Problems with partition map...can't boot or restore

[Angle Loss]

Macbook Pro, late 2013, 15 inch, 2.4, 16GB Ram, 10.11.6.

Today I went through the steps of trying to create a Bootcamp partition and install Windows 10. It wouldn't install correctly and in frustration I put the Windows 10 usb and tried to install from that. Wasn't thinking and it has caused my computer to not be able to boot regularly, or in safe mode. I can get into Recovery mode. Somewhere in that process it said in the Windows Setup, "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration. Installation cannot proceed."

I removed the partition in Recovery mode. My "Macintosh HD" is showing problems when I Verify Disk.

"Problems were found with the partition map which might prevent booting." "Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk." Did that, but it still has problems. "The partition map needs to be repaired because there's a problem with the EFI system partition's file system."

I've tried the other recovery options like restoring from Time Capsule, reinstalling OSX, but nothing works. I'd rather not lose my data/setup if possible because this is my work computer. It is backed up from a month ago, but it will take a lot of time to restore. However, if this is not possible, I still need to get it running, but could really use your help. Many thanks.

 

[JohnDS]

You need to clone your computer to an external drive, then reformat the internal.

To do that get an external USB drive at least as big as the contents of your internal. (Preferably get a USB3 external). Connect it to your Mac. Boot into recovery mode and format the external as Apple Extended Format (Journalled). Click on the Partition Tab in Disk Utility and make sure the external drive is using the GUID partition map. If not, then click on the Options button and change the partition map to GUID.

Then use the Recover tab to recover your existing internal partition to the external drive.

Once that is done, make sure it works. Boot while holding down the option key and select the external drive when the boot picker comes up. Your Mac should then boot to the external drive (but it will be slower than booting from the internal).

Once you are booted from the external, choose disk utility and erase and reformat the internal, again as Apple Extended Format (Journalled).

Then go to the App store and download El Capitan and install it on the internal. When it is installed, the computer should reboot to the internal and ask if you have anything you want copied from another source. Choose the external and it should copy back all your settings, apps and data.

 

[Angle Loss]

Thanks so much for your response. Since I have a Time Machine backup, is it possible to reformat my MBP drive and restore from that instead of a cloned drive?

Also, when I tried reinstalling the OS by Recovery, I wasn't able to. Could I reinstall from a USB recovery w/ OSX instead?

 

[JohnDS]

Is the time machine backup on a USB drive or a Time Capsule?

 

[Angle Loss]

Apple Time Capsule.

 

[JohnDS]

I don't think you can boot from the Time Capsule, so you need something else to boot from, like a bootable thumb drive or a bootable external USB drive. Once you are booted from an external source, you can reformat the internal and restore from the Time Capsue.

Make sure you are connected to the Time Capsule by ethernet as restoring will be very slow over wifi.

 

[Weaselboy]

Apple Time Capsule.

Try this...

Hold command-option-r at boot to boot to Internet recovery. Once you select your wifi you will see a spinning globe while the recovery tool downloads. Once that is done you will see the recovery screen like this. Start Disk Utility and go to the erase tab. In the left column select the drive itself at the very top of the list and then format the drive to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Now quit Disk Utility then select the restore option at the top of the screen and point to the Time Capsule as the source for the restore. If you have a lot of data, this will take a long time.

 

[Angle Loss]

Thanks again guys for the help. I used a usb w/ 10.6.11 installer, and am now restoring content from the time machine. I'll post an update in about a day (says 22 hours left). Then I'll have to try installing bootcamp/windows again. Hopefully all of this took care of whatever problem I was having with that.

 

[Angle Loss]

So I've gotten things loaded back on my Mac and I was moving to try to install Windows through bootcamp. My drive was still partitioned but I have a problem. In disk utility:

It shows APPLE SSD (etc.)
-Macintosh HD (467GB capacity)
-Untitled (41.9GB capacity...my original partition for bootcamp)

When I select APPLE SSD, go to Partition tab with the pie chart, it shows 3 partitions. The two above and one of 16.8MB. When I select either of the smaller two to try to merge back to my Mac HD, then hit the "-" and then "apply" it reads,
"Couldn't read partition map. Operation failed...".

I tried this both from Disk Utility in OSX and by the Disk Utility from my bootable usb drive. How do I fix the partition problem so I can start over in trying to load Windows 10 into Bootcamp?

