Upgrade to Big Sur leaves me unable to access MacBook Pro, folder with question mark

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Level 1

4 points

Upgrade to Big Sur leaves me unable to access MacBook Pro, folder with question mark

I have a Macbook Pro, tried to upgrade to Big Sur, ended up with a folder with a flashing ?. Googled online solutions - recommended to reboot pressing Command + Option + R or Command + R. When I do latter, I can get to Disk Utility with OS X Base displayed. But I cannot erase the suggested file as the erase option is greyed out. Other online sources suggested Command + Option + R saying the erase function will no longer be greyed out, but when I do that, after 20 minutes of the spinning globe I get a triangle across the globe with an exclamation mark, and underneath it says apple.com/support -5101F. Photo attached. MacBook is now useless. Is it broken? I did back up before doing this.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jan 26, 2021 9:52 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

PRP_53

Level 10

86,605 points

Jan 28, 2021 4:45 AM in response to izzydoraboo

There are several keyboard combinations to try pursuant to what is being experienced and possible solutions as per Apple Support Doc

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Answer 2

PRP_53

Level 10

86,605 points

Jan 26, 2021 1:59 PM in response to izzydoraboo

When booting into Internet Recovery Mode ( Command + Option + r ) be very observant - one needs an Internet connection right at the Start. If attempting via Wifi - watch for Wifi Icon and enter Wifi Password. Better still, connect via Ethernet connection. This is the Error Message in Screen Shot provided above - no Internet connection thus can not connect to Apple Servers.

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Answer 3

izzydoraboo Author

Level 1

4 points

Jan 27, 2021 2:05 PM in response to PRP_53

Many thanks. I tried with an Ethernet connection and exactly the same result. I then tried again and at the start, it briefly said internet recovery before again going to the spooning globe before once again ending with the warning triangle with the exclamation mark. This time though the error message began with a 4...

Im taking the laptop to an Apple maintenance store tomorrow - I think fixing it like this is beyond my abilities! Thank you again though.

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Upgrade to Big Sur leaves me unable to access MacBook Pro, folder with question mark

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