Unable to boot my MBP2012 after trying to upgrade to High Sierra

[damnpretender]

Dear all,

I have a 15 inch MPB 2012, previously running El Capitan. I tried to update to High Sierra yesterday. The update process failed and ended with a dark grey/black screen being shown for 2 hours+. At that point I tried to restart the system. The installation continued (moving bar with high sierra logo and installation countdown in minutes), the system successfully booted once but then restarted and since fails to boot. The loading bar comes up, stops about 2/3 through and the apple logo vanishes and a blue or sometimes simply grey screen is shown (fans start blowing at 100%).

Here is what I have tried since then (after disconnecting all usb devices + resetting SMC / NVRAM):

- booting in safe mode (result: apple logo + loading bar goes to 2/3s of the way, grey/blue screen, fans at 100% in the end)

- booting in recovery (result: apple logo + loading bar goes to 2/3s of the way, grey/blue screen, fans at 100% in the end)

- booting in internet recovery (result: successful download of data from the internet after connecting to wifi, apple logo + loading bar goes to 2/3s of the way, grey/blue screen, fans at 100% in the end)

- booting from El Capitan USB drive (result: apple logo + loading bar goes to 2/3s of the way, grey/blue screen)

- booting from High Sierra USB drive (result: apple logo + loading bar goes to 2/3s of the way, grey/blue screen)

- removing the hard drive, reformatting it (Mac OS Extended Journaled), reinserting it + all of the above (result: apple logo + loading bar goes to 2/3s of the way, grey/blue screen)

- removing the hard drive, copying a bootable HD image of a MB Air onto it, reinserting it (result: apple logo + loading bar goes to 2/3s of the way, grey/blue screen)

The hardware test (normal + extended) indicates no issues. I am lost and don't know what to do anymore. I would greatly appreciate your help. The system ran perfectly fine before the update.

 

[chabig]

That sounds like a hardware failure of some sort, maybe the logic board, which would only coincidently related to your upgrade. I say this because the machine cannot even boot from internet recovery. The hardware test, though, says it’s ok...so let’s eliminate the hard drive and the OS. Take it out and leave it out. Try booting without it.

If it won’t boot, the problem would have to be firmware. It always scares me when people arbitrarily decide an installation and interrupt it with a forced restart. I know, two hours seems like a long time...

You might have to send it to Apple if the firmware is hosed.

 

[damnpretender]

Thank you very much for your reply! I actually already did the hardware test (both simple and enhanced) and it came up with no issues. Also the coincidence (I do the update and the logic board fails) is quite surprising ...

That sounds like a hardware failure of some sort, maybe the logic board, which would only coincidently related to your upgrade. I say this because the machine cannot even boot from internet recovery. The hardware test, though, says it’s ok...so let’s eliminate the hard drive and the OS. Take it out and leave it out. Try booting without it.

If it won’t boot, the problem would have to be firmware. It always scares me when people arbitrarily decide an installation and interrupt it with a forced restart. I know, two hours seems like a long time...

You might have to send it to Apple if the firmware is hosed.

 

[Fishrrman]

If everything you try still gets you nowhere, resort to the "last resort":
Take it to the genius bar at a brick-n-mortar Apple Store, and let them look at it.

You said that you CAN boot into internet recovery -- even if you can't re-install the OS -- is that assumption correct?

If so, I have a suggestion to try.
You will need a USB flashdrive 16gb or larger, or a USB external drive.

What to do next:
- Power down, all the way off
- Connect the USB flashdrive (or external drive)
- Boot to internet recovery
- When you get there, don't run the OS installer. If it opens, quit it.
- Open Disk Utility. "Aim it" at the USB flashdrive.
- Click the Erase button. Erase the flashdrive to Mac OS extended with journaling enabled.
- Now quit Disk Utility and re-open the OS installer
- Can you "aim" the installer at the flashdrive?
- If so, TRY TO INSTALL THE OS ONTO THE FLASHDRIVE (not the internal drive)
- Does this work? Does the OS install complete?
- If so, set up the flashdrive "as a bootable drive", with an account, etc.

If you can get this far:
- Power down the Mac, all the way off
- USB flash drive connected
- Press the power on key and IMMEDIATELY hold down the option key and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the startup manager appears.
- Do you see the USB flashdrive "as a bootable drive"?
- If so, select it with the pointer and hit return.
- Do you get a good boot from the flashdrive? Do you get to the login screen? Do you get to the finder?
- IF you can "get this far", you know the hardware (other than the internal drive) on the MB is good.

 

[damnpretender]

thank you for your answers. sadly, I can also NOT boot into recovery. since the hard disk was formatted via another mac by now (i took out my ssd, formatted it via another macbook as OS Journaled Extended, GUID partition) I can only try to use the recovery from an OS X installation stick or using internet recovery ... both options do not work and yield the same results (apple logo + loading bar goes to 2/3s of the way, grey/blue screen, fans at 100% in the end, internet recovery dowloads some file before doing the same).

Is there a way on reinstalling the EFI firmware on my Macbook Pro (Macbook Pro 9,1, 2012)? I know this was possible for earlier models, but I did not find anything for my Macbook. Any help is appreciated.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

thank you for your answers. sadly, I can also NOT boot into recovery. since the hard disk was formatted via another mac by now (i took out my ssd, formatted it via another macbook as OS Journaled Extended, GUID partition) I can only try to use the recovery from an OS X installation stick or using internet recovery ... both options do not work and yield the same results (apple logo + loading bar goes to 2/3s of the way, grey/blue screen, fans at 100% in the end, internet recovery dowloads some file before doing the same).

Is there a way on reinstalling the EFI firmware on my Macbook Pro (Macbook Pro 9,1, 2012)? I know this was possible for earlier models, but I did not find anything for my Macbook. Any help is appreciated.

Have you tried booting from an external drive over USB?? If that works then it may just be a sata cable which are notoriously flaky on that vintage of machine and a $10-$20 fix from amazon.

 

[damnpretender]

thank you, sadly I have also already tried this with the same results.

apparently there was an option for older macbooks to reinstall the system firmware via using "firmware restoration CDs" ... however, i am unable to find such a download package for my macbook 9,1 (mid 2012, pre-retina) ...

 

[Fishrrman]

If you suspect that this is a "firmware issue", sounds like your best option is to take it to a brick-n-mortar Apple genius bar and let them have a look at it.

My -guess- is that they have something that can "revive" Macs with damaged firmware upgrades.