Have a MacBook Air 2011 which I was going to sell on eBay but it's suddenly started operating slowly and when I went to open System Preferences, I got this message. I got similar messages when I tried to open Safari and the Mac versions of Word and Excel.
I'm assuming this is now a dead, irretrievable computer. Am I right or is there a fix for this?
Many thanks
Graham
MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.12
It would not have started to perform poorly unless something is wrong, but perhaps it is fixable.
Reinstall macOS according to Reinstall macOS - Apple Support. Then, determine its performance has been restored to the point a buyer would consider it acceptable and you can confidently represent it as such.
After you make that determination and decide it is still worth selling, proceed with What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac. Those steps are not optional. They must be followed lest your buyer complains and wants to return it for a refund, resulting in nothing but inconvenience for the both of you.
It would not have started to perform poorly unless something is wrong, but perhaps it is fixable.
Reinstall macOS according to Reinstall macOS - Apple Support. Then, determine its performance has been restored to the point a buyer would consider it acceptable and you can confidently represent it as such.
After you make that determination and decide it is still worth selling, proceed with What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac. Those steps are not optional. They must be followed lest your buyer complains and wants to return it for a refund, resulting in nothing but inconvenience for the both of you.
If you decide it would be best to scrap the Mac, you can confidently give it to an Apple Store or AASP for recycling, who would ensure its destruction.
Even that is unnecessary provided you encrypted the startup disk with FileVault. The data it contains is completely irretrievable without the FileVault password.
Thanks very much John - I'm giving that a try first to see if the MacBook can be restored. As I have a 100% 5* score on eBay, I would never attempt to sell something I know is not sale worthy.
But if I have to ditch the machine, do you know how I can remove the memory or should I just take a sledgehammer to the entire machine?!! (The sunken screws/nuts on the back look like they need a very special star-shaped micro screwdriver - which I don't possess.)
Thanks again for your help.
G.
Is my MacBook Air corrupted?
