I bought a 2012 MacBook Pro a few months ago, and it worked normally aside from a screen glitch and a camera that wouldn't turn on. I recently tried updating it to macOS Tahoe, and now neither the built-in keyboard and trackpad nor external USB input devices work at the login screen. An external mouse responds on the drive-selection screen but stops working once the login screen appears. I also can't enter Recovery Mode, so I'm unable to log in or reinstall the system. Is there any way to recover the Mac or reinstall a compatible version of macOS?
4 Answers
The first thing to check is whether Tahoe is supported at all. A 2012 MacBook Pro is officially limited to much older macOS versions, with Catalina generally being the newest supported release. Tahoe likely requires hardware and firmware features this Mac doesn’t have, so the update may have left it unable to boot properly.
This Mac was probably using a legacy-patching tool to run newer macOS versions. Those tools can extend compatibility, but Tahoe isn’t supported on this generation; the newest compatible patched release is generally Sequoia. The practical fix is to erase the Tahoe installation and reinstall the Mac’s original operating system or a supported version such as Catalina or Sequoia, assuming you can create a proper installer.
Try Apple’s official startup and Recovery key combinations first, but an expired certificate can sometimes prevent older Macs from using Internet Recovery. If the installer complains about certificates, setting the system date to around the computer’s original release period can help. You may need to make a bootable USB installer on another Mac, since the built-in recovery environment isn’t working.
Even if you get it running again, keep expectations realistic. A 2012 machine is well beyond normal support, and modern web browsing may be slow or unreliable. Avoid forcing unsupported major updates unless the patching tool explicitly lists that exact macOS version as compatible.
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