macbook pro 2017 - no startup disk

While booted to the macOS installer (Recovery Mode or from USB), launch Disk Utility and erase the whole physical SSD as GUID partition and APFS (top option). Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility.

If you still don't see the OWC SSD in Disk Utility, then try an SMC Reset and a PRAM Reset (hold the PRAM Reset for two chimes if possible). I like to do these two resets back to back in that order since I had one very old MBAir (one with the old hard drive) which required both resets back to back before it would see the OWC replacement SSD (only time this was ever needed...neither reset alone worked so I do both together these days just on general principal). However, with the USB-C Apple laptops, doing both resets back to back can be difficult so it may not always be possible.

If you still don't see the OWC SSD, then contact OWC technical support for assistance. They have great support and will replace the SSD if necessary.

While the SSD is usually the weakest link all things being equal, there is always a small chance the Logic Board may be bad. I do know the original Apple OEM SSDs in this particular model do have an extremely high rate of failure.

FYI, the only reason to install macOS (especially Monterey or Ventura) first is so that the laptop's firmware has been updated while the original Apple OEM SSD is installed internally. The Monterey installer will only update the system firmware while an Apple OEM SSD is installed internally. Not sure if the Ventura installer has the same issue. The destination for the install can be any internal or external drive since the installer will always use the internal drive to store the system firmware update. Once the laptop's firmware has the firmware update from Monterey or Ventura installer, then any reinstallation of that OS can be done even with a third party internal SSD installed since there is no longer a need to update the system firmware during later installs.

Also, for anyone else in a similar situation with the non-touchbar 2016 - 2017 MBPro....the SSD failure usually occurs at power on, or when waking from sleep since the SSD takes longer than normal to initialize & go ready. An Option Boot, or a reboot will usually bring the SSD back at least temporarily since these methods give the SSD more time to go ready. However, sooner or later the SSD will fail completely....sometimes after just a few failures.

You will need to make a bootable drive for the MacBook. You can do this using an USB thumb drive and your 2021 iMac.

First download the latest supported os for your MacBook via this link.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Then, follow the steps provided in this article to make a bootable drive (I suggest calling the drive MyVolume as you can then copy and paste the commands needed to make the bootable installer.)

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

After the bootable drive is created, insert it in your MacBook, after that power it on. After you press the power on button hold the option (ALT) key in order to open up the boot loader. Select your USB Drive, which is called install macOS "version you want to install" now.

It will load into the macOS utilities menu. Here you can choose to install macOS on a computer with empty drive

Best of luck, I hope this will work out for you

scp566 wrote:

OWD did send a replacement but the same thing is happening, so I'm assuming it's probably not that.

Unlikely to be the SSD.

The disk is not visible in disk utility, and when I try installing OS on the new SSD w/ the bootable drive it freezes showing only the bar for selecting a wireless network, but no disks.

What was the last version of macOS actually installed on this laptop?

What was the highest version of macOS ever installed on this laptop?

I'm trying to figure out why you would be presented with selecting a WiFi network if you are booting from a macOS USB installer. The only reason I can think of is whether macOS 12.x Monterey may be requiring it for some reason....I have not tried reinstalling macOS using a USB installer in a while for a Mac which may have had Monterey installed previously....I seem to recall Monterey may have required authentication to boot from USB which may be necessary even on a T1 Mac.

Are you saying if you select a WiFi network, that you cannot finish booting into anything (not sure if you will be presented with some sort of macOS authentication screen, or you will boot to into Recovery Mode, or it you will boot to some other type of tool menu or interface maybe regarding booting from USB. But it should finish doding something as long as you have a good WiFi & network.

Do you think I need to install an earlier MacOS with the original SSD in and try the replacement again?

May be interesting to test the installer with the original SSD, but if you do so and it fails, then you lose your only SSD which can still boot this laptop.

The Logic Board was replaced earlier this month, along with the battery...

Any other suggestions are very much appreciated!

Was this an official Apple repair? If so, then you have a 90 day part warranty (or possibly repair warranty depending if the laptop was mailed to an Apple mail-in repair depot for the actual repair...an Apple Store or AASP may do this...hard to say if they did). If there is a 90 day repair warranty, then Apple will even replace the bad SSD (if they can confirm it is bad...make sure to tell them it fails at power on and waking from sleep so they can reproduce the failure). The downside is if it is only a 90 day part warranty and they decide the SSD is bad, then they will want you to pay for the replacement and may not look any further into a possible Logic Board issue (Apple is all or nothing when it comes to repairs).

An Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) may be more likely to consider testing the laptop with an OWC SSD since they may be familiar with OWC themselves (hard to say...Apple definitely won't do anything

If the only issue with this laptop is with reinstalling macOS, then you will need to try reinstalling macOS on the original Apple OEM SSD to confirm it has the same issue because you will need to have some reproducible issue with all original Apple parts installed. If you have the same issue as the OWC SSD, then Apple should take notice, but remember what I mentioned about the two types of 90 day warranty repairs that may be involved and the limitation of the part only version.