OS Internet recovery via ethernet (erased computer with no wifi functionality)
Hi,
I have recently purchased a second hand Macbook Air 2015 model. I erased everything off the computer and consequently went into recovery mode to reinstall MacOS.
The problem being that the computer seems to have wifi/network connection problems, as the previous user had to use a third party / external USB antenna to access internet. This might be due to the antenna within the laptop being disconnected/broken?
Nonetheless, this impedes me from being able to reinstall Mac OS in recovery mode as the computer cannot download the software from the Apple server as there is not internet connection. I have consequently bought a USB (male) to ethernet (female) adapter to give internet access to the computer. I have therefore tried two options to resolve this which you can find below. Please note that the ethernet connector (RJ45) works fine on other mac laptops (i.e. provides internet access).
- Power on the computer in recovery mode using the keys CMD+R (tried with and without ethernet): The computer tells me to contact apple support and the error message is identified as 1005f. Please note that I have attempted to reset the NVRAM by booting the computer with the relevant keys.
- Power on the computer pressing down the ALT/option key (tried with and without ethernet): The computer displays a black screen with a drop-down menu supposed to display the available networks (see photo attached). Obviously, there are no available networks as the wifi functionality of the laptop does not work. There is an option to manually enter a SSID and the relevant password, which I have attempted without success.
I am therefore left with little options, if any at all to reinstall any version of Mac OS. I was wondering is creating a Mac USB installer would be my final option, although I am worried that the computer will not recognise the external drive as when I power on pressing down the ALT key it does not show me the current hard drive on the computer.
Has this ever happened to anyone else? Would anyone know of a viable solution to be able to reinstall any version of MacOS considering the problems listed above? Why would the ethernet not be "detected" and therefore not allow me to proceed with reinstalling any form of OS?
Thanks.