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Macbook Pro Cannot Reinstall OSX In Recovery Mode

The other day my Macbook Pro randomly shut down and had the folder with the question mark pop up. This happened a few more times, and now I’m not able to access the drive at all. Now my laptop switches from the questions mark folder to the circle with the slash through it seemingly randomly every time I reboot it. I’ve erased my drive and have attempted to reinstall Mac OSX multiple times while in recovery mode, but each time it shuts down halfway thru the process. Any suggestions on what I could do to try to fix this issue and get my laptop up and running again?

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.14

Posted on May 26, 2019 2:25 PM

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Posted on May 26, 2019 3:01 PM

Make an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar for service. If you need to find an Apple Store - Find a Store - Apple. Also, see How to find your nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) or Distributor (AAD).


"Your Apple-branded or Beats-branded hardware product (“Product”) is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ONE (1) YEAR from the date of original retail purchase (“Warranty Period”) when used in accordance with Apple`s user manuals (refer to www.apple.com/support/country). Under this warranty, you will be able to direct your claims to Apple even in situations where you purchased the Apple Product from a third party.” [Apple One (1) Year Limited Warranty – Accessory - For Apple and Beats Branded Products Only.]


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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 26, 2019 3:01 PM in response to ansmith1999

Make an appointment at the Apple Genius Bar for service. If you need to find an Apple Store - Find a Store - Apple. Also, see How to find your nearest Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) or Distributor (AAD).


"Your Apple-branded or Beats-branded hardware product (“Product”) is warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of ONE (1) YEAR from the date of original retail purchase (“Warranty Period”) when used in accordance with Apple`s user manuals (refer to www.apple.com/support/country). Under this warranty, you will be able to direct your claims to Apple even in situations where you purchased the Apple Product from a third party.” [Apple One (1) Year Limited Warranty – Accessory - For Apple and Beats Branded Products Only.]


May 26, 2019 6:10 PM in response to ansmith1999

Is the power adapter plugged in and is the battery charged or charging?


Does your laptop qualify for this free Apple repair program involving the SSD?


Edit: Did you try erasing the physical drive using Disk Utility before reinstalling macOS? Just make sure you have backups before erasing the drive or you will lose your files if you don't have other copies or backups.

May 26, 2019 7:56 PM in response to ansmith1999

Did you check to see if your laptop qualifies for the free Apple repair program for an SSD as listed here?


Run the Apple Diagnostic to see if any issues are reported.


If you have any devices connected to the laptop, then unplug them. How about moving your laptop to another part of the house so it is using another electrical circuit in case you have a power issue in the house causing the laptop to shutdown. Even unplugging the power adapter from the electrical outlet for a minute & plugging it back in can reset the power brick. Just make sure to plug the power adapter directly into a wall outlet in case a surge strip is bad. Try an SMC reset & PRAM reset (hold the PRAM reset for a full minute so it is activated several times). Try connecting the laptop directly to your router using an USB-C to Ethernet Adapter and an Ethernet Cable so you eliminate possible WiFi connection issues. Then try reinstalling macOS again. You may even want to power cycle your modem and router. Make sure your laptop is powered off when you reset the modem & router.


Without actually seeing what is happening it is very hard to tell what the problem might be (it would be difficult even if we could be there watching it). It could be the installer is having trouble downloading the software from Apple for a variety of reasons, or perhaps your laptop has a hardware issue making it shutdown on you. If none of the above helps, then I think you will need to take the laptop to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider to be checked out since I think you have a hardware issue with the laptop since the problems started even before the attempts at reinstalling macOS.


Please update this thread if you are able to sort it out.

May 26, 2019 3:14 PM in response to Kappy

If you have access to any external USB hard drive that you don't mind erasing (or is already formatted for the Mac / HFS+ w/ 20+gb of free space) you can try doing an external install of macOS from Recovery Mode onto that drive.


If this works then the issue is with your internal hard drive or, if you have an older model MacBook, the flex cable to the hard drive.


Personally, this would be my next step.


What year MacBook Pro do you have?

Macbook Pro Cannot Reinstall OSX In Recovery Mode

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