I erased my intel Mac and the OS will not load. Now what?

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Level 1

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I erased my intel Mac and the OS will not load. Now what?

I have to change the license (one email account to another) on my Office 365, and Microsoft said the only way to do this is to erase the hard drive and reinstall the Office 365 (and everything else).

I followed the directions here:

Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support

The hard drive erased, and it is trying to install the OS, but says "OSX could not be installed on your computer." The only option is to restart, which starts the whole process over.

How do I get this computer up and running again?

MacBook Pro 13-inch, Mid 2009

2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

4 GB 10676 MHz DDR3

Mac OS 10.11.6

Yes it is old, but I am a recently retired educator and need to stop using the school's Office 365 license. I wish I could afford a new computer.

My other computer is a similarly equipped iMac, which I am using to type this. I really need my laptop, and figured I'd try this out there first. Did Microsoft give me bad advice?

MacBook Pro

Posted on Mar 7, 2022 7:07 PM

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Answer 1

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PRP_53

Level 10

91,783 points

Mar 8, 2022 3:09 AM in response to Barnabas

Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac

How to reinstall macOS This will Require an Active and Functioning Internet Connect. Best results is via an Ethernet Cable to Router

Follow these guidelines during installation:

If the installer asks to unlock your disk, enter the password you use to log in to your Mac.
If the installer doesn't see your disk, or it says that it can't install on your computer or volume, you might need to erase your disk first.
If the installer offers you the choice between installing on Macintosh HD or Macintosh HD - Data, choose Macintosh HD.

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Answer 2

my ginger

Level 5

4,910 points

Mar 10, 2022 4:40 PM in response to Barnabas

If all this is correct.https://www.macworld.com/article/226534/how-to-format-a-startup-drive-in-el-capitan.html Then you may need to make a bootable installer to install El Capitan. Do you have access to another Mac computer?How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support Or would you happen to have a 10.6.3 Snow leopard install disk? If so you could install Snow Leopard then update it to 10.6.8 and then download and install El Capitan.

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Answer 3

Barnabas Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 9, 2022 6:13 PM in response to PRP_53

I used Disk Utility to erase the hard drive. Sorry I did not make myself clear. I tried it again, and it says it can't.

I then followed the reinstall OS link, which I already tried, but am trying it again.

I click Reinstall Mac OSX.

The El Capitan window appears. I click Continue

I enter my Apple ID.

It starts to do something , but says "An error ocurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again."

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Answer 4

my ginger

Level 5

4,910 points

Mar 9, 2022 6:58 PM in response to Barnabas

When you erased the internal drive in recovery, disk utilities, Is it set up as a GUID partition with Mac Extended Journaled? The main drive or first one at the top would be GUID the boot volume the second one would be Mac OS Extended Journaled. You should see in disk utilities two drives and then the recovery drive. If not go to the top under view and select show all devises. You still have the recovery volume, right? If you can't see the format then click on partition and it should show you.

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Answer 5

Barnabas Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 10, 2022 3:58 PM in response to my ginger

Yes to all of that. When I am trying to install the new OS, it tries for about 30 minutes, then fails. Maybe a bad hard drive? The Disk Utilities seemed to erase it fine and did not mention any errors.

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Answer 6

Barnabas Author

Level 1

24 points

Mar 20, 2022 8:23 AM in response to my ginger

Thanks my ginger.

The link to How to create a bootable installer for macOS worked. I guess the hidden partition on my hard drive that should have done that was corrupted.

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