Under Find My Mac in the iCloud preferences pane (see photo) I saw “recovery system update required” together with an “Update…” button. Clicking on Update… took me to Software Update but there was nothing new to update.
I wasn’t surprised since I was convinced that the Lion Recovery update had been installed last week when the flurry of revisions descended. So I decided to download the installation file and run it. It wouldn’t run.
I did some ferreting around the Apple discussion forums and, sure enough, this was a common problem. Worse news. It was more than likely caused by a corrupted disk.
Verifying the 128 GB SSD of the Air using Disk Utilities revealed that it was indeed corrupted. The repair attempt bombed out at halfway stage with instructions to boot from a recovery disk and repair the disk from there.
A bit more reading and I fathomed out how to do this and get Find My Mac running:
- Shut down the computer and reboot while holding down the Cmd and R keys.
- The computer will boot from the recovery partition and you need to choose the fourth option, Disk Utility
- Locate your main volume (such as Macintosh HD) in the Disk Utility pane, highlight it and run disk repair again
- If the volume is greyed out it is because you have a password set. Right click on the greyed volume and click on “Unlock”. You can then enter your password and the volume will be available for surgery.
- When the disk repair is complete, reboot in the normal way to your main volume.
- Go to Apple support and download the Lion Recovery Update (even though it may have been installed automatically last week)
- Run the file and this time it should install
- Reboot the computer
When you’ve done all this, which is actually quite simple, you will find that Find My Mac can be switched on. This is a good example of a simple symptom hiding an underlying major problem, such as a corrupt volume. That is why it is a good idea regularly to open Disk Utility and verify disk permissions. It’s also wise, from time to time, to verify the disk and attempt a repair if you are told it is necessary. If this isn’t possible, repeat steps 1-3 above to boot from Lion’s recovery partition.
I am convinced, but then we share a head of state with you.
Michael
Geez people below the 49th have a skewed view of Canada. There are actually tons of 'cities' all in close proximity to the border. But there are also thousands of lakes, rivers, virgin(truly virgin) forest up around the 60th which is very nice in summer and the Canadian Rockies which are quite different than your mtns and the St Eias mountains in the Yukon which are some of the newest mountains on the planet and quite a marvel. Of course we *can't* see Russia from our back yard porch (Alaska is in the way eh?) but Canada is now the largest landmass nation on the planet with less then 40 million people all told.
Canadians have the highest per capita use of computer, internet, smart phones and online shopping on the planet. RIM (Blackberry) is based here and Corel is based in Ottawa. We are news junkies and wired/wireless like crazy. Canucks love their technology seeing as how Skype and now FaceTime makes the huge spaciousness transversable to talk to loved ones in Nunavut (aboriginal self governed territory) or from sea to sea to sea.
So my Mum, with Alzheimers, has the 11" MacBook Air and with help she can see my face 1000kms (uh we are metric and some things and imperial UK and US on others) away. She's on one side of the Rockies in BC and I'm on the other side in Southern Alberta. My Dad has an Imac and he has another type of dementia. I use Real VNC to control both their computers from this 13" MBAir. Hence my emotional investment in not crashing!
It's so helpful to them to actually 'see' my face and my Mum is so frail the MacBook Air 11" is perfect as it weighs so little and her ravaged arthritic hands can handle it. No touch screen (Ipad) though cuz she points and touches the screen and even tries to hug me on it. The MBAir is perfect for her needs.
So wayyy off topic folks but everyone's input has meant a lot to me considering what we use this technology for!
All the Best Folks,
Brenda A – from her "Brapple" (name of my MBAir)
Congratulations Brenda. Perseverance does pay, I am convinced. I hope your experiences will help other readers. Yes, Canada is a great country but my experience has been limited to cities. One day I will venture further.
Michael
And for Steve – yep every key combo was tried including Option/Alt – all of them go right into "Internet Recovery" The menus you are referring to all are based I think on having a hidden recovery partition. This is a question of how 'new' your MBAir machine itself is. If it is a bit older (mid 2011 and prior) you would have the hidden recovery partition and hence the menus will appear.
