My first work computer!

[dandeco]

View attachment 2365495
I was able to get another to load the Internet Recovery Mode and start installing the MacOS. Since this one has a 512 GB SSD, I may consider using this one as a work computer, for running the latest version of Apple Configurator 2 and any future reviving and restoring of Macs with T2 chips, now that my 2015 Retina 15" MacBook Pro can't run the latest Apple Configurator and doesn't have Thunderbolt 3. (For now I have to bring my M1 MacBook Air into work for this.) But the first attempt at this, it hung at "Less than a minute remaining..." while the status bar was nearly halfway through. This second attempt after resetting the NVRAM and SMC and rebooting the Air, I started the second part of the install a little over and hour from posting this, and the bar went all the way to the end, but it's still seeming to hang there. I'm gonna let it sit this way through most of my shift to see what happens next. If it's not done anything before I punch out, I will reset the NVRAM and SMC, and reboot the Air again and see if that does anything overnight.

Success! ...so far.

After letting it run overnight, I came in this morning and was greeted by the language selection screen after the install completes. Now I'm logging it into the test account I made to check it out further.

 

[dandeco]

So far, so good! I was able to reboot it to the onboard Recovery Mode and enable booting from external drives!

Now I re-wiped the MacOS using an external Sonoma USB installer I created for use here (on an Intel Mac, of course), and am re-installing the OS using it...

This is actually a 2018-19 Retina MacBook Air with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. If all goes well, this will actually replace my 2015 Retina 15" MacBook Pro as my Intel work Mac!

 

[dandeco]

Well, I got Sonoma installed on that 2018 Retina MacBook Air, but the install took several hours to complete, and it runs unusually sluggish, especially since it has 16 GB of RAM. But the battery only has a 1% charge, and among doing some research online, a bad battery like that can indeed slow down such a Mac laptop. I do want to use it for my Intel Mac needs on the job, especially for creating bootable MacOS USB installers and for wiping other 2016-20 Intel Mac laptops via Apple Configurator 2. Now I'm debating whether I should take it to the Apple Store and have them replace the battery, or if I should order a replacement battery and me and a co-worker can replace it ourselves? I mean, with the latter option, buying a replacement battery would be roughly half the cost of having the Apple Store replace it (which would be around $150), and I do need to watch what I spend since I'm still a little tight on funds after replacing my car. Plus, the aforementioned co-worker has removed such batteries attached with an adhesive from such computers before, so I think we can do it, especially since it'll be used for work there.

 

[ToniCH]

Replacing Apple glued in (well, its actually 2-sided tape) batteries is not that hard. First one took me 30min including finding tools, IPA and trying to figure out what to do. Next one was roughly 10-15min. After couple it feels easy. I don't even glue the new battery in. I just use couple of small pieces of duct tape to hold it in place and there is not much space for it to move anyway.

You do not need any special tools really, only the screw drivers to open it, some IPA to loosen the glue, a syringe or something to administer the IPA and a credit card. Take a piece of sand paper and sharpen the short edge of the cc and it works just fine as a tool to release the battery. Work slowly and when you get the battery out take some paper and more IPA and clean out the residue of the 2-sided tape. Then install the new battery.

 

[za9ra22]

@dandeco, I really do love this thread!

 

[dandeco]

Replacing Apple glued in (well, its actually 2-sided tape) batteries is not that hard. First one took me 30min including finding tools, IPA and trying to figure out what to do. Next one was roughly 10-15min. After couple it feels easy. I don't even glue the new battery in. I just use couple of small pieces of duct tape to hold it in place and there is not much space for it to move anyway.

You do not need any special tools really, only the screw drivers to open it, some IPA to loosen the glue, a syringe or something to administer the IPA and a credit card. Take a piece of sand paper and sharpen the short edge of the cc and it works just fine as a tool to release the battery. Work slowly and when you get the battery out take some paper and more IPA and clean out the residue of the 2-sided tape. Then install the new battery.

That's good to know! The screwdriver parts I can do, and then my co-worker can show me how to loosen the adhesive.

 

[ToniCH]

Hi, I see the 2018-19 MB Air is different than the little older MBP's and Air's I've changed batteries to. You do not need IPA or the sharpened credit card. But there are tabs to remove and few more screws to remove. And the speakers are taken out too. But, in all it seems easier than swapping the actually glued in batteries.

Take a look:

 

[B S Magnet]

Y’all — @ToniCH and @dandeco — are wonderful and I love reading your updates and posts. Aaaand you probably know what’s coming next…

All of these 2018 and later models are so far beyond the remit of what an Early Intel Macs forum covers that none of them has even made it to vintage status by Apple — much less to obsolete.

I always enjoy seeing threads in which folks here bring scuttled, stuck, and cold-stored back Macs back to working use again. That’s evergreen-important!

By the same token, this may be a worthwhile time to figure out when and how to renew a pitch to the mods for striking a Late Intel Macs forum into service — especially as more of the, well, late Intel models start dropping from the vintage list (as is now the case for many late 2013, 2014, and 2015 models).

