macOS Infinite Boot Loop Recovery | No Backup | No Data Loss

[@elthanos879]

Can someone link a video in the comments that gets straight to the point and not be a life story…

[@sondosssamir2289]

Hello. I usually don’t comment on videos but I had to thank you very much for the tutorial and step-by-step instructions. I followed the steps till the end when I decided to reinstall the previous Mac OS version. It took some time and I was scared but Alhamdallah it worked at the end. Thank you again!

[@rogersliva4120]

I believe order is important. I had tried restoring the OS, didn't work, cleared the PRAM, didn't work, etc. But seeing that you did those in reverse order I tried again and SUCCESS! Thanks!

[@rgarlinyc]

Oh man... I know all about "late night tech decisions" that send me into a tailspin. Glad you recovered and thanks for documenting the processes.

[@dkemp1337]

lol someone gave me an Xbox one that was overheating and I repasted it at 2am to only find it do the same thing boot as soon a a game is actually loaded and it works the cpu the fan maxes out and it shuts off instantly so now it does it less but still does it I think a chip is fried or something but I took it apart and put it back together multiple times thinking what did I do wrong

[@rgarlinyc]

@@dkemp1337 Oh... you poor guy. I've done that 'dance' too many times over the years!😒😬

[@lorenzograjeda350]

I wasnt up to date with Sonoma, I was on venture. I got all the way to the "Keep Data and Re-Install Mac OS" section and had to update to Sonoma, it worked after a while just like yours! Thank you so much for the help, I just finished with the time machine backup to an external SSD to play it safe, but this saved me so much time! Thanks again! (2019 Intel Macbook Pro w/ Touchbar)

[@charlesurdy-barnes413]

Man! What an excellent natural speaker you are. So tech savy, you are thata your speaking abilities may be even more captivating.

[@AnsonAlexander]

Wow, thanks, I really appreciate that!

[@JULIOAIS]

A brindis for your health! I'm 89 years old and went to your same situation a couple of times.(A lot of couple of times.) And like you, alone, without any help, I solved your same problem. And watching You Tube, i thing is a common problem with Imac. Congrat!

[@purrrrsis]

You have no idea how much you’ve saved my butt today. I was having a bad day already, when i got home i tried opening up my macbook and i was shocked to see that i was stuck on a loop. Then i found your video, hoping that i’d still be able to recover my macbook data… I love your story telling it made me feel i wasn’t alone when dealing with this scary situation I appreciate your story and how you helped us solve this You are my hero please keep making videos and sharing your stories

[@laurabondurant5096]

Bro, I was stuck on my MacBook Pro M1. Infinite loop. Followed instructions to Power + Option. it worked. Thanks so much! Fingers crossed. Updating to Sonoma.

[@AnsonAlexander]

Woohoo, awesome! Glad you got back in. Have fun on Sonoma!

[@Mandibil]

Mac reboot … a horror story

[@mankindapparel]

thia was such a weird issue - very distressing. was great to watch what you went thru as it seemed i was also getting to bottom of my "toolbag" so weird - thanks for posting. did not feel so alone - even tho we are separated by several months by now.

[@DavidEspinosa21]

I tried everything up to about minute 7 and nothing worked. Decided to do the reinstall MacOS option and after about an hour or so it finally let me back in! It was weird since I only logged into Windows through Bootcamp which had always worked before. Great video, very helpful.

[@krystaflorindo1792]

Thank you so much for this video. While some may not appreciate you taking the time to explain everything, I really did (I appreciate the context over getting straight to the point and not knowing the full experience/full story of what was happening). and going through what you went through with your on/off cycling issues. I was having the same issue with my 2019 Macbook Pro. My laptop is also partitioned into apple/windows and I was experiencing exactly what you were with my windows being able to start up just fine when holding down shift but once updating and trying to switch back to apple with boot camp it would go back into the on/off cycle (just as you experienced). In the past when this has happened to me a simple NVRAM/PRAM reset would resolve the issue but not this time so I also appreciate that you went through and explained/showed the multiple ways you can resolve the on/off issue. This Video helped me get my laptop back up and running correctly, so thank you very much for taking the time to make this video. 😊

[@gabrielgmrs]

Last step worked for me on my MacBook Pro 2018 (right after an attempt to install Windows via Bootcamp). Thanks so much!

