Whoops...

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

OK, so I had a lingering virus on my MacBook Pro. Norton couldn't shift it. Sophos couldn't shift it. McAffee couldn't shift it. BitDefender couldn't shift it. Clean installing the Operating System couldn't shift it. So. Drastic times, drastic measures. I created a boot image on a removable drive, force restarted and ERASED THE ENTIRE HARD DRIVE (yes, I've backed my important files up). Restart. No hard disk. Plug the removable drive in. ERROR. Hmm. One last roll of the dice - reinstall the system over the internet from Apple direct. Persistent error messages. So I'm coming at you from my mobile phone, next to a dead laptop. Going to the Apple Store tomorrow to visit the Genius Bar hoping against hope they can fix this for me! Wish me luck!

 

[fla4fun]

Good luck! I know that feeling of your stomach dropping as you realize your computer is (at least temporarily) dead.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

Hmmm, so you did a control R and restored the operating system that way? I'm a bit of an apple nerd and might be able to help you.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Hmmm, so you did a control R and restored the operating system that way? I'm a bit of an apple nerd and might be able to help you.

Yeah, didn't shift the virus. Literally the only way to go was the use Disk Utility to erased the HDD and boot onto the net using Command-Option-R and use your password. This gives you a few options, the only relevant one being to reinstall from Apple direct; it downloads the OS (an older version for whatever reason) but then says no go buster...

 

[sam_gordon]

But Mac's don't get viruses.

 

[Lord Manhammer]

Yeah, didn't shift the virus. Literally the only way to go was the use Disk Utility to erased the HDD and boot onto the net using Command-Option-R and use your password. This gives you a few options, the only relevant one being to reinstall from Apple direct; it downloads the OS (an older version for whatever reason) but then says no go buster...

Well that's kind of what I was suggesting. Use the disk utility to reboot a fresh install of MacOS.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Well that's kind of what I was suggesting. Use the disk utility to reboot a fresh install of MacOS.

I did multiple re-installs of the OS, no luck. Eventually I threw all caution to the wind, made an install image on a drive and zero-d my HDD. Sadly, my external drive refused to play ball and now I have a laptop with literally NOTHING left on the HDD. Not one byte that isn't a 0.

 

[fla4fun]

So, was Apple able to help?