Cannot boot 2011 Macbook pro

[giantjack]

Hello,

I dedicated after years of being left alone that I would update the OS on my 2011 Macbook pro to use it for storing files.

I booted it and was using an old OS. I removed all files and browsers when I updated Macbooks.

After downloading OS Lion and updating it everything seemed to go well, I then proceeded to install the updates under software update. During the restart while applying the updates it would get stuck on the Apple loading screen. Not the loading bar but the icon.

Since then I have not been able to boot my Macbook. I have gone to recovery mode, repaired the disk, removed and re-created the disk to no avail.

Decided to try the Re-install Mac OS Lion option but I get a annoying error when logging-in to Apple "This Item is Temporarily Unavailable".

I found the following guide which had a couple of suggestions to deal with this:

How to Fix This Item is Temporarily Unavailable After Reinstalling Your MacOS or OS X - Appuals.com

I tried both and they are not working to resolve it. For solution 1 I am unable to login to Apple cloud via Safari as Safari is so old the Apple cloud website is not loading correctly.

--

I would greatly appreciate any solution. There is no data on the laptop, my plan is to install the newest OS it will support then use it for file storage.

Thanks.

 

[MBAmtloin]

apple did something in october that prevents easy re-installs
anyways
I reinstalled 2 ssd on my macbook air twice just 2 weeks ago, once using a USB with snow leopard, which worked
the other with time machine- mountain lion.
can you reboot pressing the R cmd- i see you did
ummm there is a link i have sent users i need to find:How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan - Apple Support
that is for el captain 10.11 which apple still likes.
hope this helps, the original OSX never came with the macbook, correct?

 

[RavingMac]

Have you tried booting from an external drive or from DVD if you have OS on it?

 

[giantjack]

Thanks for the replies.

Both are great ideas but the issue is that I cannot boot it without using recovery mode. From recovery mode I cannot see a way to install a new OS from external drive or download from Apple. My options are limited to the disk utility (tried everything), re-install OS (doesn't work), help which loads the Safari browser (version is so old it won't support any sites, won't be able to execute downloaded files such as new OS)

I need to be able to wipe the whole hardrive or do whatever I can so that I can boot it without recovery mode then I can update the OS as normal.

Thanks.

 

[MacInWin]

I need to be able to wipe the whole hardrive or do whatever I can so that I can boot it without recovery mode then I can update the OS as normal.

That is impossible to do. If you wipe the entire drive, you won't have anything to boot from at all. And no operating system to update. At this point you have three options: Recovery, boot from external clone drive, boot from external with an installer on it. You say Recovery doesn't work, which leaves the two external drive solutions. Do you have a second Mac that you can use to build a USB thumb drive installer? If so, get DiskmakerX, download the version installer you want to use from Apple, create the bootable USB, boot from it and do the install.

 

[giantjack]

That is impossible to do. If you wipe the entire drive, you won't have anything to boot from at all. And no operating system to update. At this point you have three options: Recovery, boot from external clone drive, boot from external with an installer on it. You say Recovery doesn't work, which leaves the two external drive solutions. Do you have a second Mac that you can use to build a USB thumb drive installer? If so, get DiskmakerX, download the version installer you want to use from Apple, create the bootable USB, boot from it and do the install.

Nice, I have downloaded Diskmakerx. I downloaded the OS opened the .dmg file for InstallMacOSX.pkg. When I open DiskmakerX and select InstallMacOSX.pkg it says:

"This file can't be used to create an OS X Installation disk."

I assume I'm using the wrong file? It's not clear which file to use although I am not very good at this kind of stuff.

Thanks

 

[MBAmtloin]

in system preferences, what does your start up disk show?
the hard drive and 10.X.X ?

 

[MacInWin]

You said you wanted the latest version of the OS that works on your machine. You also said it was a 2011 machine. Assuming the model is 2011, then it should run High Sierra. To download HS, follow this page. It has a link to the store where HS should be available. How to upgrade to macOS High Sierra - Apple Support. Also, you will need the version of DiskmakerX to make a HS version install drive. Get that here: Downloads

 

[giantjack]

in system preferences, what does your start up disk show?
the hard drive and 10.X.X ?

I can't access system preferences as I can only boot my Macbook in recovery mode.

You said you wanted the latest version of the OS that works on your machine. You also said it was a 2011 machine. Assuming the model is 2011, then it should run High Sierra. To download HS, follow this page. It has a link to the store where HS should be available. How to upgrade to macOS High Sierra - Apple Support. Also, you will need the version of DiskmakerX to make a HS version install drive. Get that here: Downloads

I have given this a go but got the following error a few seconds after entering my password:

The disk could not be created because of an error: An error occured: -10006. Finder got an error: Can’t set alias "Install macOS High Sierra:Install macOS High Sierra.app" to {425, 76}.

