Trying to recover Mid-2012 MBP with little success

[sjreynolds143]

Hi all. Looking for expert help because I've about reached the end of the road here...

A friend has asked me to rejuvenate a mid-2012 MBP (model A1278) with High Sierra so that she can give it to a teenager she is temporarily housing. It wouldn't boot, so I followed the advice on various different forums and decided to go for an erase-and-restore since the recovery screen was the only thing that I could reasonably access.

The erase part of it went just fine, but then...

• The High Sierra recovery option tells me that it can't contact the recovery server
• I have checked the date and time in the (Bash with root privileges) terminal and that is correct, except that it is in UTC and we are in UK daylight saving time and I can't seem to change it without simply setting a new (and incorrect) UTC time. Not sure if that is relevant, but some sources suggested that time mismatch might cause problems.
• I next tried creating a High Sierra bootable USB. But I am doing that on my 14.4 Sonoma 2019 MBP, and it really doesn't want me to do that.
• The Apple compatibility list seemed to suggest that the 2012 MBP could take Catalina, and the App Store did let me download that. I used the process Apple outlined, and created the bootable USB.
• The MBP will see the bootable USB, but gives the "permission denied" icon if I try and boot from it.
• I have also read that the "ignore ownership" property needs to be deselected on the USB. I tried that, but no difference.
• Someone suggested that CMD-OPT-R booting would install the latest permitted OS, but either it doesn't work as advertised, or High Sierra is the latest permitted OS. Either way, it does the same thing and fails to connect to the recovery server.

So right now I am out of options. I tired Mojave, but I'm not allowed to download it onto my own MBP. I have used every version of CMD-R boot that is out there, including internet recovery, but no joy. And Apple don't seem to publish the DMG for High Sierra - at least, it isn't in any of the links that they provide in their help pages.

is there anything that I can do, or is my friend now the proud owner of a shiny silver brick?

 

[Grumpus]

You could try using MIST (on your MBP) to download and create a macOS installer USB.

 

[Fishrrman]

Agree with reply above, but some info was left out.

If YOU have a newer Mac that can run "Mist", try using that to create a bootable USB flashdrive.

You can get Mist here:

Release 0.10 · ninxsoft/Mist

Mist now ships logs to the unified logging system! You can view the Mist Log window via the: ⌘ + L keyboard shortcut Mist > Window app menu Show Mist Log toolbar button Logs can also be monitor...

github.com

(scroll down and download the "dmg" file)

It's VERY easy to understand and use.
Mist will download the needed OS installer AND it will create a bootable flashdrive, all in one integrated process (be patient as it takes a little while).

You will need a 16gb flashdrive.

The last supported OS that will run on that is 10.15.x. "Catalina".
So use Mist to download Catalina AND create the USB flashdrive.

Take the flashdrive to the MBP.
Make sure it's powered OFF.
Insert flashdrive into USB port.
HOLD DOWN THE OPTION KEY AND DON'T LET GO.
Press and release the power on button (keep holding down option).

This should invoke the startup manager.
Select the flashdrive with the pointer and hit return.
Do you get a good boot from the flashdrive?

If you do, you could try running the installer that way.
Otherwise, you would need to ERASE the ENTIRE internal drive and then install a clean copy of the OS and start over.

BUT WAIT !!
There's more !!

There's a common problem with 2012 Unibody MacBook Pro's and you might be experiencing it.

The flat ribbon cable that connects the drive to the motherboard on these can suffer internal failures. When this happens, "communication" between the drive and motherboard either becomes intermittent or is lost altogether.

WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE TO THE USER is that "the drive has failed".
But it's NOT the drive -- it's the ribbon cable.

The cable is cheap and is easily replaced.
Go to ifixit.com to see the process.
You can also get the part number there.
You can either order from them or from other online sources.

You'll also need a #00 Phillips driver to remove the screws from the back panel.

A way to "test" for this failure is to open the back, take the internal drive OUT, and then put it into a 2.5" USB3 SATA enclosure (these can be found for less than $15). If it boots right up that way, it's almost certainly the cable and not the drive.

Want a nice cheap upgrade? Get a cheap 2.5" SATA SSD, perhaps 500gb, and put that back in. Install a new OS, get it set up, and it will run fairly well.

Good luck.

 

[sjreynolds143]

So, that is definitely doing something!

On the whole, I would recommend using MIST as advised. Once I'd given it full disk access permissions, it happily (ish) created me whichever install media I wanted.

For some reason, the MBP wouldn't accept Catalina or Mojave. It was the same problem I had before, where it gave the "prohibited" circle with the line through it. And High Sierra kept coming back with an error whenever it got to creating the install in the disk image.



In the end, because I could and because it seemed like the only option left to me, I used MIST to create a Sierra install USB, and that one (finally) appeared to work. I'll see if I can update to High Sierra (or later) once I've got everything running.

I think I will definitely look at getting the SSD replacement. They aren't especially expensive and it will make a world of difference to the performance.

Thank you for the advice