Bootable USB Issues OS X 10.11

Joined
Mar 27, 2020
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Hey All,

Newbie here...

USE OF USB DRIVE
I have a mid 2010 iMac that just needed the HD wiped and a fresh install. I had a USB drive that I used to install 10.11 on it before - used this same drive. Wiped the HD, proceeded with the clean install. I got an error message that no packages were able to be installed. Restart and Repeated everything again, same result.

USING RECOVERY
so I restarted the Mac to get it to boot from the recovery partition - which it did. It Downloaded the install and then an error presented that it could not be installed. then I was in a boot loop that took me right back to that screen. reset the PRAM and retried the installation twice more - same thing.

now I decide to make a new USB drive - Used my 2012 MBP 10.13.
BTW you can download them directly from apple now via the guide on making a bootable usb.

Downloaded both Yosemite and El Capitan for good measure.

Started with El Capitan first.
Used the terminal code that apple provided on the guide. Made sure to check the file name was correct.
Drive gets made successfully.
Mac wouldn't boot from it.

Tried same process with disk maker for Yosemite. USB was also not bootable.

Any thoughts??

Thanks,
Jay
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
Welcome to our forums.

I have a mid 2010 iMac that just needed the HD wiped and a fresh install.

Tell us why it needed the fresh install? The fact that nothing seems to be working in order to get the machine to boot other than from recovery seems to indicate a hardware problem with the drive. Did you run First Aid on the hard drive from Recovery?
 
OP
J
Joined
Mar 27, 2020
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Wanted to just clear out everything. I had used it for a long while after one of the original MBPs I had finally died. Had tons of old backed up stuff from that I no longer needed plus baggage of old files from multiple upgrades. It was up and running fine yesterday morning.
 

Rod


Joined
Jun 12, 2011
Messages
9,627
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Melbourne, Australia and Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
Your Mac's Specs
2021 M1 MacBook Pro 14" macOS 14.4.1, Mid 2010MacBook 13" iPhone 13 Pro max, iPad 6, Apple Watch SE.
Just to eliminate one possibility, can you check that the USB is bootable on your MBP?
Just go to Startup Disk in System Prefs with the USB plugged in and see if it comes up in the options. If so you could try booting from it to be sure.
How are you attempting to boot the USB on the iMac, just holding the option key?
Here is an article on the process. Note that the USB needs to be using GUID mapping.
How to Boot Mac from a USB Drive? Fix Mac won't Boot from a USB Drive
 
OP
J
Joined
Mar 27, 2020
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Points
1
The drive appears as a bootable device on my MBP when I use the options key at startup. But not within the start up drive in settings.
The iMac will still not boot from the usb.

Disk utility shows it as bootable on the info menu on both the MBP and iMac recovery. But will not appear in that start up menu either.

The installation from the recovery fails because “no packages were eligible for install”.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top