2012 Mac Pro today almost gave me a heart attack as well. Totally threw a black screen of death upon initial installation and then the LONGEST BOOT CYCLE known to man after I force shut it down and waited a bit and then did a hard reboot. This is on my editing machine so for sure a bit of a nail biter.
vorp
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Dec 25, 2020 3:21 pm

Re: Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Post by vorp »

Christmas day 2020, just unwrapped my space mouse. Just installed the latest non-big sur mac drivers, gave permission as instructed. Macbook now bricked: won't finish login in normal or safe modes.
THIS IS A NIGHTMARE. Any help from those who wrote these drivers?
2019 16 in macbook. OS Catalina, latest revision.
kazin
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2021 12:22 pm

Re: Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Post by kazin »

I have the same problem. I have a space navigator installation on my Mac that I have not been using since a while. The software works since I can use the space navigator with the tutorial and demo files. However I can’t use the space navigator with Sketchup after having upgraded Sketchup to newer versions.
So I thought it would be the time to upgrade the space navigator software to the latest version (especially since there're are no software specific drivers available on the web site). Since there is only one version for MacOS on 3Dconnexion’s site I thought that nothing could go wrong.
Well all went very wrong...
The installation went through all the steps up to the restart.
And then I got the ‘slashed zero’ Ø logo. I never got it before.
I googled to find a solution and - horror- I need to reinstall the Mac from a full backup. Fortunately I have a Time Machine backup.
Second issue : impossible to restart in recovery mode.
I tried several times and could only make it happen after 20 restarts and one hour of panic.
Third issue : the restore of my Mac will take 12 hours. So that’s a full day of work completely wasted.
How can a company develop an installer that bricks your computer ?
I hope someone from 3Dconnexion will read this post and come back to me. I was about to show the device to an architecture school during a Sketchup training class and this will probably not happen...
vorp
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Dec 25, 2020 3:21 pm

Re: Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Post by vorp »

FWIW, I actually solved my issue.
A few hours of struggling and weeping over my non functional Macbook Pro (with no Time machine backup), I booted into the Recovery mode.
Because it's a 2019 Mac with the new security chip I have an option there for Disable Security (or similar) which doesn't appear on most web discussions.
I disabled this, restarted and for the first time in hours my Mac launched normally. I was flabbergasted.
Add to this, the Spacemouse then worked quite nicely in Houdini, the app I bought it for. The buttons don't work there, but that was expected (though they do work in Windows Houdini which bums me out a little).
So my horror show ended up getting resolved. I have not attempted to re-enable that security feature (yet).
And there's a chance that this is all coincidence and something else is to blame for my recovery.
Very harrowing!
ngomes
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3321
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:22 am
Contact:

Re: Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Post by ngomes »

kazin wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 3:38 pm And then I got the ‘slashed zero’ Ø logo. I never got it before.
If you perhaps mean the icon with a "prohibitory" sign, Apple has a support article available here.

It comes up when the OS is invalid. An OS update may be triggered when the system is rebooted and 3Dconnexion's driver installation does require a reboot.

We believe the problems reported here are related to some issue updating the OS, not the installation of 3Dconnexion drivers.
Nuno Gomes
kazin
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2021 12:22 pm

Re: Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Post by kazin »

ngomes,
Thanks for the answer.
1. If the system on my Mac is incompatible with the current 3Dconnexion driver/installer package, the package should know this, check the system and prevent the installation.
2. Anyway, as I wrote, the 4Dconnexion driver works fine on my mac (previous installation) and I can use the demo software provided by 3Dconnexion. I just lack the Sketchup drivers.

So : my system works and, within my system, the 3Dconnexion device works as it should, albeit not with Sketchup as the Sketchup plugin is missing.
And : when I run the installer I get the ‘prohibit’ icon at the next restart and for which a full réinstallation from backup of 12 hours is required to get back to the previous step.
I can’t see how you can say that the problem does not come from the 3Dconnexion intstaller.
Anyway, what can you suggest to make my device work (again) as it should ?

Details about my system :
Macbook Pro 15 inch mid-2009 OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)
SpaceNavigator NB - firmware 4.31
SDxWare 10 - version 10.2.1
Sketchup Pro 2018 - version 18.0.16976
kazin
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2021 12:22 pm

Re: Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Post by kazin »

It comes up when the OS is invalid. An OS update may be triggered when the system is rebooted and 3Dconnexion's driver installation does require a reboot.
My OS is the latest possible on my MacBook Pro [Macbook Pro 15 inch mid-2009 OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)]
So no OS update happens when the system is rebooted.
Anyway, if I reboot the system, apart from the 3Dconnexion installation, I don’t get the ‘prohibit’ icon.
And I believe El Capitan is anyway supported.
So the problem obviously comes from the 3Dconnexion installer.
vorp
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Dec 25, 2020 3:21 pm

Re: Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Post by vorp »

In case it's useful, my MacBook was NOT recently updated in terms of OS, was NOT waiting on a reboot after an OS upgrade (which I think is an impossible state anyways).
The only OS update issue that could be relevant is my MacBook has been 'nagging' me to upgrade to Big Sur, which I still have not done.
I can assure you there was no other obvious precarious state my MacBook was in prior to installing the 3DConnexion drivers. Whatever factor is causing this in some machines it is quite under the radar, IMHO. And, it could likely be several factors since it appears so hard to solve.
ngomes
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 3321
Joined: Mon Nov 27, 2006 7:22 am
Contact:

Re: Mac unable to boot after installing the driver

Post by ngomes »

kazin wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 8:13 am 1. If the system on my Mac is incompatible with the current 3Dconnexion driver/installer package, the package should know this, check the system and prevent the installation.
The driver installer has a OS version check. This is part of the system's installation framework.

Version 10.6.x of 3DxWare 10 is still built with support for OS X 10.11.

Details about my system :
Macbook Pro 15 inch mid-2009 OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)
SDxWare 10 - version 10.2.1
Sketchup Pro 2018 - version 18.0.16976
Support for SketchUp 2018 was included in v. 10.5.0 of 3DxWare 10, released in October 2017.

Since you're using v. 10.2.1 of 3DxWare (published more than six years ago), your SpaceNavigator will not work in that version application version.

If version 10.6.7 of 3DxWare 10 does not work on your particular, see the "archive" in the download web page for older software versions. As mentioned, you will need v. 10.5.0 or newer to use SketchUp 2018.
Post Reply