fixed : error message -2101F when trying to reinstall macOS

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Question :
I have a 2019 MacBook Air and when I tried to install the latest macOS system update, it froze… I called Apple, and they told met to reinstall macOS, but evert time I turn my Mac off and back on with the OPTION+SHIFT+R key-combo pressed on my keyboard, I run into a black screen with a light grey globe with a white triangle with an exclamation mark in it (a warning icon) and a text below it that just says “support.apple.com/mac/startup -2101F”

What can I do to fix this ?

Answer :
The -2101F error message that you are getting means “cannot connect to the internet”, and connection to the internet is essential for your Mac to do a regular reinstallation of macOS nowadays…
There are some options to solve this problem. First try this one :
– check if your WiFi internet is working properly by connecting to your WiFi using your iPhone (or any other mobile phone)
– if it turns out that your WiFi is not functioning properly, restart your modem to make sure all lights on it (like “Power”, “Internet”, “LAN” end “WiFi”) start blinking
– then restart your Mac and try to initiate the reinstallation process again

If that didn’t help, try this :
– connect your Mac to the internet using a UTP/Ethernet-cable
– for this, you need a UTP/Ethernet cable that is has connection to your modem (preferably directly)
if you buy anything from Amazon by using the links below, MacManus.nl makes a tiny profit, but it will not affect the price you pay
– if you don’t have a UTP/Ethernet-cable, you can borrow one or buy one
to buy one from Amazon US, click here
to buy one form Amazon UK, click here
to buy one from Amazon DE, clcik here
– modern MacBooks don’t have a dedicated UTP/Ethernet-port, so you will need a UTP/Ethernet-to-USB(-C)-converter-cable also
– if you don’t have a UTP/Ethernet-to-USB-C-converter, you can borrow or buy one
to buy one from Amazon US, click here
to buy one form Amazon UK, click here
to buy one from Amazon DE, clcik here
– if you have a UTP/Ethernet-to-USB-converter-cable, but you only have USB-C ports on your Mac, you will need a USB-C-to-USB-converter also
to buy one from Amazon US, click here
to buy one form Amazon UK, click here
to buy one from Amazon DE, clcik here
– after you have connected your Mac to the internet using a UTP/Ethernet-cable, restart your Mac and try to initiate the reinstallation process again

If that didn’t work, try this :
– connect the UTP/Ethernet-to-USB(-C)-converter-cable to a different port on your Mac, because sometimes that USB/USB-C port on your Mac may be faulty, misfunctioning of broken
– then restart your Mac and try to initiate the installation process again

If that didn’t work, try this :
– make sure that one of the USB(-C) ports on your Mac is functioning properly by connecting a USB-mouse or USB-keyboard or USB-stick with a light in it (you might also need a USB-C-to-USB-converter-cable for this) and check if the light is switching on
– if the light in the mouse, keyboard or USB-stick doesn’t turn on when connected to your Mac (do make sure that the light is actually working when using it on another computer), your USB-port is broken and you will need a hardware repair (or a new Mac, which might be more tempting in a lot of cases)
– if the light does turn on, disconnect the mouse, keyboard or USB-stick and use that USB(-C)- port for the reinstallation of macOS from a USB-stick
– first you will have to create a USB-stick with a macOS-installer, to do this, you will need another Mac that is the same age or newer than your Mac and if your Mac doesn’t have an M1/M2/M3-or-newer processor, you will need an Intel-based Mac for this
– follow the directions to create a USB-stick with a macOS-installer that are outlined here :
https://www.macworld.com/article/671308/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-macos-installer.html
or the instructions from Apple itself :
https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578
– if you don’t have an empty USB-stick at hand, you’re best of buying a 32GB USB-C-stick
to buy one from Amazon US, click here
to buy one form Amazon UK, click here
to buy one from Amazon DE, clcik here
– after you have created the USB-stick with the macOS-installer on it (on the other Mac), plug the USB-stick into your faulty Mac (make sure you use the USB(-C)-port that you know is working) and restart your Mac and initiate the installation process

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : black screen and no BIOS Boot Menu on MSI NightBlade X2B gaming-PC

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Question :
I have a MSI NightBlade X2B gaming-PC that I need to reinstall Windows on, the internal HD has been reformatted externally, but when I try to startup the PC, the HDMI-connected monitor gives only a black screen with and error message saying something like “no HDMI signal detected”… I need to get into the BIOS Boot Menu to fix this, but how do I do that If I cannot see anything on screen ?

