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How to wipe 2018 without bricking it.. pls help
- Thread starter sk8r1230
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NBAasDOGG
Suspended
Startup with Command + R, delete Macintosh HD and return to previous page, and click on reinstall MacOS.
You have to be connected to WiFi to download the MacOS file during the installation proces.
You have to be connected to WiFi to download the MacOS file during the installation proces.
You can't brick it by just manipulating disk data. Even if you delete everything, you can enter a special recovery mode that will download macOS from the internet and install it.
Some useful shortcuts:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904
Some useful shortcuts:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904
If you can read, you can do it.
It's just a matter of hitting cmd-r on startup and following onscreen instructions.
Why would you reboot after wiping in internet recovery, you can just reinstall from there. Anyways that’s the error you get for unable to connect, try another WiFi network. If no other WiFi, do you have access to another Mac? Use that Mac to make a High Sierra USB install key and boot off it. Google it. Also your Mac is not bricked, dunk it in water if you want to brick it.
BLUEDOG314
macrumors 6502
Clear the NVRAM (CMD+Option+P+R), then boot holding CMD+Option+R. I experienced once doing this at home that my strictly ac mode wifi with 80Mhz wide bands in 5Ghz was preventing me from joining in recovery. Not sure why, it just was. So to eliminate potential snags, try temporarily removing your wifi password and set the wifi to mixed mode.
If you want to make sure your old data on the disk complete non-recoverable by someone else, you may run the disk test util for a period of time to write over those old data left on your SSD after reinstalling MacOS.
happyslayer
macrumors 65816
Others on this forum and online have said using Command-Option-R is the better choice, not just Command-R. It will actually go out to the Apple servers and download the current latest build. Hopefully you get it to work. Good luck!
Nope totally bricked. Not my fault either. Took the laptop to Apple and they hardwired right to their servers and it still didn’t work. Error on WiFi recovery for them too. They told me that it would have to go back to Apple for reinstall and I just returned it. 3 MacBook pros BTO and all 3 went back for different issues. I’m done trying this year.
Edit: they claim they haven’t seen this before and showed me there internal documentation that cmd r is the preferred option for internet recovery.
Also to shed some light on why I wiped a new machine: I was getting kernal_task running constantly and taking 1.2 gigs of ram at idle. Nothing I tried would get the ram to release. Wiped it and now I get this. I’m happy I found out this thing was faulty sooner then later.
Edit: they claim they haven’t seen this before and showed me there internal documentation that cmd r is the preferred option for internet recovery.
Also to shed some light on why I wiped a new machine: I was getting kernal_task running constantly and taking 1.2 gigs of ram at idle. Nothing I tried would get the ram to release. Wiped it and now I get this. I’m happy I found out this thing was faulty sooner then later.
So are we to believe that if you install the Mojave beta that there is absolutely no way to downgrade back to High Sierra via internet recovery? That doesn’t make sense at all.
BLUEDOG314
macrumors 6502
By no means do I want to sound like "that guy," but a few users on here have said that they successfully used internet recovery on their 2018 machines. Further, you can rarely expect what an Apple tech in store tells you to be the best solution, and often what they say is wrong. Training and such clearly has gone down hill.
Also regarding kernel task, I would say 1.2GB at idle is fairly normal, I'm sitting at 1.3GB right now typing this. Operating systems have grown quite a bit. I used to work in an Apple store and someone came in with an old PowerBook G4. Most stores still have the ability to restores on these machines still. After an erase and restore, at idle, kernel task only used ~80MB of RAM.
Also regarding kernel task, I would say 1.2GB at idle is fairly normal, I'm sitting at 1.3GB right now typing this. Operating systems have grown quite a bit. I used to work in an Apple store and someone came in with an old PowerBook G4. Most stores still have the ability to restores on these machines still. After an erase and restore, at idle, kernel task only used ~80MB of RAM.
From what I gave read on multiple sites, and in a few posts here, it seems you have to boot into internet recovery and disable the secure boot before you erase, and then re-install.
The disconnect is apparently the secure boot settings which most (if not all of us) were aware of prior to the iMac Pro / 2018 MacBook Pro.
Even if I wanted to go back to High Sierra, I simply cannot risk it at this point. None of the Apple articles have addressed this change, nor have I found more than maybe 3 posts on exactly how someone went from Mojave to High Sierra.
The disconnect is apparently the secure boot settings which most (if not all of us) were aware of prior to the iMac Pro / 2018 MacBook Pro.
Even if I wanted to go back to High Sierra, I simply cannot risk it at this point. None of the Apple articles have addressed this change, nor have I found more than maybe 3 posts on exactly how someone went from Mojave to High Sierra.
M.Rizk
macrumors 6502a
Disabling the secure boot option sometimes doesn’t save. It seems like the safest option is to enable Firmware Password because then the T2 wouldn’t ask for your admin macOS password and just ask about the Firmware Password instead.
haralds
macrumors 68040
Based on my personal experience, I would not wipe from recovery. There is too much uncertainty and potential bugginess in the T2 bridge code.Mojave release notes specifically advise against this.
Here is what I would do:
1. Create a second APFS container.
2. Install a system into that and boot it.
3. Migrate anything you need.
4. Create an admin account that is NOT on the first partition.
5. Log into that account accountName
6. Run the following terminal command:
sysadminctl interactive -secureTokenOn accountName -password -
7. Boot into recovery
8. Open the Startup Security Utility
See whether accountName is a valid identifier in the popup and allows you to log in
9. If that works, boot into your new partition and use Disk Utility to delete the original on.
LogicalApex
macrumors 68000
I have a 15" 2018 MBP and I had no issues at all resetting the machine using Internet Recovery and reinstalling MacOS on it...
I got it home tried a Time Machine migration from my old machine and had some issue so I decided it was best to nuke and start over for my OCD.
I used Command-R to pop into recovery deleted the entire internal SSD then turned the machine off and rebooted into recovery using Command-R.
I then installed MacOS and went at it as normal as a clean install.
I had a few issues getting recovery to load via the Belkin Ethernet Adapter I picked up from the Apple Store, but had no issues over WiFi. I also didn't brick it and I'm not sure how that is possible...
I got it home tried a Time Machine migration from my old machine and had some issue so I decided it was best to nuke and start over for my OCD.
I used Command-R to pop into recovery deleted the entire internal SSD then turned the machine off and rebooted into recovery using Command-R.
I then installed MacOS and went at it as normal as a clean install.
I had a few issues getting recovery to load via the Belkin Ethernet Adapter I picked up from the Apple Store, but had no issues over WiFi. I also didn't brick it and I'm not sure how that is possible...
Apparently it has to do with the T2 security. No clue. I’ll stick with Mojave until release.
LogicalApex
macrumors 68000
Yeah though I would have thought I would have been impacted by T2 security as well since this is on by default on the 2018.
Ah. With command + r you are using the recovery partition on the machine. You can still erase the drive, but that partition remains.
Option + command + r is internet recovery, which is how you would have to do it if you had installed the Mojave beta.
LogicalApex
macrumors 68000
I completely erased the internal SSD so Command-R opened Internet Recovey. I didn’t just delete the default MacOS partition.
I know this as it had the spinning globe as it downloaded Internet Recovery.
RobbieTT
macrumors 6502a
Used command-r on mine, reformatted the drive and reinstalled. I did take the precaution of turning off FileVault and dropping down to the medium security utility option as well as enabling USB boot - just in case. It all worked with no drama so no particular idea on what, if anything, my initial setup made to the process.
This T2 universe is a bit daunting but it all ended well for me.
This T2 universe is a bit daunting but it all ended well for me.