Attempt to erase and reinstall OS X on Air results in Yosemite?

[capathy21]

Forgive me if I am missing the obvious. I picked up a base model Macbook Air on Best Buy's sale but decided I want to exchange it for a 256ssd model. When I got it, I installed Yosemite beta. Tonight, I went through the process to erase and reinstall OS X via internet in order to get it back to Mavericks. The process went through and after about an hour, the OS downloaded it and was on the new Mac startup screen.

I have always heard that this process reinstalls the version of OS X that the computer shipped with (which would be Mavericks) but to my surprise, it downloaded and installed Yosemite.

Any direction would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to get it back to factory Mavericks so that I can exchange for the 256SSD model.

 

[ashman70]

I don't see how its possible it downloaded Yosemite, I think its more likely it didn't actually erase the contents of the hard drive and get rid of Yosemite in the first place. Perhaps list the steps you went through to wipe the drive and download the OS?

 

[capathy21]

I don't see how its possible it downloaded Yosemite, I think its more likely it didn't actually erase the contents of the hard drive and get rid of Yosemite in the first place. Perhaps list the steps you went through to wipe the drive and download the OS?

Sure I followed these steps from Apple's website.

Choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command (⌘) and R keys.

If you’re not connected to the Internet, choose a network from the Wi-Fi menu (in the top-right corner of the screen).

Select Disk Utility, then click Continue.

Select your startup disk on the left, then click the Erase tab.

Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format menu, enter a name, then click Erase.

After the disk is erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.

Select Reinstall OS X, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Once I did that it took about an hour and downloaded the OS. It finished and then I started the setup just like a new mac and low and behold it was Yosemite. Weird right?

 

[joshlalonde]

I feel like you basically just re-installed Yosemite.
You need to get a copy of Mavericks to re-install from, you can't simply 'factory reset' your Mac.

See: http://www.macworld.com/article/245...-mavericks-from-the-yosemite-public-beta.html

 

[capathy21]

I feel like you basically just re-installed Yosemite.
You need to get a copy of Mavericks to re-install from, you can't simply 'factory reset' your Mac.

See: http://www.macworld.com/article/245...-mavericks-from-the-yosemite-public-beta.html

Ahh thanks. This answers my question. I didn't make a backup like I should have.

I am currently downloading Mavericks from the App Store. I should be able to throw that on a bootable usb and reinstall it that way correct?

 

[joshlalonde]

Ahh thanks. This answers my question. I didn't make a backup like I should have.

I am currently downloading Mavericks from the App Store. I should be able to throw that on a bootable usb and reinstall it that way correct?

Just torrent a copy somewhere or borrow a friend's Mac. Then wipe your drive, and install Mavericks.

 

[kvizzel]

Go to Disk Utility erase the hard drive. When installing OS it should install Yosemite. To solve this issue restart after wiping your disk. Then it should reinstall Mavericks.

 

[Roland P]

Go to Disk Utility erase the hard drive. When installing OS it should install Yosemite. To solve this issue restart after wiping your disk. Then it should reinstall Mavericks.

This worked for me. I also tried to install mavericks through internet which messed up the admin account. Wiping the ssd solved it.

 

[capathy21]

Go to Disk Utility erase the hard drive. When installing OS it should install Yosemite. To solve this issue restart after wiping your disk. Then it should reinstall Mavericks.

Yes this worked! Thanks so much.

 

[flowrider]

I picked up a base model Macbook Air on Best Buy's sale but decided I want to exchange it for a 256ssd model.

capathy's response in another thread asking for advice on 128GB vs. 256:

Definitely go with the base model (128). My usage is similar to yours and I have like 78 of 128GB free on my machine. Going with 256 would have been a waste of 200 dollars for me and probably would for you to.

Guess he took his own advice and changed his mind.

Lou

 

[capathy21]

capathy's response in another thread asking for advice on 128GB vs. 256:



Guess he took his own advice and changed his mind.

Lou

Yea I figured someone would call me on that. My wife will be taking this 256 model and I will take her 128. She will be using hers for work and needs more storage than I do.

 

[poiihy]

Forgive me if I am missing the obvious. I picked up a base model Macbook Air on Best Buy's sale but decided I want to exchange it for a 256ssd model. When I got it, I installed Yosemite beta. Tonight, I went through the process to erase and reinstall OS X via internet in order to get it back to Mavericks. The process went through and after about an hour, the OS downloaded it and was on the new Mac startup screen.

I have always heard that this process reinstalls the version of OS X that the computer shipped with (which would be Mavericks) but to my surprise, it downloaded and installed Yosemite.

Any direction would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to get it back to factory Mavericks so that I can exchange for the 256SSD model.

You probably used the Yosemite recovery volume, which installs yosemite. To install mavericks, boot into internet recovery.