What can I do to fix this ?

Answer :
The MSI NightBlade X2B gaming PC not only has an internal HD (usually 1TB), but also a 500GB SSD that is hard to access manually. And Windows has usually been installed on that SSD, not on the HD.
If the PC starts up porperly (lights and sound of running fans), then the fix to getting into the BIOS Boot Menu is to reset the CMOS Battery. To do that, you need to do this :
– diconnect al cables from the PC (Power, HDMI, USB, etc.)
– open the PC housing (slide open the red protectors on the back and unscrew the screws)
– take off the side panel
– if you are in an environment with high static electricity you need to unplug the internal cables from the graphics card, the HD and the power (but usually you’ll be okay if you are in a clean and smooth environment, especially if continuously connect yourself with al metal wire to a grounded large metal object or a radiator)
– unscrew the graphics card, which is the bottom mother/daughter-board (first unscrew the L-shaped black plate on the backside, then tilt out the graphics card starting at the back)
– behind the graphics card, on bottom left of the motherboard, you will find the red&black (or red&white) cable that connects the CMOS Battery to the motherboard
– gently unplug the white connector that has written “BAT 1” under it
– then leave tthe PC like this for about 8 hours (so a working day or a night), this will drain the motherboard and all internal electronics so they will automatically reset to factory settings (except for the HD and the SSD, so you will have to wipe or reformat those later)
– after this cool-down period, reconnect the small white connector and reassemble the PC (starting with the graphics card)
– then, reconnect a USB-mouse, a keyboard (seems like a PS/2 keyboard works better at this stage, but a USB keyboard should also work), a UTP/Ethernet-cable (if you have wired Ethernet available this will work easier then WiFi at this stage) and the HDMI-cable to your monitor
– then, startup the PC using the Power Button and immediately start pressing the F11 key on your keyboard repeatingly (the F11 key is the ususal key to press for MSI motherboards, but you might need to press the F1, F2 or F12 key)
– the PC should now start up in BIOS Mode, but if it does not, shut down the PC and restart it using the Power Button and immediately press the CTRL + ALT + DEL key-combo on your keyboard, which should get you into BIOS Mode

Then proceed as usual for reinstalling Windows 10 (or 11) and don’t forget to format the HD to NTFS and wipe unwanted and/or unneeded old user data to free up space on the SSD (it’s easiest to do so after installing Windows).

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : VanMoof.app on AppleWatch keeps giving No Data error

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Question :
I have an electrical S1 VanMoof bicycle and can only unlock the lock that’s build into the fram with the app on my iPhone or AppleWatch. This used to work great for years, but now, every time I try to use the VanMoof.app on my AppleWatch, I immediately get a warning screen saying “No Data – First, open the VanMoof app on your phone.”, but when I open the VanMoof.app on my iPhone nothing changes on my AppeWatch, not even after restarting the app or restarting the AppleWatch… and I can’t find any option in the VanMoof.app on my iPhone to reconnect with the AppleWatch or give access to data…

What can I do ?

Answer :
If you encounter these problems, the solutions outlined in this post will probably not fix your problem., so you are best off doing a complete reinstall of your AppleWatch.
Since your AppleWatch is automatically being backed-up to your (synced) iPhone, there’s no need too worry about data-loss …according to Apple – especially if your iPhone itself is continuously being backed-up to iCloud or to your Mac/PC.

