Boot Help?

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Level 1

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Boot Help?

Long story short, one of my students 'broke' one of our MacBooks. When trying to boot up, I get the apple logo with the progress bar and it seems to load all the way, but never passes this screen.

Tried just about all of the key combos to reset NVRAM, SMC, etc.

Booted into recovery mode and Disk Utility can't find any errors, thus not able to repair anything. I've tried to create a bootable USB with Sierra with no dice either. Important note and I believe this is my main issue, is that somehow none of the drives are bootable. While in Disk Utility when I view the info about each drive listed(Internal, External, Base image) the bootable value for each is 'No'. Is there any way to change that value given my circumstances?email web Spy24 help

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.4

Posted on Nov 20, 2021 8:33 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

TheLittles

Level 10

192,645 points

Nov 20, 2021 8:49 PM in response to keleis

keleis Said:

"Boot Help?: Long story short, one of my students 'broke' one of our MacBooks. When trying to boot up, I get the apple logo with the progress bar and it seems to load all the way, but never passes this screen."

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Use First Aid in Disk Utility:

Perhaps it is going dead. If so, well, then it's time for a new Hard Drive. In disk Utility, Its sectors would be looked at and maybe reset to make it operate as it should.

A. Run First Aid in Disk Utility:

Check the health of the Volume

Open: Applications menu
Select: Utilities menu
Select: [This Hard Drive]
Click: the First Aid button

See if this is then accessible.

B. Try Mounting Recovery Mode:

See what happens when you go in to Disk Utility. See if the drive is mounted. If so, then click "Unmount" and then "Mount".

Plug in: the hard drive:
Hold Down: command + R upon boot
Select: Disk Utility
Select: [This Hard Drive]
Click: Mount
Click: the First Aid button

See if this is then accessible.

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

56,048 points

Nov 21, 2021 5:51 PM in response to keleis

If you get the Apple logo and progress bar, then the drive is attempting to boot macOS. If the drive was not bootable, then you would get a blinking folder with a question mark. Try booting into Safe Mode which will disable Login items as well as third party drivers which may interfere with booting a Mac.

When using First Aid from Recovery Mode try running First Aid on the hidden Container. Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid says everything is "Ok" click "Show Details" and manually scroll back through the report to see if there are any unfixed errors or warnings listed. If there are any unfixed errors listed (and perhaps some warnings), then you will need to erase the whole physical drive before restoring from a backup or clone (Intel Macs only). If you have an M1 Mac, then you cannot erase the whole physical SSD since an M1 Mac requires some partitions/volumes to exist in order to boot the M1 Mac.

What is the exact model of the laptop? You can get this information by entering your serial number here:

https://checkcoverage.apple.com/

What OS is currently installed? You can try reinstalling macOS over top of itself which should not affect your apps or data. Boot into Recovery Mode using Command + R which in theory should boot to the online installer for the currently installed OS, but many times this may just boot into the OS installer for the OS which originally shipped with the Mac. If you have access to another compatible Mac, then you can also create a bootable macOS USB installer using the instructions in this Apple article:

How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

If you are reinstalling (or upgrading ) macOS10.15+, then make sure to select the "Macintosh HD" volume for the destination of the installer, otherwise if you select a "Macintosh HD - Data" volume you will end up with issues.

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Boot Help?

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