Error while clean installing macOS High Sierra

[mundopick]

Hi, I'm having a problem doing a clean install of macOS High Sierra on a MacBook Pro 13 early 2011 I installed a brand new SSD and tried to install High Sierra but I'm having issues I've tried doing Internet recovery and USB bootable but both won't work, the SSD works perfectly cause I tried on a laptop and installed windows on it to discard SSD failure, however I'm encountering two different results while installing high Sierra by internet recovery before finishing it shows a message box with "Cannot Open File" and when installing by USB it finishes installing but when restarting it shows a prohibitory sign

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

So are you able to boot to a USB installer? If so, you may just need to double check when you format with Disk Utility. By default in High Sierra, Disk Utility doesn't "Show All Devices" anymore, it shows "Only Volumes." Is there a chance you're not formatting the entire drive, but rather just a partition that was created in Windows? If that's the case, that might be why you can install HS, but not boot to it.

 

[mundopick]

So are you able to boot to a USB installer? If so, you may just need to double check when your format with Disk Utility. By default in High Sierra, Disk Utility doesn't "Show All Devices" anymore, it shows "Only Volumes." Is there a chance you're not formatting the entire drive, but rather just a partition that was created in Windows? If that's the case, that might be why you can install HS, but not boot to it.

I'll try that but I really think it's recognizing the drive cause I can see it while entering to disk manager

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I should add that if the last OS on the drive was Windows, then chances are it is using MBR and not GUID for the Partition map. It must be GUID for MacOS.

 

[mundopick]

I should add that if the last OS on the drive was Windows, then chances are it is using MBR and not GUID for the Partition map. It must be GUID for MacOS.

The scheme is on GUID Partition Map and the format APFS (Encrypted)
I also tried what you said about showing all devices and format the disk instead of the volume and reinstall HS with no luck

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

What kind of drive is it that you are attempting to use? I would also just try not encrypting the drive and maybe try not using APFS to start with.

 

[mundopick]

What kind of drive is it that you are attempting to use? I would also just try not encrypting the drive and maybe try not using APFS to start with.

Is an Adata Ultimate SU650 SSD I've tried APFS, APFS (Encrypted) and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and still doesn't work :'(

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Is an Adata Ultimate SU650 SSD I've tried APFS, APFS (Encrypted) and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and still doesn't work :'(

Can you try a different version of MacOS? Like Sierra?

 

[mundopick]

Can you try a different version of MacOS? Like Sierra?

I've tried with Lion and the prohibitory sign also appears, I have my previous HDD and if I install it I can run HS so the cable works perfectly I bought an adapter for sata via USB on Amazon but the delivery is on Tuesday 6 I'll try to make a time machine backup

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

It’s a long shot, but you may check the SATA cable. I’ve heard of people having random problems with them on the older MBPs, and replacing the cable made the difference.

 

[mundopick]

It’s a long shot, but you may check the SATA cable. I’ve heard of people having random problems with them on the older MBPs, and replacing the cable made the difference.

Even if other disks work fine, do you think the cable might be the problem?

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

That's what's hard to say. There are other threads out there where people claim to have the problems, especially when using an SSD. I don't know if their problems were the same as yours, where you're able to install MacOS and then it fails to boot. I believe most people just experienced general stability issues. Are you able to make it though the install to 100%?

 

[mundopick]

Yes the installation finishes and then restarts in order to go to the set up process but the prohibitory sign shows up

 

[Apple_Robert]

I tried a clean install of High Sierra on my late 2016 MBP TB and ran into the same kind of problem. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it installed. I had been running beta. I had to take it to the Apple Store. They zeroed the SSD and then installed High Sierra and I was good to go.

 

[mundopick]

I tried a clean install of High Sierra on my late 2016 MBP TB and ran into the same kind of problem. No matter what I tried, I couldn't get it installed. I had to take it to the Apple Store. They zeroed the SSD and then installed High Sierra and I was good to go.

Do you think they would help me? today I contacted apple and the guy said that if I did the upgrade to SSD by myself they would deny me service

 

[Apple_Robert]

Do you think they would help me? today I contacted apple and the guy said that if I did the upgrade to SSD by myself they would deny me service

They will deny you if you open the Mac and do your own upgrade. If you have an external HDD, you could try a walk in and say you are having trouble installing High Sierra on your external drive. It shouldn't take them long to get it installed for you from their server. You could then use a cloning program like Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to install to the internal drive. I have read of multiple people having trouble installing High Sierra.

 

[Weaselboy]

Even if other disks work fine, do you think the cable might be the problem?

