MacOS – Cannot boot into macbook pro – Cannot access recovery mode

bootmacbook promacos

I have a macbook pro 2019 with macos Mojave installed on it. It suddenly stopped working and stuck at apple logo for some unknown reason.

I tried Command + R to access recovery mode. There is no error message. It shows apple logo and fills the progress bar. I waited for more than 30 mins but nothing happened. I tried releasing the keys immediately when apple logo appeared. Also tried holding the keys until the progress bar filled.

Then I tried Command + Option + R for internet recovery. On the spinning globe screen, I connected to wifi network. After download, it gets restarted and again stuck at same apple logo. I waited for more than an hour everytime but nothing happened.

And then I created a bootable usb and tried to install Catalina OS from it. The result is same, it stuck at apple logo.

As a last option, I installed macos in an external USB using my friend macbook. I tried to boot into external USB by holding Option key on startup. Again the same result, it stuck at apple logo.

I also tried Command + Option + P + R to reset PRAM. Nothing worked. Assuming my macbook has T2 security, I cannot disable it since I'm unable to access recovery mode. Please suggest if there are any other options.

I tried Apple diagnostics by holding down the D key. After checking for few minutes, it shows no problems found.

When I try target mode by holding down the T key, it showed 2 icons, thunderbolt and usb. When I connected it to another MacBook Pro with a cable, the target MBP didn't show up in the host MBP. I did check in disk utility and network folder, not found anywhere.

I tried the verbose mode by holding down Command + V keys. The logs shows 2 messages frequently. One is "X86PlatformPlugin result 0" and the other one is "Interface link is not up, do not pull packets yet". It keeps showing these 2 messages. Also seen "kextd stall[0], (60s): 'IGPU' " and "kextd stall[1], (60s): 'IGPU' ". Attached a video link of recorded log. https://youtu.be/YFo9Ja63w68

Best Answer

If you have access to a working Mac, the next thing I would try (after what you have already done) is to start the troubled MacBook Pro in Target Disk Mode by powering on the computer and holding down the T key until the Thunderbolt (or USB) symbol appears on the screen. Then connect it to the working Mac, mount the drive, and use Disk Utility to to verify and, if needed, repair the drive. Also take this opportunity to make a copy of the drive in case (a) the drive is failing or (b) you end up with a repair that includes a new drive. Obviously if Disk Utility cannot repair the drive, take it to Apple for service.

If the drive appears good but the computer still will not boot, the next thing I would try is running Apple Diagnostics by turning off the computer, turning it back on and holding down the D key while the computer starts up. If any issues are found, Apple Diagnostics suggests solutions and provides reference codes. Take note of those reference codes and give them to Apple when asking for service on the computer. Note that you need to be connected to the internet to run diagnostics. If D does not work (possibly because there is something wrong with your disk drive) you can use Option+D to load the diagnostics over the internet.

If the diagnostics show nothing wrong and the Target Disk Mode show nothing wrong with your drive, I would be pretty surprised. In any case, having made a backup of the drive from Target Disk Mode, if Disk Utility did not get the drive back into bootable shape, I would take the computer to Apple for repair.

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MacOS – Unable to boot into recovery mode on El Capitan MacBook Air

You could do Command+Option+R to boot into internet recovery (from Apple servers). Ensure a stable internet connection. You can then run csrutil disable in the terminal.

As far as your recovery partition. If it is truly not working, you can delete the partition, download the latest OS X installer from the App Store and then reinstall OS X (this will not delete your files, think of it just like an OS X update). As part of the OS X reinstall, it will add a fresh new recovery partition.

Hope that helps.

MacOS – Can’t boot into OS X Recovery Mode

From the results you posted, I can see the GUID for the Recovery partition is wrong. This is partition number 3 in the tables. The correct value in the GPT would be 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC. The fdisk command also shows the value to be wrong in the MBR table. Here, the correct value should be AB. If you can not boot to your Recovery partition after repairing these tables, then I would assume the contents of the partition is corrupted.

As far as I know, there is no utility in OS X for this type of repair. (Technically, you could use the dd command, but no sane person would attempt using dd to fix this problem.) I would recommend downloading and installing the gdisk command from here. To install, you may have to modify the setting on the "Security & Privacy" pane of the "System Preferences".

To use the gdisk command, you will need to disable System Integrity Protection (SIP). Normally, this can be done while in Recovery mode. Since you can not boot to Recovery mode, you can use a product called "rEFInd". Many Linux users already have this product installed on their Mac computer. If you do not, you can create a USB flash drive version which can be used to disable/enable SIP. The instructions are given here.

Note: Since you have Debian Linux already installed, you may be able to execute gdisk from this operating system. Since I do not have this operating system installed, I am not going to pursue this further. You can obtain more information from this site. Also, gdisk may be available by booting from an external Emergency Disk. If available under Linux or from an Emergency Disk, you will not have to disable SIP.

Once gdisk is installed and SIP is disabled, you will need to make three changes. These changes involve modifying both the GUID Partition Table (GPT) and the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition table. The changes are listed below.

Change the type GUID for partition 3 in the GPT from 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC to 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC. Note: gdisk uses a value of AB00 to represent the value 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC.
Make sure the attribute for partition 3 is 0002000000000000. In the example below, I assume the current value for the attribute is 0000000000000000. If not, make the appropriate corrections.
Change the id for partition 3 in the MBR table from AF to AB.

In the example below, I create and mounted a sparse image as /dev/disk1. I then used this image as input to the gdisk command. This was done to simulate the conditions on your computer. You will be making changes to your /dev/disk0.

Steelhead:~ davidanderson$ sudo gdisk /dev/disk1
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1

Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Partition table scan:
  MBR: hybrid
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): t
Partition number (1-5): 3
Current type is 'Apple HFS/HFS+'
Hex code or GUID (L to show codes, Enter = AF00): ab00
Changed type of partition to 'Recovery HD'

Command (? for help): x

Expert command (? for help): a
Partition number (1-5): 3
Known attributes are:
0: system partition
1: hide from EFI
2: legacy BIOS bootable
60: read-only
62: hidden
63: do not automount

Attribute value is 0000000000000000. Set fields are:
  No fields set

Toggle which attribute field (0-63, 64 or <Enter> to exit): 49
Have enabled the 'Undefined bit #49' attribute.
Attribute value is 0002000000000000. Set fields are:
49 (Undefined bit #49)

Toggle which attribute field (0-63, 64 or <Enter> to exit): 

Expert command (? for help): r

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): h

WARNING! Hybrid MBRs are flaky and dangerous! If you decide not to use one,
just hit the Enter key at the below prompt and your MBR partition table will
be untouched.

Type from one to three GPT partition numbers, separated by spaces, to be
added to the hybrid MBR, in sequence: 2 3 4
Place EFI GPT (0xEE) partition first in MBR (good for GRUB)? (Y/N): y

Creating entry for GPT partition #2 (MBR partition #2)
Enter an MBR hex code (default AF): af
Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): y

Creating entry for GPT partition #3 (MBR partition #3)
Enter an MBR hex code (default AB): ab
Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

Creating entry for GPT partition #4 (MBR partition #4)
Enter an MBR hex code (default 83): 83
Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): n

Recovery/transformation command (? for help): w

Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING
PARTITIONS!!

Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): y
OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/disk1.
Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their
partition table automatically reloaded!
Warning: The kernel may continue to use old or deleted partitions.
You should reboot or remove the drive.
The operation has completed successfully.
Steelhead:~ davidanderson$

At this point, I would restart your Mac.

Best Answer

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