I'm close to giving up on this. Just seems to be problem after problem.

Edit I have found some info on the site regarding the error so will follow their recommendation and update after.

Thanks.

 

[MacInWin]

What device are you trying to create as the installer? It has to be an external drive. A USB thumb drive of 8GB will do, or you can use an external HD as long as you don't mind it being wiped clean to make the installer.

I can't help with the exact error as I have never had an error with DiskmakerX. You might contact the folks at DiskmakerX about it if you don't have success. That machine is a pretty good system, still, so it's worth giving it a bit more effort.

 

[giantjack]

Thanks for the assistance.



^ Edit: here is the error. I checked the file size and it is indeed 25mb so the issue is that I do not have the full copy of the OS.

I'm going to try their suggestion for getting the full copy.

 

[MacInWin]

From that, I would think you don't have the full installer, just a updater. Did you try the link to HS he gave, or that was in the article I posted? The full installer is a large application, I recall, something on the order of 4-5Gb.

 

[giantjack]

From that, I would think you don't have the full installer, just a updater. Did you try the link to HS he gave, or that was in the article I posted? The full installer is a large application, I recall, something on the order of 4-5Gb.

Yes thanks, I am downloading the file now. Will keep you updated.

Hopfully this thread will help someone else in the future if it works.

 

[MBAmtloin]

OSXdaily,com has great advice on restoring MacBooks with usb, recovery mode, disk utility and other methods.
they might answer questions you might find, that we cannot guess you need.
these instructions are user friendly, step by step and saved my macbook air thought these years.
you have a great laptop there, I'm sure you will get that running soon!

 

[giantjack]

This is not working at all.

I have downloaded the Install macOS High Sierra file (5.24gb), I run the DiskMaker X 7 for High Sierra program, confirm the disk. Select my drive (USB), enter my password. No process screen shows and after a few seconds my drive appears on desktop. Open the directory and it shows the same Install macOS High Sierra file but at 79.8 MB. No window is showing from DiskMaker X 7 for High Sierra. I thought maybe it's running but not showing the window but the file does not increase in size. So whatever happened has finished and it's not as it should be looking at videos on Youtube.

I like to think of myself as a patient guy working on this for well over 10 hours now but I am getting close to calling it a day, there are so many hoops that shouldn't be there. The fact Apple don't provide the full version shows that they simple don't want anyone using it/and or old hardware. I understand from a business perspective but I doubt I'll be buying another Macbook again. I know what I'm seeing is an issue with the software that is not related to Apple but there should not be any reason to have to go through so many hoops just to install an old OS.

 

[MacInWin]

The fact Apple don't provide the full version shows that they simple don't want anyone using it/and or old hardware.

Nope, you have the full version, so Apple does provide it. And had you upgraded to HS instead of wiping out the drive, you would have had no problems with DiskmakerX. But by wiping out the drive, leaving it unbootable, you put yourself in the position of having to find a way to boot it from something external to do the installation. And that means DiskmakerX or something similar.

All that said, if you used DiskmakerX to create a bootable drive, what you do now is attach that to the Mac, hold down option and boot it while holding down Option. (EDIT: Keep holding option until you see options on the screen.) Eventually you should see on the screen all bootable drives, which in your case would be the one USB drive. Select that one to boot, then run the installation from there, installing to the Internal drive. From your screenshots, you are not doing that boot step, but trying to run the initiation program from some other machine. That icon and name is for the drive, and needs to be the boot drive, not mounted on any other system.

 

[MBAmtloin]

does your macbook pro work? I was concerned that is did not
if so, forget about high sierra, apple is getting closed minded on use of their older OSXs.
I might have to jump to el capitian next week, which i fear now.
im running osx 10.8.5 now and using the internet and everything is good, slow but good.

but i understand your frustration towards apple, i also had problems and felt apple does not care about loyalty and customer support so I purchased a Dell XPS last march and love the laptop and windows experience much than I thought.

I am positive someone here will have better instruction on how to upgrade, just be patient
which someone did, jake's answer is the best you will get and very precise!

 

[MacInWin]

does your macbook pro work? I was concerned that is did not
if so, forget about high sierra, apple is getting closed minded on use of their older OSXs.

Because he wiped the drive at the start of the process (see post #1), his Mac won't boot.

