I inherited a MacBook Pro (described in the subject) with a dead Samsung 128 GB NVMe (Original Apple Part - MZ-JPV1280/0A4). I removed the NVMe and installed a 3rd party NVMe (Fledgling M13). I was able to install High Sierra onto a USB drive and the MacBook works - and it sees the NVMe from Disk Utility (and I can partition it, read and write from it, etc.).
I have attempted to install High Sierra onto the NVMe, but it won't boot from it (flashing folder). I can boot back into High Sierra on the USB 3 flash drive and I can see the install on the NVMe - but if I shut it down and pull the USB drive out, it won't boot to the NVMe. If I try to boot to a Big Sur, or Mojave USB drive, the installer quits with an error regarding the UEFI firmware. I have also tried installing Mojave to the USB drive it is running off of and it gets to the first reboot, and then reboots back into High Sierra.
I think this is an issue with not having the proper firmware for this Mac. I am hoping that I don't have to hunt down an Original Equipment NVMe for this from Apple just to be able to update the firmware. I would have thought that since the MacBook originally came with a version of MacOS that supported UEFI and NVMe that I could install High Sierra to the replacement NVMe and it would work.
Does anyone have any suggestions that don't include "Genius Bar" or "buy an Apple NVMe"? If that's the only way to upgrade the firmware, then so be it. But I was hoping for a solution that I was just missing in all my searches.
By the way, this MacBook runs phenomenally well booting off the 250 GB USB 3.1 low profile flash drive. I have an iMac (late 2016) that I put a 2.5" SSD into and this little MacBook Pro boots almost as quickly!
Details:
About This Mac/System Report shows the following:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro12,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.7 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP121.0167.B21
SMC Version (system): 2.28f7
I have attempted to install High Sierra onto the NVMe, but it won't boot from it (flashing folder). I can boot back into High Sierra on the USB 3 flash drive and I can see the install on the NVMe - but if I shut it down and pull the USB drive out, it won't boot to the NVMe. If I try to boot to a Big Sur, or Mojave USB drive, the installer quits with an error regarding the UEFI firmware. I have also tried installing Mojave to the USB drive it is running off of and it gets to the first reboot, and then reboots back into High Sierra.
I think this is an issue with not having the proper firmware for this Mac. I am hoping that I don't have to hunt down an Original Equipment NVMe for this from Apple just to be able to update the firmware. I would have thought that since the MacBook originally came with a version of MacOS that supported UEFI and NVMe that I could install High Sierra to the replacement NVMe and it would work.
Does anyone have any suggestions that don't include "Genius Bar" or "buy an Apple NVMe"? If that's the only way to upgrade the firmware, then so be it. But I was hoping for a solution that I was just missing in all my searches.
By the way, this MacBook runs phenomenally well booting off the 250 GB USB 3.1 low profile flash drive. I have an iMac (late 2016) that I put a 2.5" SSD into and this little MacBook Pro boots almost as quickly!
Details:
About This Mac/System Report shows the following:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro12,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.7 GHz
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 8 GB
Boot ROM Version: MBP121.0167.B21
SMC Version (system): 2.28f7