M1 Mini - An error occurred preparing the update

[TheMadBrewer]

rezneq's fix worked for my MacBook Air too!

It came just in time -- it was almost done with the FedEx guy rang the doorbell to pick it up for return.

Should we ever meet in the After Times, rezneq -- the beverages are on me!

 

[kaschool]

Okay, so I have a M1 Air also, so thought I'd try to enter DFU. It is very clumsy, but after trying a few times unsuccessfully, @Nrwrit3r instructions worked for me, i.e.:

"First hold power button to completely shut off Mac if it’s on. Then hold power button (only power button) as it turns on, keep holding until it says something like “other settings” loading (gets you to disk utility and stuff). Once there, *then* follow the instructions on the website Apple has to hold the power button along with the other ones to get it into DFU. it’s very unintuitive!"

Not at all intuitive (i.e. machine is active and then you do the presses). As noted above, when you are in DFU the screen will go completely blank.

Note I have not attempted to actually do a fresh install on the Air (as I don't want to reinstall the OS as for family and setting up remotely again is a complete pain with two factor authentication without another local device).

Couple of troubleshooting points:

* If on a normal power up not attempting DFU (i.e. to a screen regardless of OS, recover, options, etc.) you don't get a padlock symbol on Configurator, then I'd guess you have an incompatible cable.

* No good deed goes unpunished as they say, after entering DFU on the Air, I then struggled to get it out of DFU ! Turns out the same key combination gets you out (phew !).

Holly cow I did it! Your instructions helped immensely ! Thank you soooo much. Now to try and recover this thing!

 

[Shs111]

OP, just to get an understanding of this.

You erased the drive and reinstalled macOS then got that error?

You never updated to 11.0.1 correct? That seems to be the problem, what you are seeing was a huge bug that I reported in beta 8-9 timeframe. It looks like M1 Macs are shipping with a build around Beta 10. The issue was fixed in RC1 or RC2.

For anyone else let me know if you have any questions.

How to Reinstall macOS on your Apple Silicon M1 Mac. Everything you Need to Know

macOS recovery and reinstall has changed on Apple Silicon. I will show you everything you need to know about all the changes! + MORE!

mrmacintosh.com

I’d already updated to 11.0.1 and still ran into this problem. Apple is now well aware of it but, to the best of my knowledge has not created a fix. Which I assume (or hope) will come shortly in the form of 11.0.2. Should never have tried a clean reinstall, but that’s hindsight.

 

[Nateskaate]

I've discovered a fix for those without a second Mac (or those that want to avoid the hassle of using DFU mode on 11.0)!

A senior phone advisor had arranged an exchange at my local Apple Store (their suggestion!), and before leaving I initiated an erase on iCloud.com (but didn't remove the device from my account) – the machine rebooted and presented the language selection screen.

After selecting a language, it continued into recovery mode, where I tried reinstalling one last time, and it completed successfully!

What state was your M1 computer in when you initiated the iCloud erase?

I followed these instructions, but it says "Erase Pending" and it states that my MacBook is offline. I'm in the recovery menu on the M1 MBA and I'm connected to WiFi. Not sure why it won't initiate the erase.

 

[NBAasDOGG]

I've discovered a fix for those without a second Mac (or those that want to avoid the hassle of using DFU mode on 11.0)!

A senior phone advisor had arranged an exchange at my local Apple Store (their suggestion!), and before leaving I initiated an erase on iCloud.com (but didn't remove the device from my account) – the machine rebooted and presented the language selection screen.

After selecting a language, it continued into recovery mode, where I tried reinstalling one last time, and it completed successfully!

Does this also work after erasing the drives on the disc utility screen (in recovery mode)?

 

[NBAasDOGG]

rezneq's fix worked for my MacBook Air too!

It came just in time -- it was almost done with the FedEx guy rang the doorbell to pick it up for return.

Should we ever meet in the After Times, rezneq -- the beverages are on me!

Does this also work after erasing the drives on the disc utility screen? (in recovery mode)

 

[NBAasDOGG]

rezneq's fix worked for my MacBook Air too!

It came just in time -- it was almost done with the FedEx guy rang the doorbell to pick it up for return.

Should we ever meet in the After Times, rezneq -- the beverages are on me!

did you also erase alle drives?

 

[reznq]

did you also erase alle drive

Does this also work after erasing the drives on the disc utility screen? (in recovery mode)

Yes, using the disk utility in recovery mode to erase drives is what causes the problem that we’re discussing here.

 

[reznq]

What state was your M1 computer in when you initiated the iCloud erase?

I followed these instructions, but it says "Erase Pending" and it states that my MacBook is offline. I'm in the recovery menu on the M1 MBA and I'm connected to WiFi. Not sure why it won't initiate the erase.

I was also in the recovery menu, possibly at the activation lock email address prompt, and had turned the device on just a few minutes earlier.