Btw – It sounds from your post that you are making Time Machine backups to your Mac HD?? If that's the case that is so dangerous! You need to make TMachine backups to an external independent HD. If your Mac HD drive crashes you are 'hooped' (Western Canadian expression referring to horses and barrel racing – not the NBA!). You won't be able to use those backups at all. But I may have misread your post. If I haven't I sure encourage you to back up to independent storage.
On the build numbers – what I was fumbling to say is that Build 11C74 is 10.7.2. But the USB thumb drive for sale in the Apple store is a build that is older (the specs give no information but digging with other users and Apple techs revealed it is older) and also is not compatible with the new MBAirs and will cause instability problems. It would seem that the 'retail' version of Lion on a USB stick is mainly for Snow Leopard users wanting to upgrade to Lion and have some media.
And further – even if you downloaded Lion from the App store (which I did for my original 11" MBAir) if you don't have a recovery partition redownloading will not create one. The configuration of the new MBAirs is 'preserved' probably by reading the firmware and opting for "Internet Recovery" type install. Whatever way you turn there's no 'fix' except nipping at the heels of Supervisors for justice. 🙂
Brenda
Well I guess perseverance and stubbornness pay off. I have Apple Care (and you are right I'm in a tiny town in a rural area) and talked to them, got bumped up to a Senior tech who at first said let's make a usb recovery key with….. and then found out that all the various downloads to update HD recovery can't update somit that ain't there. So I flat out asked him what Apple is going to do for all new MBAir users who can't activate 'Find My Mac' and all new MBA users who, like me are in rural areas, etc. Boy was I persistent. At first he said there were no compatible usb thumb drives but said he'd call me back and lo and behold he's sending a USB key that will update only 'the core components' of Lion (the compatible build for this MacAir) which then will allow 2 things: A. Once done (it apparently won't touch data or apps) I'll be able to activate 'Find my Mac' and B if I ever crash I can boot from the USB key and get the 'normal' options including Restore from Time Machine backup. So the purchasing public have to contact Apple and not let them off the hook. They are trying very much to go with Internet Restore *only* but their servers can't handle the traffic for a start – and they somehow overlooked that some iCloud features would not be available to all their new customers! (I think that really tipped the balance for him – because that is definitively not fair or acceptable.) Ah yes – we Canucks – very politely – but like a dog with a bone.. Calm but not going away. 🙂
So let's hope that he follows through (he gave me his personal extension) and this all works out for me. I'll be a happy camper (literally). Aside from this struggle I really do love this little machine.
As a side note – you are likely to see more folks saying I don't have a recovery partition. It's true. All MBAirs manufactured when Lion was released don't have one. There are some folks who I think got 'old stock' for a few weeks but from now on – it's Internet Recovery only. The Terminal command I was given to check is a fast way to determine this. So I realize that old hands at Mac will be incredulous but it's true. I'm fortunate that I've been using computers since DOS 1.1 on an Apple II plus before hard drives, GUI, Windows, html and have at least some PC knowledge I can port to my first 'Mac' experience. Boy do I feel for other newbies who encounter this! For that matter long time Mac users will also tear their hair out I suspect.
Thanks for everyone's input – at least I was able to speak to them having done all the checking of this and that. Very much appreciated – and Canada is huge but oh so spacious! Come and visit sometime!
Regards,
Brenda A
I have the 10.7.2 (11C74) build. I think you should partition the 1 HD you have. I had to make mine 40GB for the new one because for time machine to save it needed at least 33GB so I gave a little extra just in case.
I keep seeing the command+R everyone is using when they reboot. I didn't use that to bring up the menus. I just went to the apple and selected restart. As its loading up i held the alt/option key to bring up the boot menu. Maybe this is the issue you're having?
Brenda,
Sorry to hear all your woes. I'm reluctant to suggest anything in case we make matters worse. Perhaps it's time for a visit to the Genius Bar at your nearest Apple Store. But then you are possibly hundreds of miles from one. I see you are in Canada–big country unless you are in one of the cities.
Michael
Conmmand R gets you a spinning globe (earth) while it appears to search for a wireless network. Yes – no options.
