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I can't install macOS in the new SSD of my MacBook Air

We have a MacBook Air, 2012. The SSD died, we replaced it with OWC 250mb SSD, but we CANNOT get MacOS/X to install. Recovery tools downloads the OS Lion image, but will not install it. This is crazy. This Mac was $2000, and it recognizes the new SSD Ok, no problem. How to install OS/X - any version???

The machine downloads all the disk image, but fails with an error message: "Can't download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X." and the attempt to re-install the OS/X fails.


There MUST be a solution to this, since dying SSD drives are a common problem. It seems unbelievable that the original OS/x cannot be re-installed, given that the machine was sold WITHOUT any CD-ROM disk or other media.


What is the solution here? Thank-you. - Mark Langdon, GEMESYS Canada.




[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Nov 22, 2021 1:56 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 23, 2021 4:32 PM

The only reliable way of creating a bootable macOS USB installer is by using the instructions in the Apple article I linked previously. You will need access to another Mac which is capable of running macOS 10.11 to 10.15. Make sure to carefully read the instructions and keep in mind if you are creating a macOS 10.11 installer, then there are several extra steps you need to perform before you use the Terminal command.


If there are no errors when creating the bootable macOS USB installer, then try using another SSD (especially another brand) since the quality of USB sticks is extremely poor plus Macs are very picky about the drives used for booting.


If there are any errors when creating a bootable macOS USB installer, then please at what step you encounter a problem and post the exact error message. If the error occurs when using the Terminal, then make sure to post both the exact command used and the exact error message. Either cut & paste the contents of the Terminal window or post a screenshot. We can assist in creating a bootable USB installer. We cannot help you if you don't provide us exact details when something doesn't work as intended.


You can also see if an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will create a bootable macOS USB installer for you.


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5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 23, 2021 4:32 PM in response to GEMESYSCanada

The only reliable way of creating a bootable macOS USB installer is by using the instructions in the Apple article I linked previously. You will need access to another Mac which is capable of running macOS 10.11 to 10.15. Make sure to carefully read the instructions and keep in mind if you are creating a macOS 10.11 installer, then there are several extra steps you need to perform before you use the Terminal command.


If there are no errors when creating the bootable macOS USB installer, then try using another SSD (especially another brand) since the quality of USB sticks is extremely poor plus Macs are very picky about the drives used for booting.


If there are any errors when creating a bootable macOS USB installer, then please at what step you encounter a problem and post the exact error message. If the error occurs when using the Terminal, then make sure to post both the exact command used and the exact error message. Either cut & paste the contents of the Terminal window or post a screenshot. We can assist in creating a bootable USB installer. We cannot help you if you don't provide us exact details when something doesn't work as intended.


You can also see if an Apple Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will create a bootable macOS USB installer for you.


Nov 22, 2021 3:01 PM in response to GEMESYSCanada

Hi there, Mark Langdon (GEMESYS Canada)

Maybe II can help you....Your MacBook Air Does support Internet Recovery, and re-installing of the OS from a properly formatted bootable USB Drive..... For Internet Recovery, after you have done the reset of the smc/pmu and maybe zapped pram 3-4 times on startup, hold down the Command (Apple)+{Option} key + {R} keys together on the keyboard....immediately after hearing the startup chime....hold them all down until you see an animated globe on the screen which should be black and white and it should say "Starting Internet Recovery......This may take a While".... you should make sure your MacBook Air is plugged into an Ethernet connection or has a Wifi Network close by that you know the password to....a Wi-Fi menu will appear.....click the menu to display available wifi networks, then select one to connect to. you should also make sure your MacBook Air is plugged into a power source while this recovery is going on... If all goes well, you'll see the Mac OS Utilities window.... and from there you can hopefully re-install the OS. Lion is pretty doggone old, though.... and I don't know if it's available via iTunes or the App Store...so you might have to try to make a Bootable USB stick with Lion on it....you could try this link:

https://www.lifewire.com/create-bootable-flash-drive-os-x-lion-installer-2260350.... if you had a 2nd Mac, and you already download or "bought" Lion from the Mac App store.... it should still be there, under "Purchases" and so you can grab another copy again....here's a link which might be helpful to you.... it's basically a USB bootable drive maker application......https://diskmakerx.com/.... and here's an official Apple Link to Lion : https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2077?locale=en_CA...If Option/alt+Command+R are held down on startup, it should get you the latest MacOS Compatible with your Mac?



