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Mac reverted me to original OS but won't install - "This item is temporarily unavailable"

W

wuzzbert

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 16, 2015
13
1
I have a MacBook air (2010) that was happily running on High Sierra until I decided that I wanted to do a clean install. Basically I started it up in Recovery mode, deleted the sdd image and then went to the re-install High Sierra (standard procedure which I've done before).

HOWEVER - for some reason it crashed on install so i just rebooted it in recovery, but because it was half way through install I had to recover over internet which was all well and good but of course it took me back to trying to install the original OS which was lion 10.7. Upon signing into the App-store to download it I got the message "This item is temporarily unavailable", now I’ve downloaded and used this in App-store in the past but for some reason it’s not available to me anymore, and I tried it on several Apple ID's. I can only assume they have removed it, but I’m not sure why as this situation gets people stuck (i may be wrong though)

ANYWAY - I thought well the only thing left to do is download a bootable installer of the most recent compatible version of OS with my mac which is obviously High Sierra as i was using it before. So I downloaded a copy on a separate mac then I followed apples procedure to create a bootable installer with a USB.

BUT- when I booted up the mac and to run start up manager it saw the High Sierra bootable installer USB and started to load with the grey bar but then I just got the stop sign on the grey background.

This is where my knowledge ends, basically I’m left with a MacBook that wants to install lion, but i cant download it and cant install High Sierra because it won’t run the bootable installer successfully.

Can anyone please please help
 
i had the same problem but with snow leopard on a mbair 2010
what i did was reboot, hold option, and ran disk utility and just repaired the drive
 
Expobill said:
i had the same problem but with snow leopard on a mbair 2010
what i did was reboot, hold option, and ran disk utility and just repaired the drive
Click to expand...

I gather you didnt attempt to download the original OS then after considering the "This item is temporarily unavailable" issue. Did you use the bootable installer method?
 
wuzzbert said:
I gather you didnt attempt to download the original OS then after considering the "This item is temporarily unavailable" issue. Did you use the bootable installer method?
Click to expand...
I had to reformat the hd first, that was stuck on el cap and snow leopard because the ? Appeared when i started the mba, i think i erased the drive then reinstalled snow leopard.
I have 2 ssd i swap one for elcap 128gb, and the one snow leopard recently reformatted 68 gb.
The jest of this reply is to be encouraging and there might be several options to fix your drive.
 
Those keyboard shortcuts are for internet recovery. You said that Internet recovery forces you to install the original OS. It does not.
 
chabig said:
Those keyboard shortcuts are for internet recovery. You said that Internet recovery forces you to install the original OS. It does not.
Click to expand...
I beg to differ
chabig said:
Those keyboard shortcuts are for internet recovery. You said that Internet recovery forces you to install the original OS. It does not.
Click to expand...
Im not saying you are wrong but I tired all the key combinations individually, rebooting each time and and the only option it gave me was to install the original OS
 
I recently got my dead 64gb ssd to finally boot just last month just by trying many things having a usb drive helped, but that did not work the many times i tried fixing the drive in 2018. Just keep trying.
 
chabig said:
Strange. Those keyboard shortcuts are documented. I also don't understand why a USB install stick wouldn't boot.
Click to expand...

Well going off what the other guy said, I think because the previous install failed the disk may have got corrupted even though it allowed me to format it!!! Im going to try it tonight but like you im confused. Im not convinced this is going to work for me.
 
Still, there is no reason internet recovery shouldn't work. Hold down command-option-R while powering on the machine. Then you ought to be able to wipe the hard drive and reinstall High Sierra.
 
wuzzbert said:
Well going off what the other guy said, I think because the previous install failed the disk may have got corrupted even though it allowed me to format it!!! Im going to try it tonight but like you im confused. Im not convinced this is going to work for me.
Click to expand...
Here is the correct way to get the latest verified version of MacOS available for your MBA. Hold down on Option-Command-R, and that will boot your MBA into the latest version of internet recovery mode. Then Erase your drive and make certain it is set to format as Extended Journaled and GUID partition map scheme. After doing that, choose “Reinstall MacOS” and after asking you a couple of questions, your Mac will then install the latest version of MacOS available for your MBA. Make sure you have a strong internet connection before installing the new MacOS or your install may fail again. Good luck!
 
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theapplehead said:
Here is the correct way to get the latest verified version of MacOS available for your MBA. Hold down on Option-Command-R, and that will boot your MBA into the latest version of internet recovery mode. Then Erase your drive and make certain it is set to format as Extended Journaled and GUID partition map scheme. After doing that, choose “Reinstall MacOS” and after asking you a couple of questions, your Mac will then install the latest version of MacOS available for your MBA. Make sure you have a strong internet connection before installing the new MacOS or your install may fail again. Good luck!
Click to expand...

