[SOLVED] MacBook Air lagging and not booting into Recovery

Question

MacBook Air 13" Retina Early 2020 (Intel)

Repair and disassembly information for the 2020 refresh of the MacBook Air model A2179 with an Intel processor that was released in March 2020.

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mineisstupid @mineisstupid

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crwdns2931729:0crwdne2931729:0: Mha 5, 2025

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[SOLVED] MacBook Air lagging and not booting into Recovery

i bought this MacBook Air used, as i was in a desperate need of a new laptop. the seller simply forgot the password and told that they've already unlinked it from their iCloud.

i thought it just needed a new battery, since it simply turned off once i unplug its charger, but turns out it had another problem as well.

this Mac lags when i try to boot into it and it doesn't even boot to recovery at all! when i hold Command + R, it just simply starts spinning its fan really loudly and it doesn't do anything else. i tried to clear NVRAM and SMC, but to no avail.

since iFixit doesn't allow uploading files up to 100MB, i had to upload the demonstration to my GDrive instead.

any ideas why? or is it all related to the battery?

UPDATE (15.08.2025): apparently, after replacing the battery it decided to boot into Internet Recovery. it is still lagging a bit, but it lets me reinstall the OS on it. i haven't tried to reflash the T2 yet, as i don't have a T2/ARM-based Mac (neither i have a lot of people i know using one, aside from one of my friends or my sister)

already installing Catalina on it, will share some updates later

FINAL UPDATE (16.08.2025): turns out it was really just an issue with the battery! it runs hot (because of poor cooling and the fact that i didnt replace the thermal paste yet), but it's fully working. glad to have it fixed :)

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Dan @danj

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Self employed contract worker

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crwdns2931729:0crwdne2931729:0: Mha 5, 2025

crwdns2933897:0crwdne2933897:0

It looks like your systems OS files are corrupted and as the fan is running hard (I hear it) and the system is not running at full clock speed (lags) the SMC is stuck in CPU Safe mode which is where one or more SMC sensors are reporting a critical issue.

So let's give this a try follow this guide to Step 4 disconnecting the Battery MacBook Air 13" Early 2020 Battery Replacement then with nothing else connected in the ports, press and hold the power button to fully discharge the logic board. That will reset SMC for now, carefully place the laptop on some books so the system is supported so the battery cable is not squished when you access the keyboard. Now plug in the charger and when you do so your system will spontaneously restart (if not press the power button) this time let's hit the D start up key to enter into diagnostics as it starts. Run diagnostics and let us know the full error codes. We are expecting a few here as the Battery is disconnected. Do a clean shutdown and repeat after this time reconnecting the battery and report the error codes it gives you then.

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uhm...

the Mac wasn't able to boot into Diagnostics mode at all! after i hold D, it tries to boot into Internet Recovery and then asks for my Wi-Fi. after i put the password, it just hangs there (its technically working though, as i can see the spinning load thingy). and even there it keeps lagging.

crwdns2934271:0Mha 5, 2025crwdnd2934271:0 mineisstupid crwdne2934271:0

@mineisstupid - using a second Mac using a WiFi sniffer app can you even see if the MacBook Air system is even connecting to your WiFi AP?

crwdns2934271:0Mha 5, 2025crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

@danj - nope, it doesn't connect at all.

is there any way to bypass that CPU safe mode and check what's the actual issue under macOS?

crwdns2934271:0Mha 5, 2025crwdnd2934271:0 mineisstupid crwdne2934271:0

@mineisstupid - Safe Mode won't help you here as the WiFi driver (and others) are not loaded.

Do you have an external drive which you can connect to your two systems? Here we need a USB-C connection and your other system likely uses USB-A connection. The idea is to setup a bootable OS installer with the needed macOS to boot the Air from.

But without the original user account I don't see this working either. Maybe best to return it and get your money back.

crwdns2934271:0Mha 5, 2025crwdnd2934271:0 Dan crwdne2934271:0

@danj - returning isn't an option sadly, so i might sell it if nothing helps, like the previous owner did.

i tried to make a bootable Monterey Internet Recovery with Boot Disk Utility under Windows, however this MacBook didn't boot into it, even though it recognized the USB.

i might try to make the same installer, but with my friend's MacBook instead tomorrow.

crwdns2934271:0Mha 5, 2025crwdnd2934271:0 mineisstupid crwdne2934271:0

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uhm...

the Mac wasn't able to boot into Diagnostics mode at all! after i hold D, it tries to boot into Internet Recovery and then asks for my Wi-Fi. after i put the password, it just hangs there (its technically working though, as i can see the spinning load thingy). and even there it keeps lagging. — mineisstupid
@mineisstupid - using a second Mac using a WiFi sniffer app can you even see if the MacBook Air system is even connecting to your WiFi AP? — Dan
@danj - nope, it doesn't connect at all.

is there any way to bypass that CPU safe mode and check what's the actual issue under macOS? — mineisstupid
@mineisstupid - Safe Mode won't help you here as the WiFi driver (and others) are not loaded.

Do you have an external drive which you can connect to your two systems? Here we need a USB-C connection and your other system likely uses USB-A connection. The idea is to setup a bootable OS installer with the needed macOS to boot the Air from.

But without the original user account I don't see this working either. Maybe best to return it and get your money back. — Dan
@danj - returning isn't an option sadly, so i might sell it if nothing helps, like the previous owner did.

i tried to make a bootable Monterey Internet Recovery with Boot Disk Utility under Windows, however this MacBook didn't boot into it, even though it recognized the USB.

i might try to make the same installer, but with my friend's MacBook instead tomorrow. — mineisstupid

MacBook Air 13" Retina Early 2020 (Intel)

[SOLVED] MacBook Air lagging and not booting into Recovery

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