[@rachelchen2494]

This worked for me too! :) I got caught in an update that my iMac was not able to fully install. It got stuck at '26 minutes to go' overnight. Reset NVRAM and then went straight for disk utility > reinstall macOS. Thank you angel Anson!

[@dintaifungg]

thank you for this! no data lost on my end!🙏🙏🙏 love the story telling too as i went through each process on my computer at the same time

[@seththlemon8302]

Bro I did this last night and have a bunch of homework, Your a freaking life saver!!! Reinstalling macOS currently as we speak❤

[@imallfordabulls]

Just had a 2018 MBA behave like this. Backed up files through target disk mode using another device and then did a full reinstall. It shut down a few times just like yours. It also worked!

[@alexweinstein9122]

You took the fear out of reinstalling the OS. Saved my machine. Thank you!

[@MarjaMariachi]

This video is the last piece in the puzzle of getting my HD back properly! So glad you made this, Anson! Didn't know if the Recovery mode's "Install" option would wipe my files and I haven't found an answer until now. Thanks so much!! :D

[@LPKai99]

Tysm for this guide, I tried to install bootcamp on my MacBook Pro which worked fine and all but after a couple of hours I decided to deinstall it cause I didn’t have that much space left. All was fine and nothing seemed wrong but the next day when I tried to start my MacBook it got into that loop where the startup sound appeared and the progress bar was loading only for 5% and then restarting. In the end the reinstalling of Os helped me out and I kept all of my data thankfully :)

[@mathieulesowitz5194]

The video helped. The last step is what brought my laptop back to life. Not going to lie I was just extremely stressed out the whole time but very relieved and happy now thanks !

[@absali7664]

Thank you so much! I tried all the steps and the only one that worked as the Cmd+R and Install MacOS Sonoma! I had recently deleted my windows bootcamp partition and I believe that prompted it to happen as I had not downloaded the latest iOS.

[@Catznburger]

DUDE!!! You totally saved my bacon. I was just about to give up, sat through your story (don’t listen to the haters, I loved hearing someone go through what I went through)… AND I’M BACK!! So appreciate your help.

[@NorthernBeachesRider]

This exactly happened to me last night. All the same!!! However, as I watching this video I was already in the final stages and it started up properly! 😂 kept me occupied, great vid!

[@AnsonAlexander]

Haha awesome, glad to hear you got it back up and running and I could help support the recovery effort!

[@YoutuberTedikMaRadMedik]

Super story, steps and the narration / video work is great... :-D thanks :-)

[@laniminson6940]

I got to step 4 and it fixed mine. Thank you for the video!!! So much

[@THEALI1]

Bruh, we not here for story time. Straight to the pointtttt. Thanks for the video tho.

[@AnsonAlexander]

I'm sorry you didn't appreciate the story but, when going through all of the troubleshooting steps as I did in this situation, it's important to have context and understand why you're attempting a particular fix. Hope you're able to fix your computer if you're having issues...

[@itsjayrdannysdad]

​@@AnsonAlexanderdude I was getting anxious as hell as you were telling your story then at the end where you talked about the hand jitters and rapid heartbeat while writing the script , sheesh. Right there with you bro. I'm dealing with a similar issue with my 2009 iMac on High Sierra. Might just have to use the apple configurator. Felt like just f it, erase and clean install but you have inspired me.

[@terryterry1655]

There we go again.. Blah blah blah

[@terryterry1655]

There we go again.. Blah blah blah

[@terryterry1655]

There we go again.. Blah blah blah

[@Youngiiin]

Thank you so muchh!!!, I really thought my laptop wouldnt work again after the windows boot camp system update thing, but redownloading macos in recovery worked

[@TechInsomnia]

This video really helped me learn a lot! Great video and great story telling my brother. Appreciate your time and effort to make this video. Subscribed! 💯

[@AnsonAlexander]

That's awesome to hear and I'm glad you enjoyed the story. For situations like this details matter so I wanted to get those in for anyone with a similar issue. Thanks for the sub!

