Bricked Mac Mini?

[KNGPaul]

I have a 2018 Mac Mini in which I was trying to install Linux to the internal drive, I have my main mac volume running off an internal disk.

After attempting to install linux to the internal disc I am no longer able to boot into either linux or my external mac boot volume.

I believe the issue is that I inadvertently deleted all of the internal volumes from the drive (thus deleting the recovery partition).

I have a USB for catalina to reinstall with, but none of the keyboard short cuts are allowing me to boot from the USB to re-install.

Have I bricked the machine, is there a way to recover.

 

[r6mile]

I have a 2018 Mac Mini in which I was trying to install Linux to the internal drive, I have my main mac volume running off an internal disk.

After attempting to install linux to the internal disc I am no longer able to boot into either linux or my external mac boot volume.

I believe the issue is that I inadvertently deleted all of the internal volumes from the drive (thus deleting the recovery partition).

I have a USB for catalina to reinstall with, but none of the keyboard short cuts are allowing me to boot from the USB to re-install.

Have I bricked the machine, is there a way to recover.

Have you tried Internet Recovery? Press Option-Command-R at boot, using a wired keyboard.

 

[KNGPaul]

I've tried that, I've got a magic keyboard, but have it plugged in.

 

[KNGPaul]

Regardless of which keyboard shortcut I'm trying I'm getting the following screen.

 

[KNGPaul]

Not sure if I was getting the timing wrong somehow, but after half a dozen more attempts I finally got recovery mode running and am now reinstalling Catalina.

 

[opeter]

You need to hold the keyboard buttons for more than a second... than it should work.

 

[Fishrrman]

I would not be fooling with Linux on that one again...

 

[IowaLynn]

I have a 2018 Mac Mini in which I was trying to install Linux to the internal drive, I have my main mac volume running off an internal disk.

After attempting to install linux to the internal disc I am no longer able to boot into either linux or my external mac boot volume.

I believe the issue is that I inadvertently deleted all of the internal volumes from the drive (thus deleting the recovery partition).

I have a USB for catalina to reinstall with, but none of the keyboard short cuts are allowing me to boot from the USB to re-install.

Have I bricked the machine, is there a way to recover.

There is a Linux forum area:

Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac

Boot Camp and Windows discussion

forums.macrumors.com

To create a bootable MacOS installer

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system. These steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced users who are familiar with entering commands in Terminal.

support.apple.com

How to start up from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

macOS Recovery is your computer’s built-in recovery system, with utilities to reinstall macOS, repair or erase your startup disk, restore from a Time Machine backup, and more.

support.apple.com

 

[IowaLynn]

The Windows Linux forum seems - not very active currently

To create a bootable MacOS installer

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system. These steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced users who are familiar with entering commands in Terminal.

support.apple.com

How to start up from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

macOS Recovery is your computer’s built-in recovery system, with utilities to reinstall macOS, repair or erase your startup disk, restore from a Time Machine backup, and more.

support.apple.com