To do a complete reinstall of your AppleWatch, do this :
– on AppleWatch, press te crown once
– in your collection of apps, find the Settings.app (grey circle icon with a white sprocket/gear in it)
– click on the Settings.app
– in the Settings screen that opens, scroll slightly down to ‘General’ and click on it
– in the General screen that opens, scroll down to ‘Reset’ and click on it
– in the Reset screen that opens, click on ‘Erase All Content and Settings’
– in the next screen, typ your AppleWatch unlock code
– in the next screen, scroll down and click on the red ‘Erase All’ button
– then the AppleWatch restarts and the  white Apple logo will appear
– eventually there will also appear a timer circle around the Apple logo
– wait until the entire circle has turned from grey to white
– now, on your iPhone a pop-up screen will appear, saying “Apple Watch – Use your iPhone to set up this Apple Watch.”
– then, click on the “Continue’-button
– now the “Set Up Apple Watch” screen will appear on your iPhone
– click the ‘Set Up For Myself’-button (assuming your AppleWatch was originally set up for your own personal use)
– the screen of the AppleWatch will now have turned into the blue pulsating pixel blob used for pairing
– when the “Hold Apple Watch up to the Camera” screen appears on your iPhone, point the iPhone’s camera at your AppleWatch to start the pairing
– if the pairing goes wrong, use the “Pair Apple Watch Manually” option and you will need to input the number code that appears on your AppleWatch (after swiping the blob away) into the field on your iPhone
– when the pairing is done, you will get the “Make This Your New Apple Watch” screen on your iPhone
– click the Continue-button and follow the on-screen instructions that will guide you through the rest of the reinstalling process (which is fairly straight-on from there)
– when done, you will have your AppleWatch setup exactly as it used to be
…with one big difference : the ‘No Data’ warning in the VanMoof.app will be gone and you can now use it as it was intended

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : reinstalling an app on AppleWatch

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Question :
I have an app on my AppleWatch that isn’t working properly. I want to reinstall it.

How do I do that ?

Answer :
There are 3 ways of reinstalling an app on your AppleWatch. If you have problems with an app on your AppleWatch, try these first (in any order you like).
If the app still doesn’t work properly after trying these 3 options, you should try an erase and reinstall of your entire AppleWatch (outlined in this post).

OPTION #1
The targeted app reinstall via the iPhone‘s AppleWatch.app:
– on your iPhone, open the AppleWatch.app
– click on the ‘My Watch’ button (bottom left)
– scroll down to the ‘INSTALLED ON APPLE WATCH’ chapter and find the app that isn’t working properly
– click on it
– in the next page that opens, turn the slider at “Show App on Apple Watch’ to OFF (grey-black, not green)
– then, click ‘Back’ (top-left) and exit and close the AppleWatch.app
– now check on your AppleWatch if the app has been removed from your AppleWatch
– if it hasn’t, give it a few minutes to sync and check again
– if it’s been removed, reopen the AppleWatch.app on your iPhone
– click on the ‘My Watch’ button (bottom-left)
– scroll down to the ‘AVAILABLE APPS’ chapter and find the app you want to reinstall
– click on it (on the INSTALL-button at the right of the app icon)
– see the INSTALL-botton turn into a download progress circle and wait for the downloading to finish
– scroll up to the ‘INSTALLED ON APPLE WATCH’ chapter and see that the app is now listed there
– then, click ‘Back’ (top left) and exit and close the AppleWatch.app
– now, check on your AppleWatch to see that the app has been reinstalled
– then, on your AppleWatch, open the app and check if it works properly
– if it does, your good to go
– if it does not, try one of the other reinstall options

OPTION #2
The complete app reinstall via the iPhone‘s AppStore.app :
– on your iPhone, find the corresponding iOS-app of the app that isn’t working properly on your AppleWatch
– long-press sonwhere on the screen inbetween the app icons until all icons start to jiggle
– click on the small circle with a minus-sign in it (on the top-left) of the icon of the app that is not working properly
– when the Remove-popup appears, click on ‘Delete App’
– now, the app will be deleted from your iPhone …and also from your AppleWatch !
– check your AppleWatch to verify that the app has also been deleted there
– if not, wait a little until your iPhone and AppleWatch have synced
– if so, proceed on your iPhone
– open the AppStore.app on your iPhone
– find the app that you have just deleted (and that used to give problems on your AppleWatch)
– reinstall the app by clicking on the ‘download from cloud’-icon/button next to it
– wait for the download to complete and the icon to chang into an ‘Open’-button
– click the ‘Open’-button
– go to your AppleWatch and see that the app has been reinstalled there also
– if not, wait a little longer until the syncing is done
– then proceed, by opening the app on your AppleWatch
– now check if the app works properly
– if it does, you’re good to go
– if it does not, try one of the other reinstall options

