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un-Install stuck Sierra on MacBookPro 09

C

CBaranay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 29, 2018
1
0
Silly me. Downloaded and hit install on Sierra, before checking requirements or doing back up!
It looks stuck with a grey ( 0 with \line through) symbol taking up the the screen and no other access to anything else. I had ElCapitan doing well. I have 16gb.
Do I do a safe reboot? Does that give me the option to return to El Capitan? With clear instructions I could do this. Thanks Christabelle
 
Are you sure you have a 2009 MacBook Pro? Other users with a 2009 MBP report that the App Store won't do a download of Sierra - the earliest supported MBP that Sierra supports is the mid-2010 model. Sierra is supported on the late 2009 MacBook. I also don't think even if you have the installer that it will install on a non-supported Mac (unless you have taken specific steps to bypass this).

Take a look at the following:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204156

It sounds like you have the prohibitory symbol. While it can mean there's a hardware (disk) problem, interestingly enough (and I didn't know this until I read this article), it says that "it might be trying to start from the wrong version of macOS". You should try going into recovery and seeing if it works. At that point, if you have a Time Machine backup, you can restore from that. If you don't have any backup, trying to install does involve some risks and you might want to backup your disk first.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314
 
I agree, you should be able to force power off, then boot to your recovery system (Boot, holding Command-R), then you should have the choice to reinstall OS X, which will reinstall El Capitan, and get you back to a working system.
 
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