Parker said:
@Eli
Did a bird get to your keyboard?
Lol no a friend gave it to me like this
@Eli
Are you saying it used to boot up and then just started acting up? You can try using macOS internet recovery to repair the drive or reinstall macOS if that doesn’t work.
@Eli
Just a heads up for anonymity on the internet
@Eli
Posture check everyone
@Eli
You could also try reviving the T2 Security Chip with another Mac.
@Eli
First thing I would do is perform a hard restart by pressing the power button for 30 seconds. After that, wait for the login screen to appear.
Next, using recovery mode might help fix the boot loop.
@Eli
Think about replacing the hard drive.
@Eli
What did you do to that poor thing? Why are there missing keys?
@Eli
Your internal SSD probably died.
@Eli
You’re cute man
@Eli
Your hard drive is dead, that’s why you keep getting the folder with a question mark.
You might need a motherboard replacement for that model.
@Eli
There are some bad answers in this thread.
The folder with the question mark means it can’t find the OS.
This usually means that the hard drive has failed.
It’s an easy cheap fix but sadly you will have lost everything on that drive (recovery could be possible but not guaranteed).
Get yourself an SSD, open up the Mac, swap out the current one, and use the internet restore option to install the operating system (It was failing before because it couldn’t find the drive to install the OS).
If you’re not confident doing this, any PC store should be able to help you.
Finch said:
@Eli
There are some bad answers in this thread.
The folder with the question mark means it can’t find the OS.
This usually means that the hard drive has failed.
It’s an easy cheap fix but sadly you will have lost everything on that drive (recovery could be possible but not guaranteed).
Get yourself an SSD, open up the Mac, swap out the current one, and use the internet restore option to install the operating system (It was failing before because it couldn’t find the drive to install the OS).
If you’re not confident doing this, any PC store should be able to help you.
But this is a Touch Bar MacBook, so the SSD is soldered to the board and can’t be replaced.
Finch said:
@Eli
There are some bad answers in this thread.
The folder with the question mark means it can’t find the OS.
This usually means that the hard drive has failed.
It’s an easy cheap fix but sadly you will have lost everything on that drive (recovery could be possible but not guaranteed).
Get yourself an SSD, open up the Mac, swap out the current one, and use the internet restore option to install the operating system (It was failing before because it couldn’t find the drive to install the OS).
If you’re not confident doing this, any PC store should be able to help you.
But this is a Touch Bar MacBook, so the SSD is soldered to the board and can’t be replaced.
Oh you’re right, I missed that part.
It can still be done but you’ll need someone who can work with the motherboard.
But it might cost as much as replacing it with a secondhand model.
@Eli
I think if you lowered the camera a bit we would have seen the apple head, other than that, I have no clue about the technical issue.
@Eli
1.) Download a Monterey installer for USB. Let me know if you need help finding a link.
2.) Boot into recovery, probably cmd + R during boot on this model.
3.) From the recovery menu, go to Utilities > Disk Utility.
4.) Select Show all volumes from the View menu at the top of Disk Utility.
5.) Check what partitions exist.
6.) Use the disk repair tool on each partition.
7.) Restart your computer by using the Apple icon > Shut down.
8.) If it still does not boot, boot into recovery again.
9.) Go back to Disk Utility and erase the top volume, format it with APFS or MacOS Journaled.
10.) Exit Disk Utility.
11.) Choose to reinstall OS.
12.) Pick your USB that you plugged in (assuming it reads by your device).
13.) Finish installing Monterey and then upgrade to the latest OS available.
14.) If all this works but the problem comes back, the disk is probably dead. Buy a new SSD and replace it yourself or bring it to an Apple repair shop to have them do it. If not, consider getting a new Mac.
@Eli
Just hold down the Command and R keys when you boot and reinstall Mac OS without losing any data.
@Eli
I’m in the same boat.
My iMac (2013) went through an update and now it keeps crashing on the progress bar. Sometimes there’s a startup chime, but not always. The progress bar sometimes gets stuck at 50% or 90% and then just reboots.
I’ve tried everything you have and ended up booking it with the Genius Bar. They did various hardware tests with software from OS 9 and found no issues other than a bad memory stick but still couldn’t get it to boot right.
I’m telling you this because I haven’t given up. My worst case would be to pull the internal hard drive and read it with another Mac to see what I can get back. It involves removing the screen, though. Not sure if that’s going to be possible with your 2018 MacBook Pro.
One forum user suggested I install a live USB with Linux to read the hard drive and access files. Genius!
That’s what I’m doing, but it has NOT been straightforward and I’m having limited success. Various Linux versions don’t want to boot on the Mac and Linux also doesn’t easily support the Apple file system (APFS) so I had to try to add that support, which has been pretty tough.
My Mac didn’t have FileVault on so I guess that is why I can read the files. Otherwise everything would be locked up.
If you’re interested in trying this method, I can share more details.
Just to say, I’ve had limited success so far and my live USB with Linux won’t boot anymore so I had to start fresh which means going back to adding support for APFS.
My iMac doesn’t have USB-C and I only have USB-C external drives to transfer the data to. So I’ve been trying to get access over the network using my Mac Air M1, which hasn’t been easy at all. It’s been quite a process but I still need to get 2TB from the 3TB drive.
If your drive is encrypted, you might be out of luck but don’t give up hope.
@Eli
Try heating up the SSD in an open oven for about 30 minutes on high, then let it cool down, put it back in and see if it works.
@Eli
It’s almost certain your disk is destroyed. If so, you need to replace the whole logic board or pay someone to solder a new SSD to your logic board. Both options are not cheap.
But if the disk isn’t completely fried, you could make a macOS installer on a USB stick and try installing from there. To check if the disk still works, go to recovery like you know how to do but choose Disk Utility instead of trying to reinstall the OS. Run Disk Utility and see if it detects the disk. You could also take a photo of what Disk Utility shows and people can help you from there.