Mac won’t boot properly

[CM21]

Hi, my MacBook Pro keeps coming up with a connect to wifi and saying it needs a critical update. It won’t let you do this and I took it to Apple and they suggested wiping and starting again. Which I did! 
 

it still won’t start properly  

sometimes I have to restart in safe mode but then it still might take a dozen times of restarting to even get in. 
 

it’s doing my head in. Any suggestions? 

[Brian]

How did you wipe and reload the OS? What version of the MacOS are you running? What year is your MacBook Pro? How old is it?

[CM21]

It’s 4 years old. I wiped and installed according to the links the guy at Apple sent me. I’m running the latest OS version. 
 

its also weird that it won’t mount my LaCie drive, yet it will load the drive I’m using for time machine backups. My iMac will mount the LaCie though. 

[CM21]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496

[CM21]

[Brian]

 

2 hours ago, CM21 said:

It’s 4 years old.

What year?

2017? 2016? Early / Late edition? or is it a 2015 MBP? I need specifics. 4 years could be from 2021 or 2020, depending on your POV. For example, "I have a late 2013 MacBook Pro running MacOS Catalina." Something along those lines. 

Did you attempt to restore from a Time Machine Backup? Or is the Operating System completely fresh (Virgin Install) with nothing on it? If there is any data corruption, it might be in the Time Machine Backup, so when you go to restore from a TM backup, you go in a complete circle.

 

3 hours ago, CM21 said:

it still won’t start properly

Be more specific. You are basically saying, "My car won't go..." OK. I get that. LOL!! Does it try to boot normally at all and just won't connect to WiFi? Or does it not boot and you have to keep power cycling the machine? Or does it chime, begin to start up and then the screen goes blank. Or can you log in, and it just bugs you about an update and won't connect to WiFi?

I have had experience with WiFi and MacBooks not liking a DHCP address being assigned to it via your router. There is an "Network" option in the Preferences, click than and then choose advanced:

Once there, click the TCP/IP button at the top and then select DHCP with Manual Address in the drop down list. You will want to give it an IP address that another device isn't using. For most folks, this is pretty straightforward, as you are using an address outside the DHCP pool. For example, if my DHCP Pool in my Router gives out addresses between 10.0.0.10 --> 10.0.0.30, I'd assign my computer to something like 10.0.0.38. If this is to confusing, that's OK, you can simply use the IP Address that the DHCP server gave your laptop temporarily.

But I'm thinking it's not connecting at all, and that's your issue. As to why, couldn't tell you. Though I do have an idea!

You could purchase a Thunderbolt to Ethernet Adapter. This way you could just hard-wire your laptop up to your Switch/Router and see if it will connect and get the Critical Update.

It also might be an issue with your Motherboard and it needs to be sent out for repair. Laptops usually only last 4-5 years on the average, including fancy MacBook Pros. Sure, there are plenty of people that will tell you that theirs lasted for 7 or more years, and while that could be true, not everyone is so lucky. If you do think that you'd like for it to be sent out for repair for a fraction of the cost that Apple would charge you, send it to Louis and his team in NYC.

Rossman Repair Group

What has my curiosity, is that it's not mounting the external HD. Combine that with the WiFi issues, I'm wondering if the SMC Chip on the motherboard is starting to go out on you? Or one of the other controller chips.