Can't install MacOS High Sierra in my 2011 MBP

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Level 1

9 points

Can't install MacOS High Sierra in my 2011 MBP

i'm having a pretty annoying issue with my 2011MBP.

Long story short.. i was listening some music when it suddenly stopped, when i tried to restart the mac a prohibitory sign appeared instead of the usual apple..

I was able to put the SSD into another mac to recover all my data (since the drive won't boot but it could be used as an external drive). Now i'm struggling to do a fresh OS install!

I've already tried 2 different HS bootable USB drives (one made with terminal and another made with the "install disk creator" app), and the installer was downloaded directly from the app store.

The issue here is that i've tried internet recovery (sometimes it boots Lion recovery and sometimes it boots HS recovery) and both usb installer drives, none of which was able to be installed! what happens every time is that when the installer is about 2min remaining it reboots into recovery mode.. i've tried to keep the loop up to 4 times of install-reboot-install-reboot and it's pretty annoying not being able to leave the recovery mode!

Any tips on how to effectively do a fresh install of High Sierra, or how to stop this annoying loop?

if anyone asks about the HW: MBP early 2011, intel i5, 16gb ddr3 ram, adata su800 512gb ssd, which according to disk utility ain't damaged, and can be used as external drive without any issues

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Nov 13, 2020 11:12 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Level 9

61,490 points

Nov 15, 2020 11:21 AM in response to jorge269

The UDMA CRC Errors are usually due to a defective hard drive SATA Cable. So replacing this cable should resolve your problem. Combined with what you described earlier this seems to confirm the problem.

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

61,490 points

Nov 13, 2020 10:17 PM in response to jorge269

So you can boot from the USB installer and Internet Recovery Mode. However, when you try to install macOS it reboots with just two minutes remaining on the copying files stage?

See if you can run the Apple Diagnostics by holding "D" or "Option + D".

If you can boot the installer, then run Disk Utility First Aid on the physical drive and on the Container. To access the physical drive and container you need to click on "View" within Disk Utility and select "Show All Devices" before they appear on the left pane of newer versions of Disk Utility. Also even if First Aid shows everything as "Ok" click on "Show Details" and look to see if there are any unfixed errors listed.

When you are reinstalling have you tried a clean install by first erasing the whole physical drive before installing macOS?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496#erasedisk

Do you have the 15" or 17" model?

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Answer 3

jorge269 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 14, 2020 9:24 PM in response to HWTech

Sorry i didn't specify, and thanks for replying! i have the MBP 13" model. And yep, i can perfectly boot from the usb installer and internet recovery (this last one sometimes opens lion recovery).

I have been playing around with the terminal diskutil commands on the recovery partition (rather than using the disk utility) to erase, reformat (trying both APFS and JHFS+) and write zeros all over the ssd, i have done this a few times, like once every 2 o 3 failed install loops... so every try is a fresh os install

I have also tried the verifydisk, verifyvolume, repairdisk, and repairvolume commands and sometimes it gives me the exit code 8. and sometimes it doesn't..

i know that the SSD is not the problem because i was able to install high sierra with a sata to usb enclosure with both a working imac and my faulty MBP. But even with the working OS loaded into the SSD, and the ssd inside the computer, it won't boot!!!

i was thinking maybe it is the SATA to motherboard flex.. but i can mount and format the ssd, it just wont install ot boot using it internally.

i'm currently running the extended hardware test, waiting for the results

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Answer 4

jorge269 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 15, 2020 12:24 AM in response to jorge269

another update

OS boots and works pretty well when used external.. but it is not recognized as startup disk when used as internal (BUT when in recovery mode, it can be seen and erased through diskutil in terminal)

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Answer 5

jorge269 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 15, 2020 10:47 AM in response to HWTech

ohhh okay, i didn't know that writing zeros causes wear, thanks!!

SSD is an Adata SU800 512gb. My cousin suggested me to use the DriveDX app, which apparently said that my SSD wear is at about 1%, and it also says that the SATA cable might be defective.

I'm not sure if this is possible (regarding what you said about SSD being not compatible) but i had a working computer for about 7 months now! with this same SSD.. it suddenly stopped working a week ago, and then my problems began D:

i've checked on the motherboard connections to the SATA cable, verifying that everything is fine too many times, but the flex is a bit bent (like soft curve bent, not sharp bent), not sure if that can cause damage?

i'll borrow a friend's hdd this afternoon, and try to do a fresh os install to see if it works.. what would you suggest? i was thinking that if it doesn't work (with the borrowed hdd) = get new cable. if it does work = get new ssd..?

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Answer 6

HWTech

Level 9

61,490 points

Nov 15, 2020 9:26 AM in response to jorge269

Since the SSD works fine externally, then it either means the hard drive SATA Cable is defective or the SSD is not compatible with this laptop. Try reseating the SATA cable to the Logic Board just in case it has loosened. You can buy a replacement hard drive SATA Cable from OWC.

https://eshop.macsales.com/search/?q=hard%20drive%20cable&filter.catidpath=3406

What make & model SSD are you using?

FYI, do not write zeroes to an SSD to erase the drive as that just causes unnecessary wear on the SSD. The SSD's NAND cells have a limited number of lifetime writes. FYI, if you need or want to perform a hardware reset on an SSD, then you can use a hardware feature built in to some SSDs to reset them to factory defaults by using a Linux utility to perform an ATA Secure Erase on the SSD.

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Answer 7

jorge269 Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 15, 2020 10:53 AM in response to jorge269

oooh and another thing i forgot to mention.. i was finally able to boot the mac with the ssd inside the mac... it only works AFTER a nvram reset and using the startup manager (it won't boot if i don't select the drive to boot).

And the suuuper weird thing that happens when computer starts up with the ssd inside.. is that it loads veeeery slowly and no app will open, it just let me open system preferences and this DriveDX app. (it actually starts up and works pretty fine with the ssd as external)

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