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Help, Erased iMac HDD volume drive trying reset my iMac to factory conditions

Janie --

I'd advise you to do this:

First, DON'T use High Sierra.
Use (low) Sierra instead (not the high version, too many quirks with it yet).

Get ahold of the low Sierra installer.
Get a USB flash drive 16gb or larger
Get ONE of the following apps:
- Boot Buddy
- DiskMaker X
- Install Disk Creator

Use one of the free apps above to create a BOOTABLE USB version of the low Sierra installer. These apps are self-explanatory and easy to use.

Boot up from the installer by holding down the option key as soon as you press the power-on button, and keep holding it down until the startup manager appears -- then select the flash drive with the pointer and hit return. The Mac will boot from the flash drive to the installer.

DON'T begin the install yet, instead, open Disk Utility

ERASE the internal hard drive -- WIPE IT OUT to HFS+ with journaling enabled.

Now use the installer to install a fresh copy of low Sierra.

When the installer is done, it will present you with the setup screen.

DON'T set up. Instead, just press the power on button and hold it in until the power shuts off.

The iMac should be ready-to-go for the new buyer with a copy of low Sierra (which is now mature and reliabe) on it...
 
Fishrrman said:
setemupknockem --

If you have the 2012 MacBook Pro (non-retina), it could be a problem with the drive ribbon cable -- there have been many instances of this component "going bad" on the 2012 non-retina MBPro's.

If you're anywhere near a brick-n-mortar Apple Store, I'd take it over to them and let them check the cable. They had a free replacement program for these -- not sure if it's still in effect.

If you still have the original hard drive inside, might be time to replace it with an SSD.
The process is VERY easy and anyone can do this.
Go to ifixit.com to see what's involved.

I would also buy an external USB3 2.5" drive enclosure, or a USB3/SATA dock or just a USB3/SATA adapter dongle like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-...478&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=sabremt+usb3+to+ssd

Then I'd use the adapter to "prep and test" the SSD -before- I opened the MBPro to do the drive swap.
After the swap is done, you can use the adapter to connect the old HDD, and use it as a backup or for extra storage.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the heads up about the ribbon cable. I'm comfortable opening and switching out parts. I tried a failed attempt to see if using electrical tape would fix it like this video

When I was able to get the OS to install through internet recovery it installed Mountain Leopard. It booted and worked. When I went to update to Sierra it killed the unit again. I also tried to with a El Captain USB installer. No success.

Sometimes the Erase or Disk Repair comes back with errors and sometimes it lets me Erase and lets me attempt an install. But again, the install does not go through successfully.

Looks like I will switch out the ribbon cable and put in a SSD hard drive.
 
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Janie1011 said:
Just prepping my iMac 2015 Retina 4K to sell.
Click to expand...
It looks like you may be booted to the recovery volume on the disk or an external OS installer. To fix this you need to boot to Internet recovery by hold command-option-r at startup. Select your wifi then you should see a spinning globe while the recovery utility downloads. Then you will see the recovery screen. From there start Disk Utility and go to the erase tab. Now select the Sandisk drive at the very top of the left column and erase the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then quit Disk Util and install the OS.
 
I'm having a similar problem. I didnt partition the drive, and went ahead to erase it wishing to factory reset my mac. I didnt install mac osx after erasing and just restart my mac. I got the probihitory sign when my mac starts up. After finding solutions online, I got to the recovery system and installed sierra which was one of the steps I missed out when trying to do a factory reset. However, I got a popup telling me that there are files missing and sierra cant be installed. What do I do now?
Should I erase disk utility again and install sierra? I didnt backup since I just wanted to erase evryth.
 
Weaselboy said:
Hmm.. odd we can see it in Terminal.

Code: 
diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ "Macintosh HD" disk0

While still in Internet recovery, go back to Terminal and enter the above line exactly like I have it including the quotes. That will wipe the whole drive back to the old format. Then go ahead with the install. You can convert to APS later if the HS installer does not do it for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks. This solved my problem after a long afternoon of other attempts.
 
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Weaselboy said:
Hmm.. odd we can see it in Terminal.

