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Mid 2012 model, A1278 / 2.5 GHz i5 or 2.9 GHz i7 processor.

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Unable to Reinstall OS

At some point a few months ago my beloved Mid 2012 went to sleep for the last time. I went through the usual processes for revival including but not limited to Booting in safe mode, resetting NVRAM, Restoring from backup, etc. I decided that maybe my relatively new SSD had failed so I replaced it.

First I tried to restore from backup, it wouldn’t take.

Then I tried to install Mojave again from a boot drive I made and have successfully used several times. that wouldn’t take.

Then I tried a web reinstallation of the original OS that came with the laptop. That didn’t take.

I then got a new logic board from iFixit and tried all of the above over again with the same results.

Either the precesses time out after leaving them to work for 14+ hours. Or it says that “Resources are unavailable”.

Let me know any thoughts anyone has.

I know I need to get a new computer soon but I’m certainly not ready to call it on this one regardless. A) It’s a workhorse B) There are some great applications that are tied to my original CPU’s SN that I’d like to not repurchase either because of cost/availability.

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You likely hitting the expired certificate issue many people hit on these older systems If you've got an old macOS install image, it will probably stop working today

The Internet recovery won’t work as Apple has not updated the image which is what you encountered.

To get around this you’ll need setup a USB thumb drive OS installer with Sierra as that’s the best macOS for your system. You’ll need to use another Mac to create it. Format the USB drive to GUID Journaled file system. Then download the OS file from here How to get old versions of macOS then follow this guide to create the bootable installer How to create a bootable macOS Sierra installer drive

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I tried this out but, as far as I've gathered from other forums, I think there's a bug in the latest version of the Sierra installer that gives a "Volume is not a valid mount point" error in terminal when attempting to create the boot drive. I made sure it was Mac OS Journaled and GUID Partition Map and everything.

All that being said, I think I ran into the certificate error earlier this summer when restoring a friend's 2009 MacBook to El Capitan and I was able to get around that alright and remember it giving me different errors during attempted installation.

What's been happening for me is the installer will boot up just fine and even begin installation and tell me there are 10 minutes remaining. Then shortly it will revise to somewhere between 11 and 14 hours and then at some point hours later if I let it run its course it will end up giving me that same "resources" error.

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@nute_gunray69 - What is your drive? Also did you replace the HD SATA cable?

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Thanks for helping out with this.

I have a months old 1TB Samsung 860 EVO and I replaced the SATA cable a couple years ago and it seems to be in working order. Either way I’ve tried all of the above with the drive connected via USB. I’m currently trying installing the OS on the drive via another computer which worked fine ruling out a bad drive. I’ve reconnected the drive into my MacBook and I’m trying to boot it up in safe mode and it’s been sitting at the Apple log in screen with a full loading bar for a few minutes now. Hopefully I’ll get an error message or some feedback from it shortly.

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Sadly, that sounds like your HD SATA cable has failed again ;-{

Your Hard Drive Cable Is A Ticking Time Bomb

I often find people go cheap with a Amazon/eBay cable with a low quality replacement cable. MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable

And lastly, I've seen cables fail from bending! Don't crease the cable! Instead use an old BIC pen ink straw as a forming brake to create the needed bends. You don't want the cable to bend more than the radius of the straw.

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Wow you were completely right. I guess I hadn't considered it cause I replaced it a couple years ago and I didn't realize that there could be a halfway point to total failure with that cable. Thanks man, I have the SATA cable on the way and I'll handle it with kid gloves!

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