A1708 Mac: Question mark folder on boot, disk not found installing OS

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A1708 Mac: Question mark folder on boot, disk not found installing OS

I was having issues booting up my A1708 Mac (question mark in folder issue). So I tried to reinstall the OS from recovery but it couldn’t find the disk to install it to. I had no options available to erase the disk available or partition it. So couldn’t reinstall the OS.

I took it in store and they advised me it’s too old for them to repair it, but sounds like it could be my SSD. I’ve since replaced that and I’m coming up with the same issue.

Can anyone offer any advice on next steps I can take? Not sure how to progress from here that doesn’t involve buying a new Mac.

OS on the SSD is Mojave.

Model is A1708

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.7

Posted on May 11, 2026 2:12 PM

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Answer 1

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D.I. Johnson

Level 8

36,757 points

May 11, 2026 5:26 PM in response to J4m35_jg

Boot your Mac in Recovery mode by restarting and when you hear the startup chime press the Command-R (⌘R) keys until you see the Apple logo and progress bar. Use a wired USB keyboard for this.

When the macOS Utilities window appears, select Disk Utility.

In Disk Utility’s menu bar click View > Show All Devices, then select the top-most drive device in the sidebar on the left (not an indented volume). The internal device will be named something such as BRAND-X SSD...Media. This is what you must erase/reformat.

Click Erase and then set the parameters:

Use GUID partition map scheme.
Name the drive/volume Macintosh HD,
Use APFS format (for High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina & newer macOS) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format for Sierra and earlier OS X versions.
Click erase to complete the process.
Quit ** and select Reinstall macOS.

Follow the prompts to select the install destination drive and reinstall the OS.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

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