Dead Macbook pro

[Chris]

Evening all, 

 

Just pulled my MacBook pro out from under the bed. Not used it in a while and was greeted by a weird looking login screen, dull grey with my name and "guest".

 

Tried my password, but won't let me login. Tried recovery mode, asked me to choose wifi and enter password, eventually got into recovery mode. Tried fixing the drive, but fails. Tried scanning the drive, fails. Tried reinstalling OSX but it says its contacting apple, verifying then says it can't find installation for my device and contact applecare. I bought the MacBook from a reseller on ebay a year or so ago so unlikely applecare are going to help me, without at least some £££. 

 

I don't actually use it, just wanted to wipe it, reinstall it and sell it but I now have no idea what to do with it as I now can't even get into recovery mode to erase the drive!!!!

[swedishskoda]

Hmmm... I wonder if a Linux install (LiveUSB) could do the trick, allowing you to access the drive and wipe it. Or why not replace the OSX with a Linux distro? One must admit that MacBooks look smart, and with a decent OS they might even be useful...

[Mort]

Have you tried Internet Recovery mode? (Cmd-Opt-R on startup, rather than just Cmd-R for recovery mode) it should download the original OS version the Mac shipped with and let you install that.

 

It's was bloody slow but managed to sort an old iMac I was having issues wiping. Had to then log in with my Apple ID to get it upgraded to Sierra as it installed Mavericks on it.

 

Might be worth a try?

[CWARD]

I had the same problem with mine a while ago, although it was in regular use. I tried all the options you had but could only get the restore from internet option to work that Mort stated.