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OS X Internet Recovery finds Mountain Lion not Lion

A

ajg91mac

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 21, 2013
12
0
Hi,

I was hoping for some help with an installation problem i am having. I have scowered here and other websites but cant seem to find a similar issue.

My MBP had starting becoming very slow and unresponsive and i was ultimately advised to re-install my OS X 10.7 - Lion. I followed the instructions regarding the (command - r) restart to erase my HDD and install the os x again.

All was going fine, about an hour and half into installation my internet disconnected and the install stopped. I had to restart my Mac again. When i turn on my machine i now get the folder with the flashing exclamation mark which boots up OS X Internet recovery from the apple servers.


This then brings up the disk utility and osx install options after downloading each time from Apple. However the problem is it now asks me to install 10.8 (mountain lion) rather then 10.7 Lion. Obviously when i do this and verify with my Apple ID it recognizes i haven't purchased this version and the process restarts all over again. I also checked my original packing and box and don't seem to have an original install disk (snow leopard).


I was hoping someone could offer some help on how to get the option to install lion again as opposed to Mountain Lion.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi,

please add some infos :

- which MBP model ("about this Mac, more infos")
- which original OS (Snow Leopard ?)
- which OS were you running before re-installing ?
- did you buy Lion and Mountain Lion from the App Store ?
- why do you wish to install Lion instead of Mountain Lion ?
 
Hi Bruno,

Thanks for the message and quick reply. Sorry i should have gave more info:

- Macbook is post 2010 model MBP 7.1 (Model number: A1278)
- Original OS was snow leopard
- I was running Lion before my laptop crashed
- I updated and bought Lion from the mac app store - i have never bought mountain lion
- i wish to install Lion but for some reason the OS X internet recovery only has option to install mountain lion- which i have never purchased this is the prolem
 
Ok, thank you.

So, if you used Cmd + r to erase Macintosh HD, you still have the Recovery 10.7 partition on the disk (not a Recovery 10.8 since you never installed 10.8).

Thus, you should be able to boot on Cmd + r again, use Disk utility to erase Macintosh HD, and install Lion, as you did in you first attempt, before your Internet connection failed.

You can also Option boot (hold Option key depressed on chime) in order to see if you still have the Recovery 10.7 bootable partition. If yes select it, hit Enter to boot on it, and go to Disk utility to erase Macintosh HD.

Then select "Reinstall Lion".
 
Last edited:
Hi bruno,

Thanks for the reply. When i boot my Mac up it has white screen (Then i hold down CMD + R) but it seems to go straight to the internet recovery rather than using the disk utility on the HDD already. I will try again now and let you know how it works.

perhaps there is another keyboard shortcut to get this option up as well?
 
What you say suggest you no longer have a Recovery 10.7 partition.

Try this : Option boot (hold Option key depressed on chime) in order to see if you still have the Recovery 10.7 bootable partition. If yes select it, hit Enter to boot on it, and go to Disk utility to erase Macintosh HD.

If you don't see a Recovery 10.7 partition, you will have to download Lion from an another Mac.
 
Thanks, will try this and let you know how it goes. You have been a great help.
 
Hi thanks for the help. I have just tried this and only get the internet recovery option so it looks as though I will have to buy an old snow leopard disk from Apple and do it the long way as don't know anyone else with lion :(
 
Do you have a Recovery 10.7 partition ?

If yes, the Recovery will actually download LION from the Internet, not Mountain Lion.

Did you get this with a LION in the "Reinstall Mac OSX" icon ?




Here is what you would have if Mountain Lion was installed (note the Mountain Lion icon). Also note that "Mac OS X" is "OS X" since 10.8 :

 
Last edited:
Hi thanks again. I get the bottom screen with the ML logo. However I haven't purchased this so when it gets me to enter my Apple ID it of course just says that username hasn't been used to buy ML. I only ever bought just lion so somehow need to get that install option.
 
OK.

When you did the Option key boot, did you get a screen with 2 drives, Macintosh HD (or the actual name) and "Recovery HD" (or Recovery 10.7) like here :

 
ajg91mac said:
Hi thanks again. I get the bottom screen with the ML logo. However I haven't purchased this so when it gets me to enter my Apple ID it of course just says that username hasn't been used to buy ML. I only ever bought just lion so somehow need to get that install option.
Click to expand...