It isn’t quite analogous to the days before the creation of the Early Intel Macs forum when folks would post, well, pre-2011, obsoleted Intel Mac questions on the PowerPC forum (since product-specific forums were often not terribly helpful places or grounds for convivial company, and they were already obsoleted at that time).

By all means, these revival posts are wonderful. I love seeing them and hope to keep seeing more of them. I’m not sure they fit really well on this forum at this moment.

 

[dandeco]

Finished the most recent batch of iPads at work, and now I've moved onto Mac laptops.

Some time back, I went through a bunch of 11" MacBook Airs from 2013-14, ones that used to be managed by a school district until they removed the remote enrollment for us (along with those 2018 Mac Minis I did recently).

I've also been working on more unibody 13" MacBook Pros at my workplace...

When I initially test them, before upgrading the RAM on the 2012 models to 8 GB and before I put a hard drive inside, I have to test the keyboard using the keyboard-tester-dot-com page.

On a MacOS installer older than Big Sur, I have to go into the terminal and change the date and time to the current one, so Safari will work.

The Keyboard Tester at work.

Yeah, now that Apple's officially considered them obsolete, we're getting a LOT of these 2012 unibody 13" MacBooks here, but at least it's keeping me occupied before my time off next week to recharge! (no pun intended)

 

[dandeco]

Hi, I see the 2018-19 MB Air is different than the little older MBP's and Air's I've changed batteries to. You do not need IPA or the sharpened credit card. But there are tabs to remove and few more screws to remove. And the speakers are taken out too. But, in all it seems easier than swapping the actually glued in batteries.

Take a look:

Well, I followed those instructions along with iFixit's guide, and I had success!

At the time I didn't know you could do it without disassembling the logic board, but I wanted to play it safe anyway.

Me pulling an adhesive strip off the old battery. Indeed, like those guides showed, it wasn't too hard, but it did require a bit of long and firm but gentle tugging until it all came off. And at least I didn't break any of the adhesive strips on the battery, the way I did with the ones under the bottoms of the speakers (but I was able to pry the speakers loose with a spudger and then apply new adhesive strips to take their place).

Me about to swap the dead battery with the new one.

Indeed, it now operates more normally with the new battery installed. I was able to re-install Sonoma using my USB thumb drive installer, just to be on the safe side.

Restoring files via a Time Machine backup. For this one, I chose not to transfer the apps, since I won't need all the ones I generally use on this model, and I will also be removing any large digital media libraries unnecessary for my job.
So when I go back into work one week from Monday, this should be all set!

 

[TheShortTimer]

Keep up the good work with all these repairs! @dandeco

 

[dandeco]

Well, MacOS Sonoma has been installed and my documents and settings all copied over!

The mandatory "About This Mac" shot I take with such older Macs I get and refurbish. Sure, such a dual-core i5 is not much compared to my quad-core i7 MacBook Pros, but for work use it should be more than adequate, and the fact it has 16 GB of RAM is a big plus. I also got all the apps I need installed on it, including the ones I use for work. (Slack was starting to have trouble running on my 2015 Retina 15" MacBook Pro, and it also couldn't run the latest Apple Configurator, leading to some issues.)

I can even use Universal Control between my main M1 MacBook Air and the 2018 work Air with no fuss!

I'm aware the 2018 MacBook Air may not be able to run MacOS 15 once that comes out later this year, but I should be able to get by with still using Sonoma on it for a while before I decide to give OCLP a shot on it. (Maybe running the newest MacOS via OCLP on the 2018 Air will work better than on the 2015 MacBook Pro.)

 

[dandeco]

Today was my first day back at work after my staycation to recharge. The 2018 MacBook Air got the job done pretty well!

The 2nd-generation MacBook Air next to it, they wanted me to downgrade it from Monterey to Big Sur for a lot of them being sold (the rest being 2013-14 Airs), though it's a 2015 Air. So I wiped the drive using a Big Sur USB installer and did my stuff.

 

[dandeco]

Watching today's Apple Event as I work!

Also, today I found out that in addition to removing the firmware password, using Apple Configurator I can also remove an MDM profile from a T2-equipped Mac! I hooked up a 13" Touch Bar MacBook Pro from 2018 that a school district managed to my MacBook Air via the Thunderbolt 3 cable, booted the Pro into DFU mode, did a "Revive" and "Restore", and then tried an Internet Recovery MacOS install. Then when that finished, I tried setting up a user profile and it worked! No more remote management!

The specs for the Pro. If it had 16 GB of RAM, I may have possibly made this my next work computer while I wiped and reset that 2018 MacBook Air for resell, or at least kept it handy for the company to use. But even with the 8 GB of RAM, I'm sure we'll get a decent amount from selling this online.

Using the temporary user password I created to enable booting from external devices...

...and wiping and reinstalling MacOS 14 Sonoma with my external USB installer!