Case Files

MacBook Air stuck on Apple logo

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THE CALL

An Intel based MacBook Air came in to the shop because it was “boot looping”. What does that mean you ask? After entering the user password, the machine would reboot, act like it was going into Recovery Mode and then end up back at the password prompt. Rinse. Repeat.

FIRST LOOK

Steve, our Mac technician for software issues, verified the boot looping issue and was able to boot into Recovery Mode. Diagnostics did not point to anything specific or obvious. After talking to the customer, it was found out that the issues started while trying to do an OS update.

FIRST DIAGNOSIS

With the information provided by the customer, it was determined that the best course of action was to reload the OS over top while preserving the underlying data.

THE COMPLICATION

This model of MacBook Air had the 128GB of memory soldered to the logic board. In order to complete the OS reinstall, space had to be cleared in the storage.

THE FIX

After the OS reload was complete, the user’s files were accessible. All the data was saved in iCloud except one folder. That folder was safely offloaded.

THE OUTCOME

After safeguarding all the data (which was just the one large folder), the laptop was shut down. Upon a cold boot, the laptop decided to stay frozen at the while Apple Logo. Recovery Mode disk utility confirmed that the storage was, in fact, failing and the OS reload was the death knell for it. The MacBook Air was not usable.
There are a couple lessons to learn here. 1) Backup your data! Whether that is with Time Machine or into iCloud, make sure you have copies that are not on the local laptop. 2) When doing OS updates, always let them run to completion while connected to an external power source. In the end, the client was going to purchase a new MacBook and they had access to all their data. Even though the laptop was a loss, it ended up with a very positive outcome.