Code: 
diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ "Macintosh HD" disk0

While still in Internet recovery, go back to Terminal and enter the above line exactly like I have it including the quotes. That will wipe the whole drive back to the old format. Then go ahead with the install. You can convert to APS later if the HS installer does not do it for you.
Click to expand...


I had a similar problem that stemmed from me messing up while trying to “factory reset” my computer. A couple of hours or trial and fail trying to fix it with guidance of other forums, noting worked. I stumbled across this and ran the recommended code in terminal and it fixed my problem. Thank you so much for the help!
 
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Weaselboy said:
Okay.. that's fine. Looks like you converted to APFS. Open Disk Utility then click the icon at the top left and select show all devices like in my screenshot. Then select container disk1 and click the + volume up to tp add in a Macintosh HD volume of 120GB. Then you should be able to install to that.

View attachment 722898 View attachment 722899
Click to expand...
I got as far as this step and added Macintosh HD and tried to install macOS on it and the same problem came back up
 
Weaselboy said:
Hmm.. odd we can see it in Terminal.

Code: 
diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ "Macintosh HD" disk0

While still in Internet recovery, go back to Terminal and enter the above line exactly like I have it including the quotes. That will wipe the whole drive back to the old format. Then go ahead with the install. You can convert to APS later if the HS installer does not do it for you.
Click to expand...

Weselboy you are da man, thanks spent days trying to resolve the same issue, this worked perfectly
 
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Weaselboy said:
Hmm.. odd we can see it in Terminal.

Code: 
diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ "Macintosh HD" disk0

While still in Internet recovery, go back to Terminal and enter the above line exactly like I have it including the quotes. That will wipe the whole drive back to the old format. Then go ahead with the install. You can convert to APS later if the HS installer does not do it for you.
Click to expand...
How do I open disk utility while in MacOs Recovery Mode?
[doublepost=1515039331][/doublepost]
Weaselboy said:
Can you back up a bit and tell me what you have done so far and what you are trying to do?
Click to expand...
How do i open disk utility while in macOs recovery?
 
MuhammadAman said:
How do i open disk utility while in macOs recovery?
Click to expand...

Recovery looks like this. You can see the Disk Utility selection at the bottom there.

macos-high-sierra-recovery-mode-reinstall.jpg
 
Hi there, registration an account for some tips and problems which I meet during the reinstall. looks like all this serials of problems due to APFS file system.

the first experience in last Thu. My MBPR is 2013 early. I go to Apple Store for occasional can't open Application or can't edit file after update to High Sierra. They said never meet this before. I search and find the annoying might because the File System from HFS+ to APFS. Source: https://setapp.com/how-to/why-apps-crash-on-macos . After back up in Time Machine and erase all the Volume. Cmmd+R to macOs recovery restore from Time Machine but fail the first time meet the error " Could not create a Preboot Volume for APFS install " Search the Source https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8106654 (but it didn't explain the problem correctly. the Problem is the APFS Container I think) I erase the disk to HFS+ use Disk Utility and reinstall it works.

and Last Sat. A friend know I can do this. let me help him erase/merge the Windows Partition and Reinstall the High Sierra (He had update to High Sierra). I should using Boot Camp to merge disk (it might can't merge in Boot Camp if had updated to High Sierra) . But it's too late as I already erase the Windows disk using Disk Utility. I can't merge the Two Partition into one. at first I think it could be merged in same APFS file system. after search I think if I follow the Apple Official guide it's too suck (Reinstall High Sierra in one Partition and use Boot Camp to Merge and erase again ). At last I learned using Terminal might work out.

first this guide http://www.ithinkdiff.com/fix-partition-issues-in-mac-os-x-when-disk-utility-doesnt-help/ I still can't merge the disk using mergePartitions rule. it fail “ the given partitions are not ordered sequentially on disk ” but in diskutil list this two volume is disk0s2 disk0s3 (Obviously adjacent)

and I search another guide https://www.macobserver.com/tips/deep-dive/macos-sierra-delete-apfs-partition-right-way/ using “ diskutil apfs deleteContainer ” it convert disk TYPE from Apple_APFS to Apple_HFS. note the NAME row Will not have Container disk. same procedure another APFS volume. and I could merge this two disk together in Disk Utility . ( deleteContainer fails in the second procedure but I can see no Container in diskutil list)

So I think lots of this problems are due to the APFS container. and the merge error is also the container cause.
 
