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Issues with OS X.

H

h3isenberg

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2013
20
0
Big hello to everyone..this is my first post on here. Here's an issue I'm having:

I bought my MacBook Pro off an online ad not too long ago. I am trying to sell it but something messed up when I was formatting it clean. Not too long ago, a friend came by and installed Mountain Lion on my computer. I tried to install it clean by booting into recovery, using disk utility to format the Machintosh HD and then clicking on "reinstall new copy of OS". I got a message (after I put in my apple ID) that mountain lion was not purchased with my ID. My friend is gone for the next month so I'm stuck. I have the original cd (Mac OS X Install DVD, Version 10.5.5) that I got with the purchase of this computer. I try booting from that DVD to install the OS X on it and sell it that way but its not letting me. If the DVD is in, the computer will start but won't do anything really. If I take it out and start it up, it will bring me to the welcome page where I choose a language followed by these options:
1.Restore from time machine backup.
2. Reinstall OS X (reinstall new copy of OS X)
3. Get help online (browse the apple support website to find help for your mac)
4. Disk Utility (repair or erase a disk using Disk Utility).

I am very much stuck right now and don't know how to go about this situation. I am not "too" tech savy but I know a little bit to understand. I have the 10.5.5 original DVD and I have his mountain lion dvd with marker writing on it.

Need help ASAP. Thank you to one and all.
Cheers
 
You won't be able to install ML from the recovery screen unless you have the AppleID that was used to purchase it.

The Mountain Lion DVD with the marker writing on it is promising though. It sounds like maybe the seller made a bootable ML DVD installer. Can you put that DVD in and hold down the C key as you start to see if it will boot from that DVD. If it does, just install from there.

Otherwise, an option is to use someone else's Mac to login to the App Store with your AppleID and buy ML. Then when you get that prompt you can enter your AppleID and it will work and DL and install ML.
 
Weaselboy said:
You won't be able to install ML from the recovery screen unless you have the AppleID that was used to purchase it.

The Mountain Lion DVD with the marker writing on it is promising though. It sounds like maybe the seller made a bootable ML DVD installer. Can you put that DVD in and hold down the C key as you start to see if it will boot from that DVD. If it does, just install from there.

Otherwise, an option is to use someone else's Mac to login to the App Store with your AppleID and buy ML. Then when you get that prompt you can enter your AppleID and it will work and DL and install ML.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I would hope that is my last resort. I really don't mind just having the old OS X on there. I have the original Install DVD. Is there any way I can install that so I at least have an operating system, and then purchase the mountain lion one? I really would just like to use the computer and not be stalled like now. When the original install DVD (10.5.5) is put inside, it doesn't bring me to the set up tutorial at all. Sometimes, I would turn the computer on, the gear will be spinning, and after a minute or two, the screen goes black where I have to force restart by holding down the power button. If there is any way I could get to that DVD set up screen, that would be amazing.

Thanks.

I'm beginning to think that this factory install dvd is not even the right and specific one to this laptop :(
 
Last edited:
Update...

I used Carbon Copy Cloner to backup everything before all this happened. I managed to boot up and have everything back as before. However, since it's on an external 500GB hard drive, the only way I can boot up is with that being connected to the laptop...

There must be a way to downgrade from Mountain Lion..
 
h3isenberg said:
I used Carbon Copy Cloner to backup everything before all this happened. I managed to boot up and have everything back as before. However, since it's on an external 500GB hard drive, the only way I can boot up is with that being connected to the laptop...

There must be a way to downgrade from Mountain Lion..
Click to expand...

Apart from a clean install, I do not think there is one.
 
h3isenberg said:
I used Carbon Copy Cloner to backup everything before all this happened. I managed to boot up and have everything back as before. However, since it's on an external 500GB hard drive, the only way I can boot up is with that being connected to the laptop...

There must be a way to downgrade from Mountain Lion..
Click to expand...

The problem at this point is you need at least Snow Leopard 10.6.8 so you have the App Store app to be able to buy Mountain Lion.

You can just clone your external back to the internal to get you going for now, but that won't get you Mountain Lion.

The other issue is that (cloning) I think is going to overwrite the Mt. Lion recovery partition you have on there now, and limit your options.
 
