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bobbieidigital

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi,

I have an old 2013 macbook pro and I formatted the macintosh HD i.e. the operating system. I have the sierra installer on a usb which I created from another mac but when I went to load from it, it went directly to the internet recovery mode and now it's stuck. I have pressed the power button for over a minute and nothing. Is there anything else I can do? Do I just have to wait until it discharges all power?

Thanks for your help
 
If pressing the power button does not shut down the machine, it indicates a problem with the power button and/or keyboard connection.

When you booted the Mac, did you have the USB installed connected and held down the option key after pressing the power button?
 
Try this in the order presented:

1. Press the power on button down and HOLD IT DOWN for about 10 seconds.
2. The MBP -should- shut off (power down completely)
3. Insert the USB flashdrive installer into a USB port
4. Press the power-on button again, then....
5. IMMEDIATELY hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the startup manager appears. Do you get this far?
6. If so, select the icon for the flashdrive installer with the pointer, then hit return.
7. The MBP should boot from the flashdrive (it will take longer than a regular bootup).
Does this work?
 
Hi, thanks for the response.

I had to let the battery drain until I could turn it back on again. I tried that and there is two options. McIntosh HD and 'Windows". The USB was formatted on a Macbook air so I don't know why it says windows.. I choose windows regardless and it comes up with a screen that says "Missing operating system".

Is there anything I need to do to the Sierra Installer app file that's on the usb? Like extract it or something?
[doublepost=1539902822][/doublepost]
If pressing the power button does not shut down the machine, it indicates a problem with the power button and/or keyboard connection.

When you booted the Mac, did you have the USB installed connected and held down the option key after pressing the power button?

Hi, thanks for the reply. I was able to restart the machine but I had to drain the battery first.

It was fairly odd.

Thanks
[doublepost=1539903532][/doublepost]Alright: Update. I was able to get it to restart and install via the USB.

I had to use createmediainstall with sudo rights on another mac to create the bootable USB.

Thanks for all the help.

Bobbie.
 
I spoke to soon.

It now reads the USB but I keep getting an error which reads

"An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again".

I looked up some google and it said to set the date, I did that and still the same. I have tried this 3 times. Any tips?

Thanks,
Bobbie.
 
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