El Capitan. no packages were eligible for install.

This works, EXCEPT, the Mac retains the Wi-Fi password and syncs the clock when you t

reboot. Turn off your home Wi-Fi or go out of range from the Wi-Fi network you used to download the install.

Setting the date to 2017 sorted the problem for me as well. Many thanks for your help

There are newer instructions and steps available in Apple installer page for use.

• How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan (10.11.6) - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886

There is a newer installer in the above; this also upgrades firmware.

newer installosxinstaller.pkg package within download site link

(this site content + link was recently updated 24 Oct 2019)

Go to disk utility and there go to terminal type date and press enter it will show you the current date of the system to change the date you type date space then type the date you want mmddhhmmyr in this format and press enter.

Thank you @golyapple & @jmaiers - mine still wouldn’t work as the wifi automatically connects to the Mac when restarting - so I switched it off at the wall before I hit restart & voila! Left it off - currently installing - fingers crossed!

Thank you all!

Thanks all for the very informative and helpful messages.

It was a challenging but ultimately fun and interesting experience bringing a mid-2009 Macbook Pro back from the dead.

For others who may be confronting the same issue, here is the syntax that I used in Terminal to change the date:

date -u 0929121211

This fixed my problem, thank you (setting date to 2017)

As Narcinems noted, I change the date, download the installer and get as far as the screen to start installation, whereupon I get an error message that tells me to start all over again - and when I do I get the same issue. The only way to bypass that error is to set the date to today's date and I did try a couple of suggested dates from 2016 through 2018. So, still stuck with a laptop that was working that is now imitating a brick.

for Helder98 - when you get to therecovery screen - one of the dropdown menu tools is a command line window. if you type "date" you'll see whatever date your systems thinks it is. You can change the date by typing "date mmddhhmmyy" i.e month day hour minute year two digits each

All above worked for me today, except I needed to leave wifi and ethernet disconnected once removed otherwise it failed every time.

NOTE: I had to try and connect to a different wifi router to stop it automatically reconnecting (my son was on his computer upstairs so I couldn't turn the router off). You could of course go into router settings and block the device as well if needed.

I just resucited my mid 2012 power house macbook pro and I could fix it all perfectly thanks for this golden tip. Best thing to do is: once you change the date on the terminal, disconnect your router. Then restart and it will work, you can connect router later once it's installed. Thanks!

don't plug in the ethernet cable when rebooting. That should work

MahmOud70Da, There are many posts above that show how to access "Terminal" and change the date there, including disconnecting from the internet. Please scan the other messages.

Hi there, just found a way regarding the date & time issue that everyone is experiencing. Turning just the wifi off doesn’t work, what you need to do is pick another wifi (from the list of available wifi) obviously you are not going to know the password but that doesn’t matter, type a password on which ever wifi you had choosen. This will trigger the incorrect password message and also by doing this your computer will (sort of) forget your home wifi and stay unconnected to internet. So now when you restart the whole thing again it should do it all the way, I’m currently in the process of it.

Thank you jmaiers! I was able to reinstall El Capitan on my circa 2008 17” MacBook Pro (model A1261) by following the steps you outlined. I ran into exactly the same issue Charlee78 did. Forcing the magic date and preventing WiFi from setting it back apparently did the trick.