mac OS keeps deleting the recovery partition

[manu334]

Hi. I've noticed that each time I try to access the recovery partition of my mac using "cmd + r" at the computer start, mac OS install it from the internet and when I try to access the partition using "alt", I get an error message saying that there was a problem and the computer needs to restart. I checked the state of my SSD using Apple's disk utility tool and didn't see any problem. I've also noticed that my secondary partition with mac OS mojave does not appear in the list of partitions in the disk utility. If anyone could help with that, that would be awesome.

Cheers,
Emmanuel

My config: Macbook Pro 13" late 2013, 256 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM, mac OS El Capitan

 

[Weaselboy]

Run this command in Terminal and tell us the output. This will show all the partitions, including any hidden volumes.

diskutil list

 

[manu334]

That's what I get with the duskutil command

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh SSD           250.1 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *256.1 GB   disk1
   1:                  Apple_HFS MicroSD                 256.1 GB   disk1s1

After trying to start the recovery partition with "alt" at the start, the computer crash and I get to submit the following error report to apple after it restarted.

Anonymous UUID:       33981622-4D4E-5939-94A0-8617222A8E69

Sat Oct 27 11:28:46 2018

*** Panic Report ***
panic(cpu 0 caller 0xffffff8017d9654e): "Process 1 exec of /sbin/launchd failed, errno 5"@/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/xnu/xnu-3248.60.10/bsd/kern/kern_exec.c:4584
Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address
0xffffff8125713de0 : 0xffffff80178dab52
0xffffff8125713e60 : 0xffffff8017d9654e
0xffffff8125713ee0 : 0xffffff8017d6df9b
0xffffff8125713f00 : 0xffffff8017db3dd1
0xffffff8125713f40 : 0xffffff80178d54cd
0xffffff8125713f80 : 0xffffff80179cef3e
0xffffff8125713fa0 : 0xffffff80179ec52f

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: init
Boot args: rp=file:///com.apple.recovery.boot/BaseSystem.dmg

Mac OS version:
Not yet set

Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 15.6.0: Thu Jun 23 18:25:34 PDT 2016; root:xnu-3248.60.10~1/RELEASE_X86_64
Kernel UUID: B5AA8E3E-65B6-3D0E-867B-8DCCF81E536C
Kernel slide:     0x0000000017600000
Kernel text base: 0xffffff8017800000
__HIB  text base: 0xffffff8017700000
System model name: MacBookPro11,1 (Mac-189A3D4F975D5FFC)

System uptime in nanoseconds: 1325274284
last loaded kext at 1147626382: com.apple.driver.DiskImages.SparseDiskImage    417.4 (addr 0xffffff7f9c679000, size 20480)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.SparseDiskImage    417.4
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.ReadWriteDiskImage    417.4
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.UDIFDiskImage    417.4
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.HTTPBackingStore    417.4
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.FileBackingStore    417.4
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.RAMBackingStore    417.4
com.apple.BootCache    38
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib    1.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver    3.0.1
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeDataless    1.0.0d1
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage    2.8.5
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort    3.1.8
com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4360-MFG    1040.1.1a6
com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4360    1040.1.1a6
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC    2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleSmartBatteryManager    161.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons    4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET    1.8
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS    2.1
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC    4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC    1.7
com.apple.security.quarantine    3
com.apple.security.TMSafetyNet    8
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall    163
com.apple.kext.MojoKDP    2.0.2
com.apple.driver.DiskImages.KernelBacked    417.4
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBMergeNub    900.4.1
com.apple.driver.AppleXsanScheme    3
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily    2.8.1
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPInAdapter    4.1.3
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltDPAdapterFamily    4.1.3
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltPCIDownAdapter    2.0.2
com.apple.driver.AppleThunderboltNHI    4.0.4
com.apple.iokit.IOThunderboltFamily    6.0.2
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family    1110.26
com.apple.driver.mDNSOffloadUserClient    1.0.1b8
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily    3.2
com.apple.driver.corecapture    1.0.4
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelLpssGspi    2.0.60
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCIPCI    1.0.1
com.apple.driver.usb.AppleUSBXHCI    1.0.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily    900.4.1
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBHostFamily    1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHostMergeProperties    1.0.1
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM    2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime    2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily    2.0.0
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily    1.1
com.apple.security.sandbox    300.0
com.apple.kext.AppleMatch    1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.AppleKeyStore    2
com.apple.driver.AppleMobileFileIntegrity    1.0.5
com.apple.driver.DiskImages    417.4
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily    2.1
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothFamily    4.4.6f1
com.apple.driver.AppleFDEKeyStore    28.30
com.apple.iokit.IOReportFamily    31
com.apple.driver.AppleCredentialManager    1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform    4.0
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily    2.9
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily    1.4
com.apple.kec.pthread    1
com.apple.kec.corecrypto    1.0
Model: MacBookPro11,1, BootROM MBP111.0146.B00, 2 processors, Intel Core i5, 2.4 GHz, 8 GB, SMC 2.16f68
Graphics: Intel Iris, Intel Iris, Built-In
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x802C, 0x384B54463531323634485A2D314736453120
Memory Module: BANK 1/DIMM0, 4 GB, DDR3, 1600 MHz, 0x802C, 0x384B54463531323634485A2D314736453120
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x112), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.21.95.178.1a2)
Bluetooth: Version 4.4.6f4, 3 services, 27 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en0
Serial ATA Device: APPLE SSD SM0256F, 251 GB
USB Device: USB 3.0 Bus
USB Device: Card Reader
USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
USB Device: BRCM20702 Hub
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Thunderbolt Bus: MacBook Pro, Apple Inc., 17.2

 

[Weaselboy]

Loos like you have a normal recovery volume there. What do you get with a command-r boot?

 

[manu334]

When I do that, it just download the recovery from Apple. Once it's done I can access it but it needs to download it each time I need to access the recovery partition.

 

[Weaselboy]

When I do that, it just download the recovery from Apple. Once it's done I can access it but it needs to download it each time I need to access the recovery partition.

Can you try just reinstalling the OS over top of the existing install without erasing anything to see if that fixes it. Make sure you have a backup first.

 

[manu334]

It worked, thanks. I can access the recovery partition with "cmd + r". However, I'm a bit surprised that I can't see it in the list of partitions when using "alt" at start.