OPTION #3
The targeted app reinstall via the AppleWatch‘s AppStore.app :
– on your AppleWatch, press the Digital Crown once to see your collection of apps
– touch and hold anywhere on the display until all app icons begin to jiggle
– click on the icon of the app that is not working properly (when the icon is jiggling, it also has a tiny grey circle with an X in it top-left on it)
– you will now see a black screen with white letters “Are you shure you want to delete… ?’ and a ‘Delete APP’ and a ‘Cancel’ button
– click the ‘Delete App’ button
– then your collection of apps will be shown, check that the app is no longer there
– now, in your collection of apps, find the AppStore icon (the blue circle with the distinctive white AppStore A in it ; if your vcan’t find it at first, look again, since it will be there as it cannot be deleted)
– if you’ve never used the AppStore on your AppleWatch before, you need to activate it by clicking the blue ‘Continue’ button first
– then, in the AppStore screen, click the Search-icon (the looking glass top-left)
– in the Search screen, skip up the triangular arrow from the bottom (below the word ‘SPACE’)
– on the next screen, choose to input the search word using Scribble (writing letters on-screen one-by-one) or Dictation (speaking the search word)
– using your input manner of choice, see to it that the search word is somthing like the apps name, it doesn’t have to be exactly righ ( it’s just that the pronounciation should resemble the name of the app you’e rearching for)
– then, click the blue ‘Search’-button (top-right)
– in the list of reach results, scroll down to the app you want to reinstall and clikc on it’s name
– on the page that opens, click on the ‘download from cloud’-icon on the right side
– it will now turn into a download progress circle that will finally turn into a blue ‘Open’-button
– click on the blue ‘Open’-button
– now check if the app works properly
– if it does, you’re good
– if it does not, try one of the other reinstall options

FINAL OPTION
if neither of the 3 reinstall options outlined above has worked to get the app working properly, you will need to erase and resinstall your AppleWatch entirely…
To do so, see this post :
fixed : VanMoof.app keeps giving No Data error message

That’s it !
One of the above options will help you to reinstall (and fix) an AppleWatch-app

enjoy 😉

fixed : MS Auto Updater warning saying I need to upgrade eventhough I am already on the latest version

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Question :
every time I restart my Mac, I get an error message from Microsoft saying that I can’t update, but I can’t find what’s wrong. When I click the link provided for more information, I get a page on the Microsoft website telling that support for MS Office 2019 for macOS has ended and that I should either updagrade to MS Office 365 or MS office 2021 for macOS… but as far as I know I am already running MS Office 2021 for macOS…

What is wrong ?

Answer :
Eventhough there is a very small chance that something completely different is going on, in the majority of cases, your problem will be that you are running the MS Office apps that you primarily use (e.g. Word, PowerPoint and Excel) in the 2021 version and some of the MS Office apps that you never use (e.g. Outlook, OneNote or OneDrive) are still on the 2019 version.

To solve this problem, do this :
– open the Finder
– go to [your Mac] > Library > Application Support > MAU2.0 > Microsoft Autoupdate
– doubleclick on Microsoft Autoupdate to run the MS Autoupdate.app
– click on the pulldown-button (top-right ; the downward-pointing triangular arrowhead)
– now the pulldown list of recent updates will fold out
– in the list, spot the apps that aregiving an error
– then click on the ‘Check for Updates’-button and wait for other updating errors to appear
– if the MS Office apps that you regularly use (e.g. Word, PowerPoint and/or Excel) are giving an update error saying you need to upgrade, your version of MS Office for macOS is outdated and you should buy the newest version or switch to an Office 365 (now called Microsoft 365) subscription
– if you only get updating errors for apps that you never use (e.g. Outlook), open a new Finder window
– then, goto [your Mac] > Applications
– then, type the name of the app you are looking for (e.g. Outlook) in the search field top right
– in the list of applications that appears, select the app you are looking for
– right-click on it’s name and choose Delete from the pulldown menu
– in the warning window that appears, typ your computer password (the password you use to startup & unlock your Mac) and click OK to allow the app to be deleted from you Mac

That’s it !

