Help with old MAcbook Pro - how do I make it boot up?

haaammit · 28 Mar 2024 at 16:25

Hey all. I have an old MacBookPro here. It came without a hard drive in it. I've put one in, but can't get it to boot up, or enter recovery mode by pressing Option and R at bootup. I just get a flashing picture of a folder with a ? in it.

With Windows, I can just make a bootable USB, plug it in and away I go. I have no other Apple gear here, and don't really have much idea about the Apple OS. The machine was my mates one. Unfortunately he's no longer with us, so I can't ask him lol! If I swap the SSD with one with Windows 10 on it, the machine boots into Windows fine, so I guess I need some way of getting the OS on it somehow? I believe it's not a very new one.

Would appreciate any pointers. Ta

PaulM · 28 Mar 2024 at 16:32

Just double checking, did you press Option + R at boot up, or Command + R? Because it's supposed to be Command + R, and you want to hold it after pressing the power button, not just press it. Because it's a blank HDD I'd try internet recovery (Command + Option + R) as well

Also, do you know what model it is exactly? I believe the recovery mode tools were only added in models later than 2010 so if you have a very old model it might not work that way

ChrisD. · 28 Mar 2024 at 16:37

What year MacBook Pro is it?

haaammit · 28 Mar 2024 at 16:42

Cheers for the replies. Ye, my mistake, I was pressing Command and R

I don't know what year it is, there's no model or serial numbers on the bottom, nor inside, or that are very apparent at least

ChrisD. · 28 Mar 2024 at 17:01

haaammit said:
I don't know what year it is, there's no model or serial numbers on the bottom, nor inside, or that are very apparent at least

How do you not know, did you rob it? :cry:

Depending on the year depends on the available recovery options.

haaammit · 28 Mar 2024 at 17:21

Heh! It was my best mate's - he passed away almost 2 years ago, so I haven't really got any way of asking him lol!

visibleman · 28 Mar 2024 at 17:34

If it's newer that 2012, Internet Recovery (Command + Option + R) is one of the options; you won't have a recovery partition on a new drive to do a typical recovery boot. Otherwise some older Mac's can be enabled for Internet Recovery if it had a firmware update.
Failing that, you're going to need to burn (to USB/CD) a supported copy of OSX/MacOS. On Windows that's a bit more challenging than doing it with another Mac but there are guides like - https://andersonbzk.medium.com/all-possible-ways-to-burn-dmg-to-usb-on-windows-10-3614bc5e1f91.

IIRC, the model number (along with serial) should be etched on the bottom of the case.
But if it's not there, then how old do you think the Mac is? As you could try and use EveryMac to identify it.

Once you know the rough model/age of the MBP, then you can work out what your options are if Internet Recovery doesn't work.

Edit - For reference, this is what Internet Recovery looks like on a 2012 MBP - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx18Y70s54M

haaammit · 29 Mar 2024 at 08:31

Cheers for the replies. Nothing underneath, but after getting it to boot back up with the Win 10 disk, I did find out it's running a P7550 chip, so that puts it at a 2009 using the link @visibleman put above. OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion is the last fully supported OS that works, going to see if I can use that to make an install USB.
Ta for the help so far.

visibleman · 29 Mar 2024 at 12:03

haaammit said:
Cheers for the replies. Nothing underneath, but after getting it to boot back up with the Win 10 disk, I did find out it's running a P7550 chip, so that puts it at a 2009 using the link @visibleman put above. OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion is the last fully supported OS that works, going to see if I can use that to make an install USB.
Ta for the help so far.

If it's a 2009 MBP, then you should be able to get OSX El Capitan 10.11.x installed. Apple does host a few old versions, HERE, but their CDN can be a bit temperamental - Yosemite and Mountain Lion seem to currently work, so you could try one of those and then upgrade (potentially via App Store or built-in updater).

Once you've got the DMG, then you can create an ISO/USB using something like TransMac - there's a 15 day trial of it.

Edit - 10.11 link does work from the Apple site, it's just slow.

Feek · 29 Mar 2024 at 15:07

I've got all versions back to 10.7 Lion if needed.

ChrisD. · 29 Mar 2024 at 15:08

Feek said:
I've got all versions back to 10.7 Lion if needed.

That's impressive.

Feek · 29 Mar 2024 at 15:16

ChrisD. said:
That's impressive.

My NAS hates me!

Removed User 345456 · 29 Mar 2024 at 15:24

Use this site to download whatever version you need direct from Apples servers:

How to Download MacOS Installers for New & Old Versions

Want to know how to download MacOS and Mac OS X installers? You might be wondering where you can download current and older versions of Mac OS from, particularly if you’re looking to update a…

osxdaily.com

Then make a usb bootable installer, and away you go - there's many simple apps you can use in windows to make a bootable installer

ChrisD. · 29 Mar 2024 at 15:28

Feek said:
My NAS hates me!

That reminds me, I need to figure out why it takes Finder so long to browse the SMB shares on my NAS. On Windows it's instant, on my Mac it takes a good 10 seconds to initially show the share and then it's perfectly fine.

Terminal_Boy · 29 Mar 2024 at 17:53

Feek said:
I've got all versions back to 10.7 Lion if needed.

Someone’s had to do an emergency wipe and reload last known good build before.

Feek · 29 Mar 2024 at 18:13

That's the stupid thing, I never have! I don't know why, I just kept copies of all the installers.

haaammit · 1 Apr 2024 at 22:11

Well I'm still struggling. Downloaded 10.8, 10.10 & 10.11 from the APple links above, and tried using Transmac and Anyburn to make a boot disc, but whenever I plug it in ant turn on the MCP and hold Option, the MCP doesn't see the USB stick. Never thought it would be this difficult lol! Any more pointer please? Cheers
Edit: If I put in a Windows 10 ISO and power on and hold Option, that ISO then shows to install win10

visibleman · 2 Apr 2024 at 11:43

@haaammit - Mac's are fussy and it's a lot easier to create a USB installer within OSX/MacOS. But, try extracting the the 'BaseSystem.dmg' from the OSX installer using TransMac and restoring that to the USB drive (again with TransMac), rather than restoring the entire OSX installer - obviously make sure you either convert the partition to GPT or use the 'Format Disk for Mac' option within TransMac.
This and this may be helpful.

haaammit · 2 Apr 2024 at 21:43

visibleman said:
@haaammit - Mac's are fussy and it's a lot easier to create a USB installer within OSX/MacOS. But, try extracting the the 'BaseSystem.dmg' from the OSX installer using TransMac and restoring that to the USB drive (again with TransMac), rather than restoring the entire OSX installer - obviously make sure you either convert the partition to GPT or use the 'Format Disk for Mac' option within TransMac.
This and this may be helpful.

Cheers again - using the info in the first link, the MCP would then boot from the USB drive. Using 10.7 and 10.8 builds, it gets to the point where it says "Checking with Apple for installation" or similar, then says there was an error and to try again. Rinse and repeat! Getting closer though lol!

MacRS4 · 2 Apr 2024 at 21:55

ChrisD. said:
That reminds me, I need to figure out why it takes Finder so long to browse the SMB shares on my NAS. On Windows it's instant, on my Mac it takes a good 10 seconds to initially show the share and then it's perfectly fine.

Turn off the .DS_Store hidden files for the shares. Something like this:

defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores true

Related article here.