I have seen quote a few cases where the cable works fine with a HDD and not with a SSD. I think the higher data rates with the SSD cause a borderline cable to have problems.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Something isn't right.
The image in post 3 doesn't show your internal drive (at least not an "installable partition".
Perhaps your USB flash drive isn't right.
Perhaps you have not properly erased your INTERNAL drive.
Then again, it could be the drive ribbon cable as mentioned above.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
Do you still have THE OLD DRIVE that was inside the MacBook?
Was it still bootable when you removed it?

Please post back with the answers to these two questions.
They may help with "going forward" from where you're stuck at right now.

 

[mundopick]

OP:

Something isn't right.
The image in post 3 doesn't show your internal drive (at least not an "installable partition".
Perhaps your USB flash drive isn't right.
Perhaps you have not properly erased your INTERNAL drive.
Then again, it could be the drive ribbon cable as mentioned above.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
Do you still have THE OLD DRIVE that was inside the MacBook?
Was it still bootable when you removed it?

Please post back with the answers to these two questions.
They may help with "going forward" from where you're stuck at right now.

Yes I still have the old drive, actually I installed it back to use my MacBook and it's working fine, I replaced it to SSD not because it stopped working or was working bad but because I wanted to increase general speed.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

Yes I still have the old drive, actually I installed it back to use my MacBook and it's working fine, I replaced it to SSD not because it stopped working or was working bad but because I wanted to increase general speed.

Are you able to do a time machine backup of the spinning disk and then try to restore that to the SSD?

 

[mundopick]

Are you able to do a time machine backup of the spinning disk and then try to restore that to the SSD?

I already have my Time Machine Backup but im waiting for my sata to USB adapter as my time machine is 122GB I don't have an usb flash drive supporting that capacity

 

[Fishrrman]

"I already have my Time Machine Backup but im waiting for my sata to USB adapter as my time machine is 122GB I don't have an usb flash drive supporting that capacity"

Yes, this is the right thing to do.
Wait until you have the USB3/SATA dongle.

Then... connect the SSD to it.

Then, use Disk Utility to ERASE the SSD completely.

Now you could either:
- Try to install a clean copy of the OS onto it, then migrate your data
or
- Use CarbonCopyCloner (Free to download and use for 30 days) to "clone over" the contents of your OLD drive to the new SSD.

After you do this, the next thing to do is to TEST the SSD BEFORE you re-install it into the MacBook.
Power down, all the way off.
Press the power on key.
IMMEDIATELY hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the startup manager appears.
Select the external SSD with the pointer and hit return.
Do you get "a good boot"?
If so, NOW is the time to try swapping the drives around again.

 

[mundopick]

"I already have my Time Machine Backup but im waiting for my sata to USB adapter as my time machine is 122GB I don't have an usb flash drive supporting that capacity"

Yes, this is the right thing to do.
Wait until you have the USB3/SATA dongle.

Then... connect the SSD to it.

Then, use Disk Utility to ERASE the SSD completely.

Now you could either:
- Try to install a clean copy of the OS onto it, then migrate your data
or
- Use CarbonCopyCloner (Free to download and use for 30 days) to "clone over" the contents of your OLD drive to the new SSD.

After you do this, the next thing to do is to TEST the SSD BEFORE you re-install it into the MacBook.
Power down, all the way off.
Press the power on key.
IMMEDIATELY hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the startup manager appears.
Select the external SSD with the pointer and hit return.
Do you get "a good boot"?
If so, NOW is the time to try swapping the drives around again.

Thanks that's exactly what im gonna do and thanks everyone for taking time to reply to this post

 

[mundopick]

My friends, today I installed an Adata SU800 and unfortunately I have the same problem, I tried a software named DriveDx and it says that the problem as some of you have mentioned before is indeed the HDD cable, now my question is Where can I buy one?
[doublepost=1521008736][/doublepost]I reinstall the original HDD and ran DriveDx and everything is alright which is weird cause is the same cable. And they say SSDs use less power to work.

 

[Weaselboy]

My friends, today I installed an Adata SU800 and unfortunately I have the same problem, I tried a software named DriveDx and it says that the problem as some of you have mentioned before is indeed the HDD cable, now my question is Where can I buy one?
[doublepost=1521008736][/doublepost]I reinstall the original HDD and ran DriveDx and everything is alright which is weird cause is the same cable. And they say SSDs use less power to work.

I've seen that happen before.... my theory is SSDs move a lot more data, so a borderline cable is more likely to show up with an SSD.

https://www.ifixit.com

Try ifixit for the cable.