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

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 : VanMoof.app on AppleWatch keeps giving No Data error

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

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 : Legacy System Extension warning for MATTINGALLS extension

Question :

Ever since I upgraded to macOS 13 Ventura, after each reboot, I get a warning saying “Legacy System Extension – Existing software on your system loaded a system extension signed by “MATT INGALLS”, which will be incompatible with a future version of macOS. Contact the developer for support.”

What is this about ? And what can or should I do about it ?


Answer :

The reason you get this warning is because you have installed the SoundFlower extension on your Mac. SoundFlower is a FREE system extension that lets you route sound from one application to another. That can be useful to record audio from your Mac, among others…

But… development on SoundFlower seems to have stalled… the latest developer who took over the SoundFlower-project from RogueAmoeba was Matt Ingalls (so that’s where te warning comes from…) but he hasn’t released any new versions recently…

The last version that was released only runs on Intel-Macs (so not on M1 and M2-Macs) and will not be compatible with macOS 14 Sonoma and beyond…

Note : clicking ont the “More info” button in the warning window will lead you to this info on Apple’s website, but it will not give any useful info on SoundFlower

If you want to follow up on Apple’s advice to ‘contact the developer’, you can contact Matt Ingalls here to request a new release of SoundFlower or if you are looking for the latest info on the SoundFlower-project, look here : https://github.com/mattingalls/Soundflower/releases

If you want to remove the Soundflower-extension that is causing this warning, do this :
[ a big thanks you to celticparrotj for posing this question ]
– click somewhere on the Desktop to open the Finder
– make sure that “Finder” is visible next to the Apple-icon in the far left of the top menu bar
– select “Go” from the top menu bar
– in the pulldown menu that appears, click on “Go to Folder…”
– in the search field of popup window that appears, type the following text :
/Library/Extensions/
– then hit the [Enter]-key on your keyboard
– in the window that opens, the “Extensions” folder will be highlighted and its content will be visible
– select the “Soundflower.kext” file and drag it to the Trash
– in the popup window that appears, type the password that unlocks your Mac and click “OK”
– then empty the Trash
– and close all Finder windows

If you are looking for an ALTERNATIVE to replace the SoundFlower extension, give BlackHole a try : https://github.com/ExistentialAudio/BlackHole

fixed : Storage Full error warning on AppleWatch 3

Question :

I have an AppleWatch 3 (or Series 3 as it is officially called) and a few days ago, an warning message popped up saying there its memory is full.

The warning reeds :
Storage Full Try removing music or photos using the AppleWatch app on iPhone.

but… when I go to the Watch app on my iPhone, there are no photos or music that I can erase…

What can I do to solve this ?

Answer :

In case you get a ‘Storage Full’ warning and you have an AppleWatch Series 3, your only option is to Unpair & Update, as you cannot erase any content manually. If you have a newer AppleWatch (an SE-Series, Series 4 or up) you can erase some content manually, so you could restart you AppleWatch and see if that helps, or you could try freeing up space by deleting media or apps. Here’s how to Unpair & Update :

  • on your iPhone, open the Watch-app
  • now, make sure your AppleWatch and iPhone are close together during the entire process (so the connection between the two will not be broken)
  • in the Watch-app, click the My Watch icon (bottom left) first, then click “My Watches” (top left)
  • in the “All Watches” window that opens, make sure that the AppleWatch you want to unpair is selected ( not really relevant if you only have one AppleWatch )
  • then, click on the INFO-icon (the i-in-a-circle icon) next to the selected AppleWatch
  • in the “Apple Watch” window that opens, click on “Unpair Apple Watch” (bottom left)
  • then, type your AppleID password when asked
  • note : upon request, make sure to select to keep your cellular plan if you have a GPS+Cellular AppleWatch
  • now click to confirm the unpairing
  • note : if you get a message that the unpairing might have gone wrong, and the AppleWatch is no longer listed in the Watch-app on your iPhone, try resetting your AppleWatch by long-pressing the Side Button until the SOS-slider appears ; then click the power button that also appeared (top right) ; if that still doesn’t unpair the AppleWatch properly, select “Erase all content” from the Settings menu
  • note : upon request, disable Activation Lock by entering your AppleID password
  • your iPhone will now create a backup of your AppleWatch’s content & apps before erasing your AppleWatch (if needed, you can use that backup to restore to a ‘clean’ Apple Watch)
  • after the AppleWatch has been erased, start by setting it up as a new AppleWatch
  • to do so, make sure your AppleWatch and iPhone are close together and follow the onscreen instructions
  • when done, you have a ‘new’ (but ’empty’) AppleWatch, and the latest available version of WatchOS will be installed
  • now, you will probably want to reinstall your apps & content from your backup – to do so, do this :
  • unpair the AppleWatch again
  • then setup your AppleWatch once again from your iPhone, but this time, upon request, choose “restore from backup” (not “set up as new”)

that’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : Dyson Pure Cool warning to replace new filters again ?

Question :

I have a Dyson Pure Cool 2018 ( TP04 ) fan-less air cooler / purifier, and it works great – I can even  monitor & control it from the DysonLink.app on my iPhone. Now time has come to replace the HEPA and carbon filters, so I got a new set of those. I got the old wones out and put the new ones in, turned the Pure Cool back on, and now it keeps giving a ‘replace immediately’ warning again…

What is wrong ?

 

Answer :

You probably replaced both the carbonfilters and both the HEPA-filters just fine, as that is rather simple. But judging from the error message you are getting, you forgot to reset the software. To do so, do this :

  • unplug the Dyson Pore Cool 2018 ( TP04 ) from power
  • replace both carbonfilters (skip this if you just renewed them)
  • replace both HEPA filters (skip this if you just renewed them)
  • replug the power
  • switch ON (using the power button on the Pure Cool’s body)
  • press the ‘night’-button (bottom right) on the remote control until the countdown starts
  • wait for the countdown to finish
  • press the ‘left/right’-button (bottom left) on the remote control until the countdown starts
  • wait for the countdown to finish
  • you will now see green checkmarks for both filters on the display
  • press the ‘AUTO’-botton (middle right) on the remote control to put the Pure Cool back into automatic mode
  • use the DysonLink.app for further settings (like using Siri or Alexa, Google Home is currently not supported)

that’s it !

enjoy 😉

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