The M5 Trap: Why Resetting Your New MacBook Could Soft-Brick Your Device

Should you have acquired and commenced utilizing a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air endowed with the M5 silicon, it is fervently advised that you forestall any endeavors to execute a systemic restoration (a factory reset) for the time being. This precaution is necessitated by an underlying systemic aberration that invariably ensnares the device upon the activation interface.

To elucidate, subsequent to a systemic reset, the apparatus transitions to an activation conduit, which mandates the selection of a Wi-Fi network to establish connectivity. Alas, the menu bar is entirely bereft of the requisite Wi-Fi icon, thereby rendering the patron utterly incapable of consummating the activation process and effectively transmuting the device into a paralyzed, “soft-bricked” state.

Does a remedy exist for this profound tribulation? Indeed, should you fortuitously possess a USB-C to Ethernet (RJ45) adapter, you may tether the machine to a router or switch via a physical cable to forge a network connection. Under these highly specific circumstances, activation may be triumphantly achieved.

This affliction currently appears to be remarkably ubiquitous; Apple’s vanguard of support engineers has divulged that a multitude of patrons have confronted this exact tribulation. It is postulated that Apple shall vanquish this anomaly within a forthcoming iteration of macOS Tahoe.

It is profoundly noteworthy that the 2025 iteration of the MacBook Air, harboring the M4 silicon, suffers from a homologous affliction. However, certain denizens of the digital realm have discovered that a coercive shutdown and subsequent resurrection occasionally summons the elusive Wi-Fi icon—a stratagem that tragically appears utterly impotent upon the M5 MacBook architecture.

Consequently, should you harbor the intention to restore your system, it is imperative to preemptively secure a USB-C to Ethernet adapter. Bereft of this crucial instrument, it is paramount that you abstain from executing a reset at this contemporary juncture, lest your device descend into a comatose state, stripped of all utility.