And there is no reason to "forget about" HS, he has the installer. He just needs to boot from the installer drive he says he has made, instead of trying to run the installer from wherever his images come from, and let the process complete. DiskmakerX builds some hidden folders on the boot drive that don't appear when you mount the drive on a booted machine, but which work when you are booted from it. That's why I told him to boot from the USB he created and from there do the installation.

I'm not sure what you mean by "apple is getting closed minded on use of their older OSXs." Apple has always removed the installer for older systems when they release a new version. You could only get the older system if you had already downloaded the installer previously so that it showed up on your "purchased" list. Now they did away with that access, but the older versions are still able to be downloaded and installed on any system on which they will run. I suspect the removal from the purchased list was to avoid the complications of a novice user moving to APFS in Mojave or the new two volume structure in Catalina and then trying to go back. That can be done, but it's not easy because of the changes in APFS and Catalina. So they cut down on the calls to support for the problems that change can create by making it harder for novices to even try, figuring that anybody who can figure it out has enough technical chops to pull it off.

 

[MBAmtloin]

macinWin: thanks for your reply, the people like you seem nice and have a deep devotion towards their computers and other apple products and will take the time out to help those who are lost and confused, which is excellent!

to answer your question,
the older OSXs were always available, now they are not, even when customer paid for the OSX like lion or mt lion.
last weekend i tried upgrading to High Sierra that is stored on my external HD and then El Captain, the full version which also did not work.
Lucky for me i am not a novice and somehow knows how to work around these apple road blocks that were clear paths years ago, but could not last weekend.

seems to me that all this thinking and restricting what their users need is not computing, that is control.
that is why i am here, trying to help those apple will not anymore

 

[giantjack]

Because he wiped the drive at the start of the process (see post #1), his Mac won't boot.

And there is no reason to "forget about" HS, he has the installer. He just needs to boot from the installer drive he says he has made, instead of trying to run the installer from wherever his images come from, and let the process complete. DiskmakerX builds some hidden folders on the boot drive that don't appear when you mount the drive on a booted machine, but which work when you are booted from it. That's why I told him to boot from the USB he created and from there do the installation.

I'm not sure what you mean by "apple is getting closed minded on use of their older OSXs." Apple has always removed the installer for older systems when they release a new version. You could only get the older system if you had already downloaded the installer previously so that it showed up on your "purchased" list. Now they did away with that access, but the older versions are still able to be downloaded and installed on any system on which they will run. I suspect the removal from the purchased list was to avoid the complications of a novice user moving to APFS in Mojave or the new two volume structure in Catalina and then trying to go back. That can be done, but it's not easy because of the changes in APFS and Catalina. So they cut down on the calls to support for the problems that change can create by making it harder for novices to even try, figuring that anybody who can figure it out has enough technical chops to pull it off.

You are incorrect. I did not wipe my drive until after my Mac wouldn't boot.

I was running a old version of MacOS (from 2011). I then applied any available updates for it from the app store and then I downloaded a newer OS and the update went well. Problems started only after I then went to apply the updates from the app store for the new OS. During the update process it kept freezing and from that point the only way I could boot the laptop was via recovery mode. Only at that point did I wipe the drive and tried to install the OS via recovery mode but it fails to work. This may be because just before I installed a newer MacOS and Apple wouldn't let me download it for that reason. But others have reported this same issue and why doesn't Apply allow me to re-install the default OS that came with my laptop via recovery mode? This is the major issue. My laptop is from 2011, I should at least be able to install the OS from that time via recovery mode but even that isn't allowed by Apple. I understand the business perspective and that with enough knowledge anything is possible but it should not be this hard and involved just to re-install a working OS from a 2011 Macbook pro.

So the DiskMaker X 7 for High Sierra did work in the end to create the USB drive with the Install macOS High Sierra files. It wouldn't show anything was happening but I left the USB in and after some time it showed a popup notification "80% complete". So I left it and after a new popup for every 5% it did complete.

From what i can see DiskMaker do not provide information on what to do once the drive is created.

I checked some guides online and found:

How To Make A Bootable macOS Installer On An External Drive - Macworld UK

Using terminal and following their command guide it isn't working for me:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

I replaced Myvolume with the name of my USB drive.

It showed sudo as not a valid command. I know this is because recovery mode has less available commands than normal. Also the path is not valid, I think because the files do not exist within /applications but instead on the drive. Does anyone know which command I can use to run the installer from the drive?

My plan with this Macbook was to update to a newer OS and then to Sierra which is the latest OS my 2011 Mac will support.

Thanks.