If you are seeing that bottom screen then somewhere along the way you installed Mountain Lion and that put a Mountain Lion recovery partition on there.

Can you access someone else's machine and just login to the App Store with your AppleID then but Mountain Lion but just not download it. Then your AppleID will let you install ML on your machine from that recovery partition.
 
When I hold down option key there is not that selection available, there are no HDD icons just a globe with internet recovery below.
 
ajg91mac said:
When I hold down option key there is not that selection available, there are no HDD icons just a globe with internet recovery below.
Click to expand...

If you are not seeing either of those partition form a command-r boot, then you are not booting from the recovery partition. If you are seeing the globe spinning before the recovery screen comes up that is Internet Recovery.

From that screen can you start Disk Utility and see the drive? Run a disk repair and see what you get.

From your history here it almost sounds like you have a failing drive and that is why the install never completes.
 
So you no longer have a Recovery partition.

I did not remember that an Option boot would launch an Internet Recovery when the Recovery partition is missing.

This is the normal behaviour when doing a Cmd + r boot with the recovery missing.

Here are the options :

- do as explained by Waselboy

- or go to the App Store from another Mac, login with you Apple ID, go to the purchases tab, and download Lion.
Then make a USB installer with Lion Disk Maker, and use it to install Lion on your Mac.

EDIT : sorry Waselboy, didn't see your post, as I was typing mine.
 
Yh I can start disk utility. I have gone into the drive and ran the checks and it said all is ok. I can also see like a hidden partition (orange coloured drive) underneath the main drive named 'Mac OS X Base System'. That's what gave me the impression I could still boot from the recovery section.

----------

Thanks for he help guys much appreciated
 
Hey guys just thought i would give you an update on this.
I found one of my friends who had 10.7 Lion installed on their mac and I have gotten them to make a bootable DVD version of this install. I am just waiting for this to arrive in the post now (could be 7 days!)

In the meantime i was on the phone to apple support who were very helpful. Due to me only getting the option to install Mountain Lion they asked if i knew anyone who had bought this software whos apple id and password i could use (temp) to get this installed. Once installed i could then open the mac store and sign in with my account. This would enable me to re-download the lion file and install straight onto my machine.

This has worked but when i am installing Mountain Lion it gets to '0 seconds remaining' and just stays there for hours! (very frustrating) looking as though it is also has a HDD issue. I have just ran a repair on my disk which took an hour and im trying to reinstall ML to see if that helps. The download is going much quicker this time and the timer is much more accurate so im hoping this time it works! Ill let you know and thanks for the help been very useful.

Andy
 
ajg91mac said:
This has worked but when i am installing Mountain Lion it gets to '0 seconds remaining' and just stays there for hours! (very frustrating) looking as though it is also has a HDD issue. I have just ran a repair on my disk which took an hour and im trying to reinstall ML to see if that helps. The download is going much quicker this time and the timer is much more accurate so im hoping this time it works! Ill let you know and thanks for the help been very useful.

Andy
Click to expand...

You might also try running the Apple Hardware Test. That will test for bad memory. Sometimes a failing RAM chip can manifest itself like this and cause data lose when writing to the drive, making it appear to be a bad drive when it is not. Just an idea.
 
Oh ok definitely will try that, thanks for the link looks like a good tool. I left the install at 'o seconds remaining' for about 6 hours today before deciding to quit the program. (If the diagnostics test doesn't pick anything up) I am going to grab a spare 2.5" HDD from home later and replace the one i have in there and try again.

Am i correct in thinking i just need to format this HDD to Mac OS journaled and i can simply replace the old one and run the internet recovery again? I have browsed many articles on replacing the drive but most go into detail about how to physically do this rather than any preperation / formatting that is required.

Thanks for the continued help. I have also been passing some of your advice on to apple users in the official support forum with similar issues and its been of great use.
 
ajg91mac said:
Am i correct in thinking i just need to format this HDD to Mac OS journaled and i can simply replace the old one and run the internet recovery again? I have browsed many articles on replacing the drive but most go into detail about how to physically do this rather than any preperation / formatting that is required.
Click to expand...

Exactly. That's all you need to do.
 
Thanks will try this hopefully that is the solution. Ill 100% be making a few boot-able DVDs of the install file after this is sorted out would have been really useful to have that initially.
 
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