Last edited:
Hi, I've tried the code in terminal to erase the drive but it didn't work.
I've also tried to erase the disk container from disk utility but that didn't work either.
Plz needed help badly as I'm stuck with MacBook air mid2011 for weeks.
I've also included the screenshot
 

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shariarkuasa said:
Hi, I've tried the code in terminal to erase the drive but it didn't work.
I've also tried to erase the disk container from disk utility but that didn't work either.
Plz needed help badly as I'm stuck with MacBook air mid2011 for weeks.
I've also included the screenshot
Click to expand...
Looks like you are trying to erase the drive while booted to the recovery system (which is simply another partition on the same internal drive that you would normally boot)
You will have better success erasing the drive, if you boot to an external drive.
If you don't have an external drive that you can use to make a bootable system, you could also boot to Internet Recovery (restart, holding Option-Command-r).
When you boot to internet recovery, you will see a spinning globe, rather than the normal Apple icon.
 
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Thanks
Weaselboy said:
Yep... try from Internet recovery like @DeltaMac mentioned.

When you do so, make sure you select the disk itself at the top where I marked it with the red arrow. That will erase the whole drive.

View attachment 746695
Click to expand...
for the tip guys but it didn't work either. Unfortunately the combination still boots in recovery mode. I've tried a wired sub keyboard but no luck. It seems the option button doesn't work. I've got a bootable USB with maverick but can't also go to startup disk as option key doesn't work, in recovery mode I tried to chose startup disk but the USB drive not showing up
[doublepost=1515927321][/doublepost]
DeltaMac said:
Looks like you are trying to erase the drive while booted to the recovery system (which is simply another partition on the same internal drive that you would normally boot)
You will have better success erasing the drive, if you boot to an external drive.
If you don't have an external drive that you can use to make a bootable system, you could also boot to Internet Recovery (restart, holding Option-Command-r).
When you boot to internet recovery, you will see a spinning globe, rather than the normal Apple icon.
Click to expand...
thanks for the tip but it didn't work either. Unfortunately the combination still boots in recovery mode. I've tried a wired sub keyboard but no luck. It seems the option key doesn't work. I've got a bootable USB with maverick but can't also go to startup disk as option key doesn't work, in recovery mode I tried to chose startup disk but the USB drive not showing up
 
shariarkuasa said:
Unfortunately the combination still boots in recovery mode.
Click to expand...
When you hold command-option-r at start you should be asked to select your wifi then you should see a a grey screen with a spinning globe while the recovery utility downloads. Are you not seeing that grey spinning globe?
 
Weaselboy said:
When you hold command-option-r at start you should be asked to select your wifi then you should see a a grey screen with a spinning globe while the recovery utility downloads. Are you not seeing that grey spinning globe?
Click to expand...
I'm not seeing any spinning globe. It's already connected to my WiFi network
 
Is your USB keyboard a Windows keyboard (which would have a Windows key, not a command key)?
If so, you have to remember on a Mac, the alt and command keys are reversed before the system loads.
Your Alt key should be accepted as Option during initial boot.

(My question is almost the same as CoastalOR post. :D )
 
CoastalOR said:
If you were running macOS 10.12.4 or later thyesen try:
Shift-Option-Command-R
to get to internet recovery.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

BTW: If you are using a Windows keyboard, what keys are you using for Option and Command?
Click to expand...
CoastalOR said:
If you were running macOS 10.12.4 or later then try:
Shift-Option-Command-R
to get to internet recovery.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

BTW: If you are using a Windows keyboard, what keys are you using for Option and Command?
Click to expand...
DeltaMac said:
Is your USB keyboard a Windows keyboard (which would have a Windows key, not a command key)?
If so, you have to remember on a Mac, the alt and command keys are reversed before the system loads.
Your Alt key should be accepted as Option during initial boot.

(My question is almost the same as CoastalOR post. :D )
Click to expand...
Yes, tried both option but no luck. Somehow I was able to erase the HDD and now it just booting with a question mark on folder and I can't enter into any recovery
 
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