[@yusufkilic2205]

Hello Anson, So, at the end of all this, did your Windows operating system boot up properly with bootcamp? thanks

[@muzicmaster8]

Thank you reinstalling Mac OS worked for me - had a boot loop with the error “enter the password to unlock the disk”

[@SakinaSultana16]

How come you posted EXACTLY what happened to me 😭😭 I’m on the last step waiting to see if files can be saved 😢 Ty for the step by step troubleshooting tutorial I definitely needed it explained to me like a baby and if you hadn’t shown exactly everything you went thru in the last step I would’ve gotten impatient many times and thought my computer froze and would’ve force restarted during mid re-installation and really fucked up 🤦🏽‍♀️ Still waiting on it but just had to thank you first!

[@katgreenfilm]

This was so funny! I am watching it while waiting for my OS install because I literally just went through a restart loop 🤣. However my install say 7 hours so I’m not as hopeful 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

[@huh-su8ws]

had this problem, probably because I recently deleted windows... this worked!! thank you so so soooo much, it was also my last chance at having a normal student week with my mac :) this video gave me reassurance that someone else had gone through this and confidence that I could do it too by following this tutorial, as well as saving me from the scoldings I could've potentially gotten from my parents for destroying my laptop... sub'd and liked!!

[@wesleydoucet7185]

Repairing now, dunno if it will fix my issue but as a primarily Windows user I appreciate the help.

[@vrajpatel3219]

GOAT MAN U HUST SAVED ME 😭🙏

[@AnsonAlexander]

Awesome, great to hear!

[@NinoAmerica]

You gave me hope. I ran the repair option but one of my drives wouldn’t repair. There’s an issue. What do I do? Honestly it looks full

[@ItzLennyXD]

I really need your advice in this. Should I download bootcamp again? if so what should I do to prevent it from going into a bootloop?

[@joanndaprile9076]

I'm sitting here watching the Apple bar load again hoping my iMac actually starts this time after sudden loss of power earlier after a transformer blew in the neighborhood. However, my iMac is from 2011 or 2012. I will go through as many steps as I can. Hope I have a successful resolution. Appreciate the information!

[@loyaltyoftheuniverse]

I have a question, if the macbook pro did reinstall itself, but didn't save all your data, will your bootcamp data still be safe and sound? Can you still boot up into windows?

[@shanerikahector757]

I normally get so irritated with story time but at this moment, I really needed to hear that someone got through this with a happy ending. Praying I get there too! Thanks for sharing

[@Matoujapon]

Man do I love those stories

[@oliviamelvin9737]

Lesson learned, I jumped to the end first and then around to different points and nothing was working. Was going to erase because I don’t have space to reinstall, but decided to start from the beginning and try every step in order. I see text below the loading bar for the first time 🤞🏼

[@AnsonAlexander]

I’m glad you got it resolved! I know some people don’t going through the whole process but there really was a reason I did everything in this order so I’m glad you were able to be patient with my story and get your Mac fixed :)

[@MarjaMariachi]

I found a decent workaround/stopgap when my MacBook Pro 2012 unibody did similar: Install OS onto a memory card and use it as a hard drive. It's great because it gives you time to back up everything before you do the HD reinstall. I've been running like this for a couple years now, my files were still there so I was afraid the HD reinstall would wipe everything. Used Recovery Mode cmd-r at startup, and chose Install OS onto the memory card. (USB flashdrive runs too slow.) Option-Reboot, chose the memory card, and we're back!! Woot! Downsides: At each startup, the computer sets files on the actual HD to read-only. You can copy, view, edit, etc., but you have to save changes to the memory card. The other downside is you have a memory card sticking out of the computer all the time, don't bump into it!

[@_numb]

Honestly, str8 to the point is best but somehow your story is just as gr8❤ty

[@5000padron]

This exact thing just happened to me, and I did the same thing. I have a 2.9 GHz 6-Core Intel Core i9 MacBook Pro. Command R worked, and the utility scan was okay. Then, I reinstalled the OS, and everything was fine. But it happened again in one week. The second time, I brought it to Apple to run diagnostics. Everything seemed okay, but the technician said I might have a hardware issue. :( Now, I feel unsafe with this computer. What are your thoughts? Should I do a full wipe of the computer? It’s working, but I feel like I might be ready for an upgrade. However, I still think this computer might have some life left in it. Thoughts?

