Unable to download an Operating System for MacBook Air

[ben7990]

Hi,

I've just recently moved to New Zealand and have purchased a used MacBook air.
When I recieved my Mac in the post I factory reset it as it had the previous owners OS Mountain Lion installed.
I logged onto the apple store to download OS Mountain Lion, however it wouldn't allow me to as it was a UK account.
I then decided to set up a New Zealand Apple account, and now it wont let me down load OS Mountain lion as I haven't purchased it previously.

As you can see I'm a little stuck now. Does anyone have any suggestions? If so I'd be very grateful.

Regards,

Ben

 

[FrancoisC]

Use internet recovery to install the default OS that came with the machine (Probably Lion in your case), using CMD + Option + R at boot-up, instead of the "regular" recovery that use CMD + R only

http://www.cultofmac.com/106669/for...recovery-on-your-2011-or-later-mac-os-x-tips/

Make sure to load disk utility first, to erase the current OS, otherwise it won't let you install.

 

[ben7990]

Use internet recovery to install the default OS that came with the machine (Probably Lion in your case), using CMD + Option + R at boot-up, instead of the "regular" recovery that use CMD + R only

http://www.cultofmac.com/106669/for...recovery-on-your-2011-or-later-mac-os-x-tips/

Make sure to load disk utility first, to erase the current OS, otherwise it won't let you install.

Awesome, I'll give it a bash. Many thanks. Ben

 

[ben7990]

Awesome, I'll give it a bash. Many thanks. Ben

Hi,

I did all of that. It then asks you to connect to wifi. When I click on the wifi I want to use the screen suddenly changes from the spinning globe to a stationary globe with a triangle and exclamation mark inside and under the Globe is written apple.com/support -1005F

I suppose it's an error code, not sure what for though. The signal strength is pretty strong

 

[FrancoisC]

Can you change your security setting on your Router/WI-FI, just to test?

Maybe turning off wifi encryption will help, but don't forget to turn it back on when you are done.

 

[ben7990]

Can you change your security setting on your Router/WI-FI, just to test?

Maybe turning off wifi encryption will help, but don't forget to turn it back on when you are done.

Hi,

So that's all downloaded, took about an hour and a half. When I switch the mac on it still goes to the OS X Utilities window.

I clicked on Reinstall OS X however I'm still getting the same problem, where it try's to get me to purchase mountain lion 10.8, and then it says I can't download it as I have purchased it before.

Ben

 

[b0fh666]

let it install lion, not ML... that's probably what came with the computer.

cheers

 

[JediMeister]

The computer will not boot into Internet Recovery every time unless the computer can't find the local OS X Recovery due to drive failure. You must hold the option+Command+R to force it into Internet Recovery, if it is a model that supports it, that is, so you can get back to the OS it shipped with, not what it was upgraded to.

 

[ben7990]

Hi,

Thanks for all the help. None of this seems to be working.

I've just bought the Snow Leopard DVD from apple so I can install.

I've connected my Apple external DVD drive, inserted disk and pressed C at the same time, but nothing seems to happen.

 

[monkeybagel]

Hi,

Thanks for all the help. None of this seems to be working.

I've just bought the Snow Leopard DVD from apple so I can install.

I've connected my Apple external DVD drive, inserted disk and pressed C at the same time, but nothing seems to happen.

That year, processor, etc, is this device?

 

[ben7990]

That year, processor, etc, is this device?

Hi,

It's was purchased July 2012, it's the 64 Gb version. Not sure what processor it is.

Ben

 

[Nermal]

Snow Leopard won't work on that machine. Boot into Internet Recovery again, then open up Disk Utility and completely erase the drive. This will ensure that all traces of 10.8 are gone and will force it to use 10.7.

Alternatively, if you have access to another Mac, use it to buy 10.8 so that it's attached to your account.

 

[ResPublica]

Hi,

It's was purchased July 2012, it's the 64 Gb version. Not sure what processor it is.

Ben

Macbook Air models of 2011 and 2012 are no longer capable of running Snow Leopard (version 10.6, introduced in 2009). They won't even boot the DVD.

You installed either Lion (10.7) or Mountain Lion (10.8). It should be on your drive; press Option (= Alt) when starting up to choose which OS you wan't to run.