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Resolved Early 2011 13" MBP won't install from bootable USB

zachiedoo

zachiedoo

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 3, 2022
166
93
S QC
I bought a used MBP. I didn't think the previous owner had wiped it before selling it to me. I created a High Sierra bootable USB on a 2013 MBP, booted the 2011 into recovery and wiped the drive via disk utility. I tried installing via the bootable USB. I see the USB, can select it, it looked like it was installing, then I got the Recovery screen again. After a bit of research, I decided to try doing the same with Mavericks, but wasn't successful in creating a bootable USB with the files I was able to download. I posted elsewhere in MacRumours and someone suggested I try one of the other supported OS's for the MBP, so I downloaded Yosemite onto a late-2013 iMac running High Sierra and tried creating a bootable USB via Terminal, but that didn't work. A little more research, and using DiskMakerX I was able to create the bootable Yosemite USB.

I again tried installing on the 2011 MBP and got the same result as the first time: I see the USB with the Yosemite installer, select it, it looks like it's installing, but then it reverts to Recovery.

The only oddity I noticed about the 2011 MBP before I formatted the drive was that I kept getting a message that the date was set to (either) 2006 or 2009.

I thought that somewhere in my research, I saw that there was a way to reinstall the OS using Disk Utility and Restore, but I can't find it now. Is this possible? Is there something else I can try?
 
zachiedoo said:
Is there something else I can try?
Click to expand...

Internet Recovery?

  1. Shut down your Mac.
  2. Hold down Command-Option/Alt-R and press the Power button. (On some Mac keyboards the Option key will be named Alt).
  3. Hold down those keys until you a spinning globe and the message “Starting Internet Recovery. This may take a while”.
  4. The message will be replaced with a progress bar. Wait for it to fill. Expect it to take a while…
  5. Wait for the MacOS Utilities screen to appear.
  6. Click Reinstall macOS and follow the installation process.
Click to expand...
 
zachiedoo said:
Nope, doesn't work. 1. It's trying to install Mavericks, which is no longer available...
Click to expand...

Really? Lion was offered to me via Internet Recovery on my MBA C2D so why would Mavericks no longer be available?

zachiedoo said:
2. It looks like the seller never removed it from her Apple ID as I get "wrong user ID/password" when I try to log in.
Click to expand...

I thought you'd erased the drive?
 
No idea why Mavericks is no longer available, there is simply no link for it on the Apple website anymore. I have formatted the drive.
 
zachiedoo said:
No idea why Mavericks is no longer available, there is simply no link for it on the Apple website anymore. I have formatted the drive.
Click to expand...

Ah, now I understand. You'd need to either have it within your history of App Store downloads or it would've needed to have been the original OS that was supplied with your machine in order to download it with Internet Recovery. According to EveryMac that would be Snow Leopard (which I have installed on mine) but for you Mavericks appears?

Do you have another Mac on hand with FireWire? You could install High Sierra that way instead.
 
TheShortTimer said:
Ah, now I understand. You'd need to either have it within your history of App Store downloads or it would've needed to have been the original OS that was supplied with your machine in order to download it with Internet Recovery. According to EveryMac that would be Snow Leopard (which I have installed on mine) but for you Mavericks appears?

Do you have another Mac on hand with FireWire? You could install High Sierra that way instead.
Click to expand...
I just did some more research and the target mode idea came up. I have a 2013 MBP currently running Big Sur, but the High Sierra installer is on it. I also have a firewire kicking around here someplace, but I'll have to re-check the specs to see what connection possibilities exist between the two.

I also have some Snow Leopard discs somewhere around here, but I'm not sure if they're the update or a full install version, I'll have to dig them out and check.

So I've got some things to try. LOL all this just to be able to use it as a DVD player :rolleyes:

Thanks!
 
