Unable to Choose a Startup Disk After Attempting a Factory Reset

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Level 1

4 points

Unable to Choose a Startup Disk After Attempting a Factory Reset

My daughter attempted to factory reset her fairly-new MacBook Air. Somehow things have hung up at the "Choose Startup Disk" dialog window. The system is unable to find *any* startup disk. I have tried starting up in Safe Mode, checking startup security settings, resetting the SMC, using Command-R, Option-Command-R, Option-Shift-Command-R, etc., and in every case, all the device ever shows is the "Choose Startup Disk" window without showing me any startup disk to select. The little "whirly-gig" icon just keeps going round and round. Have we "bricked" this Mac or is there a way to rescue and resuscitate it?

Posted on Apr 24, 2023 3:17 PM

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Answer 1

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John Galt

Level 10

146,360 points

Apr 24, 2023 6:21 PM in response to terminatee

No worries. The reason no startup disk appears is a consequence of reverting the Mac to its originally installed operating system, which does not recognize the disk format used with recent macOS versions.

The solution is to boot macOS Recovery again and use Disk Utility to completely erase the device.

Follow these instructions: Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support.

Pay attention to Steps 3 and 4: Be sure to choose View > Show All Devices. The "Device" in its context refers to the entire storage device, meaning not a volume or partition subordinate to that device.

Then, exit Disk Utility and proceed to Reinstall macOS.

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Answer 2

terminatee Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 24, 2023 6:45 PM in response to John Galt

John, thank you for the response. Unfortunately, I'm unable to boot macOS Recovery. Command-R accomplishes nothing. The Apple logo appears, then disappears. Then the Apple logo appears again with a progress bar that begins to move beneath it, and then the system simply goes back to "Choose Startup Disk" again. I can't seem to get to Disk Utility or anything else.

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Answer 3

terminatee Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 25, 2023 2:21 PM in response to terminatee

Problem solved, and I just wanted to document my solution in case someone else runs into the same problem. Apple Support gave me a different way to boot up to macOS Recovery: shut down the computer, hold the power button down till Options come up, click on Options. Select language. Next I tried to reinstall macOS Monterey but it wouldn't show me a disk to install it on. I went to Disk Utility and initially ran into some problems with erasing the disk. First Aid repaired the disk but I still had issues. Here's where the voodoo came in: somehow I picked the right buttons and was able to successfully erase the disk. Then I went back to reloading macOS and it worked! Hallelujah.

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Answer 4

John Galt

Level 10

146,360 points

Apr 24, 2023 7:07 PM in response to terminatee

An inability to boot Recovery is a show-stopper. There are anecdotal reports that an SMC Reset may resolve that particular problem, Reset the SMC of your Mac - Apple Support, but you wrote you tried that already. Make sure you perform those steps exactly as described, after which you may need to contact Apple Support: Official Apple Support. Since it's fairly new they ought to be able to help.

Another option is to create a "bootable USB installer" according to Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support, with which you can use Disk Utility to carry out the steps I described. You need a compatible Mac to create that USB installer.

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Answer 5

Sep 30, 2023 12:11 PM in response to terminatee

I had Sonoma installed, I needed to return to Ventura, I erased the disk, but here is the problem that I ended with.

Either way with Cmd + R or any others keystrokes, I end up with the activate logo instead, and there is no start up disk visible. It sometimes ask me to re-erase my disk but it does no good. I also tried to boot it up with a dmg file that I download from the web, but to no avail. I'm stuck with it. Can someone help me with a magic trick.

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Unable to Choose a Startup Disk After Attempting a Factory Reset

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