hope this helps you a bit


John B



Nov 22, 2021 8:39 PM in response to GEMESYSCanada

What was the highest version of macOS ever installed on this laptop?


If you are using an NVMe SSD, then the laptop must have had macOS 10.13+ installed at some point in the past so that the laptop's system firmware is updated to recognize an NVMe SSD. Plus you will only be able to use macOS 10.13+ with an NVMe SSD since only macOS 10.13+ includes the NVMe driver necessary to work with an NVMe SSD. You cannot install macOS 10.13+ for the first time without using an original Apple internal SSD. The original Apple SSD was a SATA based SSD whereas currently most third party replacement SSDs are NVMe based SSDs.


If the laptop never had macOS 10.12.6+ installed, then you won't have full access to Internet Recovery Mode when using Command + Option + R to install the recent versions of macOS. This means you will need to create a bootable macOS 10.13, 10.14, or 10.15 USB installer using another Mac:

How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


If your laptop never had macOS 10.13+ installed before, then you may want to contact OWC tech support for assistance if the OWC SSD you purchased is an NVMe based SSD. I've heard that OWC will sometimes send out an original Apple SSD so that users can install macOS 10.13+ in order to upgrade the laptop's firmware (the Apple SSD is only a temporary loan).


Nov 24, 2021 7:14 PM in response to HWTech

We got MacOS/X installed and working. Promised I would post the info here on how to do it.

You *can* upgrade a Macbook with a failed SSD drive. But you must build an OS/X installable bootable volume to do this.


It is not possible to install the original Apple Mac OS/X operating system onto a repaired Macbook Air, from the Apple "Internet Recovery" system, despite Apple's instructions saying this should work.  Apple technicians at the Apple Store confirmed that the facility to make this work, is disabled in Canada, and possible everywhere. 

We wasted *days* trying to do this using the "Internet Recovery" approach.


If you put a new SSD drive into your Macbook, to replace a defective SSD "disk", then you MUST create - using a different Apple Macbook - a "Bootable Mac OS/X Install Drive" - typically on a little USB stick.  The USB stick has to be at least 16GB (8 gb is too small!), and you must follow the instructions on this Apple Instruction Page, very carefully.  You will have to use "Internet Recovery" on the dead machine to connect to the internet, AND you must set the system date to the current date. (Some early advice had indicated that system date had to be set back to the date of the original machine setup.  This is not the case now.)  You might also have to use the Safari version on the "Internet Recovery" stub, to make a connection to Apple Support, and press enter when asked for the password for the "login" keychain.


We successfully did the whole procedure - but initial attempts failed with Apple OS/X install process saying "The copy

of the install OS X <your OS version, ie, Yosemite, Sierra, etc.)> application can't be verified."   We think the message

resulted from the system date being set back to Nov. of 2012. the date of the Macbook purchase, as per a site suggestion), but we are not sure.  


What did happen, is that once we updated the system date to the current date on the target Macbook Air (with the new OWC SSD drive card installed and formatted), we were finally able to get the Install of Yosemite to run - which took over a hour to complete.  Note: to set the system day, you go to "terminal" (an option in the top title bar), and at the command line you enter a standard Unix-style date. Example: for date of Nov. 23, 2021 with time of 13:41, you enter "date 112313412021" at the terminal command-line prompt. We chose old Yosemite Mac OS/X, because it was the earliest .DMG file version of MacOS/X offered by the Apple download.   Once the system was set to the current date, the install finally ran, which means the OS/X was successfully verified, as the first step.   Note we had already formatted the OWC SSD drive, to use the Mac journaling file system.