[@anukritipandey]

Great climactic storytelling:) But what happens if Command+R is not working:( I can’t even get into Recovery mode. Any advice. My Macbook Air has been stuck on the Apple logo for many hours now. Tried everything:/

[@antvil]

I have no words, you save me bro

[@maiyenish8552]

Do note that Apple Intel "Target Disk", in iMacs using Apple silicon M chips, is an option in the macOS Recovery. Another option for recovery pertains to the usage of electro-optical devices. Discussing "Target Disk", does make you a nerd! Congratulations on joining the club!

[@Xyzxzyx]

BRO IVE BEEN DEALING WITH THIS ISSUE WITH NO ANSWER FROM NYC TECHS FOR A YEAR AND PVRAM WORKED IMMEDIATELY ?????? WHAT BRO THANK YOU

[@hhblair44]

Awesome! Thanks for relieving some of the anxiety of using the reinstall feature. My iMac would run fine from guest account, but reboot constantly or lock up when it didn't reboot. Update: Didn't work. I think the main/admin login I used is corrupt. Had to limp in safeboot mode and created a new admin account. Machine works fine with that login (guest too).

[@mightydealnz4294]

Thank you, Anson! - my nightmare is now sorted

[@PriscillaGomez]

I’m having this same issue with an M1 MBP. Already went through reinstalling the OS once. That unfortunately did not work and now on my second attempt. I was luckily able to recover my data through Target Disk mode but I would love to not have to wipe the whole MacBook clean. We’ll see how this goes!

[@AnsonAlexander]

Oh wow, that is an interesting yet, unfortunate, situation. I'd love to hear how it ends up. How old is the MBP? Did you run Disk Utility and, if so, see any errors?

[@GC-fj7wk]

Hi, how did you recover the data through target disk mode? What did you do?

[@simonyam8600]

Great video! It is the most detailed video on the earth. Thank you!

[@misterleaf7749]

thank you my brother, this happened to me as well and your solution worked great question though, did you encounter the problem again after going into windows again? im too scared to look lol thank you again though this saved me, sub and like earned, peace 🙏

[@monteallums7175]

Yep, same thing happened to me. I am trying the reinstall next. Thanx for the vid!

[@leejeongsuk9815]

Omg thank you very much, you really saved me and my macbook.

[@OficialBear]

Context: erased all data as a factory reset then got caught in the loop. What worked for me after trying everything: Cmd R, ran “First Aid” diagnostics on all available discs, returned with no error, “operation successful”. Left utility disk, re-installed Mac OS, turned on/off a few times with apple logo, loading bar began to move in parts, and after 4-5 times it did that it started running normally as if it was a new computer.

[@Kwaoo]

I was navigating in to the settings last night and I decide to reboot my Mac from the settings window, there was an option that says “restart from HD” which is the only HD in my laptop, and big surprise! Computer restart and I wasn’t able lo login I got exactly the same loop as your, I try everything as you explain and in other forums, but nothing really happen now I’m hoping I’ll be able to see my files again still 2 hrs to wait! what a Weird glitch/bug? do you have any idea why is this happening??

[@askandytsai]

This happened to me exactly. Thanks for sharing.

[@JADMP]

After everything and de OS system got back to work as usual does de windows system got errased? Or it was still ther and you could work perfect after that in bouth systems?? Because I have the same exact problem

[@AnsonAlexander]

Both systems work perfectly to this day. I’ve even updated the Mac partition to Sonoma.

[@hamzataj2603]

Why is bro telling his life story we’re all on the same pg with the issue

[@aggienl]

:))

[@anywindo]

Ugh, my macbook got a kernel panic and infinite loop because of windows update didn’t go well.

[@elenasirghi7248]

Hi, I have the same problem and I tried reinstalling the system but I have no space. How I free up some space at this point?

[@harrisonofordu9374]

Same here too. How do I free up space . I have 47gb and it saying I need 2gb more . I have been going through comments looking for someone in a similar situation. Have you been able to resolve it ?

[@brycebolton17]

Hey, i have the same keyboard and i'm using it with a mac. Did you have any isssue with the volume change button doesn't work?

[@xan_dr]

You saved my life bro. Thank you for sharing this story. Saved all my data!!!

