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Hello, I will try to make a long story short. I had to reformat my internal SSD and re-install High Sierra. After doing so i get a message telling to update (I think it was iTunes) so I did. But, when the Mac restarted it hanged before choosing the user. No way to pass that point. So I restart the Mac with command R, check the SSD with Disk Utility and reformat the SSD and re-installed High Sierra, but when it restarted same thing happen. So restart the Mac with command R, check the SSD and click on install OS, but now its not High Sierra but Lion ??? Been desperate I click continue but now it start to install, restart and the startup screen shows up showing 20 minutes left but never finish. I left it all night but the progress bar didn’t move after 10 hours. I’m totally lost, I checked all the known forums, but can’t even find what the problem is, either hardware or software. Can someone recommend a fix for this problem? Thank you. Update (03/31/2020) I would like to add that I have tried to install Lion on a flash drive. It install the first part but now it is on “Install Mac OS” page with tine remaining -1 hours -32 minutes. That is with a minus in front of hours and minutes and still going.
You are hitting a known issue! Your system originally had a SATAII (3.0 Gb/s) HDD the SATA cable your system had in it was only rated for this slower drive. Later at the end of the systems run Apple upgraded the drive to SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) as well as the SATA cable to a better one to support the faster drive. Sadly, Apple some issues with the suppliers some cables insulation was a little thin and the case inside finish was a little rough which abraded the cable also causing it to fail. Then to add to all of this people also mis-handled it! The cable was often folded with a deep crease where the cable needs to bend around the corners. This in turn damages the thin foil wires inside. So the solution is three fold and you still will need to reformat and install a fresh copy of OS! Replace the cable with the newest versionAdd a strip of electricians tape on the uppercase to help protect the cableProperly bend the cable Here’s the needed part MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable (the 2012 model has the better version of the cable!) and here’s the needed guide to put it in MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Late 2011 Hard Drive Cable Replacement Using electricians tape place a strip on the uppercase Your Hard Drive Cable Is A Ticking Time Bomb The last action is to properly bend the cable. I use an old BIC pen ink straw as a bending brake to bend the cable in a nice arc at the points the cable needs to get around. You’ll still need to reformat the drive as the format and files are likely damaged from the failed cable (corrupted). Reformat the drive and install a fresh copy of macOS. That should do it! Update (03/31/2020) I would recommend you stick with Sierra as it’s the better macOS release for your system. I don’t recommend High Sierra as it has issues with SATA based SSD’s And it also forces using the newer APFS when it see’s a SSD. HFS+ is just better for SATA drives. Here’s the better image files: How to upgrade to macOS SierraHow to upgrade to macOS High Sierra Apple had as issue with its image files certificates expiring If you’ve got an old macOS install image, it will probably stop working today. I also recommend you create a USB thumb drive OS installers as its a lot quicker than over the internet recovery. Here’s how to make them: How to create a bootable macOS Sierra installer driveHow to create a bootable macOS High Sierra installer drive
