Macintosh HD not showing up in Internet Recovery Mode

[samcema]

Hi guys,

I have a 13 inch mid 2014 rmbp. Today morning suddenly it went to internet recovery mode all of a sudden. Now during OS installation in internet recovery it is not showing Macintosh HD. In disk utility also, it is not showing any Apple SSD instead showing osx base system only (attached pic). The laptop didn't undergo any physical damage all of a sudden it went into recovery mode while in sleep. Any idea how to resolve this? Is the drive dead or may be the drive has become loose, because previously that it was working perfectly.

 

[Fishrrman]

Could the internal drive have failed?
And thus, prompting the laptop to boot to internet recovery?

Is there any particular reason you need to use Yosemite?
I would recommend either OS 10.11 (El Capitan) or OS 10.12 (Low Sierra).

In any case...
You need a way to get booted "to the finder".
Do you have an EXTERNAL drive around that you can use?

It can be a USB external hard drive, or it could even be a USB flashdrive 32gb or larger.

What to do:
- Get booted to internet recovery
- Connect the USB drive
- Open Disk Utility and erase it to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format
- Quit Disk Utility and open the OS installer
- Start "clicking through", but when the installer asks you WHERE to install, "aim it" at the USB external drive.
- Let the install go through
- When done, you should be booted from the USB drive and then you'll see the initial setup screen (choose your language).
- Click through and set up a very basic account. I would not bother with iCloud, the App Store, email, or anything else. The goal is to have an external drive that is bootable to the finder.

OK... do this so you can GET TO the finder.
Once you're there, can you see the internal drive on the desktop?

 

[ApfelKuchen]

If Terminal and Disk Utility can't find the internal drive, Finder certainly won't find it. Booting to an external drive will get the Mac back working again, but since the physical drive can't be found, this is more than just a corrupted disk where the physical drive is present but the system can't find a working OS to boot from.

Overall, this means that the system cannot locate the internal HD. The reason for that would be purely guesswork at this point. The Mac requires service.

 

[samcema]

Could the internal drive have failed?
And thus, prompting the laptop to boot to internet recovery?

Is there any particular reason you need to use Yosemite?
I would recommend either OS 10.11 (El Capitan) or OS 10.12 (Low Sierra).

In any case...
You need a way to get booted "to the finder".
Do you have an EXTERNAL drive around that you can use?

It can be a USB external hard drive, or it could even be a USB flashdrive 32gb or larger.

What to do:
- Get booted to internet recovery
- Connect the USB drive
- Open Disk Utility and erase it to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format
- Quit Disk Utility and open the OS installer
- Start "clicking through", but when the installer asks you WHERE to install, "aim it" at the USB external drive.
- Let the install go through
- When done, you should be booted from the USB drive and then you'll see the initial setup screen (choose your language).
- Click through and set up a very basic account. I would not bother with iCloud, the App Store, email, or anything else. The goal is to have an external drive that is bootable to the finder.

OK... do this so you can GET TO the finder.
Once you're there, can you see the internal drive on the desktop?

Actually by default it is taking the OS which comes pre-installed. Which is in my case Yosemite.
[automerge]1594258576[/automerge]

If Terminal and Disk Utility can't find the internal drive, Finder certainly won't find it. Booting to an external drive will get the Mac back working again, but since the physical drive can't be found, this is more than just a corrupted disk where the physical drive is present but the system can't find a working OS to boot from.

Overall, this means that the system cannot locate the internal HD. The reason for that would be purely guesswork at this point. The Mac requires service.

Yes I also think also. But was quite surprised that just before this it was working absolutely fine like a charm. And I kept it at sleep. From sleep when I went to wake up I saw this. Do youb think Is there any chance that this could be a motherboard problem? Or the just I have to replace the ssd. Thanks for the help.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Actually by default it is taking the OS which comes pre-installed. Which is in my case Yosemite.
[automerge]1594258576[/automerge]

Yes I also think also. But was quite surprised that just before this it was working absolutely fine like a charm. And I kept it at sleep. From sleep when I went to wake up I saw this. Do youb think Is there any chance that this could be a motherboard problem? Or the just I have to replace the ssd. Thanks for the help.

The SSD on this model is socket-mounted to the main logic board. It may be as simple as disconnecting/reconnecting the SSD module, or it could be an SSD failure or a main logic board failure. Again, I'm not going to speculate.

Before you start buying parts on speculation (or even open the case), run Apple Diagnostics https://support.apple.com/HT202731

Since your SSD is not being detected you'll probably have to follow the instructions towards the bottom of the article to press Option-D at startup to load Apple Diagnostics via the Internet.

If I was going to try to repair this myself, the first thing I'd do is disconnect/reconnect the SSD module, following all anti-static protocols, of course. A stray static electricity discharge has the potential (pun intended) to do even greater damage, and connectors are always a prime suspect.

 

[samcema]

The SSD on this model is socket-mounted to the main logic board. It may be as simple as disconnecting/reconnecting the SSD module, or it could be an SSD failure or a main logic board failure. Again, I'm not going to speculate.

Before you start buying parts on speculation (or even open the case), run Apple Diagnostics https://support.apple.com/HT202731

Since your SSD is not being detected you'll probably have to follow the instructions towards the bottom of the article to press Option-D at startup to load Apple Diagnostics via the Internet.

If I was going to try to repair this myself, the first thing I'd do is disconnect/reconnect the SSD module, following all anti-static protocols, of course. A stray static electricity discharge has the potential (pun intended) to do even greater damage, and connectors are always a prime suspect.

Thanks a lot. I have submitted the machine to the repair center. Let's see what they say.

 

[Lushen singh]

Actually by default it is taking the OS which comes pre-installed. Which is in my case Yosemite.
[automerge]1594258576[/automerge]

Yes I also think also. But was quite surprised that just before this it was working absolutely fine like a charm. And I kept it at sleep. From sleep when I went to wake up I saw this. Do youb think Is there any chance that this could be a motherboard problem? Or the just I have to replace the ssd. Thanks for the help.

The SSD on this model is socket-mounted to the main logic board. It may be as simple as disconnecting/reconnecting the SSD module, or it could be an SSD failure or a main logic board failure. Again, I'm not going to speculate.

Before you start buying parts on speculation (or even open the case), run Apple Diagnostics https://support.apple.com/HT202731

Since your SSD is not being detected you'll probably have to follow the instructions towards the bottom of the article to press Option-D at startup to load Apple Diagnostics via the Internet.

If I was going to try to repair this myself, the first thing I'd do is disconnect/reconnect the SSD module, following all anti-static protocols, of course. A stray static electricity discharge has the potential (pun intended) to do even greater damage, and connectors are always a prime suspect.

 

[miusha]

Hi guys,

I have a 13 inch mid 2014 rmbp. Today morning suddenly it went to internet recovery mode all of a sudden. Now during OS installation in internet recovery it is not showing Macintosh HD. In disk utility also, it is not showing any Apple SSD instead showing osx base system only (attached pic). The laptop didn't undergo any physical damage all of a sudden it went into recovery mode while in sleep. Any idea how to resolve this? Is the drive dead or may be the drive has become loose, because previously that it was working perfectly.

Hey Samcema. I have the same problem you had. Did you solve it? I see you took your Mac at the repair center. What was the issue and is there any way we can solve it easier? I'd like to be able to keep the data. I have a backup but one document I worked on the day my mac had the same problem as you, I didn't have the time to back it up. I'm hoping to get back to the place I was and not have to redo the document. Thank you for your answer.