Can't complete Installation of High Sierra on Late 2011 MacAir

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Level 1

4 points

Can't complete Installation of High Sierra on Late 2011 MacAir

Hi,

I'd be grateful for anyone who can help. I was given an late 2011 11" Air by a cousin who didn't need it (wasn't theirs originally) which I could do with being able to use. It will not boot at all and didn't have a recovery partition (all boot key combination attempts to get to the recovery screen fail) and I get a apple.com/support - 6002F (globe with ! logo). I then dowloaded a copy of High Sierra from the app store on another Mac and created a bootable external hard drive (done correctly) - plugged it in held down option key during boot - selected the bottle drive and it began to install - or so I thought after the initial 8 minutes load up it went to a restart but then I was left with a status bar at 5% for 24hrs. Shut down, booted same result. I tried this several times each time with a freshly wiped internal SSD (see below) formatted to extended journaled etc. No joy. Did NVRAM resets several times also no joy!

Next I downloaded another copy of high sierra and installed it on a freshly formatted external drive. When I boot with the option keep I then have an option of a recovery partition - so I used that to try and do an internet recovery and erase/repartition the internal ssd (ext journaled etc) and download a copy of OS from the internet - again allowed be to download it and after reset the same 5% bar for 24hrs.

Next I rebooted into recovery reformatted the SSD and restarted this time going into the external drive with installed High Sierra. So... it boots up slowly and I have a fresh HS desktop. So I go into the app store and download a new HS and begin installing it onto the internal SSD. The computer restarts to complete the install and then takes an eternity to get to 100% on the bar but then stays like that for 24hrs. As I felt I was closer I tried this several time with the same result each time reformating the SSD with ext journaled or even APFS - doesn't work. With the external drive connected with the installed copy of HS on board I tried using the shift-option-cmd-R - would get me to the recovery screen crashed and restarted and eventually booted to the installed ext copy of HS.

I even installed a brand shiny new SSD that is compatible with my Air and did it all again several times - didn't work!

Please does anyone have any ideas - its been a week of extreme frustration. Thanks

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3), 4GB 120 SSD

Posted on Mar 4, 2018 12:27 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 4, 2018 12:30 PM in response to GwayPaul

I believe you can do a Network Recovery on your model. See the following:

Internet/Network Recovery of El Capitan or Later on a Clean Disk

Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the (Command-Option-R) keys until a globe appears.
The Utility Menu will appear in from 5-20 minutes. Be patient.
Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
When Disk Utility loads select the drive (usually, the out-dented entry) from the side list.
Click on the Erase tab in Disk Utility's main window. A panel will drop down.
Set the partition scheme to GUID.
Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
Click on the Apply button, then click on the Done button when it activates.
Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

Note:

1. To install the version of OS X that was currently installed use Command-Option-R.

2. To install the original factory version when the computer was new use Command-Option-Shift-R.

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Answer 2

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 4, 2018 1:07 PM in response to GwayPaul

Did you properly partition and format this new drive? Be sure to do that. It is part of the procedure that I posted. When you replaced the drive did you replace the ribbon cable connecting the drive to the motherboard? It could be bad which can cause the drive not to work.

What version of OS X was pre-installed on your computer when it was new? According to my information, it was a version of Lion. You should be able to perform a Network Recovery, but you may need to substitute the Command-Option-Shift-R shortcut for the Command-Option-R where it appears in the above. You will need a good Internet connection. I would suggest using Ethernet rather than Wi-Fi.

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Answer 3

GwayPaul Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 4, 2018 1:20 PM in response to Kappy

The drive was replaced by a friend who has done it before so I'm not sure about the cable issue but thanks. It was lion pre-installed I have a hard copy of mountain lion on dick that won't boot from an ext dvd drive. When I try to install the dvd on the installed desktop it says that i have a more up to date os ie. the one from the installed HS on the ext hard drive! Why does installing the original OS help?

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Answer 4

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 4, 2018 2:53 PM in response to GwayPaul

In your case just to find out if you still have a problem if you go back to square one - what was installed when it was new and working.

You don't quite know what your friend did, so I think I would tackle the basics of the software. If you have a solid Internet connection then you should be able to do an Internet Recovery as I posted earlier. Substituting the second shortcut will attempt to install Lion on the drive after you have partitioned and formatted it properly. Let's see if that works. And, don't reinstall anything until you have thoroughly tested the basic Lion system.

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