MacBook Air M1 Restarting Loop/ Data Recovery

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DubbleApple Author

Level 1

5 points

MacBook Air M1 Restarting Loop/ Data Recovery

Same, but different. Monterey OS, MacBook Air Silicon chip. No external peripherals.

Machine was a month old. Opened the lid and it was frozen at the apple logo and partially booted.

I forced a shutdown and it has been in a continuous reboot loop since.

None of the (PlayStation cheat code) resets available on the web work.

Will not load the recovery menu (reboots).

Will not load diagnostic mode.

Will not load safe mode or any other mode. Just keeps rebooting.

1/50 tries it will advance to the login screen. Within seconds, or as soon as I touch the pad, or after entering creds: Pink screen+reboot.

1/100 tries it will advance to the Recovery Option window, but it is just black with a cursor.

Primarily, it just picks a spot during the apple logo progress bar to….. wait for it…. Reboot.

No backup (I know, I know), just need the data at this point. I will eat the cost of the machine and toss it in the dumpster. Need the data.

Data which is not guaranteed by Genius Bar, so I’ll pass. Data recovery service handed it back and said “no thanks”.

So my question is: How do I get data off of a trash (brand spanking new though) MacBook Air M1 with the onboard memory that will not boot to any stable state? Are there any available methods/tools for recovery? I promise to do a time machine backup next time.

I’ll wait, Apple.

Posted on Oct 18, 2021 10:11 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

HWTech

Level 9

56,138 points

Oct 18, 2021 4:58 PM in response to DubbleApple

Did you try contacting Drive Savers or Ontrack? If you are in Australia/New Zealand area, then there is another more local professional data recovery service which Apple works with, but I don't recall the name at the moment (I can look it up if it is relevant to you). If these data recovery services are unable to recover the data, then it may very well be impossible.

The only other option you have is to find someone who actually repairs Apple Logic Boards to see if the board can be repaired enough to access the data. You need to be very careful with this option since many people don't really know how to repair an Apple Logic Board properly (I've seen a few YouTube videos from a well respected tech in NYC who ends up repairing other repair shops' mistakes -- it is scary how little some techs know). However, an independent repair shop cannot purchase some of the components on the Logic Board because Apple prevents the original parts manufacturer from selling some of these parts to anyone else. If the T2 security chip is bad or even just corrupted, then there is absolutely no way to recover the data since the data on the SSD is hardware encrypted by the T2 security chip which holds the encryption keys.

You can try "Reviving" the T2 firmware to see if it gets you out of the boot loop, but this requires access to another Mac running macOS 10.15+:

Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon with Apple Configurator 2 - Apple Support

Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac with Apple Configurator 2 - Apple Support

Edit: If the "Revive" does not work, then there is a chance the "Restore" may stop the boot loops, but it will also destroy all data on the SSD. You cannot always have everything, but it may allow you to use the laptop.

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Answer 2

DubbleApple Author

Level 1

5 points

Oct 20, 2021 9:29 AM in response to HWTech

Had a long response but my login timed-out and I lost it.

In short: Thanks HWTech, I’ll check the companies you mentioned. Revive was a bust but I’ll keep trying (starts DFU and then reboots). I have some choice words for apple, but not appropriate in this forum. Don’t care about the laptop, just want to retrieve the data.

Apple: If you’re listening, this is a problem that needs a resolution.

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MacBook Air M1 Restarting Loop/ Data Recovery

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