Here is critical link to the Apple Support Note, which describes the procedure that must be followed, to put a new copy of Mac OS/X onto a new, blank, virgin SSD drive:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372


This method is the *only* way that an original version of OS/X can be installed on a new MacBook SSD drive, at least in Canada. Apple does not offer CD-ROM versions of the Mac OS/X Installer, nor on any other kind of media. You have to build a complete Application (on a different Macbook machine) to build the  "Bootable Install Volume for Mac OS/X".  You first download the .DMG file for the Build Installable Bootable MacOS for the version you want, and then click on it to turn it into a .PKG file, then run the .PKG file (click on it), to create the "Build Installable MacOS Bootable Volume" Application, in your Applications directory, on this other Macbook.  You plug in the USB stick, and run the newly built Application, to create the OS/X Installable Bootable Volume on the USB stick.  Note: it is a good idea to rename your USB DISK to something like "MyVolume" or some such name without the stupid embedded space, which will cause grief when you try to run the "createinstallmedia" command.


The .dmg files to build the Application to make the bootable install OSX images, can be found here: 

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683


We used Yosemite, because it is confirmed to work, based on the technical specs for Yosemite and the older Macbook. These are documented here:

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP711?locale=en_US


We were finally able to complete this process, and we have repaired the MacBook Air, which now has a new, OWC

250mb SSD drive, and uses the FIrefox 78.x ESR web-browser, which we have confirmed works with all the sites we need to access.


Hope this info helps someone repairing and restoring their Macbook with a new SSD drive. We found the new OWC 250gb Aura SSD works fine, on our 2012 11-inch Macbook Air, Model A1465. The wifi works good, it links correctly to our Starlink router, and Firefox 78 ESR gives no-interuption video access to internet services. The older Apple hardware is well engineered, and is very worth repairing.

-Mark Langdon.

Nov 23, 2021 12:18 PM in response to Johnb-one

Thanx for reply, John B. "Lion" is the only option offered by the Internet Recovery option. I have tried about 20 different things, reformatted the OWC 250mb SSD, made sure all OWC and MacSupport instructions followed, etc. We have no trouble booting to the Internet Recovery. We cleared settings re PRAM and SMC, and used TERM to set different system dates (various suggestions on various board, eg: "MacRumours" which has 20 or 30 folks all reporting the same problem.) I watched the OS/X install log in realtime, and saw the download is failing with multiple errors saying: "Chunk validation failed, retrying..." (40 or 50 messages saying the same thing). The only OS/X option offered is OS/X 10.7 ("Lion"), and it *always* fails with: "Can't download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X."

Have contacted OWC "Support", and they cannot answer their telephones, and only received an automated response from email to them.

This is insane. The OWC SSD drive is installed correctly, it is the correct one for this machine (a 2012 Model A1465, 11-inch MacBook Air) and the formatted drive shows up fine, and Disk Utility "Verify" and "Repair" programs report no problems with it. All is good - except the Apple server will *NOT* validate the downloaded code, it appears.

Tried to create a bootable flash-drive version, but this has not been possible (various attempts, all failed)

Various attempts / tries. Option/alt+command+R works fine, we get the four-option menu, but only "Lion"is offered, and it fails to download and/or validate.

At wits end.

Thanx for reply. If I get to a solution, I will post it here. Numerous others report **exactly** this problem on MacRumours and other posting sites. THe MacBook Air SSD drives, with Toshiba chips will *all* fail soon, as they are roughly 10 years old, but it is easy to replace the failed drive, with a new SSD. But Apple appears to make re-installing the Mac OS/X impossible.

The solution looks to be legislative, not technical, we suspect. But thanx for the reply.

I can't install macOS in the new SSD of my MacBook Air

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