Thank you Apple for making my new Mac mini paperweight!!!

[symphony]

Seriously, why hasn’t Apple addressed this issue yet? I don’t have another Mac to solve my issue.

My Mac mini reinstalled macOS just fine under macOS 11.0, but after updating to it, I can no longer restore it!!!

(I erased my Mac mini, as I do for restoring a carbon copy from time machine, but it didn’t work! So I reinstalled macOS for the latest 11.0.1, it didn’t work! So I reinstalled macOS, now it doesn’t work!!!)

I’m pretty sure though this isn’t a M1 Apple Silicon related issue because I had trouble reinstalling macOS Big Sur 11.0.1 on my 2018 Mac mini for selling yesterday. But still................. THIS IS INFURIATONG

 

[GumaRodak]

Can you restore to factory settings?

 

[leman]

Do you have a second Mac lying around? I am pretty sure you can use Apple Configurator to restore your Mini

 

[smoking monkey]

Do you have a second Mac lying around? I am pretty sure you can use Apple Configurator to restore your Mini

2nd sentence.

To the OP: Did you call Apple? I'm guessing you did. Just get a new machine. Do you have back ups of everything?

Good luck!

 

[symphony]

Can you restore to factory settings?

Apple removed internet recovery, or the option to reinstall macOS that came with the Mac on the new M1 chips so my Mac is essentially bricked until Apple somehow changes the software that downloads to the Mac.

Do you have a second Mac lying around? I am pretty sure you can use Apple Configurator to restore your Mini

Sold it :/

2nd sentence.

To the OP: Did you call Apple? I'm guessing you did. Just get a new machine. Do you have back ups of everything?

Good luck!

I could return it. But it ain’t coming until way later in December. I need a computer for school now!!!!!

 

[jdb8167]

If you are near an Apple store set up a Genius appointment. I'm sure they can help. They are going to get a lot of these since all the restore procedures are new for the Apple Silicon Macs.

 

[matrix07]

Agree. Goes to Apple Store and have them restore it.

 

[burgman]

I guess I'm weird, if my computer died my first thought is to call Apple Support not complain on a forum. I have had several dead Apple products, one call and it was handled.

 

[symphony]

I guess I'm weird, if my computer died my first thought is to call Apple Support not complain on a forum. I have had several dead Apple products, one call and it was handled.

My experience with Apple Support haven’t always been good, they make me do steps I’ve already tried. And sometimes I already know more than them, I’ve always caught them clueless especially with new products. The end result is probably having to get a replacement, which means waiting till late December to get my Mac replaced. But I need it now for studying my

 

[jdb8167]

My experience with Apple Support haven’t always been good, they make me do steps I’ve already tried. And sometimes I already know more than them, I’ve always caught them clueless especially with new products. The end result is probably having to get a replacement, which means waiting till late December to get my Mac replaced. But I need it now for studying my

I'm always patient when I have to deal with technical support. I have a computer engineering degree. I write software for a living and do a fair amount of systems admin as well. I know that I'm going to know more than they do but they can have resources that I don't and that I need to solve a problem. So I wait for the tech support person to go through their script and eventually I get to a higher tier support person. It pays to be polite in these situations and to remember that you need something from them.

 

[reznq]

Apple removed internet recovery, or the option to reinstall macOS that came with the Mac on the new M1 chips so my Mac is essentially bricked until Apple somehow changes the software that downloads to the Mac.

Sold it :/

I could return it. But it ain’t coming until way later in December. I need a computer for school now!!!!!

Are you encountering the "An error occurred while preparing the update" issue? If so, have you tried erasing your Mac remotely from iCloud.com?

 

[symphony]

I'm always patient when I have to deal with technical support. I have a computer engineering degree. I write software for a living and do a fair amount of systems admin as well. I know that I'm going to know more than they do but they can have resources that I don't and that I need to solve a problem. So I wait for the tech support person to go through their script and eventually I get to a higher tier support person. It pays to be polite in these situations and to remember that you need something from them.

Apple Support doesn’t have a fix for this issue. Not everyone has a lot of time to waste.

 

[symphony]

Are you encountering the "An error occurred while preparing the update" issue? If so, have you tried erasing your Mac remotely from iCloud.com?

Yes. But I’ve never logged in at all into iCloud

 

[EdT]

My experience with Apple Support haven’t always been good, they make me do steps I’ve already tried. And sometimes I already know more than them, I’ve always caught them clueless especially with new products. The end result is probably having to get a replacement, which means waiting till late December to get my Mac replaced. But I need it now for studying my

The not getting a replacement until December is unacceptable, but having to go though the idiot script isn’t.

I do service phone calls for industrial machines where I work and the number of times that I ask and get an irritated “I’ve already checked that” response is too many to count. And after spending 1/2 to 2 hours going though every slightly possible reason and a few completely impossible ones and you start from the top and the problem ends up being one of the basic checklist items makes your blood silently boil. Of course you have to stay polite so you can’t tell them thank you for wasting hours of both your and their time on what was a simple fix.

And I’ve called Apple and been annoyed with the tech going though the script.....until he asks me to physically check something that I was assuming, and that turned out to be the problem. I try to remember that I’ve been ‘That Guy’ a time or two myself.

But your problem is a known glitch. Apple shouldn’t be giving you excuses.

 

[reznq]

Yes. But I’ve never logged in at all into iCloud

I'm interested in knowing whether support is able to initiate the remote erase when you haven't logged in (probably not, because it seems like verifying that it's actually your machine could be an issue).

Beyond that, I wouldn't be surprised if there was a way to initiate the more complete erase from the device. Maybe you need to ask them if there's a way to factory reset it to the extent that the language selection screen is displayed upon powering on.

 

[jdb8167]

Apple Support doesn’t have a fix for this issue. Not everyone has a lot of time to waste.

Are you saying that someone at an Apple store wouldn't be able to use the Apple Configurator to fix this? That seems unlikely. If you are saying that they can't help over the phone then that's different.

 

[reznq]

Are you saying that someone at an Apple store wouldn't be able to use the Apple Configurator to fix this? That seems unlikely. If you are saying that they can't help over the phone then that's different.

Apple's engineers are aware of the issue and have recommended using revive/restore, or a bootable installer.

The senior phone advisor that I spoke to yesterday took it a step further and recommended that I simply bring the device to my local Apple Store and exchange it for a new one. He even called ahead to have them set one aside.

They were willing to facilitate the exchange immediately, but due to pandemic restrictions would not be able to help with the revive/restore or bootable installer without an appointment.

 

[jdb8167]

Apple's engineers are aware of the issue and have recommended using revive/restore, or a bootable installer.

The senior phone advisor that I spoke to yesterday took it a step further and recommended that I simply bring the device to my local Apple Store and exchange it for a new one. He even called ahead to have them set one aside.

They were willing to facilitate the exchange immediately, but due to pandemic restrictions would not be able to help with the revive/restore or bootable installer without an appointment.

So this is a little more involved than I thought. Thanks for the info.

 

[TheColtr]

My experience with Apple Support haven’t always been good, they make me do steps I’ve already tried. And sometimes I already know more than them, I’ve always caught them clueless especially with new products. The end result is probably having to get a replacement, which means waiting till late December to get my Mac replaced. But I need it now for studying my

If all the steps aren’t tried then upper level support is going to ask “why didn’t you try ‘x’” so even though you already tried it, if it’s not documented as tried and failed, then it doesn’t look good on the technician.

I know it’s difficult, I’ve been on both sides. Troubleshooting isn’t easy on the customer or technician.