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Need Some Help Reinstalling Lion

hm.castelo

hm.castelo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 29, 2017
6
0
Hi there,

just yesterday I bought a used MacBook Pro 2007 and it came with Mac OS X Lion.
Unfortunately I erase the disk with the system and now when I try to download a new copy of lion through Mac OS X Utilities I always get “Item temporarily unavailable” (I tried different apple accounts, one of then with lion in history purchase, I tried to correct the date on terminal and even did an reset nvram).

My next step was Internet Recovery Mod, but once again no results, option+command+r didn’t work.

Already getting crazy I was hopping to make an bootable usb disk and install from there. I started by preparing my usb 3.0 disk with diskapart command in windows terminal and fallow all the steps in TransMac with different mac os versions but the final result was always the same, when I plug the usb pen in my mac, I turn on pressing option key and I select usb but it always go to Mac OS X Utilities.

Any ideas what to do now?
Please someone help! Tanks a lot!
 
As you have discovered, a 2007 MBPro is too old for Internet Recovery, which is why Opt-Command-R won't work.

You say that it always boots to Mac OS X Utilities...
If you mean the screen which shows Disk Utility, maybe terminal and 3 or 4 other choices, one of those should be a choice to Reinstall OS X , which is what you want to do...
What happens when you try that choice to Reinstall OS X?

BTW, you can't download the Lion installer through the App Store using a Mac that cannot boot from Lion, even if Lion shows up in your Purchased list.
 
Exactly that screen.
Whenever I try to choose Reinstall OS X, I do the login with my apple account and then this message shows up "This item is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

Tanks by the quick reply
 
You have to have Lion in your App Store Purchased history to download and install it. Since you just got the MacBook Pro 2007, I'm guessing you do not have Lion in your Purchased.
 
I suspect that means that your USB installer doesn't work, and you are just booting to the recovery partition on the hard drive, where you have to download the system files over your internet connection.
If you have a working bootable installer, it already has all the system files within the installer, and nothing needs to download at that time. It all copies from the flash drive, and doesn't need your AppleID account login until you actually set up the system as a new user.
Maybe you can find someone that has a Mac, who can help you make an actual working bootable USB installer.
 
CoastalOR said:
You have to have Lion in your App Store Purchased history to download and install it. Since you just got the MacBook Pro 2007, I'm guessing you do not have Lion in your Purchased.
Click to expand...


CoastalOR tanks for also reply on my thread.

You are right, i don't have Lion in your Purchased Account but I also tried to use the account of a friend of mine, this with the Mac OS X Lion in the purchases and continues to give me the same error.
[doublepost=1485742260][/doublepost]
DeltaMac said:
I suspect that means that your USB installer doesn't work, and you are just booting to the recovery partition on the hard drive, where you have to download the system files over your internet connection.
If you have a working bootable installer, it already has all the system files within the installer, and nothing needs to download at that time. It all copies from the flash drive, and doesn't need your AppleID account login until you actually set up the system as a new user.
Maybe you can find someone that has a Mac, who can help you make an actual working bootable USB installer.
Click to expand...


Yes, my next step is to ask a friend of mine who have a mac and get the official lion or el capitan os and then through DiskMaker X create a new bootable pen.
 
downloaded el capitan from appstore in another mac, did every step with DiskMaker X but I still cant boot from usb, keeps going to Mac OS X Utilities

i'm really without plans right now
 
How are you trying to boot to the USB drive? And what version of DiskMakerX are you using?
 
If you ARE booting to the recovery system, then you should have a Startup Disk somewhere in the Utilities, or in one of the menus. Does your USB installer appear in the Startup Disk pane?
Which USB port are you using to try to boot the USB installer?
 
Intell said:
How are you trying to boot to the USB drive? And what version of DiskMakerX are you using?
Click to expand...


I´m using DiskMaker X 6 and I tried to boot pressing option button on start up and by Mac OS Utilities Startup Disk.
Both the same result.
[doublepost=1485803577][/doublepost]
DeltaMac said:
If you ARE booting to the recovery system, then you should have a Startup Disk somewhere in the Utilities, or in one of the menus. Does your USB installer appear in the Startup Disk pane?
Which USB port are you using to try to boot the USB installer?
Click to expand...



Yes, it appears on Startup Disk pane. I'm using the left one but I'll try right one.
[doublepost=1485803741][/doublepost]
ZapNZs said:
What boot options do you get in the start screen? Specifically, does the USB option say something along the lines of "Install Mac OS X Lion" in the title of the initial boot screen?
What options do you get in the Mac OS X Utilities screen?

Also, how are you making the USB installer?
https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/how-to-create-a-usb-or-dvd-installer-for-os-x/
or
https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/create-usb-installer-os-x-mavericks/
Click to expand...


In boot option in start screen I get Recovery HD and OS X 10.11 Install Disk - 10.11.6.

I'm making my USB Installer through DiskMaker X 6
 
hm.castelo said:
...
Yes, it appears on Startup Disk pane. I'm using the left one but I'll try right one.
Click to expand...
I would try both a PRAM(NVRAM) reset, and an SMC reset, then Option-boot, then select your USB drive, click return to boot from that.
If THAT does not change anything - I have sometimes had problems with previously-used USB sticks used with DiskMakerX. If I am making a bootable stick, I will try to use one that is brand new out of the pack, if I have one.
 
Intell said:
That version may not be fully compatible with 10.7. Try using this version: http://diskmakerx.com/downloads/DiskMakerX304.zip
Click to expand...
Right. The latest DiskMakerX won't work with Lion, but the older version works well with Lion.
But, the OP (Post #8) is working with El Capitan. :D
Gets a little confusing because of the thread title, but I think the OP decided to go newer as the thread progressed.
 
Last edited:
Yes! Finally case closed!

I tried another version of DiskMaker X and finally get Mac OS back in my pc!

Thank you all for the help!
 
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