Right i have literally just done exactly what you have said above and it will NOT let me install the latest OS. Doing internet recovery doing (oprion,command and R) still only lets me install lion 10.7 and then when I log onto the app store it wont let me download it. Catagorically doesnt work. I will post a video on youtube of me doing it if no one believes me.
 
wuzzbert said:
Right i have literally just done exactly what you have said above and it will NOT let me install the latest OS. Doing internet recovery doing (oprion,command and R) still only lets me install lion 10.7 and then when I log onto the app store it wont let me download it. Catagorically doesnt work. I will post a video on youtube of me doing it if no one believes me.
Click to expand...
Okay. I believe you. Strange things happen when a Mac starts acting up. Just to be clear, what are you trying to download from the App Store? MacOS High Sierra? And it won’t let you? But it does let you install Lion correct? Have you tried contacting Apple Support about this yet?
 
theapplehead said:
Okay. I believe you. Strange things happen when a Mac starts acting up. Just to be clear, what are you trying to download from the App Store? MacOS High Sierra? And it won’t let you? But it does let you install Lion correct? Have you tried contacting Apple Support about this yet?
Click to expand...

Sorry I will try and make it as clear as possible:

I want to install High Sierra (like I had installed before) but due to this glitch it will only give me the option to try and download lion however when I sign in to download it says unavailable. Therefore on another Mac I created a bootable installer of Sierra and when I tried to install that I was left with the stop sign on the grey background. Basically I can’t get anything on it now.
 
I want to install High Sierra (like I had installed before) but due to this glitch it will only give me the option to try and download lion however when I sign in to download it says unavailable

Can you get into disk utilities?
 
Expobill said:
I want to install High Sierra (like I had installed before) but due to this glitch it will only give me the option to try and download lion however when I sign in to download it says unavailable

Can you get into disk utilities?
Click to expand...
Yes and I’ve done repair and erase
 
wuzzbert said:
Yes and I’ve done repair and erase
Click to expand...
This happened to me, What i did last month was reinstall from a source. I used a usb thst came with the mba.
I dont think your gonna get a clear cut solution your looking for here, which is frustrating, but just keep trying!
 
wuzzbert said:
Sorry I will try and make it as clear as possible:

I want to install High Sierra (like I had installed before) but due to this glitch it will only give me the option to try and download lion however when I sign in to download it says unavailable. Therefore on another Mac I created a bootable installer of Sierra and when I tried to install that I was left with the stop sign on the grey background. Basically I can’t get anything on it now.
Click to expand...
Okay if you can get access to a Mac App Store I will provide a direct link to the App Store to download High Sierra. I don’t know if this will even help you but here you go: macappstores://itunes.apple.com/app/id1246284741

FYI: High Sierra is supported on MBA mid 2012 or later.
 
theapplehead said:
Okay if you can get access to a Mac App Store I will provide a direct link to the App Store to download High Sierra. I don’t know if this will even help you but here you go: macappstores://itunes.apple.com/app/id1246284741

FYI: High Sierra is supported on MBA mid 2012 or later.
Click to expand...
Hi, I’ve already done this and created a bootable installer of Sierra however when I try to install from the USB I get the stop sign on the grey background
 
wuzzbert said:
Hi, I’ve already done this and created a bootable installer of Sierra however when I try to install from the USB I get the stop sign on the grey background
Click to expand...
Then your MBA is definitely too old to support High Sierra and maybe too old to support Sierra as well. Regardless of whether it can support Sierra, it can almost certainly support El Capitan. Here is the link for that. Use this link to create a bootable USB: https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?ls=1&mt=12

Make sure the Mac you download it to for the USB is operating on High Sierra or older
 
theapplehead said:
Then your MBA is definitely too old to support High Sierra and maybe too old to support Sierra as well. Regardless of whether it can support Sierra, it can almost certainly support El Capitan. Here is the link for that. Use this link to create a bootable USB: https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?ls=1&mt=12

Make sure the Mac you download it to for the USB is operating on High Sierra or older
Click to expand...

No no no, please read back, I had OS High Sierra installed on it originally
 
theapplehead said:
The only other explanation is that the USB download is damaged or the USB doesn’t work properly. Unfortunately there is no other logical reason. As @Expobill said, there’s no simple answer. I’d recommend contacting an Apple store or calling Apple support.
Click to expand...

Well I’ve downloaded it on various USB’s and tried it on different USB ports. I’ve also installed it on another Mac to prove it works. I tried apple support and they just said book an appointment, but are booked up for weeks. I will persevere on and all your help is appreciated.
 
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