How to Rescue a Non-Functional MacBook

If you experience issues during the normal imaging process for a Mac, the Mac may need a little extra help to get back into a state that is working for rental purposes.

If the Mac will boot...

1. Connect the Mac to power and to an imaging network.
2. The Mac will need to be in Recovery Mode.
   1. If the Mac is currently powered on and not already in Recovery Mode, shut it down.
   2. Wait for the indicator LED on the MagSafe connector to turn off and back on. (The Mac is not shut down yet when the screen turns off.)
   3. Hold the power button until the screen says Loading startup options, then let go.
   4. Click Options then Continue.
3. Open Disk Utility.
4. Select Macintosh HD in the left sidebar. If you see Macintosh HD listed more than once, select the top one.
5. Click Erase near the top-right of the Disk Utility window.
6. The Volume Label should be Macintosh HD, and the Format should be APFS. These are usually the default values, but double-check just in case.
7. Click "Confirm" a few times, then the Mac will reboot and go through an activation screen before going back to Recovery Mode again.
8. Reinstall Mac OS using the default options. This step will take a while.
9. Once you get to the like-new "Hello" screen, go through the setup process and create a user account. It doesn't matter what this user account is as long as you know what it is; we're just going to use it temporarily before we wipe again. Just be sure NOT to sign in with an Apple ID.
10. Run all system updates. This may take a while depending on what updates are available for that specific device.
11. Once all updates are installed, then follow the Mac Imaging Guide as written.

If the Mac will not boot...

Please contact helpdesk@markeys.com. There is a way to reset a Mac even more deeply, but it requires manual intervention from Event IT. If you have another Mac available, Event IT may be able to do this remotely.