Macbook Pro 13” (macOS 12.1): “Stuck in startup options”

fxiry wrote:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/d160c3e4-15ce-453a-a526-cddb8ae87dcf1.

I just recently opened my MacBook and suddenly this screen pops up, and here are the things I did:

I tried to “restart” it and didn’t work.

2. When I go to options, I selected the “reinstall MacOS Monterey” and chose the “Macintosh HD” as a way to install the MacOS Monterey. When I clicked on the Macintosh HD, the screen showed “continue holding startup options” until it brought me back to the same screen that this picture show.

3. I tried to perform a diagnostic but same thing with case 2: continue holding… > startup options screen.

4. I tried to go into “safe mode”, same case with no. 2 & 3.

5. I also did the command + r whilst I press the Touch ID button but no luck with it, same case with no. 2-4.

6. I normal press the Touch ID button, doesn’t turn on itself so I long pressed it, doesn’t work either. The way to turn it on is that I followed case 5 and as always, same scenario with case no. 2-5.

Important thing to notice is that my MacBook Pro is in macOS 12.1 and is not up to the latest version. Before this all happened, I didn’t keep my MacBook on its latest update due to my tight schedule, in which I didn’t have the time to do checkups on my MacBook. Are there any ways to fix this issue?

Boot to Internet Recovery Option Command R

and run the DIskUtility>First Aid

How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility - Apple Support

verify DiskUtility>View>Show All devices

repair Parent Drive, Containers and Volumes if errors are found and repaired, run it again until no errors reported

fxiry wrote:

I followed your advice and made sure that I performed the first aid for all containers & volumes. No errors occurred but when I run it again it brought me back to the same startup options window, there is something that made my MacBook to continue hold the startup option and I couldn’t figure it out.

you can try revive

How to revive or restore Mac firmware - Apple Support

How to revive or restore Mac firmware - Apple Support

if you need assistance take it in...

In or out of warranty you can get a free over the counter 'Apple Service Diagnostics' test /assessment

Make an appointment

Genius Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple

Outside the USA

Contact Apple for support and service - Apple Support

The "not permitted" lines for clearing the NVRAM is fine & normal.

ave a good backup.

When you run Disk Utility First Aid, you want to run it on the hidden Container. Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" before the hidden Container appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Even if First Aid says everything is "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll back through the report to see if any unfixed errors are listed. If there are errors listed, then run First Aid again until they are gone. If after several attempts the errors remain, then the only way to fix them is by a clean install of macOS which involves first erasing the disk (or rather deleting the Volume Group) followed by reinstalling macOS & restoring from a backup.

Since you don't have enough Free internal storage, you can install macOS to an external USB3 drive instead to see what happens, but if you already reinstalled macOS over top of itself, then I doubt it will be of much use except to make it easier to recover data from the internal drive if you don't have a good backup.

FYI, I don't think Apple will backup any of your data because Apple now puts that responsibility on the user. If you leave the laptop for repairs, there is a good chance it will be erased during the repair process especially if the Logic Board is replaced.

People need to always have frequent and regular backups of their computer and all external devices (including the cloud) which contains important & unique data. There are so many new ways to permanently lose access to the data stored on the internal SSD with the more recent Macs due to all the hardware, software, and security changes. Plus it is nearly impossible to recover any data from a Mac's internal SSD these days even with a professional data recovery service. And iCloud is not a backup for a Mac (nor are many of the other cloud based file syncing services). Apple includes Time Machine backup software with macOS.

Please let us know what happens if you visit the Apple Store or an AASP.

You have an M-series Mac, so the only special startup key options are holding the power button down to access the Options boot screen. If you click on the "Options" icon, that will take you into Recovery Mode which will automatically launch the macOS installer. Just quit the installer which will take you to the "utilities" screen where you can run Disk Utility First Aid, or select "Reinstall macOS".

I would suggest trying to clear the NVRAM. To do this, you must launch the Terminal app from the "Utilities" menu on the menu bar after you quit the macOS installer app so you are on the recovery mode utilities screen which will give you access to the menu bar with "Utilities" on it. Within the Terminal app, issue the following command:

nvram  -c

You may see a message saying it could not modify/delete the Computer Name and possibly some other similar ones as well. This is Ok. After issuing this command (you must press the "Return" key to submit the command), then you need to reboot the laptop in order for the system to pull the default NVRAM variables to see if that makes any difference in booting the system.

Do you have a good backup of your computer? I hope you do since it may be impossible to do so now unless you can place the laptop into Target Disk Mode so it can be accessed from another Mac.

@leroydouglas' suggestion for a DFU firmware Revive is probably your only hope, but I doubt it will make a difference here......still worth trying though.

If you already tried to reinstall macOS over top of itself and it failed (how did it fail? error messages?), then you could try to install macOS into a new APFS volume on the internal SSD assuming you have at least 80GB+ of Free storage space. If you do have 80GB+ of Free storage space (ignore the "Available" value), then you can create a new APFS volume for the new OS installation. Just make sure to give it a unique name. I have found installing macOS beside itself may allow you to boot the laptop normally to the new OS. This may allow you to recover the data from the original OS installation if needed, otherwise you would need to rely on Target Disk Mode or the Command Line while booted into Recovery Mode (latter option is not easy to use).