Problem with installing OS X on MacBook Air (2010)

A

Amber3000

Registered
Hello everyone, I'm new here and I've run into the most annoying problem lol

So a couple of years ago we found my husband's old working MacBook Air (2010) and it didn't start properly (he had Windows installed on it too and something was messed up) so I decided to format it and install the OS freshly. I hadn't worked with Mac OS before so had to Google a bunch. After formatting, Internet Recovery asked for Apple ID to install OS X Lion. My husband tried to remember it and couldn't. I don't remember what I did to it after but we left it. Today I found the MacBook again and decided to try more options. I created a bootable USB with OS X Lion but the problem is it can only go into Internet Recovery. The hidden Recovery partition is missing (checked through Terminal) and I don't have a way to even boot from the USB. If it's not the Internet Recovery mode, then there's a flashing folder icon with a question mark. Disk utility shows the USB so it is recognized. Even the "reinstall OS X" option in Internet Recovery doesn't work anymore where it says something like "restart the application and try again". The internet connection is fine and it connects when prompted but even if this worked we wouldn't have the old Apple ID. Is there any other way to get it to install the OS or is the laptop done? Different keyboard combinations when powering on don't work, everything leads to the Internet Recovery. Thanks for any help.
 
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Try this:
Use terminal in recovery mode to change the date to 2011,

date {month}{day}{hour}{minute}{year}

example:
date 010101012011

Maybe it works, maybe not, but it doesn’t hurt to try!
 
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Amber3000 said:
Hello everyone, I'm new here and I've run into the most annoying problem lol

So a couple of years ago we found my husband's old working MacBook Air (2010) and it didn't start properly (he had Windows installed on it too and something was messed up) so I decided to format it and install the OS freshly. I hadn't worked with Mac OS before so had to Google a bunch. After formatting, Internet Recovery asked for Apple ID to install OS X Lion. My husband tried to remember it and couldn't. I don't remember what I did to it after but we left it. Today I found the MacBook again and decided to try more options. I created a bootable USB with OS X Lion but the problem is it can only go into Internet Recovery. The hidden Recovery partition is missing (checked through Terminal) and I don't have a way to even boot from the USB. If it's not the Internet Recovery mode, then there's a flashing folder icon with a question mark. Disk utility shows the USB so it is recognized. Even the "reinstall OS X" option in Internet Recovery doesn't work anymore where it says something like "restart the application and try again". The internet connection is fine and it connects when prompted but even if this worked we wouldn't have the old Apple ID. Is there any other way to get it to install the OS or is the laptop done? Different keyboard combinations when powering on don't work, everything leads to the Internet Recovery. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

e re-installing a macOS on a 2009 MacBook pro.

A kind senior gave me a very old laptop, which looks to be in great condition, for donation to a non-profit helping refugees resettle into the WDC metro area.

2009 MBP 13”, which came with 10.5 Leopard installed.

While MacTracker says the maximum OS that this MB Pro will work with is OS 10.11.6 El Capitan, after booting in Recovery Mode and wiping all her data from the HD, I ran [Restore the macOS] and it downloaded Yosemite, so I guess MacTracker was wrong.

And that’s where I hit a brick wall.

Considerable research - trust me here- led to the discovery that on MB Pros of this generation you cannot reinstall the macOS following a Recovery Mode boot. You must be able to log into the App Store with the Apple ID associated with your purchase of this computer (the donee has gone through multiple Apple IDs since and cannot remember the necessary one) or you must have the Leopard Install CDs which came with the machine, which of course are long gone.


Click on [Install] when you get the Yosemite install page and that leads to a drop-down log in asking for your Apple ID. In the multiple times I tried this I somehow got by that request for an Apple ID (I forget how) and got what everyone who posted about this problem gets when they try to do what did: [This item not available. Try again later.]

I found the only way to get a macOS on that old mac is to find out which macOS it came with and get an install DVD on eBay for that macOS. This is what I did and it worked perfectly. All other roads will almost certainly end in frustration.
 
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I have been using the other method to get Mac OS on older Macs:
Boot to a USB bootable installer for the version of OS X that you want to install.
That is something that I have been working with as a hobby since Lion appeared on the scene. I have USB drives with single installers, anything from Leopard to Ventura, or drives with multiple volumes, often with all those systems from Leopard to Ventura on a single drive. I do sometimes run into some kind of difficulty with an install, but a simple NVRAM/PRAM reset usually will get things going for an install, and occasionally will have to adjust the system time on Mavericks or El Capitan--a couple of others, too, but that's not always necessary.
 
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Amber3000 said:
Hello everyone, I'm new here and I've run into the most annoying problem lol

So a couple of years ago we found my husband's old working MacBook Air (2010) and it didn't start properly (he had Windows installed on it too and something was messed up) so I decided to format it and install the OS freshly. I hadn't worked with Mac OS before so had to Google a bunch. After formatting, Internet Recovery asked for Apple ID to install OS X Lion. My husband tried to remember it and couldn't. I don't remember what I did to it after but we left it. Today I found the MacBook again and decided to try more options. I created a bootable USB with OS X Lion but the problem is it can only go into Internet Recovery. The hidden Recovery partition is missing (checked through Terminal) and I don't have a way to even boot from the USB. If it's not the Internet Recovery mode, then there's a flashing folder icon with a question mark. Disk utility shows the USB so it is recognized. Even the "reinstall OS X" option in Internet Recovery doesn't work anymore where it says something like "restart the application and try again". The internet connection is fine and it connects when prompted but even if this worked we wouldn't have the old Apple ID. Is there any other way to get it to install the OS or is the laptop done? Different keyboard combinations when powering on don't work, everything leads to the Internet Recovery. Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Can you put the old Mac in Target Disk mode and connect it to another Mac that CAN install the desired OS?
 
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