HELP! Battery replacement wipes out OS X Big Sur

Question

HELP! Battery replacement wipes out OS X Big Sur

Hi.

Following a (no problem) battery replacement to my MacBook Pro 13" retina - after charging the battery as instructed, I found my Mac showed the grey '?' file.

I spent a couple of hours with Apple Support trying various fixes without success, and plan to go to the Apple Store to see if they can help. I cannot use Time Machine as there is no OS now.

Is this terminal now? Can I reinstall the OS from a disk?

Your help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Nov 23, 2022 3:01 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 24, 2022 7:17 AM in response to Lady Carrington

You need to hold exactly the Alt-Option key and No other keys at startup.

Your Mac should immediately transition from all black screen to a gray screen.

... then over the next ten minutes, and Icon will be added to the display for each potentially bootable Volume discovered.

On a Mac after 2017, if you get Recovery instead, something is not right. you may have to make changes in the Startup Security Manager to allow booting off 'alternate' drives. That's here:

About Startup Security Utility on a Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip - Apple Support

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

60,284 points

Nov 26, 2022 5:33 PM in response to Lady Carrington

Does your laptop use the original Apple SSD or a third party SSD? This is very important.

If you are able to boot into Internet Recovery Mode, what version of the installer is booted? Again, this is very important especially if you have a third party SSD installed internally since a third party SSD requires booting to a macOS 10.13+ installer. Within Disk Utility you will need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the physical SSD appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. The "View" option in Disk Utility is only available with a macOS 10.13+ installer. If you don't see the physical SSD listed after this, then the SSD has failed (or perhaps the SSD adapter if using a third party SSD).

If you see the physical SSD on the left pane of Disk Utility, then use this Apple article to deal with the situation (if you need to erase the SSD & destroy all data on the SSD, then make sure to select the whole physical SSD):

If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support

If you only have the original Apple SSD installed, then it appears the SSD may have failed since you don't see it in Disk Utility (or possibly the Logic Board). The "OS X Base System" is the installer's virtual volume and not your internal SSD.

Was this an official Apple battery repair? If so, then you should have a 90 day part/repair warranty (which depends on how the repair was performed). If this was an unofficial non-Apple repair, then it appears the tech may have damaged the Logic Board of this laptop.

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Answer 3

Nov 24, 2022 2:54 AM in response to Lady Carrington

Good morning - no luck yet. Here is what I have done today:-

Alt+start = wifi. Inserted pw = internet recovery. Successful.

= Apple logo White, language - English.

OSX UTILITIES - 4 options.

Back up from Time Machine on Ex.Drive. Continue - just searched - no result.
Disk Utility (with Ex.Drive connected)

shows: 3TB Seagate Backup + D

disk 12s2

Clicked on Seagate - verify - both: osx Base system appears to be ok.

ditto Disk 12s2

Disk 0 - verify and first aid = unavailable.

Erase : Format - Mac OS Extended (Journaled) = greyed out

name - Untitled = unavailable.

Partition and Restore are available. Did not click.

OSX Base System:

image - working + shows files/apps

clicked first aid and verify = appears to be ok.

Erase = Mac OS Extended = greyed out

Name = OS X Base System - unavailable

Restore - source/image/destination = working, not clicked.

Finally I clicked on Seagate - repair disk = partition map appears to be ok.

Sorry it is so longwinded, but as I really do not know what I am doing, I though it best to copy out each move.

I hope this means something to you, and my Mac can be saved.

Many thanks again for spending your time on my problem.

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Answer 4

Nov 23, 2022 7:20 AM in response to Lady Carrington

There are TWO distinct issues that can cause the blinking question mark, and yours is very likely to be the far less frequent one.

The more obvious is that your disk is not bootable any more, and that is what all the articles talk about.

You had a power interruption, which invalidates the parameter RAM/non-volatile RAM. That is where the boot drive designator is stored.

Your most likely issue is that the designation of which drive is the boot drive has been lost.

On Macs before the T2 chip, just hold alt at startup and when it appears, select your boot drive. then immediately use

systems preferences > startup disk

...to set the boot drive manually.

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Answer 5

Nov 23, 2022 11:09 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi, and thanks for your swift reply. Just an acknowledgement as it is late now. I will give it a try tomorrow. I am feeling very disheartened at the moment on returning from the Apple Store - they cannot either fix or advise as my Mac (late 2013 Big Sur) is VINTAGE. Such a shame in these troubled times ((and not very green) when a Mac, kept in excellent condition, is not supported by the manufacturer and written off.

My fingers are crossed I can fix it.

Thanks again.

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Answer 6

Nov 25, 2022 2:59 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Good morning,Still No. Pressing keys together or a second apart yields Internet Recovery. Which works fine. Is there any way I can start from this point? Or maybe download something to Windows 10 or iPad to start the Mac?

So sorry this has turned into an epic, and thank you for your time.

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Answer 7

Nov 26, 2022 1:49 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Good morning.

Sorry I was unclear.

Whatever I press I get internet recovery, whether wifi is connected or not.

alt alone = nothing

alt followed by start, alt and start together = internet options.

I just cannot get past the internet options.

My Mac is late 2013. No real problems experienced apart from 3 replacement screens, and 2 battery replacements.

So sorry this is so frustrating.

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Answer 8

Nov 26, 2022 5:45 AM in response to Lady Carrington

a Mac without T2 chip (2017 or older) that does not respond by drawing a gray screen in response to the Alt key at startup has a hardware problem.

If an Apple Authorized Service Provider did the replacement, your repair comes with a 90 day guarantee. Return the unit to them and ask them to 'make it right'.

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Answer 9

Nov 27, 2022 2:37 AM in response to HWTech

Good morning, and thank you for your reply.

According to the internet/Apple, my Mac uses 'a PCIe SSD with a proprietary (Apple) version of the standard M2'. All is original. So, do I assume this is terminal? The Apple store refused to look at my MAC as it is considered 'vintage' (2013), so I used a local computer store who repair Apple computers.

Yesterday I finally managed to get to the page Disk Utility with the 4 optons, and decided to put the Mac to sleep and return to this store. They were closed, so I returned home. By this time (1 hour) the Mac and case were very hot. I unpowered it. I am wondering if the battery is faulty, although I did buy a good quality one from Amazon with good reviews.

I am lost without this computer as I live in Italy on a boat, and this is my lifeline.

Thanking you for your time.

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Answer 10

Nov 25, 2022 6:31 AM in response to Lady Carrington

<< Pressing keys together >>

the Alt/Option key is ONE SINGLE key.

how do you press one single key 'together at the same time'?

what model-year is your MacBook Pro?

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Answer 11

Nov 26, 2022 9:27 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

That's a pity. I thank you for your advice and patience.

Kind regards.

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HELP! Battery replacement wipes out OS X Big Sur

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