 

[grahamperrin]

Generally: for attention to GPT I most often lean towards gdisk(8). It's amongst the utilities that can be run from the command line with GParted Live (without actually running GParted).

Whether such things should be avoided where Boot Camp is in the mix, I don't know.

 

[JohnDS]

I think what you needed to do was to reformat the drive as one partition before you did the restore.

 

[Angle Loss]

I went into Internet Recovery and was able to erase and merge the two smaller sections to the Mac HD showing a full 499GB. I did Verify Disk and Repair Disk (several times) and it showed these in red in the report:

Invalid B-tree node size
The volume could not be verified completely

Updating Windows boot.ini files as required
Problems were encountered during repair of the partition map
Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk

Popup after completing Repair Disk: "Alert This disk needs to be repaired. Click Repair Disk"

Repair Disk didn't do anything twice.

Restarting now just brings a black screen with a folder that has a question mark on it.
Option+Power Button only allows Internet Recovery.

****was just typing this post, John DS and saw your reply. Should I start over? Do i do it from Internet Recovery? Will I have reload the almost 30 hours of data from Time Machine again? Thanks for taking the time to help me.

 

[JohnDS]

Just erase the whole disk from the USB installer and make it one partition, Apple Extended Format Journalled, and make sure the partition map (in the partition tab) is GUID. Then install the OS from the USB installer and recover from the Time Capsule. Were you connected to the Time Capsule by Ethernet? That would go much faster than wifi.

Personally, my preference is to using something like Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper to clone the Mac partition to an external USB drive, then boot from the external USB drive, reformat the internal and clone back. It is a lot simpler as either of those two utilities let you clone the drive you are booted from.

 

[Angle Loss]

I'll try erasing from the bootable usb. I just erased Macintosh HD from Internet Recovery, but it says it still needs to be repaired.

Disk Utility looks like this:

Macintosh HD (this shows 499.39 GB used, 27.4MB available...does this make sense? running first aid shows the errors on this drive.
Macintosh HD (erased this drive)

Do I have problems with my harddrive?
[doublepost=1472075969][/doublepost]Also, I'll grab an ethernet to thunderbolt adaptor for when I am able to restore instead of using WiFi.

 

[JohnDS]

Not sure. Try erasing from the bootable USB and see if the works. If it doesn't, you may be having problems with either the drive or the SATA cable.

 

[Angle Loss]

I erased the top level drive (APPLE SDD...) from the usb. It now shows 499.49 available. First Aid reports no problems. Moving to reinstall OSX.

I have found this confusing as to which Disk Utility (internet, bootable usb) does what!

 

[JohnDS]

By the way, you can get an external 1 TB USB3 drive for about $60. A Thunderbolt to ethernet adapter is $35, so it is not all that much more expense to go the external drive, clone back and forth route. (Although you would still have to buy SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner.)
[doublepost=1472076596][/doublepost]Afterwards, you can hang the USB drive off the USB port of the Time Capsule and use it for network storage.

 

[Angle Loss]

I've installed OSX (haven't restored data from Time Machine yet). I with through the official process of installing bootcamp and windows 10 from usb, but I am still having the same result. It goes all the way through installation then gives me this, "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration. Installation cannot proceed."

What does this mean and how can I fix it?

 

[JohnDS]

There is a long discussion of this problem here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5474614?start=0&tstart=0
[doublepost=1472137439][/doublepost]Also: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7221801?start=0&tstart=0

and

https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204990

 

[grahamperrin]

Do I have problems with my harddrive?

For testing I most often use HDAT2, it's in the Ultimate Boot CD collection.

If you prefer an Apple utility, and if you're comfortable at the command line, you can start Recovery OS and then use the -s option of fsck_hfs(8). The manual page describes a scan of the entire device but I imagine that it's limited to scanning an entire (HFS Plus) volume.

 

[Angle Loss]

Had a really busy day, but wanted to give an update. I was finally successful in loading Windows 10 after I did a nvram reset. After that I reloaded everything from my time machine. Everything is working right after the total wipe and nvram reset.

I really (!!!) appreciated all the help JohnDS and grahamperrin. Thank you so much for helping me out. This is my personal computer, but it also doubles as my work computer. Getting this sorted out quickly was a blessing to me. Thanks again!