[@AnsonAlexander]

That's awesome to hear! Any more details? Were you in an infinite boot loop? Was Boot Camp involved? Did you have to go through all the steps? If not, which step fixed it for you?

[@xan_dr]

@@AnsonAlexander Yeah it was related to Bootcamp, I had installed Windows on my macbook pro 2019 for the first time yesterday, and when I tried to go back to MacOS, it would infinitely reboot itself. I tried all of the steps leading up to reinstalling MacOS in Recovery mode and none of them worked for me either. It was only after the reinstall, was I able to boot up again. All is seemingly working now. Thanks.

[@th3cfstatic]

My Mac has an off brand wireless keyboard and mouse, anything I can do if it’s not receiving inputs at start up

[@vivianschwartfeger]

All keystrokes must be completed before the Apple logo. There’s only one way to reset PRAM. PRAM is where system settings related to sound volume and display resolution etc. it has nothing to do with core systems.

[@loyaltyoftheuniverse]

it won't let me boot into recovery mode and I don't have anything to connect my computer to another mac :( pls help

[@oliviercarez]

Thanks.. This did it for me..

[@AnsonAlexander]

Awesome, welcome back to your Mac!

[@oliviercarez]

I thought it was ok, but after reinstall, it went back into infinite boot 😱

[@ZhangPeng]

Try this: 1. Start by pressing the Option key 2. When the boot disk selection menu appears, press the space bar 3. select recovery mode 4. Start terminal 5. type "cd /Volumes && ls", find the label of the boot disk, such as "macOS". 6. mount -uw "/Volumes/macOS" 7. bless --mount "/Volumes/macOS" -bootefi --last-sealed-snapshot 8. Reboot

[@digitallogicmedia6314]

You. Are. THE MAN

[@bronzeinn]

Thank you for your help!

[@dacvsrex1006]

Same to me i was getting back from bootcamp to mac and got this problem. Bu when i want to get in recovery mode pressing command R i get a 🔒 and a bar to type a password or something.. but if I type my pc pass or mac id nothing happens. Can you help please?🙏

[@pbrax28]

This worked out well for me. Now I'm going to bed.

[@pbrax28]

after the first 2 options I just went to the restore options Man.....

[@AnsonAlexander]

Awesome! Glad it helped and hopefully can sleep better now!

[@243basha]

Next time, get straight to the solution of the problem. Keep going. Thanks

[@AnsonAlexander]

Unfortunately, not all problems are the same. This video has the solution to many macOS problems. Hope you find what you're looking for.

[@harrisonofordu9374]

@@AnsonAlexanderhow do I free up space .it saying I don’t have enough g space to install the os. At first I wasn’t interested in your story but after a while I loved . I didn’t even know when the video stopped playing . Keep up with the stories please

[@ashlyngreen4437]

Bless you…I thought my relatively new MacBook Air was a goner.

[@thornwivans]

You superstar!...fixed thanks so much!

[@paulwitheysweetooth4702]

I did all of this and still hasn’t opened. I have noticed two things though . No start up audio “zzhing “ and no sound of HD whirling away ! Has the hard drive broken? If so how can I start my iMac ? Thanks Paul

[@Streuselberg]

I'll save everyone the time that this video wasted -- boot into recovery mode by holding cmd + r while/before the apple logo shows, then reinstall the OS

[@AGENTARMES]

IMac 27" Yosemite 10.10.5 - none of these options worked for me. Started getting grey screen after installing more RAM and now the infinite boot loop. please help

[@orfeous]

Target disk mode sounded interesting! Having issues with a OSX Yosemite to Sierra upgrade on a 21" 2013 late imac with a 1tb fusion drive. It has stuck on the black screen with apple logo and a progress bar. Stuck like at the end. Booted in recovery mode, entered disk utility did first aid on the disk. No errors found. Rebooted and the loading process started over. But after a couple of hours it stuck again on the same spot. Have not tried the CMD + L for the log screen or if it was Option + L people has told on forums that the progress bar isnt accurate. And the log window can tell the process and the remaining time and if it has like hang/crashed and such. Dont understand why this happened with the upgrade. Have like 30 gig free space. So it should be enough. When i started the upgrade process within Yosemite it ran a compatibility script before the process. No errors or nothing telling me something about the free space. So.. i have not tried the NV/PRAM reset. I have not tried booting up on a Linux Live USB and copy data there. I have not tried this Disk target mode. Dont know what cable needed. The imac is a friend.. and she also has a newer imac 27" i dont know what year though and what ports available. I have a macbook pro late 2013 with big sur installed that are available for that process aswell. Is it possible to connect an external usb drive on that 21" imac and boot up osx sierra from a usb stick and install osx on that external drive? and use that to access the internal disk data? Please suggesstions?