Enjoy 😉

fixed : delete multiple old mails at once in Mail.app on iPhone or iPad

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Question :
On my Mac, in the Mail.app, I’ve always been fond of the option to select multiple eMails (mostly junk-mail) and delete them at once… but on my iPhone I have to delete each mail one-by-one (swipe left, click More, scroll down, click Delete Message) …that’s no problem if it’s only 5 eMails, but when it’s 10 or 20 eMails that I want to delete, it takes a lot of time and a lot of swiping…
Now a friend adviced me to sart using the Gmail.app to do this… and Gmail.app has this as a standard feature, and Mail.app doesn’t (as far as I know) …but I love using Mail.app and prefer to keep using Apple’s own stuff…

Isn’t there any way to do this in Mail.app ?


Answer :
YES, there is !
Okay – it’s slightly more complicated than in the Gmail.app for some unknown reason… but the option is there – to use it, do this :

in iOS / on iPhone :
– open Mail.app
– if you’re not already in the mailbox that you want to delete the eMails from, open the proper mailbox in the Mailboxes list window
– in the window where all eMails are listed, click Edit (top-right)
– now all eMails will slide slightly to the right and at the left, a round checkbox will apear in front of each eMail
– then, check all eMails that you want to delete (or move)
– when all are selected, click Move (bottom-centre)
– from the popup, select Move Message
– then, on the next screen click on Bin (or Trash) to delete all selected eMails
– the screen will automatically close and go back to the previous screen (your selected mailbox)

in iPadOS / on iPad :
– open Mail.app
– make sure you are in the right mailbox, if not, click the menu icon (top-left) and select the desired mailbox from the list that appears on the left, and click on the menu icon (top-left) again to close the list of mailboxes that had appeared on the left
– in the window of your desired mailbox, the list of eMails will be visible on the left and the preview of the selected eMail will be in the middle and right
– then click on Edit (top-right-in-the-left-column), above the list of eMails
– now all eMails will slide slightly to the right and at the left of them, a round checkbox will appear in front of each eMail
– then, check all eMails that you want to delete (or move)
– when all are selected, click Move (bottom-centre-in the left-column)
– from the popup, select Move Message
– then, in the list that appears on the left, click on Bin (or Trash) to delete all selected eMails
– the slide-in menu will automatically close and you will be back in the regular screen of the active mailbox

Note : both on iPhone and iPad, you can also use this method to move multiple eMails to the junk-mailbox or archive them to any desired mailbox

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : where to find the Workout.app ?

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Question :

Today is World Yoga Day. So I got a reminder from the Fitness.app on my iPhone that I can get a special award named “Yoga Day Challenge” if I do at least 10 minutes of yoga exercise today. So I did, but nothing happende. Then I found out that I need to do the exercise with the Workout.app running… I’ve searched on my iPhone and in the AppStore, but I can’t find the Workout.app…

Where can I find the Workout.app ?


Answer :

Yes, that’s a tricky one : the Workout.app is only available on your AppleWatch.
So, unl;ock your AppleWatch and look for the app-icon that is bright yellow-green with a black stylized running man in it. Click on that, and the Workout.app will open.

That’s it !

In your case, you will also need to start and record a Yoga workout. To do so, do this :
– on your AppleWatch, open the Workout.app (bright yellow-green icon with a black running man in it)
– when the app opens, scroll down to the bottom
– if Yoga is not in the list, click on the “Add Workout” button at the very bottom
– on the next page, you get a list of additional workout types to add to the Workout.app
– for Yoga you will need to scroll all the way down (the first group contains some much-used workouts and sports, and all others are grouped alphabetically – so you will need to scroll a long way down for the Y-section, there you will find Yoga)
– click on Yoga to pin Yoga workouts to the workout.app’s begin screen
– then exit the Workout.app
– now, if you want to record a Yoga workout, open the Workout.app and click on Yoga in the begin screen
– the Yoga Workout will now start with a 3 second countdown and switch to the recording screen
– if you swipe this screen to the right, you will get the options to stop or pause your Yoga workout

That’s it !

enjoy 😉