My friend has that same Mountain Lion OS running and he has a few backups of the disc and gave me one when he installed it on my computer. I'm not sure if I can go on the App Store and purchase a new copy of it. Should that be Mountain Lion? Or something older? Is there a way I can download it, put it on a USB flash drive, and install it that way?

The only thing stopping me is when I click "Reinstall OSX" and put my Apple ID in, it tells me that there was no purchases of the OS X. So I would assume that if I bought Mountain Lion from my account that it would work? I just don't want to mess up and purchase Mountain Lion when I should've purchased something older than that? My macbook pro is a mid-2009 model, manufactured in June.
 
h3isenberg said:
My friend has that same Mountain Lion OS running and he has a few backups of the disc and gave me one when he installed it on my computer. I'm not sure if I can go on the App Store and purchase a new copy of it. Should that be Mountain Lion? Or something older? Is there a way I can download it, put it on a USB flash drive, and install it that way?
Click to expand...

The article niteflyer posted will show you how to make a USB installer if that is what you want, but you don't really need to.

The only thing stopping me is when I click "Reinstall OSX" and put my Apple ID in, it tells me that there was no purchases of the OS X. So I would assume that if I bought Mountain Lion from my account that it would work? I just don't want to mess up and purchase Mountain Lion when I should've purchased something older than that? My macbook pro is a mid-2009 model, manufactured in June.
Click to expand...

Your machine will run Mt. Lion. So yes, just purchase it under your account then enter your AppleID when prompted when installing from the recovery partition. This will install Mt. Lion directly to the drive without having to make a USB key.
 
Weaselboy said:
The article niteflyer posted will show you how to make a USB installer if that is what you want, but you don't really need to.



Your machine will run Mt. Lion. So yes, just purchase it under your account then enter your AppleID when prompted when installing from the recovery partition. This will install Mt. Lion directly to the drive without having to make a USB key.
Click to expand...

Alright, thank you! So, should I boot into the Mountain Lion through my external hard drive that I cloned so I can go to the app store and buy it there? (not sure where it would install to) OR, should I turn it on normally where I come to the part where it says "reinstall fresh os x" and then putting in my apple id and going from there?

Thanks.

Update: I booted it normally without the hard drive and came to the screen (OS X Utilities) where it asks me options. I clicked on "Reinstall OS X (Reinstall a new copy of OS X)". Clicked on Continue, and got the OS X Mountain Lion logo saying "To set up the installation of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Click continue. Next, is a pop up. "To download and restore OS X, your computer's eligibility will be verified with Apple". I clicked continue, and now I'm at the "Terms of the software license agreement." I clicked on Agree which brings me to the Install OS X screen. "Select the disk where you want to install OS X". There's a choice of Recovery HD and Machintosh HD. I clicked on the Machintosh HD. Now it's asking me to sign in to the App Store. I put my login information in and clicked "Sign In". A few seconds after, I got this message.. "This Apple ID has not purchased Lion. You must sign in with an Apple ID that was used to purchase Lion."

Now, where do I go from here if I cannot access the App Store? I tried to go step by step and let you guys know what I was seeing. Hopefully it is enough information for now.

Thanks again!
 
Last edited:
h3isenberg said:
Alright, thank you! So, should I boot into the Mountain Lion through my external hard drive that I cloned so I can go to the app store and buy it there? (not sure where it would install to) OR, should I turn it on normally where I come to the part where it says "reinstall fresh os x" and then putting in my apple id and going from there?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

A little of both. :)

Boot from your ML external and login to the App Store and buy ML then quit the App Store app without downloading ML.

No restart and do a command-r to boot to the internal recovery partition and click install OS from there. You will be prompted for your AppleID you used to buy ML in step one. The OS will then DL directly to the drive and install.
 
Weaselboy said:
A little of both. :)

Boot from your ML external and login to the App Store and buy ML then quit the App Store app without downloading ML.

No restart and do a command-r to boot to the internal recovery partition and click install OS from there. You will be prompted for your AppleID you used to buy ML in step one. The OS will then DL directly to the drive and install.
Click to expand...

Alright, I will try that. I remember before when I clicked on Command+R and nothing happened. Only comes up if I hold down the option key. When I click on the Recovery, it just boots me into the same process with the options that I listed when I started the thread. I will give it a go though.
 
