OK, so I have a 2009 2.53Ghz MBP 5.5 from 2009.
I was all working fine with a dosdude Catalina patch until I decided to put a bigger SSD into it and to try to reinstall fresh. I erased the original SSD with the patched Catalina (A mistake for sure) and now All I get is a white screen and eventually a question mark folder. ALL boot recovery options are unavailable, nothing happens when I try to get any utilities such as Terminal or disk utility for example, and the EFI boot is greyed out. It only gives me an option to reinstall Catalina but if I click to install I get a no entry sign. I have reset PRAM and SMC numerous times but the same result persist. It cannot be the SATA cable (Swapped that over 2x) as the HDD can be heard spinning and is indeed recognized in the image attached below (Funny enough a SSD isn't recognized), I tried putting an SSD with Catalina already installed but that won't boot (Question folder). My only guess it the EFI has been corrupted or modified by the dosdude patcher, so HOW can I re-flash the EFI from the EFI Update for 2009 MBP file downloaded from Apple? This one has really got me! I don't have or can't seem to find what OS this originally came stock with) and more so a way to get it on USB to make a bootable (But my guess the same question folder will appear when tried).
Any help would be brill.
[image|3232874]
=== Update (02/21/24) ===
BRAINSTORM: Downloaded again the dosdude Patcher for Catalina.
Created a bootable patched Catalina USB
Plugged in the new SSD internally & the USB externally as you do.....
Booted with Option key and the EFI boot was functional and installation was a success!
Set up with exactly the same user name and password.... Bingo.
Conclusion.... Indeed the EFI was tweaked and cannot recognize any changes to hardware as I initially thought, pity I didn't do this before hand, I killed 3 days trying everything 10x.... Never give up :)
Cannot access boot utilities - greyed out EFI Boot
crwdns2934249:0crwdne2934249:0:
OK, so I have a 2009 2.53Ghz MBP 5.5 from 2009.
I was all working fine with a dosdude Catalina patch until I decided to put a bigger SSD into it and to try to reinstall fresh. I erased the original SSD with the patched Catalina (A mistake for sure) and now All I get is a white screen and eventually a question mark folder. ALL boot recovery options are unavailable, nothing happens when I try to get any utilities such as Terminal or disk utility for example, and the EFI boot is greyed out. It only gives me an option to reinstall Catalina but if I click to install I get a no entry sign. I have reset PRAM and SMC numerous times but the same result persist. It cannot be the SATA cable (Swapped that over 2x) as the HDD can be heard spinning and is indeed recognized in the image attached below (Funny enough a SSD isn't recognized), I tried putting an SSD with Catalina already installed but that won't boot (Question folder). My only guess it the EFI has been corrupted or modified by the dosdude patcher, so HOW can I re-flash the EFI from the EFI Update for 2009 MBP file downloaded from Apple? This one has really got me! I don't have or can't seem to find what OS this originally came stock with) and more so a way to get it on USB to make a bootable (But my guess the same question folder will appear when tried).
Any help would be brill.
[image|3232874]
+
+
=== Update (02/21/24) ===
+
BRAINSTORM: Downloaded again the dosdude Patcher for Catalina.
+
+
Created a bootable patched Catalina USB
+
+
Plugged in the new SSD internally & the USB externally as you do.....
+
+
Booted with Option key and the EFI boot was functional and installation was a success!
+
+
Set up with exactly the same user name and password.... Bingo.
+
+
Conclusion.... Indeed the EFI was tweaked and cannot recognize any changes to hardware as I initially thought, pity I didn't do this before hand, I killed 3 days trying everything 10x.... Never give up :)
Cannot access boot utilities - greyed out EFI Boot
crwdns2934249:0crwdne2934249:0:
OK, so I have a 2009 2.53Ghz MBP 5.5 from 2009.
I was all working fine with a dosdude Catalina patch until I decided to put a bigger SSD into it and to try to reinstall fresh. I erased the original SSD with the patched Catalina (A mistake for sure) and now All I get is a white screen and eventually a question mark folder. ALL boot recovery options are unavailable, nothing happens when I try to get any utilities such as Terminal or disk utility for example, and the EFI boot is greyed out. It only gives me an option to reinstall Catalina but if I click to install I get a no entry sign. I have reset PRAM and SMC numerous times but the same result persist. It cannot be the SATA cable (Swapped that over 2x) as the HDD can be heard spinning and is indeed recognized in the image attached below (Funny enough a SSD isn't recognized), I tried putting an SSD with Catalina already installed but that won't boot (Question folder). My only guess it the EFI has been corrupted or modified by the dosdude patcher, so HOW can I re-flash the EFI from the EFI Update for 2009 MBP file downloaded from Apple? This one has really got me! I don't have or can't seem to find what OS this originally came stock with) and more so a way to get it on USB to make a bootable (But my guess the same question folder will appear when tried).
Any help would be brill.
[image|3232874]