I have a macbook pro which was really slow so I deleted/wiped it using disk utility.
Now when I boot into recovery mode and select the option to reinstall macOS Sierra it says something like server could not be found.
I have check a few things advised like Internet connection, date and time settings etc but nothing seems to work.
Is there a fix around this.
I have another Macbook and a desktop Mac if that helps?
Mac Pro (2019)
If you erased your disk, including your Apple-ID, then the Mac App Store can not send you a 'purchased' copy of MacOS, customized with your Apple-ID.
You will need to install the original 'shipped-in-the-box' version, get that working, then upgrade.
initiate recovery with these keys:
Shift-Option-Command-R: When you press and hold these four keys at startup, macOS Recovery might offer the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
If you erased your disk, including your Apple-ID, then the Mac App Store can not send you a 'purchased' copy of MacOS, customized with your Apple-ID.
You will need to install the original 'shipped-in-the-box' version, get that working, then upgrade.
initiate recovery with these keys:
Shift-Option-Command-R: When you press and hold these four keys at startup, macOS Recovery might offer the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
Irish_Ram wrote:
No I have none of these. I do have another Macbook and MacDesktop so wondered if I could use them to recover this somehow
You could try preparing an external startup drive on one of the working Macs – either by cloning its startup drive, or by doing a clean install of macOS.
But there needs to be some version of macOS that both the dead Mac, and the working one, have in common; if the versions of macOS that the dead Mac needs are too old for the working Mac to run, the working Mac will not have them and will not allow you to install them.
You say that the dead Mac is "is a MacBook Pro 13” 2016-2019 but think I bought it around 2017". A 2016 MBP can run anything between Sierra (some need at least 10.12.1) and Monterey. A 2017 MBP can run anything between Sierra (10.12.5) and Ventura. Those are the "brackets" that you are going to need to be able to hit with one of your working Macs if you want to prepare a bootable external HDD/SSD on one of them; a bootable drive you could then use to help recover the dead Mac.
How to download and install macOS - Apple Support
Macs after 2015 have USB-3/ThunderBolt ports, which can allow you to connect a slightly more modern Mac using a ThunderBolt cable, and treat the 2017 MacBook Pro as an 'external drive' on your iMac.
what exact model-year is that iMac?
Transfer files between two Mac computers using target disk mode - Apple Support
It turns out that if the iMac can run an appropriate version of MacOS, you could use Target Disk Mode to perform the install running the Installer on the iMac, and using the MacBook Pro as a drive.
do you think the TIME is likely to be correct?
has the battery been run to zero?
2018 and later feature the T2 chip. and procedures are very different. do you think you have a T2 chip?
About Startup Security Utility on a Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip - Apple Support
Do you have any bootable clone backups of the MacBook Pro – made with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper!?
Or any Time Machine backup? (That would be on an external disk you dedicated to the purpose, not on the drive that you wiped.)
you said you have some other Macs.
what model model-year, and screen size?
MacOS Base System is the stripped-down tiny system that runs Recovery mode, and is often seen inside an incoming Installer image. Size 1.29 GB suggest that is the Internet recovery system in your Mac's ROM. Type disk image confirms that.
Exactly what model-year and screen size is your MacBook Pro, or the model number silkscreened on the bottom?
Thanks,
Have tried what you said and it boots into Internet Recovery mode after connecting to my WIFI.
Then I just get the same options of:
Irish_Ram wrote:
So the Macbook Pro is pretty much brand new and is a 15” screen
P.S. – If this MacBook Pro is so new that it has an Apple Silicon chip, you might not be able to use it to prepare a working startup drive for the dead MacBook Pro. Even if there is a version of macOS that both can run, doing an installation on an Apple Silicon MBP would probably install an Apple-Silicon-only version of the OS.
It is a MacBook Pro 13” 2016-2019 but think I bought it around 2017
Yeah I checked the time using Terminal as was fine.
Not sure in the chip. Is there a way of checking
No I have none of these. I do have another Macbook and MacDesktop so wondered if I could use them to recover this somehow
So the Macbook Pro is pretty much brand new and is a 15” screen
the Imac I think is around 2/3 years old I believe
Macbook Pro
