Stuck On Activate Mac....

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Level 1

14 points

Stuck On Activate Mac....

I have done this before and have never had a problem. Was having some problems with a new macbook air and a 2 year old mac studio. Both computers after hard drive erasure go to activate and all I get is failed to activate. I have strong wifi and I even plugged in ethernet cable for strongest possible connection. This is so annoying and frustrating as I am not a newbie to how this works. What am I missing here. I already had to send my new macbook air back to apple to reactivate it. I upgraded to Sonoma during a tech session with an apple technician when my macbook air was stuck and he said I needed to upgrade my mac studio to the newest version to download a particular mac program called configurator to try to get my macbook air going again before sending it back to them anyways. I CAN NOT STAND SONOMA and I wanted to put my mac studio back to Monterey and then time machine all my programs back into it but again am stuck at the won't activate screen !!!!! I am also using a bootable usb with Mac Monterey on it as That is the operating system I liked. I wanted to put it on my macbook air but am afraid if I wipe the hard drive again to try that I will run into the same problem again and it will not activate. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG HERE ???????

If someone knows any way for me to get my mac studio up and running again I would be eternally thankful. NOTHING WORKS as far as keyboard shortcuts while booting and turning on ETC..... Thank you for your time

Mac Studio (2023)

Posted on Sep 15, 2024 6:04 AM

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Answer 1

PRP_53

Level 10

91,897 points

Sep 16, 2024 12:59 AM in response to courtcop

Two cents here

Was this method used >> Use Erase All Content and Settings ?

The important elements being

An erase assistant then opens. Follow the onscreen instructions to erase your Mac and restore it to factory settings. Before the erase begins, you will see a summary of all the settings, media, data, and other items that will be erased or turned off.

When asked to sign in with your administrator credentials, enter the password that you use to log in to your Mac. Forgot your login password?
You might be asked to enter your Apple ID password so that your Mac can sign out of Find My. Forgot your Apple ID password?

If one forgot to sign out of Find My ?

It may have cause some glitch preventing the Activation Process.

I agree with @ a brody having seen a very long thread on Sonoma forums related to this same issue

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Answer 2

a brody

Level 10

84,077 points

Sep 23, 2024 3:55 AM in response to courtcop

It would appear that if you erase your Mac, before taking it off Findmymac, it will fail on activation.

Locate a device in Find My on Mac - Apple Support

explains how to put the Mac on Find My Mac or take it off.

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

84,077 points

Sep 15, 2024 8:55 AM in response to courtcop

The problem especially is present with people already using mobile device management platforms like JAMF. If the machine is registered with JAMF and can't reach the JAMF server, it may not activate properly.

If you are in a corporate or school environment, this means isolating what firewall ports might be needed for activation to be open.

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Answer 4

courtcop Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 17, 2024 8:54 AM in response to PRP_53

Yes. I'm actually at the Apple store now doing a restore. With these new security chips in these new Macs they've kind of taken away our ability to really own our Macs. Too bad. Thank you for your time in answering my post...

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Answer 5

a brody

Level 10

84,077 points

Sep 16, 2024 6:41 PM in response to courtcop

Well I hear you, but sadly we can't publicly question why Apple does what they do here.

http://www.apple.com/feedback is a great place to just issue general unsolicited feedback following their guidelines. We are here to give you the best available answers. If a better one comes along, I'd be happy to learn from it.

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Answer 6

a brody

Level 10

84,077 points

Sep 15, 2024 8:20 AM in response to courtcop

Bring it in to an authorized service center

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Answer 7

courtcop Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 15, 2024 1:32 PM in response to a brody

I hear ya and am scheduled for Tuesday. This is a private home computer has nothing to do with anything there are no firewalls this is why I don't understand. It shouldn't be this way dude You should be able to just reactivate your Mac and install whatever operating system you would like. They shouldn't have the right to lock you down and now I have to travel 60 plus miles to go to an Apple store it's just ridiculous. I'm going to ask them when I'm there on Tuesday what am I missing about this because I don't understand it and it's wrong.... Thank you for your help and thank you for your response I really appreciate your time.....

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Answer 8

PRP_53

Level 10

91,897 points

Sep 19, 2024 2:52 AM in response to courtcop

Hum, new security chip ?

It can become more complicated and this I agree.

But at the same time, makes it far more difficult for a Lost or Stolen computer to be Wiped and then Sold for Profit - no ?

Apple Devices, iPhones, iPads and Yes Apple computers are in high damage by Thieves

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Answer 9

courtcop Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 23, 2024 2:49 AM in response to PRP_53

I do agree with you but It kind of takes a lot of the fun out of owning a computer when you want to try something and you can't and are unable to because once you wipe it it won't activate and then you have to do a restore or revive at the Mac store. Or if you can get it into DFU mode using two Mac computers You could possibly do it from home. Anyways, yes it does make it more difficult for thieves I agree with that. 👍👍👍

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Answer 10

PRP_53

Level 10

91,897 points

Sep 23, 2024 3:08 AM in response to courtcop

There are some who claim signing out from " Find My " may solve the issue

While still other claim signing out from " iCloud " will work

While still other, swear , that changing from Wifi to Ethernet will make things work

The hoops we have to jump through does present a need for some creative thinking, at time like this

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Answer 11

courtcop Author

Level 1

14 points

Sep 23, 2024 6:26 AM in response to PRP_53

Yes I did all of those things and I didn't have find my Mac turned on I did all of that and it still didn't make a difference. But I appreciate your thought process it's nice to have somebody else that actually cares about your situation. But I'm cool now though Apple got me up and running Of course they couldn't put Monterey back on they had to give me Sequoia. I give up !!!

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