# a1286 macbook Pro won't recover from USB or internet



## marcrussell (Dec 1, 2021)

Hi,

I have 2 x a1286 MBP which have the same symptoms.

If I try to do either an internet recovery or a USB recovery I get the Apple logo, then it 'looks' like its doing some installation, i.e. progress bar moves along.. then I get the white screen and everything stops.

Things I've done:
1) run diagnostics and no issues found.
2) tried rebuilding from a donor time machine = same issue
3) swapped RAM = same issue
4) swapped different hard disks = same issue

I mistakenly used one disk which had previously been used for a windows acronis recovery, I'd formatted it etc, and both MBP booted into the windows recovery environment so it appears that the hardware is good. 

Both machines came i originally after having been in cupboards for 'years'.. had battery issues which turned out to be swollen batteries which got replaced, but they have never successfully booted while I have been working on them.

Any ideas?

Cheers


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

What OS are you trying to load? the latest OS you can install is El Capitan 10.15.
If the computers were "_been in cupboards for 'years" _You have to change the date and time of the computer to the date when El Capitan was released to allow the install.

Boot into Recovery or of a USB in the OS X Installer, choose* Utilities > Terminal.*
Enter *sudo date 0201010116*, press Return, and enter your password (Apple ID)
Quit Terminal, Go to T*ools/Disk Utilities/Erase* tab Format the Macintosh HDD .Restart .and continue the install.









Previously Downloaded OS X Installers No Longer Work - TidBITS


An expired certificate has rendered OS X installers downloaded prior to 14 February 2016 inoperable. We explain the problem and how to work around it.




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Can’t reinstall Lion os - Apple Community







discussions.apple.com


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## marcrussell (Dec 1, 2021)

Part of the problem is that it won't get into the recovery mode to enable me to run any commands... I get the choice of network and/or disk/usb and then it shows the apple symbol, then you see a progress bar underneath and then it gives a white screen... I was thinking it was the problem where the circuit board heats up but it booted into the acronis windows recovery partition (even though I didn't want it to) so I've discounted that thought now...

I'll try downloading an El Capitan image and see if that helps get me to the commands... cheers...


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## spunk.funk (May 13, 2010)

marcrussell said:


> I mistakenly used one disk which had previously been used for a windows acronis recovery, I'd formatted it etc, and both MBP booted into the windows recovery environment


 First reset the PRAM and NVRAM of the computer
If that fails, If you can get to the Recovery Mode this way, you can get into Terminal to change the Date. Shutdown then install the new blank disk and try to boot back into the Recovery or use a USB Flash installer then Go to Tools/Disk Utilities and Erase the new disk, then start the install.


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