The Catalina Mistake - confessions of a newbie [ Edited ]

[Valdemar19022]

Yesterday, I updated my Mac (2012) to Catalina, which I soon realized was a mistake beyond comparison. I have always liked Apple and their range of products, but must admit that this time, I was a bit too naive to trust them. 

First, Origin wouldn't work, so after searching the web and this forum for what to do, I spent the better part of the evening consulting the EA support chat - who offered nothing new sadly. I eventually figured out how to circumvent the security defaults in Catalina, and managed to get Origin up and running. The Sims4 game would still not run though, it just kept updating the game and packs, but I kept getting thrown off with the message that the game was already running as many of you have reported as well. I shut down the computer and called it a night. Most of my Saturday had been spent trying to fix it.

This morning I woke up with an idea in my head that I had to get Catalina out of the system again. So, I went online again in search of what to do and what not. Sat with external harddrives and clicked through a load of technical data and advice, trying to get the hang of it. In the back of my mind I heard my self repeating: 'You will not tell me what to do, Apple! I am the master of this computer, and I will fix what you broke!' Meanwhile I was looking at downloading High Sierra, which it turned out also had its faults. I was in Terminal erasing harddrives, writing code, not getting the wanted acces, but eventually I got through and the installation process of High Sierra finally began. Then came the next snag - the Magic Mouse would not 'talk' to the computer... Went in search of another ordinary mouse, hooked it up and the process started all over again. Now I went and erased the primary harddrive. The Mac HD.

With the installer (the driver to install High Sierra) on the external harddrive it now prompted me to choose between different harddrives to install to - and I chose the primary one as mentioned above. Finally - I got through. And right now I am certain I missed a step in this account of events, because I remember thinking: 'What just happened? What did I do?' - but in a good and perhaps even then a slightly relieved way.

Now the High Sierra was on its way to take back power from Apple - the mouse was even getting magical again and decided to spread some stardust along the way. Two hours later, everything was back to normal. The computer was even running faster and I actually enjoyed the ride around. I upgraded to Mojave and had to wait a bit longer. From this point on I can guarantee you that I will NOT upgrade my MacBook Air nor this computer to Catalina again. It froze not only the game apps, but other apps I use in my work daily! 

And to all of you who are still stuck there, in non-functioning Catalina-mode, I urge you to make a back up of all your files and follow this link.

https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/bootable-mac-installer-3575875/

You have to go through all steps.

They say it is a hassle, and yes, it took some serious time out of my vacation (!) - but to stay stuck there trying new ways to get through the 32/64 bit puzzle, the many times you try to add a new admin-account etc, etc, is even more time consuming and not worth your while! Get it done now and hopefully you too will return to the joy of not only gaming, but a system that works relatively better and more consistent with your needs! 

FYI, I am a 45 yr old school teacher and the mother of a keen Sims-player, who probably would have never spoken to me again, had I wrecked her (our) computer and possibility to play again. If I can fix this - so can everyone else!

I hope this has helped some of you

[Bluebellflora]

@Valdemar19022 

Love it! 

Your other options would have been to partition your internal drive for a previous OS version, boot into recovery mode (after backing up of course) and install the OS version your Mac came with, or run a VM. I wrote a Sims specific article here in the run up to Catalina and dropping 32-bit apps but it's quite helpful in the current circumstance too

[TA1111]

Thank you!  It is helpful to hear a first hand experience of removing Catalina.  It sounds tricky.  

Yesterday in chat with Apple I told them about my disappointment with Catalina and asked how to roll back to Mojave where my games still worked.   I saved the chat so I could refer back to it.  Apple Chat Guy offered to "walk me through it" and I backed away from that offer.  Apple Chat Guy's window will disappear after I start wiping the OS, leaving me to make sense of the details.    

Here's what Apple said:  

******** 

1. First you will have to use the information here to enter recovery mode using the option to reinstall the version of MacOS that came with your Mac: 

How to reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery 

2. Then launch disk utility and erase the disk. Keep in mind this will remove any files not backed up. Then proceed to install the closest version of MacOS still available that your computer was shipped with.

3. After the install is complete you can use the App Store, or the link in step 4 of this document to install Mojave

How to upgrade to macOS Mojave

*********

[Valdemar19022]

@TA1111 Thanks for your feedback!

What you're telling me makes no sense... I mean, in regards to step #2, my iMac is from 2012 and I think it originally came with Snow Leopard, but I'm not sure. So High Sierra has to be several generations beyond. In regards to step #1 it looks ok, but I never got around to installing from safemode - I tried, but the advise I found told me to press other keys, which of course did not work.

So I took the long way round, but I'm pretty sure, I learned something along the way. And chat support shouldn't always be trusted. I was kicked off EAs a couple of times two nights ago, after having waited in row for an hour each. And nothing helpful came out of it, as they were following instructions that date almost five years back from what I can gather online. I wrote Karen Haslam from Macworld though, who initially wrote the steps I followed (in the link), to thank her for her work. Credit is definitely due to her!

Have a nice day!

[Valdemar19022]

@Bluebellflora Thanks - it means a lot to get feedback! 

I browsed through your article (that you attached), but must admit that I've gone cross eyed from this whole debacle. It shouldn't be this complicated to sit down at the computer (whether you play or work on it is irrelevant to me), which btw you bought for simplicity's sake and because the product is designed to think for it self, and then having to dig into its brain in order to regain control. Not that your article is complicated, it actually looks quite helpful!

I bought my iMac as a display item, so it was a bit cheaper, but came without any software, and it's stayed with us so far for seven years. Apples products have a good life span, which is important to me, and I appreciate their safety measures, but these became a serious obstacle this time. 

Have a nice day.