Unable to update Mac OS since factory resetting macbook pro 2012.

[lforster]

I have been having difficulty booting up my MacBook Pro 2012 15", where the screen was not working, but i could hear the start up sound etc. I decided to reboot the laptop in recovery mode (CMD + R) and then erase the hard drive and start a fresh, as everyone was backed to the cloud. So i re-installed the OS onto the hard drive via recovery mode, and it put Mountain Lion as the OS, as it was when new.

However, when trying to update the OS now, i am unable to access the App Store when following software update, receiving the following message "Cannot connect to App store". I am also receiving error messages relating to Clock Error "Your clock is ahead" when accessing some pages on Google Chrome, even though i have reset the time multiple times manually and automatically.

Does anyone know why i cannot update the OS, or gain access to the app store? As well as how to fix this?

 

[Fishrrman]

"I decided to reboot the laptop in recovery mode (CMD + R) and then erase the hard drive and start a fresh"

If you actually "did it this way", then you did it wrong.

You CANNOT erase "the entire drive" in "recovery mode" (Command-R).
When you boot to recovery mode, you are booting to the recovery partition, which is a part of the Macs internal drive. You CAN'T erase the entire drive when you're actually booted from it!

To erase the ENTIRE drive, you must boot to INTERNET recovery (NOT THE SAME as "the recovery partition"):
Command-OPTION-R

Hmmm.... BE AWARE that when you use this option, the Apple servers will offer you only the latest version of the OS that will run on the Mac you have.

So.. how to get Mountain Lion re-installed on a drive that has been "properly erased"?

Do you happen to have an external USB3 drive around?
If you do, you could use CarbonCopyCloner to create a BOOTABLE backup of your boot partition as it is now. CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days, so this won't cost you anything.
Let CCC clone over the recovery partition as well.

Then...
Boot from the backup (hold down the option key continuously at startup to bring up the startup manager).

Next...
Use disk utility (while booted from the backup) to COMPLETELY erase the internal drive.

Then...
Open CCC again, and this time "re-clone" the contents of the backup BACK TO the internal drive. CCC will even re-create the recovery partition.

This should get you running with the drive properly partitioned.
Hopefully, this will clear up the App Store problems as well.

 

[lforster]

"I decided to reboot the laptop in recovery mode (CMD + R) and then erase the hard drive and start a fresh"

If you actually "did it this way", then you did it wrong.

You CANNOT erase "the entire drive" in "recovery mode" (Command-R).
When you boot to recovery mode, you are booting to the recovery partition, which is a part of the Macs internal drive. You CAN'T erase the entire drive when you're actually booted from it!

To erase the ENTIRE drive, you must boot to INTERNET recovery (NOT THE SAME as "the recovery partition"):
Command-OPTION-R

Hmmm.... BE AWARE that when you use this option, the Apple servers will offer you only the latest version of the OS that will run on the Mac you have.

So.. how to get Mountain Lion re-installed on a drive that has been "properly erased"?

Do you happen to have an external USB3 drive around?
If you do, you could use CarbonCopyCloner to create a BOOTABLE backup of your boot partition as it is now. CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days, so this won't cost you anything.
Let CCC clone over the recovery partition as well.

Then...
Boot from the backup (hold down the option key continuously at startup to bring up the startup manager).

Next...
Use disk utility (while booted from the backup) to COMPLETELY erase the internal drive.

Then...
Open CCC again, and this time "re-clone" the contents of the backup BACK TO the internal drive. CCC will even re-create the recovery partition.

This should get you running with the drive properly partitioned.
Hopefully, this will clear up the App Store problems as well.

Thanks for your reply, i may of not been clear when typing out my problem. I previously used Disk Utility to erase my hard drive, then booted up the laptop and used recovery mode to reinstall the OS. However, it has put the factory OS onto my laptop, which is Mountain Lion.I have just attempt to recover using internet recovery, however it leads me to the same result.

I do not have a spare USB3 so i cannot use the boot from back up option. Thank you for your suggestion.

 

[MBAir2010]

Fixed!