/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *251.0 GB disk0
1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 250.1 GB disk0s2
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
new Mac models introduced after public availability of OS X Lion automatically use the Lion Internet Recovery feature if the Recovery HD (Command-R method above) doesn't work. Lion Internet Recovery lets you start your Mac directly from Apple's Servers. The system runs a quick test of your memory and hard drive to ensure there are no hardware issues.
_________________________
Command R obviously won't work since there's no recovery partition. So then you have to go begging like so:
Requirements for reinstalling OS X Lion
Reinstalling OS X Lion via Lion Recovery requires broadband access to the Internet via Wi-Fi or an Ethernet connection. OS X Lion is downloaded over the Internet from Apple when Lion Recovery is used for reinstallation.
Lion Recovery requires that DHCP be enabled on your chosen Wi-Fi or ethernet network, If you bought Lion from the Mac App Store, you will be prompted to enter the Apple ID and password you used to purchase Lion.
The OS X Lion download is about 4 GB large; the time required to download will vary, depending on the speed of your Internet connection. If your usual or current Internet connection has requirements or settings not supported by Lion Restore, either change the settings to a supported configuration for the duration of your OS X Lion reinstall, or seek out acceptable networks from which you are permitted to access the Internet (such as friends, family, Internet "cafe" establishments, or possibly your place of employment with appropriate permission).
Supported network configurations and protocols (just one is supported – WPA/WPA2)
So that's what they've done to new purchasers. There's a You Tube Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btpRzKsobwM
Brenda
I am also on build 10.7.2 (11C74) which is the latest vernon. I am astounded when you say that the latest Airs, when running 10.7.2 with the Lion Recovery update do not include the recovery partition. I will investigate, but it seems nonsensical to exclude the Airs from what is a very integral part of the latest OS X. I know you've probably tried this a dozen times, but can you indulge me. Turn off your Mac, hold down R and Cmd simultaneously, press the power button and tell me what happens. You should see a four-item menu, with Disk Utility as the fourth option. If this definitely doesn't work I will post a question on the appropriate Apple Discussion.
Michael
Ok but I'm confused. I'm relatively new to Mac. I just have the Macintosh HD period. Disk Utilities from within the iOS says everything is fine. So are you saying to create a journal formatted partition on my one HD? Then do a Time Machine backup to it? You seem to have 2 hard drives or whatever Apple TSS128C Media is? For interest sake can you click on about my Mac, advanced and see what build of Lion you have?
The newest MBAirs do NOT have a hidden recovery partition. Nor a USB key. The build # is unique to the newest MBAirs and they ship without either. My option to Find my Mac on the iCloud settings says "Recovery Partition Required" – not "Update required". clicking on 'More' it says "Recovery Partition required, some software and hardware configurations such as a software or hardware RAID do not support recovery partition". Of course I do not have RAID. I just got a newer MBAir 13" with only 'internet recovery' and no boot up option gives me anything else. Apple has royally screwed this up making not only Find my Mac unavailable but making it impossible to recover without internet connection of the wired kind. This is for Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C74) <—- build #. It's not downloadable, a usb key is not available for purchase for this build and despite the update saying Time Machine restore is available now I can't find it. At all. I have a TMachine full system backup on an external HD which I can't use. So folks do me a favour and check your Lion build #'s (About this Mac, More……) and post them here. I'll bet not one of you has Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 (11C74) but rather the 'A' list of builds.
Thanks
Brenda
Had the same issues after manually trying to install Recovery HD Update and the UpdateCombo10.7.2
Still didn't work. Decided to go into disk utility and clicked on the topmost HD (Apple TSS128C Media in my case, NOT the macintosh HD). Saw I only had 1 partition and added a 2nd one. Using time machine I made a backup on it. After I ran verify disk on both HDs and they were green ok. Rebooted and installed the Recovery HD Update again. Opened up iCloud settings and it was still grey. But after 30 seconds I worked and I was able to check the box to enable!
Hope that helps someone! Cheers.
I'm not entirely sure about this. I have a 2010 MacBook Air. Following last week's updates there is in fact a recovery partition and that is what I was able to use. Do you believe the 2011 models lack the feature? Have you tried booting using Cmd+R? It is a bit strange if the later models are out of the loop. I'd be interested to know more.
Great if you have a recovery partition but purchasers of the newest MBA don't have one. Period.
We have no options.
Brenda