Pre owned Mac problem

[Kristie Hodge]

Bought my oldest daughter a preowned mac, had no trouble getting it set up. Bought another one for my younger daughter for school, can get in the her school website , says safari cannot establish secure connection to the server. Other websites don’t work because the internet browser is not supported. I’ve already done all the updates there are to do. Also was t able to create her Apple ID because it also says the same thing about the secure connection. I’ve done all the trouble shooting I can do and none of them work.. it says it’s running 10.8.5. I click on software update and there’s no update available. I’m at a lost in what to do. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[DeltaMac]

You can't use the "Software Update" in 10.8.5 to go beyond that fully-updated system that you are running now.
But, you may have other options, which will depend on which Mac you have, and how it is configured.

Which Mac did you buy?
If you are not sure, go to the Apple menu (top left corner of the screen), choose About this Mac.
That will give you some information, and you can click on the "System Report..." button. That will bring up the System Information app. First screen is Hardware Overview.
What is the "Model Identifier"?

 

[Ruggy]

In the address bar where the internet address of the school is, is there a little padlock just to the left of the name?
If you click on that padlock, box will drop down and there will be a box inside that says 'show certificate'.
click on that
Now you may have to look a the information it gives you there.
It's very likely that Safari doesn't trust that certificate for some reason so it might tell you that.
It's certainly the sort of thing that causes that behaviour.
The solution if that is the problem, is going into something called Keychain and telling it to accept the certificate as valid.
The keychain help is here but you may heve to dig around a bit.

https://help.apple.com/keychainaccess/mac/10.10/index.html?localePath=en.lproj#/kyca2685

When you say other websites don't work, do you mean you can't connect to anything? That is, Safari is being rejected everywhere?

If you above doesn't work if can get onto the net, you may be able to download another browser like Firefox and if you can get that to work then you can at least start homing in on what the problem is.
I don't think updates is the problem.
It might be useful for you to compare the two computers and see what is different one to another. You would probably do well to tell us what your network setting are (click on the wifi symbol in the bar top right and go to advanced) Compare these between the two computers too.

But most likely it is a certificate that's out of date or untrusted for some reason or the computer has been linked to a specific certificate something like that so start there.

 

[Kristie Hodge]

You can't use the "Software Update" in 10.8.5 to go beyond that fully-updated system that you are running now.
But, you may have other options, which will depend on which Mac you have, and how it is configured.

Which Mac did you buy?
If you are not sure, go to the Apple menu (top left corner of the screen), choose About this Mac.
That will give you some information, and you can click on the "System Report..." button. That will bring up the System Information app. First screen is Hardware Overview.
What is the "Model Identifier"?

I will check when I get home, but it is a MacBook Air mid 2012
[automerge]1576793254[/automerge]

In the address bar where the internet address of the school is, is there a little padlock just to the left of the name?
If you click on that padlock, box will drop down and there will be a box inside that says 'show certificate'.
click on that
Now you may have to look a the information it gives you there.
It's very likely that Safari doesn't trust that certificate for some reason so it might tell you that.
It's certainly the sort of thing that causes that behaviour.
The solution if that is the problem, is going into something called Keychain and telling it to accept the certificate as valid.
The keychain help is here but you may heve to dig around a bit.

https://help.apple.com/keychainaccess/mac/10.10/index.html?localePath=en.lproj#/kyca2685

When you say other websites don't work, do you mean you can't connect to anything? That is, Safari is being rejected everywhere?

If you above doesn't work if can get onto the net, you may be able to download another browser like Firefox and if you can get that to work then you can at least start homing in on what the problem is.
I don't think updates is the problem.
It might be useful for you to compare the two computers and see what is different one to another. You would probably do well to tell us what your network setting are (click on the wifi symbol in the bar top right and go to advanced) Compare these between the two computers too.

But most likely it is a certificate that's out of date or untrusted for some reason or the computer has been linked to a specific certificate something like that so start there.

I can go to some other websites, but some say internet browser is out of date, which there aren’t anymore updates to do. I will check the padlock thing when I get home.. the description was that the computer would be running 10.10 Yosemite but it is not.

 

[Clix Pix]

It sounds as though this computer may be running "Mavericks," which is indeed pretty old now and so there are going to be issues with the inability to update anything beyond what is in the machine now, including the internet browser (Safari). The machine itself has also probably already been "obsoleted" by Apple, considered "vintage," and therefore no help there in updating any of the hardware, either. Sometimes an attempt to save money by buying an older device ends up being fruitless when it turns out not to be useable with today's computer platform and internet requirements......

 

[iAssimilated]

I will check when I get home, but it is a MacBook Air mid 2012

If that is true, then you can go to macOS Mojave. Instructions can be found here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210190

EDIT:
I have a MacBook Air (Mid 2012 w/ a 1.7GHz i5 and 4GB of RAM) on Mojave at work and while it is not the fastest computer, it holds it own quite well.

 

[topcat001]

I have a few older machines like that. I use Firefox on those (or Chrome). I wouldn't use an outdated browser on the web for security reasons. However, the first step should be updating the OS to the latest supported version.

 

[CoastalOR]

I will check when I get home, but it is a MacBook Air mid 2012
[automerge]1576793254[/automerge]

I can go to some other websites, but some say internet browser is out of date, which there aren’t anymore updates to do. I will check the padlock thing when I get home.. the description was that the computer would be running 10.10 Yosemite but it is not.

If you want to upgrade the OS then here are the links for download information for;
Yosemite:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

El Capitan:

How to download and install macOS – Apple Support (UK)

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

Sierra:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

Since you have a 2012 MBA, I would recommend El Capitan and no higher than Sierra unless you have a SSD and more than 4 GB RAM.

 

[DeltaMac]

Your MBAir will have an SSD.
OS X 10.8.5 is Mountain Lion, not Mavericks, so even older.
Your 2012 MacBook Air COULD go to the current Catalina, but I also would suggest El Capitan, or maybe Sierra.

 

[Ruggy]

Yes, it should be mountain lion.
Is what is happening here that Safari hasn't been updated for a long time and now can't be? Or is it that you can't get onto Apple to update it?
If you open Safari and click on where is says the word "Safari 'then 'About Safari' and report what version it is running. The latest is 13.
It's always going to be a problem if you can't use an Apple id. That is odd.
Also, have you been able to look at your network settings?
Are you trying to do this over wifi or with an ethernet cable?
If you can use an enthernet cable and plug it into your router/box you may well be able to get in, update and solve your problems. I can't remember but you might need and adapter with the Air to connect by ethernet but it uses different network protocols to wifi so may get you running.
I feel if you can get signed into Apple, you'll probably be able to fix the problem by the look of it. As it is it sounds like you might not even be able to get onto a site to download Firefox or Chrome

 

[Fishrrman]

I had to give up Mountain Lion because the version of Safari it uses was too old to connect to some websites.

Best solution:
Upgrade the OS.
I would suggest either 10.12 "Low Sierra" or perhaps 10.14 "Mojave".

You will need to create a bootable USB flashdrive to do either of these.
That's NOT hard to do.
You need a 16gb flashdrive and something called "DiskMaker X", which is free. Get it here:

Downloads

diskmakerx.com

When you download the OS installer from Apple, it will be in your Applications folder.
With a few clicks of the mouse, DiskMaker X will create the bootable flashdrive.
MAKE SURE you download THE CORRECT VERSION of DiskMaker for the OS installer you have.

I think the following links are still active for downloading Low Sierra and Mojave:

Low Sierra (10.12):

https://apps.apple.com/app/id1127487414?mt=12

Mojave (10.14):

‎@@softwareName@@ on the App Store