Reinstall / Erase m1 mac is now even worse with Big Sur 11.2

[kave]

I have a MacBook Air m1 that arrived with an uneven underside (second m1 with this issue this month) which makes it "wobble" on a flat surface. I am trying to erase and reinstall Mac OS before returning it but all trials fail. In the past with 11.1 my go to solution was to boot from a USB installer, but this just fails now after 10 minutes in with permission denied.
I have done the resetpasswd trick in Terminal to be able to erase it etc but no luck.
I can't believe what was once a fairly straight process on PowerPC and Intel is now extremely tedious.

 

[xylitol]

Is a clean install now straightforward with M1 on 11.2?

Is a clean install now straightforward with M1 on 11.2? I know there were issues, just wondering if anyone did a clean install of 11.2, if its now working easily? I'd like to install two copies of macOS, not sure if possible?

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Fishrrman]

As xylitol points out, "completely clean installs" aren't what they used to be with the new m1 chips.
As in... almost impossible.
I suspect it's gonna be this way from now on with the Mac OS.
In fact, I predict it's going to get even worse with subsequent releases of the "new" OS versions.

OP:
I suggest you forget about the "clean install", and if you're going to return it... just take it back...

 

[harleymhs]

I just returned a M1 Air 256 for the 512 ssd, re installed OS no issues fast as well. Very different from the Intel.. But it went easy.. Just hold down the power button until you get the menu, choose options, go to the top erase Mac and install Big Sur.. No errors at all... The lst M1 I returned got bricked when I tried it with out using the correct procedure. I tried to erase the SSD and it unmounted and never mounted again!

 

[giffut]

If Recovery Mode doesn´t work, there is still the option for a complete reinitialisation. It works like with iPhones and iPads, putting them into DFU mode and then reflashing the firmware, including a freshly installed operating system.

When you have another Mac available running Big Sur you can do this. I already did it with two macbook Airs. It is not as straightforward as I wished, but it works as a last option.

Unfortunately I think needing another Mac available is now a must in case of system failure, regarding M1 based computers and their heirs.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I just did a clean install of 11.2.2 using Configurator 2 and it was so much quicker (took about 15 minutes) than using the regular method, and I didn't have to worry about something going wrong with wiping the drive as has happened a few times before, even though I followed the same process as 11.2. I was able to get the M1 Mac in DFU mode the first try. I mention this to say if you happen to have 2 Macs, give that method a try next time.