Reloading MacOS Sierra, getting an error

[TappTechIT]

Hi everyone,
Sorry if this has been covered, I have a MacBook Air (A1465 EMC 2924) that needs to have it OS reinstalled and I keep running into an issue when going to do the online repair. SSD has already been wiped.
Initially I had to set the date and time, had to set the time for PST as I can't seem to figure out how to change it to AST within terminal. So I've gotten it to the point where it does the download for Sierra but it gets down to the end and suddenly comes up "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again."
Done that, restart the macbook, formatted the drive (labeled it SSD), and ran the installer again but get back to the same error. Oddly, and this might not matter anyway, the time remaining at the bottom of the screen reads "about - 16 seconds remaining" when it errors out. Not certain if that is something that matters.

 

[davidlv]

Hi everyone,
Sorry if this has been covered, I have a MacBook Air (A1465 EMC 2924) that needs to have it OS reinstalled and I keep running into an issue when going to do the online repair. SSD has already been wiped.
Initially I had to set the date and time, had to set the time for PST as I can't seem to figure out how to change it to AST within terminal. So I've gotten it to the point where it does the download for Sierra but it gets down to the end and suddenly comes up "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again."
Done that, restart the macbook, formatted the drive (labeled it SSD), and ran the installer again but get back to the same error. Oddly, and this might not matter anyway, the time remaining at the bottom of the screen reads "about - 16 seconds remaining" when it errors out. Not certain if that is something that matters.

Do you have an internet connection? Ethernet is best, but WiFi may be enough if you have the password for the connection. Try using Option-Command-r or Option-Shift-Command-r at boot up to run the Internet Install version of the Recovery Utility, which should give you the last version of macOS that the computer will run. You didn't say what year that model is.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

You can use macOS Recovery, your computer's built-in recovery system, to reinstall the Mac operating system. Reinstalling macOS doesn't remove your personal data.

support.apple.com

 

[Audit13]

Try installing the OS to and running it from an external drive or try installing to the internal SSD with a USB installer.

It's possible there is something wrong with the SSD or even the onboard ram.

 

[TappTechIT]

Hey guys,
Sorry to be MIA, got busy with on the road stuff.
Couldn't find anything wrong with the ssd or the ram, but I did have some luck downloading a copy of High Sierra and using TransMAC to format a thumb drive for me. Got it installed, got it updated.
Had to do some digging to get Monterey loaded onto it though... I typically only have to deal with reloading a Mac like once or twice a year, so forgive me if this seems like a stupid question but are user not supposed to be able to go to the app store, search for macOS (version name) and be able to find it? I tried looking for Catalina and a few others that in between High Sierra and Monterey and none of them would come up in the app store. Maybe this is something I'm too Windows to see the logic in lol. I could see hiding in compatible versions, or better yet list them but have a notice saying the hardware is incompatible, just seems odd to have to search for a site that has the app store link in order to find it.

 

[MBAir2010]

Hey guys,
Sorry to be MIA, got busy with on the road stuff.
Couldn't find anything wrong with the ssd or the ram, but I did have some luck downloading a copy of High Sierra and using TransMAC to format a thumb drive for me. Got it installed, got it updated.
Had to do some digging to get Monterey loaded onto it though... I typically only have to deal with reloading a Mac like once or twice a year, so forgive me if this seems like a stupid question but are user not supposed to be able to go to the app store, search for macOS (version name) and be able to find it? I tried looking for Catalina and a few others that in between High Sierra and Monterey and none of them would come up in the app store. Maybe this is something I'm too Windows to see the logic in lol. I could see hiding in compatible versions, or better yet list them but have a notice saying the hardware is incompatible, just seems odd to have to search for a site that has the app store link in order to find it.

macosxdaily is a great source for older OS X and has nice tutorials.
I might have to go to Sierra because El Capitan and safari are not doing that great in 2023!