Mac computer help please

Hardware And Production
1

A few years ago I bought a mac off a local music producer for my son. It was fully loaded with production software, plug-ins etc etc. Seemed absolutely amazing. It was a good price and the only advice was “don’t go online”. Before I gave it to him for Christmas I had it checked out by a computer geek to check it was “clean”. It all seemed good.
Anyway it has not been used for a while as apparently it started getting slow, there were pop-ups, and even the mention of a picture of a naked woman. I have investigated and as far as i can tell the machine is empty.
I’m caught in a loop that starts and ends with the macOS Utilities page and can’t get anywhere much beyond that. The system says there are 997.78gb free out of 1TB.

I don’t understand computers beyond the obvious. Can anyone offer any help here?

2

Try and boot into safe mode

Start up your Mac in safe mode – Apple Support (UK).

Then reset NVRAM and PRAM and reset SMC

If that doesn’t work try and repair the disc with disc utility

If none of that works you might have to re-install the OS without affecting data

Reinstall macOS – Apple Support (UK).

If all else fails it might be a trip to the Apple Store :grimacing:

Good luck!

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3

Thanks Jason, I think i’ve tried a some of those things, it tries to update with Sierra but says it can’t connect to server.
I’ll give the safe mode a try :+1:

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4

Possible the disk was partitioned and you’ve lost access to the bit with the OS/software on it?

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5

Thanks Vlad, I’ll have another crack when I get home this eve. I can get on Safari but it won’t recognise the app store address to let me dl another version of the OS.

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6

The older mac os are mostly uploaded to archive.org if you need them
(In which case you’ll need to download and try and burn to a dvd / cd using another computer… and then insert into knackered mac and hold key to boot up from cd)

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7

First though… have you tried holding down Command + R while you turn it on ?
If you’re lucky this will boot into recovery mode and you can follow your nose from there
Will wipe HD and reinstall OS though

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8

Thank you Bill, I borrowed a usb drive with High Sierra yesterday. It looked like it was going to work but then failed and said it couldn’t install. I’ve got a pic of the error log which is substantial :joy:
The guy I bought it from originally has offered to come and have a try next week.
Something has happened in as much as the memory is now showing that there is still some stuff on there, which is hopeful as there was some great synth software.
I’ll hold off on your second suggestion just in case. :+1:

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9

Good luck. Hope he gets it sorted for you.
If not pm / WhatsApp me and I’ll do what I can to help

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10

Sigh. I feel your pain. Macs are amazing machines…until they aren’t.

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11

Occurred to me, are you trying to install an OS that is supported by your Computer. Might be worth checking what it shipped with and start from there. i.e. Use that as your starting point before you try to install later OS.

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12

I think it is the original OS, High Sierra. It’s what I tried to put back on and it seemed to nearly work if that’s possible? :joy: The chap is hopefully going to have a look at it this week so we’ll know one way or the other. He’s offered to fill it with software again if it needs wiping or has been.