In desperate need for help

[xk33dv]

I have a late 2014 mac mini 8gb iris 5100 and i recently had to wipe my hdd due to a bug. I first tried onternet recovery but it took really long and i thought that it was stuck so i just download macos x el capitan( beacuse it was the version my mac came with) off isoriver and burend it with trans mac(format for mac then restore) and it just didnt appear. I then tried turning the usb into gpt with the terminal then double checked it and burned it again. Still nothing showing up. I then came back to internet recovery and it got stuck at apple logo and full progress bar every time. I then tried it without the uab drive plugged in, still apple logo with full bar. I will try it with nothing plugged in and check. If anyone has a sloution that would be great.

 

[David Hassholehoff]

Do you have access to a working Mac? I don't know what that place you got the ISO from is, but you shouldn't use it.
Pull macOS from Apple. Use the instructions I gave in this thread:

$USER on Mac-mini in ~
at 22:38:39 🢂  softwareupdate --list-full-installers
Finding available software
Software Update found the following full installers:
* Title: macOS Monterey, Version: 12.4, Size: 11819688KiB, Build: 21F79
* Title: macOS Monterey, Version: 12.3.1, Size: 11938730KiB, Build: 21E258
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.7, Size: 12121823KiB, Build: 20G630
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.6, Size: 12121263KiB, Build: 20G624
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.5, Size: 12121404KiB, Build: 20G527
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.4, Size: 12147782KiB, Build: 20G417
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.3, Size: 12143674KiB, Build: 20G415
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.2, Size: 12141944KiB, Build: 20G314
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.1, Size: 12137180KiB, Build: 20G224
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.5.2, Size: 12149332KiB, Build: 20G95

$USER on Mac-mini in ~
at 22:40:18 🢂  softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 11.6.7

Then create the install medium with the command: sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume where MyVolume is the name of the USB volume.

Obviously, your list of available versions will be different. Pull whichever you want that works on your system.

 

[xk33dv]

Do you have access to a working Mac? I don't know what that place you got the ISO from is, but you shouldn't use it.
Pull macOS from Apple. Use the instructions I gave in this thread:

USER on Mac-mini in ~
at 22:38:39 🢂  softwareupdate --list-full-installers
Finding available software
Software Update found the following full installers:
* Title: macOS Monterey, Version: 12.4, Size: 11819688KiB, Build: 21F79
* Title: macOS Monterey, Version: 12.3.1, Size: 11938730KiB, Build: 21E258
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.7, Size: 12121823KiB, Build: 20G630
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.6, Size: 12121263KiB, Build: 20G624
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.5, Size: 12121404KiB, Build: 20G527
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.4, Size: 12147782KiB, Build: 20G417
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.3, Size: 12143674KiB, Build: 20G415
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.2, Size: 12141944KiB, Build: 20G314
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.6.1, Size: 12137180KiB, Build: 20G224
* Title: macOS Big Sur, Version: 11.5.2, Size: 12149332KiB, Build: 20G95

$USER on Mac-mini in ~
at 22:40:18 🢂  softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 11.6.7

Then create the install medium with the command: sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume where MyVolume is the name of the USB volume.

Obviously, your list of available versions will be different. Pull whichever you want that works on your system.

Thanks for the reply but i dont have a spare mac. Should have included that in the original post. But i can borrow a siblings windows laptop if that can be use. Though i just started recovery mode this time with nothing plugged in and fast wifi

 

[David Hassholehoff]

I see. No Mac complicates things a little as I don't know how to pull macOS from Apple using a Windows machine. The problem with images from other sources is of course the security aspect, you don't know if the image has been tampered with (unless you verify checksum), and then the risk of the image being slightly corrupted, which could be why you are having trouble booting it.

(Then, a modified image doesn't necessarily mean nefarious intentions, it could be for example that someone modified it to make it run on non-Apple hardware.)

Have you verified that it is still GPT after you do the image writing?

 

[Fishrrman]

Why don't you try internet recovery again to erase the drive and start over?

Command-OPTION-R
at boot.

When you get to the internet utilities, open disk utility.
IMPORTANT STEP: go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices".

Then (in the list on the left) select the topmost item, which is the internal drive.
Erase it to APFS with GUID partition format.

Then, open the OS installer and re-install the OS.