I have a 2021 M1 Macbook Air stuck in infinite boot loop. I was able to do a DFU revive (both computers in Sonoma, so natively- no need for AC2) and said successful. Affected MBA still in infinite boot loop.
Can't start into recovery mode, diagnostic, Internet recovery, (goes through the countdown, then just boots again) or even bootable OS installer.
MacBook Air (M1, 2020)
IIRC, every time I have Revived an M-series Mac, I have been presented with the need to Activate the Mac by verifying authentication with an admin user account before it reboots into macOS. If you did not get this Activation notice, then the Revive process may not have worked correctly or it may indicate a hardware issue of some sort.
When the Revive process completes what is the state of the "broken" computer before you do anything else? Perhaps press the Caps Lock key so the Caps Lock LED is lit, then force a power down by holding the power button on the "broken" Mac until the Caps Lock LED goes out. Then press & hold the Power button again until you see the "Loading Startup Options..." notice. If you cannot get to this point, then try a DFU firmware Restore instead to see if that makes any difference.
If a DFU firmware Restore doesn't make any difference, then you will most likely the Mac has a hardware failure and will need to have the laptop repaired.
IIRC, every time I have Revived an M-series Mac, I have been presented with the need to Activate the Mac by verifying authentication with an admin user account before it reboots into macOS. If you did not get this Activation notice, then the Revive process may not have worked correctly or it may indicate a hardware issue of some sort.
When the Revive process completes what is the state of the "broken" computer before you do anything else? Perhaps press the Caps Lock key so the Caps Lock LED is lit, then force a power down by holding the power button on the "broken" Mac until the Caps Lock LED goes out. Then press & hold the Power button again until you see the "Loading Startup Options..." notice. If you cannot get to this point, then try a DFU firmware Restore instead to see if that makes any difference.
If a DFU firmware Restore doesn't make any difference, then you will most likely the Mac has a hardware failure and will need to have the laptop repaired.
Ok, sorry about overlooking the recovery mode part.
Try a DFU firmware Revive again. However, this time after you authenticate after the "Revive" process, just power off the laptop. Then press & hold the power button until you see the message "Loading startup options....". I know this may seem weird, but I had an M-series Mac last year where this was the only way I could access Recovery Mode. If the laptop even tried to boot normally, then I would have to do a DFU firmware Revive again because sometimes I only had one chance at Recovery Mode.
Good job getting the data backed up. At least that gives you more options now. Worst case scenario is you perform the DFU firmware Restore which resets the security enclave chip, system firmware, erases the internal SSD & pushes a clean copy of macOS onto the internal SSD
It sounds most likely that there's been a hardware failure. Time to take the Mac to an Apple Store or authorized Apple service center for a diagnosis and repair estimate.
Regards.
What happened just before the laptop got into this state? Any hardware or software changes (such as an OS update patch)?
Do you have a good backup?
How much Free storage space do you have on this laptop? Use Disk Utility to determine this value. Ignore the "Available" space value since it is misleading.
While booted into Recovery Mode, launch the Terminal app from the Utilities menu on the menu bar. Execute the following command to clear the NVRAM settings (it is safe to use on an M-series Mac). You may see some permission errors for some items like the Computer Name, but that is Ok as long as the command itself worked. Reboot the laptop to see how things are.
Try booting into Safe Mode.
How far does it get into the boot process before it reboots?
@HWTech:
No updates, just started doing it randomly. Can NOT go into safe mode- Computer won't boot into ANY mode.
I was able to back up in Target Disk Mode so all good there.
Read the original post- won't go into recovery mode.
only gets through the chime, then shuts down and goes again.
There's no authentication (after successful revive, healthy computer just lets me know to unplug problem MBA) and pressing and holding power button only gets it back to boot loop...
2021 M1 MacBook Air stuck in boot loop, even after DFU revive
