A1708 unable to reinstall MacOS after factory reset - disk utility error 478

[posarah]

Hi,

I need some assistance in troubleshooting a A1708 who doesn’t want to re install macOS through internet recovery. It gets all the way through than gives “ MacOS “Installation Failed, An Error Occurred While Installing”.

Last week a friend of mine decided to factory reset his laptop as he doesn’t use it anymore and wanted to sell it. After factory resetting it and entering recovery mode (cmd+R) he followed the steps on the apple support community to delete the old install and reinstall by deleting the partition using disk utility but it failed saying “ MacOS “Installation Failed, An Error Occurred While Installing”. He then gave it to me to see if I can help him.

I entered recovery and checking the disk utility logs in recovery mode you can see about 30 repeated attempts all with the same text and the error 478. I haven’t been able to find anything specific on that error code or what to do about it, just the usual stuff my friend followed on the support forums. Only extra thing I have done is reset the pram as one site suggested that and that has not helped, if anything made things worse as now it seems much slower.

I have downloaded TransMac to create a bootable USB to try recover off as I currently do not have any other working macs to create a recovery usb on my windows pc. But the guides for it are not very detailed, they note formatting, setting it up for mac partitioning, extracting the macOS (I’ve downloaded Monterey as I wasn’t sure if Ventura is compatible), and that’s it. You’re supposed to be able to boot off of that but it does not show as a bootable device. I did not see any steps for actually setting the device as a bootable usb so have I missed some steps?
I can provide the disk utility logs if needed, I didn’t upload them now as I’m at home.

thanks again for your assistance.

 

[2informaticos]

Don't have another SSD for test?

Discard a software problem, trying to install original macOS which came on that machine.
Start Internet Recovery with Shift + Option + Command + R.

 

[posarah]

We don’t have another ssd to test. Tried internet recovery yesterday unfortunately same error, tried it again just now and same error. When we try reinstalling it does create the partition so when we try again should we go in and delete the partition or leave it? We’ve been deleting it each time before reinstalling.

I’ve dug up a old 2012 pro and using the software from the Core Legacy Patcher website as it’s so old downloading it from the App Store won’t work keeps saying your Mac does not support this os.

 

[2informaticos]

Put the machine in Target Disk mode and test its SSD from other Mac through USB.

 

[posarah]

Does the late 2011 pro support connecting to newer machines? I thought it had to be usbc to usbc? We don’t have an apple usb a to c cable so I’ll try a third party but I doubt it will work.

 

[posarah]

I tried hooking up the a1708 to the 2012 machine with a c to a cable hoping I could try use apple configuration or iTunes to restore it but the 2012 laptop just brings up a “thunderbolt accessory not recognised please disconnect and connect to the thunderbolt port”. We unfortunately don’t have a thunderbolt 2-3 adapter though.

 

[posarah]

One other thing to mention what would cause the option key to try boot off an external drive not work? I’m told it should fall back to recovery mode if it does not detect a bootable disk when holding option but it’s not it just loads the question mark folder and gives the generic apple.con/startup error

 

[2informaticos]

You can try pressing the other (right) Option key; in case the left one is bad.

I don't recommend to work on the MLB, before discarding SSD, or software problem.

 

[posarah]

Unfortunately the right key did the same thing. Just goes to the question mark folder. Is there a way to “force” the App Store to give you software os upgrades? I would at least try a usb drive recovery but whenever I use our 2012 pro through about this max > system upgrade > it opens up the upgrade tab within the App Store but it only show’s application updates I can’t find high sierra let alone something newer I believe the a1708 is currently on Monterey if I remember right I saw it in the disk utility.

otherwise we’re thinking of purchasing a second hand mac so we can deal with issues like this and also DFU mode. Which model would you recommend? Is there certain models that give you more functionality than others?
Thanks again

 

[2informaticos]

To deal with recent MacBook repairs, like DFU and Target Disk, get an USB-C model.
This way you don't need any adapter connection cable; just usual USB-C on both ends.

A1708 probably came with Mojave preinstalled.

 

[posarah]

Thanks for that. I’ve found direct links to the App Store for installers for Catalina so I’m going to try create a usb with that and try a usb recovery that way see if that works. If not I’m assuming all the usb c machines offer the same features in regards to repair? Should I avoid T2 models? A1708 would definitely be easiest cheapest no T2 removable ssd so definitely the most reliable but if there’s things you need a 2019 or even a m1 might as well bite the bullet now rather than having to buy something else down the track.

 

[posarah]

Yay it’s solved! I managed to get the Mojave installer as Mac world have an article with direct links for basically all the App Store pages so I was able to download it and install Mojave onto a usb.

For some reason creating the boot stick though did not work using the instructions on the above for mentioned mac world page, kept saying applications is an unknown command.

I was able though to install direct to a usb than use recovery mode on the a1708. For some reason this time while using internet recovery it actually went through and installed instead of erroring. Not sure if it installed off the usb or internet but it works now so doesn’t matter I guess.

it’s been wiped and I completed setup just so I could get into the os and make sure everything works. For future reference is there a way to skip to the os like windows has with OBE(out of box experience)? What do you think is most likely my friend did wrong to cause this issue in the first place? Because I’m basically going to have to do the same thing he did now, remove the user profile and return the Mac to out of box state so I want to do it correctly.

Thanks again for your assistance it is greatly appreciated!