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Afraid to "factory reset" MacBook 13 2018

hsgamerpl

hsgamerpl

Cancelled
Original poster
Aug 13, 2018
21
2
Warsaw, Poland
Hello,

I would like to "factory reset" my new MacBook Pro 13 2018 (what I mean is, CMD+R, delete partitions, reinstall from the internet) but I am afraid since I've heard there might some problems /boot loops / no reaction at all after deleting the partitions from recovery mode in 2018 Macbooks. Is it safe to do?
I've already installed all patches for Macbook 2018.

BR, Kamil.
 
Why do you want to factory reset the laptop? There really is no need and you're right, there is a risk. I don't see any benefit and the prospect of bricking the computer is high enough for me to avoid.
 
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maflynn said:
Why do you want to factory reset the laptop? There really is no need and you're right, there is a risk. I don't see any benefit and the prospect of bricking the computer is high enough for me to avoid.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry I just find it absolutely ridiculous that there is such a high risk of bricking such an expensive, new machine that we need to avoid doing a factory reset.
 
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CheesePuff said:
I'm sorry I just find it absolutely ridiculous that there is such a high risk of bricking such an expensive, new machine that we need to avoid doing a factory reset.
Click to expand...
The “bricking rate” you refer to came about less than a few days after it was released and macOS via internet recovery wasn’t updated to for the new machines. Look at the post I quoted above. It is working as it should now.

@m-e wiped his machine entirely and re-installed via internet recovery without changing a single setting for the T2 chip and it installed fine.
 
I did an internet restore on mine yesterday and had no problems at all.
 
chrfr said:
I did an internet restore on mine yesterday and had no problems at all.
Click to expand...

Did you do it over WiFi? I’m trying to do an install over internet recovery and I can’t. It keeps timing out and giving me error -2002F which the web tells me is something wrong with my internet speeds which is incorrect because I’m balls to the wall on every other system I use.
 
537635 said:
Did that a couple of days ago. Everything OK. Macbook Pro 15 2018.

I always do a factory reset to get rid of preinstalled software... Garageband, iMovie, Numbers.
Click to expand...

Any secrets you can divulge to get it to work? I keep getting -2002F error.
 
csurfr said:
The “bricking rate” you refer to came about less than a few days after it was released and macOS via internet recovery wasn’t updated to for the new machines. Look at the post I quoted above. It is working as it should now.

@m-e wiped his machine entirely and re-installed via internet recovery without changing a single setting for the T2 chip and it installed fine.
Click to expand...


Intersting thanks a lot for sharing. So, does this mean the entire disk can be wiped via Disk Utility and restored from the net? - I assume the T2 etc and secure boot works correctly afterwards?
 
537635 said:
CMD+R, Disk Utility, erase macos partition, leave recovery in place, reinstall macos. Didn't have any troubles whatsoever.
Click to expand...

Pretty much this. The only reason you really need to use internet recovery is if you currently have Mojave installed.
 
Just my home as that’s where I currently am. You think I’d have better luck at a coffee shop? That’s the only internet access I can manage today unfortunately.
 
csurfr said:
Pretty much this. The only reason you really need to use internet recovery is if you currently have Mojave installed.
Click to expand...

Well I wiped the drive and rebooted. Expected my usb drive to work but since it is for an up to date 2017 MBP it doesn’t boot into it. It will just go right to internet recovery and then internet recovery just times out.
 
Qaulity said:
Just my home as that’s where I currently am. You think I’d have better luck at a coffee shop? That’s the only internet access I can manage today unfortunately.
Click to expand...
Trying a different wifi network would help determine if the issue was specifically your computer or if there was something wonky with internet recovery and your wifi.

Any way to config your wifi to have a guest SSID with no password? Just a thought.

As for booting a USB drive image from a 2017, I'm pretty sure that's specifically disallowed by the T2, and more importantly the 2017 wouldn't have the macOS build specific to the 2018.
 
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Qaulity said:
Well I wiped the drive and rebooted. Expected my usb drive to work but since it is for an up to date 2017 MBP it doesn’t boot into it. It will just go right to internet recovery and then internet recovery just times out.
Click to expand...
The 2018 MBPs use a specific build of 10.13.6 so a pre-existing boot drive won't work with them unless you've built it with the proper version.
 
chrfr said:
The 2018 MBPs use a specific build of 10.13.6 so a pre-existing boot drive won't work with them unless you've built it with the proper version.
Click to expand...
It also will not boot to an external drive unless you have changed the settings in recovery mode. By default that is turned off.
 
Okay, I see that there is a huge discussion since yesterday - but I can confirm - done reinstallation via internet yesterday with no issues. As someone stated - I do it always after first boot and patching system to get rid of not needed preinstalled software.

Thanks for the replies,
 
It's just... is there any specific thing that you CAN do and cause problems. Obviously normal erase&rewind isn't a problem.

Like erasing recovery or something?
 
CheesePuff said:
I'm sorry I just find it absolutely ridiculous that there is such a high risk of bricking such an expensive, new machine that we need to avoid doing a factory reset.
Click to expand...
I'm not disagreeing but people have reported and continue to report issues with a factory reset, somehow it may be related to the T2 chip.

hsgamerpl said:
to get rid of not needed preinstalled software.
Click to expand...
Other then GarageBand, iWork, there is no preinstalled software and removing those apps is incredibly easy.
 
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