A1465 ssd and no os. M.2 recognised but not bootable disk

[Mcat74]

Please can someone help.

My ssd died and the macbook air has mavericks in internet recovery.

Using alt, cmd r I can see my Samsung evo 960 m.2 drive. I erased, and then added mojave.

This all saves. However when I reboot, it only recognises my usb and this goes to recovery.

How can i get my ssd to be recognised as a boot drive and to get to the normal screens.

I can only see internet recovery screens and nothing more and this is with my usb.

Many thanks

Michael

 

[Audit13]

Which Air do you have? Is it running the latest bootrom?

 

[Mcat74]

Which Air do you have? Is it running the latest bootrom?

A1465. Latest bootrom. No idea, please could you let me know how i find out and how to update?

I have no system as such as my ssd was fried. So only now able to work from a bootable usb and internet recovery.

 

[Audit13]

Was the Air running High Sierra or Mojave off the original Apple SSD?

What is the emc number on the bottom of the Air?

You have High Sierra or Mojave on the bootable USB?

 

[Mcat74]

Thanks for all coming black so quickly.

So the original os that came with it was Mavericks, though once it's up and running it will work with Mojave.

The emc number is 2631
[doublepost=1538406684][/doublepost]

Thanks for all coming black so quickly.

So the original os that came with it was Mavericks, though once it's up and running it will work with Mojave.

The emc number is 2631

I have high sierra as a bootable usb and this will go to utilities etc.

 

[Audit13]

Since you are able to use an nvme drive, you must have a mid-2013 or newer.

Are you running Mojave on the air from an external drive or was it running Mojave on the original drive before the problem occurred?

 

[Mcat74]

Since you are able to use an nvme drive, you must have a mid-2013 or newer.

Are you running Mojave on the air from an external drive or was it running Mojave on the original drive before the problem occurred?

Never used Mojave. It's on the internet recovery as the latest version I can use. However whilst it will recognise and instal os from internet recovery, I can't get into boot using the m.2 ssd and can't get to the normal screens.

It is an early 2014 version. As the original ssd was fried I can't put that in and upgrade os to high sierra etc.

After the os was installed through recovery screens it eventually said the firmware was not right. I did an pram refresh and it changed to installers not recognised.
[doublepost=1538408613][/doublepost]Nvme drive seems to be recognised in internet recovery but not from boot. Just can't seem to get anywhere with it.....

 

[Audit13]

With the Samsung drive, you must use High Sierra or Mojave because the Samsung drive can only be formatted in 512 byte sectors.

You need to use a High Sierra USB installer. Hopefully, High Sierra will install and run with the Air's current bootrom.

 

[Mcat74]

With the Samsung drive, you must use High Sierra or Mojave because the Samsung drive can only be formatted in 512 byte sectors.

You need to use a High Sierra USB installer.

I am using high sierra on usb, so it is recognising the drive in utilities. But when it goes to boot it doesn't recognise the new m.2 ssd.

 

[Audit13]

After installing High Sierra to the Samsung, are you able to hold the option key and select the Samsung as the boot drive?

 

[Mcat74]

I am using high sierra on usb, so it is recognising the drive in utilities. But when it goes to boot it doesn't recognise the new m.2 ssd.

 

[Audit13]

Do you have access to another internal Apple SSD that can be used to install High Sierra or Mojave? During the installation of either OS will update the bootrom.

If there is an Apple store near you, they may be able to flash the bootrom for you using an EFI programmer.

If the above two options are not available, are you able to boot the machine with an external drive that has been loaded with High Sierra or Mojave? This will allow you to confirm the Air's current bootrom.

 

[Mcat74]

So this is what I get using my usb. I then go to utilities, erase the drive and then go to the install mac os screen. It will pick up my Samsung m.2 ssd and I install ok. But just can't get anywhere after.this...
[doublepost=1538410374][/doublepost]

After installing High Sierra to the Samsung, are you able to hold the option key and select the Samsung as the boot drive?

No. It only then recognises the usb. Almost as if internet recovery is current spec and start us goes back to old original spec....

 

[Audit13]

Try what I posted above because, if the bootrom is up to date, there's something else that is wrong.

Which nvme to pcie adapter did you use?

 

[Mcat74]

Do you have access to another internal Apple SSD that can be used to install High Sierra or Mojave? During the installation of either OS will update the bootrom.

If there is an Apple store near you, they may be able to flash the bootrom for you using an EFI programmer.

If the above two options are not available, are you able to boot the machine with an external drive that has been loaded with High Sierra or Mojave? This will allow you to confirm the Air's current bootrom.

Unfortunately I am only using a usb stick with high sierra.

 

[Audit13]

You connect the USB installer and external drive to the Air, install HS to the external drive, and then boot the air.

 

[Mcat74]

So after the os instals on my new m.2 ssd, it goes to a black screen. Then the Apple logo appears and the counter underneath (See pic).

10 mins later, it goes back to the mac os utilities screen.
[doublepost=1538411009][/doublepost]If I then choose start up disk, I only get the usb being recognised.....

 

[Audit13]

I suggest installing HS to an external drive. An outdated bootrom may be causing the boot issue with the Samsung drive. Booting the machine with HS or Mojave should allow you to confirm the installed bootrom.

 

[Mcat74]

Using the usb and going to utilities the new m.2 ssd shows as bootable no. See pic. Not sure what I can do or add any coding to change this to yes??? Even using mojave doesn't fix this....

 

[Audit13]

I believe it's a bootrom issue and, to confirm this, you need to find the Air's installed bootrom.

 

[Mcat74]

I suggest installing HS to an external drive. An outdated bootrom may be causing the boot issue with the Samsung drive. Booting the machine with HS or Mojave should allow you to confirm the installed bootrom.

If I use alt cms r I can get to internet recovery and used the os Installer screen to install to my usb. This appears to put mojave to my usb.

If I start up with this and do the same for my m.2 ssd it doesn't automatically load from my ssd
[doublepost=1538411368][/doublepost]

I believe it's a bootrom issue and, to confirm this, you need to find the Air's installed bootrom.

How do I do that? I can get to the internet recovery screen which had terminal. When I go in its set to bash 32

 

[Audit13]

I still believe it is a bootrom issue. Apple introduced nvme support in later bootroms.

Apple SSDs in the mid-2013 and later Airs use AHCI, not nvme.

 

[Mcat74]

Just adding screen dumps after installing to my ssd
[doublepost=1538411676][/doublepost]

I still believe it is a bootrom issue. Apple introduced nvme support in later bootroms.

Apple SSDs in the mid-2013 and later Airs use AHCI, not nvme.

Thanks for your time here. How do I fix that???

 

[Audit13]

I'm surprised the drive isn't formatted as APFS. Formatting and installing HS automatically chose APFS.

Attached a screenshot of an Intel 600p in an early 2015 air.

 

[Mcat74]

I'm surprised the drive isn't formatted as APFS. Formatting and installing HS automatically chose APFS.

Attached a screenshot of an Intel 600p in an early 2015 air.

I have erased the ssd again to apfs and am installing high sierra again. I don't think it will make any difference.

Wouldn't mojave have current bootrom? I tried that and that didn't work. Will do this again and report back.