Big Sur won't even reinstall on my new m1 MBP

sgilder_'s post got me thinking. Had tried to enter DFU mode over 20 times but was using the cable included with my 2017 MBP. After swapping that older cable with the m1 MBP included cable, was able to enter DFU mode the first try! Recovery option is now complete. Hope this helps someone else.

Go to http://www.apple.com and click the support link. Click in the search box and search for "ht211983". A document will open and guide you through the process. It is important that you go to terminal and reset password.

Well i can tell apple articles are not quite correct to solve this issue and inaccurate for apple configurator 2 and new M1. This video from Mr Macintosh, which was explaining all cases from revive to restore modes, take a look it explains detailed , without deep technical knowledge you can understand why it is happening https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3XZyvt_vac

I tried all three approaches in Apple's support document https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211983 after using Apple Configurator (use the Reinstall macOS Big Sur utility, use a bootable installer, and use Terminal to reinstall). The Reinstall macOS Big Sur utility gave the same error ("An error occurred preparing the update. Failed to personalise the software update. Please try again."). The bootable installer gave the same error. The Terminal approach gave the error, "This copy of the Install macOS Big Sur application is damaged and can't be used to install macOS". I'm appalled that Apple's own support document created to fix this specific bug failed so catastrophically, necessitating taking the computer back to Apple for repairs.

Restore (I had previously successfully used Revive before unsuccessfully trying to use the Reinstall macOS Big Sur utility, use a bootable installer, and use Terminal to reinstall).

Restore. See my important notes on the previous page to save yourself some time and aggravation.

Apple chat support seems sure it was a wireless network issue, I tried a wired connection and the result was the same. I have a time set up for next Tuesday to do the DFU mode + Apple Configurator 2 fix at the Apple store.

My original wording was harsher than I intended, and for that I apologize. However, you were advising people to not trust the one cable that definitely would work, unnecessarily spend time and money buying a new cable, and potentially make their problem unsolvable if they accidentally bought the wrong cable (for example, and active Thunderbolt cable). Strong words were needed to set everyone back on the right path.

Unless the 2017 cable is physically broken, it should work fine. I successfully used the cable from my 2017 MacBook, and there is no difference between the two. In fact, AFAIK there is no difference between that one and your newer one, except possibly how much power it can deliver.

Is it possible that when trying with the older cable, the cable was plugged into the right port of the sick MacBook, and when trying with the newer cable, it was plugged into the left port? This is what got me for a couple of hours; I thought I'd plugged it into the correct port but I hadn't.

From Best Buy's description of this cable:

This 2-meter charge cable - with USB-C connectors on both ends - is ideal for charging USB-C devices, and also supports USB 2 for syncing and data transfer between USB-C devices.

From Target's description of this cable:

This 2-meter charge cable — with USB-C connectors on both ends — is ideal for charging USB-C devices, and also supports USB 2 for syncing and data transfer between USB-C devices. 

We appear to be having a legitimate technical disagreement over the capabilities of this cable. Please save your character-assassination for a different forum.

If you have some additional information that it does in fact work at USB-3 speeds, I would love to see it.

Otherwise, I stand by what I wrote.

You mean aside from the fact that multiple people have said the cable does actually work, despite what you say? Aside from the fact that it's ridiculous to assume that Apple would provide instructions that required you to not use the cable supplied with your Mac, without even mentioning that? Aside from the fact that it's ridiculous to assume that Apple of all companies would ship a pro-level computer which can cost north of $3k--and which advertised Thunderbolt 3--bundled with a cable that only supports USB 2.0?

OK, from now on I'm ignoring you. Hopefully everyone else will, too.

I did not say it would Never work. That is not that cable's intended use and it will not work very fast. USB-2 speeds are at best 480M bits/sec where USB-3 speeds can be as fas as 5G or 10 G bits/sec. USB-2 speed is not appropriate for disk transfers.

I have been using computers far too long to believe things work in a certain way just because 'that is the the way I would like them to work'. That is called "Magical Thinking".

I rely on published specifications. I have seen no published information that suggests this cable supports transfers faster than USB-2 speeds.

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I have already accumulated over 96,000 "helpful" points. As for ignoring me, other users don't seem to agree with that either.

I too went out of my way to update to 11.0.1 before erasing the internal drive, but still ended up with this error: "An error occurred preparing the update. Failed to personalise the software update. Please try again." Mac mini M1. Clearly Apple hasn't fixed the issue in 11.0.1.

I used a 2nd Mac with Apple Configurator to restore the Mac Mini and it still failed with the same error. What a waste of time. Tomorrow I will have to take it back to Apple for repairs as clearly their instructions don’t work.

Yeah my m1 mba has been bricked for over a month now, It’s just sitting on my floor while i’m unable to use it LOL. I’ll make an appointment at apple asap since i do not have another mac to fix this with. I’ll make an update comment once i fixed the issue