MacBook Pro Lion OS X not showing up in Disk Startup

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Level 1

9 points

MacBook Pro Lion OS X not showing up in Disk Startup

My mid 2013’s MacBook Pro currently has the blinking question mark showing up upon booting and I cannot load any OS’s to boot in disk startup. I have tried quite a few different things to fix this. I’ve started in recovery mode and repaired the disk (the partitions seem ok), I have erased the disk setting it up for the os journaled partitions. I have no back ups to boot from. I’ve tried about a hundred times to download OS X Lion again but every single time I get an “unable to download additional components” about 30 seconds into the download. I have OS X Lion on a bootable drive and when I plug it in it shows up in disk utilities but also is unrecognized by disk startup. I’ve reset the nvram twice with no luck. I still don’t understand how both my MacBook HD and my bootable drive can show up in disk utilities but not on disk startup. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

MacBook

Posted on Jan 4, 2020 5:22 PM

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Answer 1

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Jan 5, 2020 4:50 AM in response to Phillyb1001

With the bootable USB plugged in to the mac, Restart the mac but press and hold down the option/ alt key, the mac should boot to the Startup Manager, select the USB and press Return, this should boot you to the USB installer. Is that what you have tried.

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Answer 2

Phillyb1001 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 5, 2020 7:55 AM in response to Eau Rouge

I’ve done this but nothing shows up and it goes to internet recovery. I’ve repartitioned the usb and still nothing. Again I can access both my ssd hd and the usb from the disk utilities but cannot boot from either in disk startup or startup manager.

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Answer 3

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Jan 5, 2020 9:48 AM in response to Phillyb1001

Are you sure you are creating the USB correctly. In Disk Utility select the Disk not the indented Volume, click Erase

give the Disk the name MyVolume, Format: Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), Scheme: GUID Partition Map, then click

Erase.

What instructions/ app are you using to create the bootable installer, is it definitely a version for Mac OS X Lion.

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Answer 4

Phillyb1001 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 5, 2020 10:26 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Yes I’ve erased and reset the usb for Mac OS X extended journaled and GUID partition. Used Trans Mac to move the OS X Lion back on to the usb and still wont show up. Ran the Mac hardware test (extended testing) and came up with no issues. Verified the Disk for about the 30th time in disk utilities with the same (Disk seems to be ok). When I try to re download OS X Lion to my MacBook why does the “cannot download components needed” keep coming up?

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Answer 5

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Jan 5, 2020 11:11 AM in response to Phillyb1001

The MyVolume name is a standard Apple naming routine for bootable USBs if using the createinstallmedia Terminal commands you are using another method for creating a bootable USB you can name it what you like.

I have no experience with Transmac so can't help you there.

Can you not use another mac to create the bootable installer using an app like DiskmakerX

http://diskmakerx.com/whats-this/ read the first page then click on Downloads, select the correct version for Mac OS X Lion.

As part of your post you wrote, “cannot download components needed”, this is usually an error received while trying to install via internet recovery. This is probably down to the fact that the certificates for Mac OS X Lion expired a few months ago and Apple have not updated the version available. A workaround for this is to reset the date in Terminal to 2018, read this article, https://bensmann.no/changing-system-date-from-terminal-os-x-recovery/. If you can get Lion to install using this method you can change the date back when you booted back up.

If you are going to try internet recovery make sure your mac is connected to your router via cable.

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Answer 6

Phillyb1001 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 5, 2020 11:20 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Ok I just erased and remade my bootable usb on transmac and got the OS to show up in the startup disk and startup manager finally but now there is a circle with a cross through it upon booting... the OS is Mac OS X 10.7.2. Do I need a newer version?

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Answer 7

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Jan 5, 2020 11:26 AM in response to Phillyb1001

The 'No Entry' symbol is the mac telling you it cannot find a valid file system.

Has the internal drive of your mac been formatted correctly, Open Disk Utility and

follow the instructions I gave you earlier.

Where did you get this 10.7.2 full install app and what size is it.

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Answer 8

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Jan 5, 2020 12:07 PM in response to Phillyb1001

How come the date on your mac was 2012.

I am just looking at your initial post where you say you have a MacBook Pro mid 2013 can you remember what was the initial OS it had on it when it was new.

At the moment I am at a bit of a loss as how to progress further.

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Answer 9

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,554 points

Jan 5, 2020 2:23 PM in response to Phillyb1001

Did you try to change the date and time in Terminal.

Open Terminal and type in

date -u 0104180018

press Return.

now try and install the software.

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Answer 10

Phillyb1001 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 5, 2020 10:36 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Does the name of the disk for the bootable usb matter? I named it Mac OS X Lion

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Answer 11

Phillyb1001 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 5, 2020 11:31 AM in response to Eau Rouge

I don’t have the website but the app is 3.5 gigs.

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Answer 12

Phillyb1001 Author

Level 1

9 points

Jan 5, 2020 11:44 AM in response to Eau Rouge

Just tried the date change to get OS X Lion to re download. The date on my MacBook was 2012. Changed it and tried to re download but still get the “cannot download additional components” error.

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