 

[myrtlebee]

Hello everybody,

I've faced the same issues to get into the DFU Mode but I've realized that it is actually really simple, it was just not fully explained until now and most part of us missed a detail:

Process (MBA):
1) Power-off and wait 10 secs.
2) Hold down the power-on as explained until you get to the menu with 2 icons, "options" and your hard drive
3) Here is the catch -> On this menu you have to release actually the Power-On button!!!
4) Once there press and hold again the Power-On for 1 sec.
5) Just after the second, mantaining the power-on hold, press and hold Left control Left option Right shift
6) The computer will reboot, mantain the keys for arround 10 seconds
7) Release Left control Left option Right shift
8) Release the power-on

Once you get it, it works always without any difficulty.

BR

This is my problem - I never get 2 icons, only the "Options" gear and a spinning gray circle under it. I never get a Hard Drive icon - is this because I already erased my Hard Drive? Also, when I try to do the sequence, I keep getting an Apple logo with "continue holding for startup options" text under it. Guess I'm just screwed...

 

[reznq]

This is my problem - I never get 2 icons, only the "Options" gear and a spinning gray circle under it. I never get a Hard Drive icon - is this because I already erased my Hard Drive? Also, when I try to do the sequence, I keep getting an Apple logo with "continue holding for startup options" text under it. Guess I'm just screwed...

That’s the same issue that everyone else was experiencing. Were you able to try the fix that I shared?

 

[myrtlebee]

That’s the same issue that everyone else was experiencing. Were you able to try the fix that I shared?

I was able to get it to work after I was already on the screen with the Settings icon and the spinning gray circle. If that’s the solution you mention then yes! I did read that and tried it but it didn’t work the first few times. I left the room and came back and did it again and it worked. Thankfully. It really made me panic!

 

[reznq]

I was able to get it to work after I was already on the screen with the Settings icon and the spinning gray circle. If that’s the solution you mention then yes! I did read that and tried it but it didn’t work the first few times. I left the room and came back and did it again and it worked. Thankfully. It really made me panic!

Oh, OK, no, it sounds like you used a second Mac to revive/repair. Alternatively, users experiencing this issue can simply erase their Mac remotely from iCloud.com. Erasing it from iCloud.com also fixes the issue.

 

[myrtlebee]

Oh, OK, no, it sounds like you used a second Mac to revive/repair. Alternatively, users experiencing this issue can simply erase their Mac remotely from iCloud.com. Erasing it from iCloud.com also fixes the issue.

I couldn’t. I never set up iCloud on it.

 

[testing1236]

I couldn’t. I never set up iCloud on it.

Nvm

 

[SuperMikey]

Hi,
Does anyone know if this problem is/will ever be solved?
I'd really like to return my M1 to factory setting/out of the box state prior to a return, but this is all making me very nervous (I'm not super tech!).

I was going to follow the procedure here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208496
Would this be a 'really bad idea'? Are there any alternatives?

Thanks.

 

[testing1236]

Hi,
Does anyone know if this problem is/will ever be solved?
I'd really like to return my M1 to factory setting/out of the box state prior to a return, but this is all making me very nervous (I'm not super tech!).

I was going to follow the procedure here: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208496
Would this be a 'really bad idea'? Are there any alternatives?

Thanks.

try this below

I've discovered a fix for those without a second Mac (or those that want to avoid the hassle of using DFU mode on 11.0)!

A senior phone advisor had arranged an exchange at my local Apple Store (their suggestion!), and before leaving I initiated an erase on iCloud.com (but didn't remove the device from my account) – the machine rebooted and presented the language selection screen.

After selecting a language, it continued into recovery mode, where I tried reinstalling one last time, and it completed successfully!

 

[Voxlay]

Hello, I'm also stuck with this problem I tried all of the solutions I could, even the iCloud one, it didn't worked because I disconnected my iCloud account from my macbook before trying to restore it to factory. I hope there will be a solution before I return my macbook

 

[NBAasDOGG]

Hello, I'm also stuck with this problem I tried all of the solutions I could, even the iCloud one, it didn't worked because I disconnected my iCloud account from my macbook before trying to restore it to factory. I hope there will be a solution before I return my macbook

Step 1: plug your Mac to the charger and enter recovery mode
Step 2: click on "erase Mac" (somewhere top left in the menu)
Step 3: shut down Mac and start again and enter recovery mode (now your Mac will allow you to select language - YOU SHOUL SEE THIS)
Step 4: connect to WiFi and enter Disk utility.
Step 5: delete "Container Disk1" (located under "APPLE SSD bla bla bla") and name it to "Macintosh HD" (it will ask you to change the name during the deleting proces). So the drive should not be called "Untitled".
Step 6: reinstall Big Sur

 

[Accessibility]

Here's the latest from Apple...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211983

 

[PsykX]

This bug is driving me crazy, I've spent all afternoon with it, to no avail.
I made sure we upgraded on Big Sur 11.0.1 before doing the recovery part. AFAIK the bug is still present in this version.

 

[athletejmv]

Same issue :-/

 

[mcscot]

Just to confirm, I had upgraded to 11.0.1 *before* this issue occurred.

 

[Voxlay]

Here's the latest from Apple...

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211983

Yes I tried this yesterday and it worked ! Thank you so much ?

 

[adderthorn]

Just to confirm, I had upgraded to 11.0.1 *before* this issue occurred.

Same here. I was on the phone with Apple for over an hour before I found this thread and the rep was just as clueless as I was.