Urgen - Please help me, I've factory reset my Mac the wrong way

[TinaBelcher]

Hello.

I have an older Macbook Pro (2018) that I finally decided to factory reset, cause I've been using my new Air for a while... and it was time... However, I did it horribly! So, I started going into my iCloud account (from my Air) and removed the Pro. I've heard if you don't do that, then it will still be locked to its original owner (me). So I did this, and my Pro started to go through the process of formatting or whatever it's called. However, once it was done and booted up, it asked me to connect to Wifi. Then it would go into "Starting internet recovery this may take a while" So, I did that. However, it would struggle to get through the process, 9 out of 10 times it would have some "2003F" error. but once it worked I got to Disk Utility. I was able to clean it, but I wasn't able to Download MacOS. I tried shutting down and restarting, but then I got this weird Question mark folder happening. So I tried holding down command + R to get back into Mac recovery mode, however, each time I had to go through the process of loading and again saying it couldn't connect to the MacOS software server. It only gives me the option to install a copy of High Sierra, which it cannot even connect to. Yet, I've had the lastest OS. It's almost like the computer thinks its 2017 again.

These are the instructions I've tried following without success.

If your Mac starts up to a question mark - Apple Support

A folder with a flashing question mark means that your computer's startup disk is no longer available or doesn't contain a working Mac operating system.

support.apple.com

If an error occurred while updating or installing macOS - Apple Support

The message might say that an error occurred while downloading, preparing, or installing, or that the software is damaged, could not be verified, or failed to personalize. The cause of messages like these can vary, and sometimes they're only temporary.

support.apple.com

I know I've formulated myself badly, but my brain is fried from all the stress and trying that I cannot even put into words what I've been through with this ****** machine. At this point, I just want to run it over with my car and throw it in the dumpster so nobody can make money off it. Sucks. I hoped I could've made a bit of money from it. PS - I did move everything over to my new Air, so there are no lost files. The issue is trying to factory reset and sell it.

 

[splifingate]

Do you have the ability to connect your MBP to your router with an Ethernet cable?

Do you have a boot-able Installer on a USB at-hand?

If you have all the keys to the castle (passwords, etc.) there should not be anything effectively stopping you.

Error -2003f when booting Macbook Pro - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

macbook pro won’t install OS, keep going … - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

Be calm, methodical, and (remember) to not worry . . . you're just trying to nuke the lappy

 

[Fishrrman]

My advice is to boot to INTERNET recovery again:
Command-OPTION-R
at boot.

DO NOT use "Command R".
Use Command-OPTION-R.
KEEP HOLDING THAT KEY COMBO DOWN, DON'T LET GO (shouting is intentional)

You'll need your wifi password.
When prompted to enter it, THEN take your fingers off the keys.
Enter your wifi password.

At this point, you should see "the spinning globe" that indicates the internet utilities are loading.
This takes a little while so be patient.

When loaded, open disk utility.
VERY IMPORTANT: go to the view menu and choose "show all devices".
If you don't do this, you can't see the internal drive.

Look at the list on the left.
The TOPMOST item should be the internal SSD.
Click on it to select it, then click the erase button.
Erase to APFS, GUID partition format.

Quit disk utility and open the installer.
Accept whatever version of the OS the installer offers you. Remember, a Mac that boots (ANY version of the OS) is better than one that won't boot at all.

Start clicking through. The Mac will restart one or more times, and the display will go dark for a minute or more, with no other indication of activity. Just wait it out.

When done, you should see the initial setup screen (choose your language).
At this point what you do with it is up to you.
I'm guessing that you may want to set it up with a new account (just so it can boot and have an account to get "logged into"), but not much else.
Again, it's up to you.

Good luck.

 

[TinaBelcher]

My advice is to boot to INTERNET recovery again:
Command-OPTION-R
at boot.

DO NOT use "Command R".
Use Command-OPTION-R.
KEEP HOLDING THAT KEY COMBO DOWN, DON'T LET GO (shouting is intentional)

You'll need your wifi password.
When prompted to enter it, THEN take your fingers off the keys.
Enter your wifi password.

At this point, you should see "the spinning globe" that indicates the internet utilities are loading.
This takes a little while so be patient.

When loaded, open disk utility.
VERY IMPORTANT: go to the view menu and choose "show all devices".
If you don't do this, you can't see the internal drive.

Look at the list on the left.
The TOPMOST item should be the internal SSD.
Click on it to select it, then click the erase button.
Erase to APFS, GUID partition format.

Quit disk utility and open the installer.
Accept whatever version of the OS the installer offers you. Remember, a Mac that boots (ANY version of the OS) is better than one that won't boot at all.

Start clicking through. The Mac will restart one or more times, and the display will go dark for a minute or more, with no other indication of activity. Just wait it out.

When done, you should see the initial setup screen (choose your language).
At this point what you do with it is up to you.
I'm guessing that you may want to set it up with a new account (just so it can boot and have an account to get "logged into"), but not much else.
Again, it's up to you.

Good luck.

Thank you for the very detailed tutorial.
Unfortunately, it still refuses to install MacOS. It keeps saying that it couldn't to a server.
I even tried to install the MacOS High Sierra dmg file to an Sdd card and popped it into the Mac, but it did not work.