Mid 2009 macbook Pro, 5,5 want to upgrade to a newer OS other than Leopard 10.5.8

everyone,

mid 2009 macbook pro. should be able to run El Capitan.

I have the new SSD installed.

I have a bootable installation of el capitan flash drive that I made using the apple.support information.

insert the flash drive.

I boot holding the option key down.

I receive the USB picture on the monitor with el capitan. click on the picture to start the installation process.

recovery utility appears on the monitor. (this is sort of a plus, because this feature was not availabe in Leopard.)

use disk utility to initialize the SSD and format correctly.

my Wi-Fi is OFF, the image on the upper tool bar is blank, no wifi lines.

set date using terminal for the years 2014-2019. that's 6 times I had to reset the date and resume install.

I keep getting the pop up saying this application cannot be verified. everyone seems to think it's a certificate problem, even the chat with the apple tech guy said that.

I have a perfectly capable 2009 mac of running for many more years and I cannot get a valid copy of el capitan installed on it. that's insane.

please any other possible solutions?

weary frank!

Ben_Z1,

I made a bootable flash drive for El Capitan as you suggested.

when I tried installing El Capitan on my newly formated 512 SSD, I get the following pop up:

""This copy of the install os x el capitan application can't be verified. it may have been corrupted or tampered withduring downloading"".

I tried changing the date to the years 2014 and 2015. I'm stuck. apple doesn't make it easy to resurrect old hardware that's perfectly in great condition.

any other ideas?

Thanks for responding!!!!!!

frank

new SSD. bootable el capitan flash drive. there is no native OS running. you're saying I need to load an older version before I can load El Capitan. the original HDD I removed is running Leopard. I need to install 10.6.8 on the ssd. the try and updat or install el capitan? confused. thanks for responding.

frank

I just checked around some draws and found Original DVD's for the mackbook pro 13" 10.5.7 LEOPARD

I also found 1 DVD Original for SNOW LEOPARD 10.6.3.

now what do you suggest? Install one of the OS's by DVD on to the SSD?

Thanks again Sheree_P

I just chatted with apple support, here's the conversation:

I explained I wanted to install el captian on an mid 2009 macbook pro.

he said he could advise on some steps, but cannot gaurentee a resolution and support is limited for obsolete classified hardware more than 7 years old. I may need to refer you to sel help resources or our apple support communities.

he asked if I can acess the terminal utility prior to booting. I said yes. he said, in some cases it's related to the date since the certificate expired. he said to try and set date to sometime in 2016. disconnect any networking too. other than that he refers me to the apple community for further assistance.

I did change the date, but did not disconnect from the WiFi.

I guess I'll go through the steps again and see what it brings.

frank

(SOLVED sort of)

Well, every way I tried to get a copy of El Capitan, downloaded and

made bootable has failed. I tried to change the date to an older date

before trying the install. That did not work. I happened to have an

old Imac 2008, 20” that is running El Capitan and runs very well.

I thought I had a solution. I’ll format the new SSD, use Recovery

Window. Re-install the El Capitan OS on the SSD. NO way. When the

re-install goes out on the network to verify, it stops the install

The El Capitan Logo appears with the big X, it says downloading

additional software for the install. When that completes, I get a .3

second flash of a pop up window that cannot be read. Then the

Recovery Window reappears. And that ends the install.

My last effort was using CCC. I had a backup of the Imac made with

CCC. I took the CCC backup, installed the SSD in the 2009 macbook Pro

and formatted again, Then booted from the backup CCC disk.

It installed the clone of the Imac drive on the 2009 macbook Pro. It

worked. I had installed El Capitan on the 2009 macbook Pro in a

convoluted way, but it works. I would still like to hear of a way to do a clean install of El Capitan. before too long, monterey, big sur, ventura will have the same problems. apple, it's very sad what you're doing to MAC community.

frank

That’s it, I could not find a way to install El Capitan normally

because apple date stamped the certificate to make it uninstallable

after a certain date. Makes me think about some of the apple products

that I have and are getting old.

Ben_Z1,

I'll update results ASAP. thanks for the only response to my question. I will update after I successfully complete the install and give details how I did it.

thanks

marsello1946