Can't run my 2014 MBP A1398

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Level 1

29 points

Can't run my 2014 MBP A1398

I have a 2014 MBP. 11.7.11 Apple 15" MacBook Pro Retina (2014) 2.5GHz Quad Core I7, Model A1398. When it starts, I get the login screen and the spinning beachball of death. I have 2 partitions and I think I am running another version of OSX, but don't know what and can't find out now.

I went into disk recovery and did repair via disk utility, and also ran the online diagnostics. The only thing that came up was a possible battery problem. I had someone replace a battery for me 2 years ago, but the diagnostic said that it shouldn't cause any problems and was a minor issue. Other than that, my only option is to reinstall Big Sur. When I try that, the utility can't find a target disk. I was able to use the function to make the MBP a hard drive, so something is happening in there.

Since I have upgraded over the years, do I have to go back to my original OSX, reinstall from a boot drive, and upgrade from there?

Unless the diagnostics are missing something, I am out of options right now.

Thoughts?

Posted on Sep 14, 2026 6:18 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

HWTech

Community+ 2026

Level 9

76,606 points

Sep 15, 2026 9:28 AM in response to nelsonmay

Try booting into Safe Mode to see if that makes any difference when logging in.

If you have more than one macOS installation on the laptop, then try an Option Boot to access the Apple boot picker menu to see if you can select the other macOS installation for booting.

When running First Aid on the drive, you need to scan the hidden Container as described in the following Apple article:

How to repair a Mac storage device with Disk Utility - Apple Support

Also, even if the First Aid summary says everything is "Ok", click "Show Details" and scroll through the report to see if any errors or warnings are shown. If there are any, then run First Aid again until they are gone. If after several scans the errors/warnings remain, then they cannot be repaired.

Do you have a good backup of your data?

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Answer 2

Sep 16, 2026 7:36 AM in response to nelsonmay

You should be able to use Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to access the online macOS installer. If First Aid is unable to repair the file system and you have no data on that SSD, then when you reinstall macOS you can use Disk Utility to erase the whole physical drive as GUID partition and APFS (top option).....assuming you are accessing the Big Sur installer....otherwise you will need to erase it as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled).

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Answer 3

nelsonmay Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 16, 2026 5:59 AM in response to HWTech

I will give that a shot. It is an older MBP so nothing is on it. I was just using it to run an older app for a few things. It's just weird that it won't allow me to reinstall the OSX and start with a clean OS. I know this sounds weird, but I had another Mac where I had to go back to the original factory installed OS and then upgrade. Maybe I am dong something wrong.

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Answer 4

nelsonmay Author

Level 1

29 points

Sep 16, 2026 6:29 AM in response to nelsonmay

I did a safe boot and still have the spinning beachball of death. I restarted and used disk utility to look at all my volumes, and everything says OK. With the Option boot, I can only see my one hard disk. After selecting it, I get the apple logo and the progress bar..........but the machine locks up from there.

Again, I did see in the apple material that you pointed me to that to do reinstall, I have to use the original osX. I am going to try that on a USB drive and see if I can do a format.

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