[@toonopdenacker]

thanks you made my day

[@shadowtheheadch0g]

what about if your mac resets every time you try logging in, freezes when trying to log in via safe mode, and the recovery mode keybind just brings you to a loading screen that fills up by a super small amount without going past that point before suddenly shutting down 5-8 minutes later?

[@lisameyers9192]

Mosrv All t c 13:41

[@dayanaacevedo1532]

Do I install it macintosh HD or Macintosh HD - data, whats the difference

[@pooksdavid]

My imac has grey questionmark at startup so its not booting up properly and disk utility is not fixing the issue and i canterase or install a new os

[@imartens7443]

Thank you so so much! Im never touching boot camp ever again lol

[@touhoe]

thanks for the help, was boutta have a panic attack

[@SLMediaie]

If anyone ever gets an issue where you cannot install the Mac OS because you don’t have enough storage on your Mac HD. Plug in an external drive, (format it) and install the Mac OS onto the hard drive and boot up the Mac. Access your Macintosh HD while on the hard drive OS and clear up space. Delete your caches too. Once you have enough storage deleted. Restart the Mac into recovery mode again and reinstall the Mac OS onto your Macintosh HD. Hope this helps someone because I learned this over 24 hours of heartache 😂

[@9asyhd9sahgdsahd59]

Thank you. I cant even boot into bootcamp Windows… please help :( im getting boot loop after 0.5s loading bar doesnt even go past 1% i reckon..

[@doritoozz]

Worked but didn’t work? I restored the dead laptop but as soon as i removed the usb c cable that was connected to my other laptop it turned off and the boot loop nightmare started all over again 😢 Any suggestions?

[@loyaltyoftheuniverse]

what if the infinite reboot loop reappears even after reinstalling mac OS?

[@molez5022]

Exactly my problem please could you tell me if you found a solution?

[@loyaltyoftheuniverse]

@@molez5022 I haven't really tested out his solutions yet, I'm just asking questions to get prepared, but I recommend bringing your device to the MAC OS Support Professionals

[@peacetohuman]

I tried reinstalling but its asking for more space. How can I free up space in recovery mode? I tried target disk but its not showing up in my M1 iMac (The problem laptop is Intel Mac). Any help is greatly appreciated

[@tebia]

I have the same problem, any luck?

[@jamieshort]

Mine’s worse. I couldn’t do repair on disk, wouldn’t allow me to reinstall OS, recovery mode not working-only internet recovery. Tried to erase disk and its completely deleted internal drive instead…😭

[@shanZeng-v6m]

Try different methods: could not enter recovery mode (command+R/ command+option+R/command+shift+option+R), could not enter safe mode, could not enter hardware diagnostic mode, could not boot from external drive, could not reset pram/nvran or SNC. could not become external drive from other Mac, could not enter FDU model, but can enter windows, without any problem.... It falls and break the screen, I used an external screen try everything... don't know what to do now.

[@sukhjotesingh9613]

Have you seen the screen coming up as not giving a disk option to install os on?

[@eradutiu]

I still can't get mine to stop shutting down. Mac book pro 2020, after doing all he said still shuts down. It never gets to the screen where it changes. Not sure what to do at this point.

[@shanZeng-v6m]

How do you fix it. I have the same problem could not boot. but windows does.

[@ventolininhaler1583]

Didn’t work for me… The recovery server could not be contacted (unable to reinstall macOS)

[@AnsonAlexander]

Sounds like you were trying to do a network reinstall. Will have to get your computer connected to Ethernet or to WiFi from the boot menu to perform network recoveries.

[@mjan-i7bm]

i’m in the download macos area and the time keeps changing going from 2 hours to 5 to 9 hours, what do i do, and how do i wipe my computer clean?