Can't Create Mac OS Extended Partition (APFS reinstall issue)

[galaxy7]

So I'm trying to restore from scratch (start from new) my old iMac circa 2009 which was currently on High Sierra at the time of this refresh. I've erased the disk and everything and attempted to reinstall macOS to make it new. Every time I do, I get the "Could not create a preboot volume for APFS". My drive is stuck on APFS format, and when I erase it, APFS options are the only options. So, I keep trying to create a partition with the format Mac OS Extended. But every time I try this, it fails. It will not let me create a partition with this format to attempt the install again.

I also cannot get internet recovery mode to work; unless it takes a stupid long time and I got tired of holding the buttons too soon. How long does that take?

I have not tried to boot up from an external drive yet. Don't have one readily available I can use. Any other bright ideas?

 

[DeltaMac]

I suspect that you erased the volume, and not the device.

So ---
Format your drive as you like:
Boot to your High Sierra installer. Open Disk Utility. Go to the View menu, and choose "Show all Devices"
Now click on the device at the top of the list, which should be your internal drive (showing the manufacturer part number for the drive, not the name that you might have assigned to the partition) Erase should now show you other options for Format, such as the Mac OS extended that you might prefer....

 

[galaxy7]

I suspect that you erased the volume, and not the device.

So ---
Format your drive as you like:
Boot to your High Sierra installer. Open Disk Utility. Go to the View menu, and choose "Show all Devices"
Now click on the device at the top of the list, which should be your internal drive (showing the manufacturer part number for the drive, not the name that you might have assigned to the partition) Erase should now show you other options for Format, such as the Mac OS extended that you might prefer....

Aaahhhh, I see that. Thank you! I went to that top device, but I can't do anything with it.

- If I try to erase or rename that very top item, process fails.
- There's another item under that labeled Container Disk 1. Anything I try to do with this (partition to create Mac OS extended, etc) also fails
- I can create (add) a new drive but it limits me to one of the APFS formats that's obviously causing the problem (according to articles)
- Now no matter what I do, when I get to the point of installing OS, once I get to the screen that wants me to select the disk for install, there are no options present.
- The only way I can get a disk option to show up for the install is to add one that's in the APFS format, which isn't goign to work.
- I followed the instructions to create a drive to boot from, but when I try to download HighSierra from the App store on a different computer, now it's telling me that this version of macOS is not available.

 

[DeltaMac]

I saw in your first post that you couldn't get Internet Recovery to work. That's because Internet Recovery was not available until 2011 models, and some 2010 Macs got access to that with a firmware update. 2009 iMac is too old for Internet Recovery - it can't work.
You have to be using a Mac that can boot from High Sierra to download High Sierra from the App store.
Going back to the Disk Utility - try deleting the volume. If you see more than one volume in the container, delete each, one at a time. Then, try removing the container. If you can do that, try erasing the device this time.

One question: Do you have an SSD installed in that 2009 iMac - or still using a hard drive? (an older spinning hard drive may not be a good "fit" for APFS, and can give you problems when using that format.

What OS X installer version are you using to try to get a system installed (assuming you don't have a bootable installer for High Sierra?)

What Mac system is on that OTHER Mac that you can use? There's other good methods to get the High Sierra installer app.

 

[Fishrrman]

Internet recovery DOES NOT WORK on a 2009 iMac.
Not possible.
Forget that.

The iMac won't boot now at all?
Do you have another Mac?

You need either a bootable USB flash drive installer
or
... an external drive that is bootable to the finder.
or
A DVD with the proper installer for that iMac.

To make the flash drive or external drive... you need another Mac.
If you don't have one... well... you're in trouble.

A possible solution:
Go on ebay.
There are sellers there who will sell you a USB flashdrive with a bootable copy of the installer of your choice.
The cost is about $20.

 

[galaxy7]

Thanks for all the help guys. I gave up. I have a local Intellimac shop and those guys are great. Took it up there and he got it running back to brand new on HighSierra in no time. Gave him $50 and went home happy.