Unable to reinstall macOS to my MacBook Air post removing Windows.

Question

silvers_007 Author

Level 1

4 points

Unable to reinstall macOS to my MacBook Air post removing Windows.

Hi everyone, I have a problem with my Macbook.

air 11 2013, I installed windows on it.

I used it for a few days and decided to

to install macOS back on it, but now I'm having

I can't start the OS, neither vinda nor mac.

The OS from a flash drive and recovery mode

over the internet doesn't change the situation, the mac just

hangs on the OS logo, but the bootloader itself

is working. There is not even a boot bar. What to do? The data is not important,

as long as the mac works.

When I try to install OSX

Mavericks, it shows

a crossed out sign. Smc and pram/nvram reset.

I wiped all partitions, leaving only the windup. I tried linux mint and ubuntu, GRUB boot loader loads and then after selecting the system just black display.

I rolled catalina via flash drive and everything worked fine, when restoring over the internet the mac loads all the necessary files but also fails to start, either stops on apple if I install big sur over the internet or crossed out sign if I install mavericks over the internet. I've already tried a new macOS mavericks flash drive to make a new macOS mavericks flash drive from under vin via bdu, but also crossed out sign, and if I try to start via clover, it stops on apple and can't even see detailed logging.

Photo number 1 is mavericks. Photo number 2 is big sur.

Thanks in advance

[Re-Titled By Moderator]

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Aug 31, 2024 9:12 AM

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Answer 1

g_wolfman

Level 4

3,454 points

Sep 1, 2024 9:21 AM in response to silvers_007

So if I read this correctly - you installed Windows on your computer. But if I also interpret your line about installing macOS back onto the computer...you didn't use Bootcamp, but tried to install Windows on the bare metal - probably by using the advice of some "run Windows on Apple hardware" forum and the use of non-Apple custom drivers and bootloader hacks (you also mention Grub and Clover later in your post, plus all the Linux shenanigans, although hard to say if that was just a partitioning tool...but why?).

I suppose my first question would be how is everything formatted and how were your installers created? I can almost imagine a situation where you followed some manual instructions to copy an InstallESD.dmg directly into an .iso but somehow have a MBR partitioned installer which your hacked up bootloader thinks it can load...

And based on a later post you are either trying to reinstall Windows or it's still there and you are actually trying to reinstall macOS as a secondary OS?

I'm not sure anyone can help you usless you can actually describe what you did and what the current state of your system is...especially the partitioning and bootloader. This is a goat rodeo.

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Answer 2

g_wolfman

Level 4

3,454 points

Sep 2, 2024 8:20 AM in response to silvers_007

So, you sort of built a Bootcamp installer and used it, successfully? But then you did...what? It sounds like you erased the entire drive and then installed Windows again using the Bootcamp drivers you created before?

Congratulations, you created a Windows PC on Apple hardware, I guess...I mean, except for the system not working right because Windows probably mangled your bootloader - especially if the MBA 2013 is old enough that Bootcamp used a hybrid BIOS/GPT...which I don't know. And the entire disk is probably NTFS at this point

And then you tried to install Linux - who knows which one(s), so probably overwrote the disk again to extFS version who-knows-what...and then tried to build a macOS bootable installer on a Windows PC - I assume using Internet instructions.

My suggestion - find a friend with an Intel Mac. Make a bootable installer for Catalina or Big Sur. Boot from that, erase and reformat your disk as APFS and reinstall.

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Answer 3

g_wolfman

Level 4

3,454 points

Sep 2, 2024 11:58 AM in response to silvers_007

"I can't boot" isn't really a helpful description of what's happening, though. I'm not even sure from your descriptions if the Flash drives you created were actually bootable in the first place...

When you start the computer and hold down the Option key when the chime sounds...what exactly happens?

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Answer 4

Ozzie1910

Level 4

3,222 points

Aug 31, 2024 9:28 AM in response to silvers_007

I didn’t finish reading it but I can understand that you install windows on your MacBook and you can’t back to macOS , I am right ? First off mavericks is not longer possible to install , your Mac is compatible with macOS Catalina , so have you use CMD-OPT-R on boot? Please reply if not or yes

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Answer 5

Ozzie1910

Level 4

3,222 points

Aug 31, 2024 10:08 AM in response to silvers_007

Ok do it again, and in recovery mode disk utilities erase the Apple SDD from its name use the name Macintosh , format APFS Scheme:guid partition map then erase, when done close that and back to the recovery and reinstall macOS

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Answer 6

silvers_007 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 2, 2024 3:50 AM in response to g_wolfman

I installed Windows on a Mac via a flash drive made via bootcamp, then I erased all the disk partitions and installed Windows, after a while the system stopped starting and I decided that I would install MacOS, but I Nothing worked, the Mac hangs on the system logo and that's it, I was advised to try installing Linux, but the situation remains the same, then they advised me to install another version of MacOS via a flash drive, but I don't have a second Mac, so I used Windows on another PC and the program BDU. Internet recovery doesn't help either

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Answer 7

silvers_007 Author

Level 1

4 points

Sep 3, 2024 8:20 AM in response to g_wolfman

The flash drives are bootable, they work on PCs, but on a Mac they are displayed, but do not load, the loading freezes. Recovery via the Internet also does not help, the system does not load, it just shows Apple. If you reset the right Pram Then the Mac makes a power-on sound, but still does not start the system, I can’t even format the disks, because the system does not boot, neither MacOS, nor Windows, nor Linux.

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Answer 8

g_wolfman

Level 4

3,454 points

Sep 3, 2024 4:36 PM in response to silvers_007

Well, I have to admit I'm stumped, then. I still wonder if the USB installer was correctly made, or if for some reason there's a MBR map on them and your Mac's boot manager is messed up which is why it still recognizes the USB (thinks it is Windows compatible), but obviously can't boot it...

I have yet to find an issue that a bootable USB macOS installer can't fix - even if everything after that involves a nuke and pave of the disks...

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