Error message "The computer is missing a firmware partition" upgrading to Mojave

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Error message "The computer is missing a firmware partition" upgrading to Mojave

Hello,

My late-2014 15" MBP Retina running Mojave that I have used for several years, has blown open due to swollen batteries. It still works, but I'm nervous about the batteries exploding or catching fire or something. Apparently this one is not eligible for the battery recall, so I've decided to try and switch to a mid-2015 MBP Retina that I also had. Both have cracked screens (over $300 to replace) so I'm using an external Apple 32" Cinema monitor, Apple KB & Mouse.

The first challenge that shot me down pretty quickly was when I tried to move the internal HD "stick" from the 2014 to the 2015. It seems that Apple changed the internal disk type, (or maybe my firmware doesn't support it?) so the 2015 does not recognize the disk from the 2014. I don't really want to spend $100 or more for a newer stick that is definitely supported by the 2015. Since I rarely use this machine as a mobile laptop (I can see about 2/3 of the screen, so I can but it's a pain), I thought I'd just install to an external Thunderbolt or USB drive (I have several of both types).

After a few false starts (USB installers with expired certs...), I managed to get El Capitan loaded via Internet Recovery onto a 1TB Thunderbolt drive, formatted GUID MacOS Extended (Case-Sensitive, Journaled). Then I was able to manually upgrade to Sierra, then to High Sierra. What I didn't realize here is that I would not be able to restore my Time Machine backup from the 2014 onto the machine in this state, because it said my backups were *not* case sensitive. I guess I might be able to do a conversion, but this has already been a very large time investment. So I tried going the next jump up to Mojave, and that's when I got the "missing a firmware partition" message.

I saw in another thread that the firmware updates *require* an internal drive, even if you are installing to an external drive. Seems odd but understandable. Can anyone verify that this is the case?

Oh, and I also tried doing the Mac-to-Mac migration, but I can't do *that* until I get the new one up to Mojave (or maybe downgrade the old one to High Sierra? Is that possible??)

Any advice anyone might have would be greatly appreciated. We recently invested in a new 2020 Macbook for my wife, so the computer budget is sort of blown for now. I might be able to swing a new internal drive for the 2015 but hate to do that unless I can afford a new LCD for it also.

Cheers, -Dave

MacBook Pro Retina

Posted on Sep 9, 2020 6:31 PM

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Answer 1

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HWTech

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60,554 points

Sep 9, 2020 8:18 PM in response to countzero123

You cannot swap the Apple PCIe SSD to another Mac because there are subtle differences between the SSDs and macOS can recognize these subtle differences and not work at all with the incorrect SSD or work with odd issues.

The macOS 10.13+ installers now have the system firmware update included within the installers and this firmware updater requires that the Mac has a working internal drive which is properly formatted. Even if you are installing macOS to an external drive you must still have a working properly formatted internal drive installed (it is a stupid requirement since the firmware should be able to be updated using an external drive, but Apple never thought about these edge cases).

This all assumes you have an original Apple PCIe SSD installed. If you are using a third party internal PCIe SSD, then that may add another complication to installing macOS 10.13+.

In order to restore from your backup make sure you erase the "boot" drive as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) or APFS (top option). From the error message it sounds like you selected a "case sensitive" file system which is not the macOS default. If you erase the drive with a non-case sensitive file system, then you should be able to restore from your backup.

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Answer 2

countzero123 Author

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Sep 10, 2020 3:50 PM in response to HWTech

Thanks for the useful info, HWTech.

I do want to mention that I've found what might be a workaround to the internal disk issue, but it might not work if the firmware is actually too old. It involves installing to a VM under Fusion, then using Carbon Copy Cloner to copy the VM to a physical external disk. I may try this and see if it works. At present I have a Catalina VM installing on this mid-2015 MBP running Sierra and Fusion 11.1.1. Should be interesting.

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Answer 3

countzero123 Author

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15 points

Sep 11, 2020 10:34 AM in response to countzero123

So far, no luck with Fusion. It may be because the MBP is running Sierra with old firmware, and the highest version of Fusion (I believe) I can run on it is 11.1.1. I haven't gotten *any* MacOS VMs to get past the Apple logo and either no progress bar or it stops about 1/16" into the bar and hangs. Can't seem to consistently "catch" them on boot and trigger Verbose Mode. I think what I'll do first is move this external drive to my MBP with the swollen battery (now running Catalina and Fusion 11.5.6) and see if the VMs will fire up there. Then maybe I can do a reverse move back to the other MBP. Ultimately I either want the mid-2015 to be upgradable to at least Mojave, or be able to run a VM of at least Mojave, so I can restore my stuff there. It did occur to me that I can probably restore from iCloud, but I'm not sure it will work with this MBP running Sierra, and it would take a *long* time.

In the meantime, I'm going to order an internal disk stick for the Mid-2015 so I can get past the firmware thing. Do you know if this will work with a "DataRam 256GB M.2 M-Key PCIe NVMe SSD for 2013-2016 Macbook, Mac Pro, Air, Mini, iMac" ? This looks like the least expensive option (under $60), but I think I read that this firmware issue can only be resolved with an Apple OEM stick. Thanks!

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

60,554 points

Sep 11, 2020 5:37 PM in response to countzero123

countzero123 wrote:

In the meantime, I'm going to order an internal disk stick for the Mid-2015 so I can get past the firmware thing. Do you know if this will work with a "DataRam 256GB M.2 M-Key PCIe NVMe SSD for 2013-2016 Macbook, Mac Pro, Air, Mini, iMac" ? This looks like the least expensive option (under $60), but I think I read that this firmware issue can only be resolved with an Apple OEM stick. Thanks!

No it will not work.

You need to have an original Apple PCIe SSD installed internally that is properly partitioned and formatted for use on a Mac. This means GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). A third party PCIe SSD will not work to get past the missing firmware error produced by the macOS 10.13+ installers.

You need to have an original Apple PCIe SSD made for that particular laptop since there are differences in SSDs from other Macs even though they may technically be compatible at the hardware level. However. macOS can see a difference in these other SSDs and macOS may not run properly or even run at all with the wrong SSD installed. I have learned this through personal experience while repairing our organization's Retina laptops.

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Error message "The computer is missing a firmware partition" upgrading to Mojave

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