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I've followed this guide and everything looks to be correct. I'm using this to restore an old Macbook Pro Unibody (2008) that was using Yosemite previously. When I go to restore the laptop, I get the option to install off the flashdrive and it starts up but after maybe 20-30 seconds the laptop shuts off. All diagnostics for the drive appear to be good. Any thoughts? What am I missing?

NOTE: I can get into Recovery Mode with no issues. I've run diagnostics on the drive and there are no errors. I've also tried to restore from the internet (it connects, appears to download everything then goes right back into Recovery Mode). I also erased the hard drive using the Disk Utility.

This is the guide I followed: How can I use Windows to create an OS X Yosemite USB flash drive installer from the disk image (.dmg) file downloaded from Apple?

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  • Try El Capitan.
    – David Anderson
    Commented Feb 10, 2023 at 10:06
  • Did you try running the full Apple Diagnostics and not just drive diagnostics?
    – Allan
    Commented Feb 14, 2023 at 16:20

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First, there was no PowerBook in 2008, the last one was produced in 2005 and being that it used the PowerPC processor [PPC) it can’t possibly run Yosemite. For the 2008 model year, you could have either the MacBook [White or Black Unibody) or the MacBook Pro (not unibody). The highest version of OS X for that vintage was 10.7.5 (Lion) and 10.11 (El Capitan) respectively.

If was a PowerBook or the White/Black unibody, it couldn’t run Yosemite; but the MacBook Pro could.

Now, if you are booting an OS and it shuts off mid-boot in the manner you describe, you have a hardware issue. If the OS installation failed, you’d get an error or it would hang. Since it’s powering off, it’s definitely pointing to hardware.

What could it be?

From past experience with these models, it could likely be the CPU or GPU. You can try booting into Diagnostics. However, this vintage of MacBook could actually boot the Ultimate Boot CD. Since it boots up in a text environment, it doesn’t tax the GPU from the outset and you can run the diagnostics on the CD to help narrow down the problem.

However, since it’s 15+ years old now, it’s likely to be a lost cause and you will probably get more value for it as parts on eBay.

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  • I've edited my post to correct the model and also add additional diagnostics that were done.
    – Eric D
    Commented Feb 9, 2023 at 22:41
  • If it still shuts off, it’s a hardware issue.
    – Allan
    Commented Feb 9, 2023 at 22:46

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