Weaselboy said:
A little of both. :)

Boot from your ML external and login to the App Store and buy ML then quit the App Store app without downloading ML.

No restart and do a command-r to boot to the internal recovery partition and click install OS from there. You will be prompted for your AppleID you used to buy ML in step one. The OS will then DL directly to the drive and install.
Click to expand...

It is installing!!! 15 minutes to go. Will it be a fresh copy of it? As in...none of my personal stuff being on there so that I could sell it? Also, how do I delete my apple id account and just have one normal one that the person can set up when they get the macbook pro?

I'm so happy I'm passed that step. Let's hope it all goes well after this. Hang in here with me. You've been an AMAZING help. If you could tell me the answer to these few questions, that would be awesome. Thanks friend.
 
h3isenberg said:
It is installing!!! 15 minutes to go. Will it be a fresh copy of it? As in...none of my personal stuff being on there so that I could sell it? Also, how do I delete my apple id account and just have one normal one that the person can set up when they get the macbook pro?

I'm so happy I'm passed that step. Let's hope it all goes well after this. Hang in here with me. You've been an AMAZING help. If you could tell me the answer to these few questions, that would be awesome. Thanks friend.
Click to expand...

Since you erased Macintosh HD earlier, yes... this will be a fresh install of the OS. When you get to the end of the install and it prompts you to pick a language etc, just do a command-q quit there and it will stop the setup. Then when the new owner starts the machine they will get that prompt to pick a language and setup a user account. None of that will be tied to your AppleID.

The issue any new owner will have is the same one you had... if they try to do a fresh install of the OS (Mountain Lion) they will be prompted for the AppleID used to buy it (yours), and not having that they will be exactly where you were at the start of this thread.

Glad to be of help. Apple has surely not done a very good job explaining all this to users.
 
Weaselboy said:
Since you erased Macintosh HD earlier, yes... this will be a fresh install of the OS. When you get to the end of the install and it prompts you to pick a language etc, just do a command-q quit there and it will stop the setup. Then when the new owner starts the machine they will get that prompt to pick a language and setup a user account. None of that will be tied to your AppleID.

The issue any new owner will have is the same one you had... if they try to do a fresh install of the OS (Mountain Lion) they will be prompted for the AppleID used to buy it (yours), and not having that they will be exactly where you were at the start of this thread.

Glad to be of help. Apple has surely not done a very good job explaining all this to users.
Click to expand...


I couldn't agree more with you. It is unfortunate that they've made this into one confusing issue. When I sell this to the person, they sort of wanted me to install a few programs for them since they don't know anything about macs. I'm not sure how I would go about doing this without actually going through the OS X set up and booting up to the desktop. It definitely sucks that this person will have to go through the same thing as I did. Fortunately, I will tell them exactly what happened and how to avoid the situation. If they get someone to re-install it, at least wait until the new Maverick OS X comes out so they could buy that instead of the Mountain Lion.
It's still installing this on the computer so I hope everything will finish smoothly.

You're absolutely amazing and I thank you for sticking around and helping me out swiftly.
 
h3isenberg said:
I couldn't agree more with you. It is unfortunate that they've made this into one confusing issue. When I sell this to the person, they sort of wanted me to install a few programs for them since they don't know anything about macs. I'm not sure how I would go about doing this without actually going through the OS X set up and booting up to the desktop. It definitely sucks that this person will have to go through the same thing as I did. Fortunately, I will tell them exactly what happened and how to avoid the situation. If they get someone to re-install it, at least wait until the new Maverick OS X comes out so they could buy that instead of the Mountain Lion.
It's still installing this on the computer so I hope everything will finish smoothly.

You're absolutely amazing and I thank you for sticking around and helping me out swiftly.
Click to expand...

You could just setup and account for them during setup and install whatever apps you want for them. Then they can change the password when you give them the machine.

Just beware about installing Apple App Store apps as those are also linked to your AppleID and won't work for the new user. Other apps would be okay though.
 
Weaselboy said:
You could just setup and account for them during setup and install whatever apps you want for them. Then they can change the password when you give them the machine.

Just beware about installing Apple App Store apps as those are also linked to your AppleID and won't work for the new user. Other apps would be okay though.
Click to expand...

Got it! Everything installed perfectly and it's ready for another home. Again, thank you so much for all your help. Much appreciated Weaselboy!
 
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