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TheShortTimer said:
If you can't find your Snow Leopard discs or they turn out to be incomplete, the full install version is available here courtesy of the Macintosh Garden. You could then convert it to a USB installer rather than worrying about burning a DVD. ;)
Click to expand...
The 2011 MBP doesn't seem to want to install from a bootable USB, I've tried with High Sierra and Yosemite. 🤷‍♀️
 
TheShortTimer said:
That's strange. What was your method for High Sierra? Was it along the lines of this one?
Click to expand...
Yup. I created it using Terminal on my 2013 MBP, using "MyVolume" instead of "untitled" I've wiped and installed three times before on various Macs via bootable USB and never had problems until now. I'm kicking myself for not having backed up the 2011 MBP before formatting it. I just never thought there'd be a problem.
 
zachiedoo said:
I bought a used MBP. I didn't think the previous owner had wiped it before selling it to me. I created a High Sierra bootable USB on a 2013 MBP, booted the 2011 into recovery and wiped the drive via disk utility. I tried installing via the bootable USB. I see the USB, can select it, it looked like it was installing, then I got the Recovery screen again. After a bit of research, I decided to try doing the same with Mavericks, but wasn't successful in creating a bootable USB with the files I was able to download. I posted elsewhere in MacRumours and someone suggested I try one of the other supported OS's for the MBP, so I downloaded Yosemite onto a late-2013 iMac running High Sierra and tried creating a bootable USB via Terminal, but that didn't work. A little more research, and using DiskMakerX I was able to create the bootable Yosemite USB.

I again tried installing on the 2011 MBP and got the same result as the first time: I see the USB with the Yosemite installer, select it, it looks like it's installing, but then it reverts to Recovery.

The only oddity I noticed about the 2011 MBP before I formatted the drive was that I kept getting a message that the date was set to (either) 2006 or 2009.

I thought that somewhere in my research, I saw that there was a way to reinstall the OS using Disk Utility and Restore, but I can't find it now. Is this possible? Is there something else I can try?
Click to expand...

A Mac with Firmware password will refuse to boot from any partition but the default one.

1. Reboot the Mac and hold down Command+R to enter recovery mode
2. At the Utilities screen, go to the Utilities menu bar item and choose “Firmware Password Utility”
3. Select to turn the Firmware Password to OFF
If this is successful it will tell you the firmware password is off.

firmware-password-disabled.jpg
 
Nguyen Duc Hieu said:
A Mac with Firmware password will refuse to boot from any partition but the default one.

1. Reboot the Mac and hold down Command+R to enter recovery mode
2. At the Utilities screen, go to the Utilities menu bar item and choose “Firmware Password Utility”
3. Select to turn the Firmware Password to OFF
If this is successful it will tell you the firmware password is off.

firmware-password-disabled.jpg
Click to expand...
Nope, that's not it. Firmware Password protection is off. But thanks for the try.
robotica said:
You said the date and time kept resetting. This link might be helpful :) https://www.supereasy.com/macos-could-not-be-installed-on-your-computer-solved/

Also this might help - Try to adjust the date to mid 2017, manually then try to reinstall
Click to expand...
The date and time didn't keep resetting, I was getting a message saying the date was set to something like 2006. Unfortunately, I formatted the hard drive so it no longer has an OS, so I can't get into Settings to set the date. But thanks for the try.
 
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If you can find a way to set the date and time from the terminal in the installer I think thats where I would go next :)
 
Update: I checked the date in Terminal, it shows correct, albeit the wrong time zone. I restarted the MBP with the Snow Leopard install disc in the drive, it booted to Recovery and gave me no option to install. I did some research and reset the PRAM, and SMC and again restarted with the install discs in the drive. Again, it just wants to download Mavericks and install that way.

I'm going to see if I can restart in Safe Mode and if that lets me install from the disks, although since there's no OS, I doubt this will help. Nope. Straight to recovery.

I should add: there is a partition on the drive that is not erasable named OS X Base System.

Any other ideas? I'm going to see if I can still order a firewire to Thunderbolt 2 adapter and firewire. I used to have a firewire kicking around but can't locate it.

Any other ideas?
 
Did you try setting the time to mid 2017 with the MacBook unplugged from the network and try and install from the usb stick? There was an issue where the installer expired sometime after mid 2017 and will refuse to install which is why I was suggesting that, rather than to check it was set to the current date and time. Once installed its not an issue, just a hurdle.
 
robotica said:
Did you try setting the time to mid 2017 with the MacBook unplugged from the network and try and install from the usb stick? There was an issue where the installer expired sometime after mid 2017 and will refuse to install which is why I was suggesting that, rather than to check it was set to the current date and time. Once installed its not an issue, just a hurdle.
Click to expand...
Hmmm...worth a shot. Stay tuned!
 
II would try it with the highest supported OS then if that does not work try going backwards through OS versions if you can.
 
Nope, back to Recovery. Next up, Snow Leopard install DVD...Nope, back to Recovery. Just ordered the adapter and firewire.
 
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