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one1

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 17, 2007
1,180
30
Chattanooga, TN
My 2020 MBP is somehow linked to someone else's ID in FINDMY. I have not only signed in and out of iCloud, but I booted in recovery and erased the hard drive then recovered Sequoia and started over. It still said FINDMY will be associated with this other ID that I do not know. Then it proceeded to set up and allow me to sign in to iCloud (there is no activation lock nor otherwise associated id).

I know I have corruption in this HD somehow because it will mount USB drives but not read nor write them. (it also says there is no recovery drive even though I can see it in terminal).

The fix for both issues should be the same since one is causing the other. Can anyone help?

TIA.
 
Screenshot 2025-12-26 at 5.11.57 PM.png
 
If your OP, you said that you could sign in to iCloud, so, that means that you could replace any login with yours, and you can then successfully sign in to YOUR Apple Account.
Can I assume that you are presented an incorrect Apple account sign-in at first (then you manually change THAT to your correct Apple Account info, and the system lets you log in to that correct login.
OR, you are forced to log in with the "wrong" Apple Account, and you are able to login (meaning that you know the password for that Apple Account. Am I accurate with that assessment?
(I would urge you to NOT turn on Find My Mac again, for ANY reason, until you get this sorted out.)
"Sorted out", I think, means that the "wrong" Apple Account no longer interferes with the operation of your MBP.
And, that means trying Find My Mac at that point. That would also mean that you need to watch some settings as you move ahead, particularly the NAME of the account in your Settings/Apple Account. When you see the Apple Account has suddenly changed, does the Settings app/Apple Account also show that change.
What did you do immediately prior to that name change?
Try to answer these questions... When do you first notice that something about your Apple Account is not right?
Do you EVER get a login time delay (won't allow attempted login, forcing you to wait some amount of time
 
fyou're not listening. its signed out.

i5

View attachment 2591126

I am not sure I fully understand your situation, but I sold my iPad recently, so signed out of my account and turned off Find My. After doing this I immediately received an email (attached) from Apple, confirming that Find my had been turned off for Mike’s iPad.
The important words in the email were:
“In addition, verifying with your Apple Account will no longer be required for someone to erase, reactivate and use your iPad”.

Your screenshot seems to say the opposite, that “your mac cannot be erased and reactivated without a password”.

However in your OP you said you were able to erase and reactivate which implies it was properly signed out by previous owner, which seems inconsistent.

I also don’t understand why you are getting message implying there isn’t a Recovery Partition and yet you could boot into Recovery.

You haven’t said how long you have owned the machine or what the history was. Any chance an MDM was involved? Have you had this machine for a decent period without these issues?…or is it new to you.

I would be tempted to use Apple Configurator to restore the firmware and start over. Normal erasing does not remove the firmware, but even Apple Configurator will not get round an MDM.

IMG_1285.jpeg
 
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