MBA M1 Needs DFU and install from USB after every shutdown. Is it a brick?

[shloimy95]

MBA M1 2020. When booting after complete shutdown shows (paraphrased from memory) "failed to verify startup disk enter a username and password" when entered reboots to recovery (circle with exclamation mark). The only way to get in is restore from another MAC with DFU mode (connecting without putting in DFU mode shows in finder but recovery fails). After DFU recovers the MAC it reboots and shows "startup disc not verified, connect to wifi and try again or select a different disk". Connecting to wifi and hitting try again reboots to same screen, but selecting a startup disk with a MacOS Tahoe installer USB allows regular install and proceeds to desktop as expected. Mac can be used as usual, all functions including sleep and restart but if shutdown on next power on will show "failed to verify startup disk enter a username and password" again and entails redoing the entire process to get to a desktop.
First aid in disk utility doesn't find any issues with disk.
Long pressing power shows loading startup options but just reboots to circle with exclamation mark.
(Possibly related, touch ID doesn't work, just shows hold your finger for longer).

Is it dead? Is the only solution a board replacement and is this economically worth it for a machine this age?

 

[Apple_Robert]

In my opinion, repair is not worth the money on that machine.

 

[!!!]

In my opinion, repair is not worth the money on that machine.

This is only true because Apple designed the device to be unrepairable. Another $1000 machine in the bin, but at least we don't get a charger included with the device any more, 'eco-friendly' and all that.

 

[snakes-]

Maybe not corect in dfu mode? had similar problem after changing startup disk, but after some tries it worked.
you can download apple configurator maybe this helps. somewhere are some old links to it. but you need the second mac to do it.

 

[jlc1978]

Is it dead? Is the only solution a board replacement and is this economically worth it for a machine this age?

If yo are near an Apple Store, make an appointment and take it in. They can give you an idea of repair costs or potentially what the issue is with the Mac. Be sure to have a good backup.

 

[uacd]

Have you tried downgrading it to older macOS? Like Sonoma or Sequoia