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MacOS 10.8 Mountain Lion can't connect to external services (App Store, iLok, Avid, etc)

Hello there,


I have an old Mac Pro 4.1 with MacOS 10.8 Mountain Lion installed. It is a fresh installation - it was an old system and I wanted to make a hard clean-up of it. I thought this would fix the issue as described in the title, but it still persists. Namely - I can't connect to any app-related network service. What I mean by that - I have Internet connectivity, the browser works just fine. However, all the programs such as iTunes, App Store, and most importantly: iLok Manager and Pro Tools - all throw "server unreachable" messages (in Pro Tools it's where I am trying to browse anything related to my Avid account).


My network setup is just plain router and Ethernet cables; still, I have checked the router's configuration to make sure. I have also checked another networks such as mobile hotspot from my phone, all with the same result. My guess is that I have some setting missing perhaps? Or network component set up in some old way. I tried all the fixes found on the Internet, such as clearing caches or databases of App Store, some proxy settings in the Internet options, but without any luck.


I would highly appreciate all the help - I have spent quite a few hours trying to fix this by myself, which only ended up with so high frustration...

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Sep 13, 2023 6:49 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 6, 2024 11:49 AM

Thank you, Grant. Your solution helped me after I erased/reset my mid-2013 MacBook Air to Mountain Lion and wasn't able to connect to the App Store to upgrade.

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31 replies

Jul 1, 2024 7:01 AM in response to HanSolo76

I am glad you found a solution that worked for you. But google Chrome is NOT the magic in that solution.


The only problem Google Chrome uniquely solves is, "how can I beat the stuffing out of my computer, and use up all its resources, doing what other Browsers do easily."


The 'magic' hidden inside your solution is that the downloads for 10.11 El Captain and Sierra do not require an encrypted connection to download then. Once you get beyond 10.11 El Capitan, encrypted connections work again and you can make httpS:// connections to go anywhere.


Google Chrome is NOT required to get that 'magic', and is a huge distraction as well as a huge resource hog.

Jun 18, 2024 10:47 AM in response to ksmm

    • I have this same issue. I have a Macbook Pro. The password is long lost so I used the disk utility to wipe and then install the OS (Mountain Lion 10.8.5). This went just fine. I cannot open the the App store. I was able to install an older Chrome version. I went to run a speedtest and although location services are on, and it finds my city and sets the time correctly, the oookla site says my time is wrong. I think more accuratly the cert is old. I found this article and used the direct links to download the image to start updaing the OS. I believe it can get to Sierra. I download any of these:
    • Sierra 10.12
    • El Capitan 10.11
    • Yosemite 10.10
    • Mountain Lion 10.8
    • Lion 10.7

I started with Yosemite, and downloaded it and ran it, it say it installed succesfully, it doesn't ask for a reboot, but after a reboot it's still 10.8.5. I downloaded all of them one at a time and ran them, they each show 'completed succesfully', but it did not actually update.

Thoughts, or what can I do here?



Jul 1, 2024 8:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

My issue was the fact that I couldn’t even go to support.apple.com to get to those links you mentioned. And after searching and searching for those links and not being able to find them that’s when I used google chrome just to be able to visit support.apple.com to click on the MacOS links.


if there are direct links to the installation packages for the different MacOS please post them for future reference


Regards

Aug 29, 2024 5:01 PM in response to kyle3434

Hi, thank you for your post. I'm not able to download Firefox legacy because when i do it, it says ''can't opened because it is from an unidentified developers". I'm also trying to figure out how Can I download another software because I can't get acces to app store and apple support and many other website... What link did you use to download Firefox Legacy? I used parrotgeek.


Thanks for your help


Oct 8, 2024 9:46 AM in response to ksmm

THANK YOU - THANK YOU



I had the same problem when I wiped the SSD Ext HD on my 2012 Mac mini. A big thank you to those who provided the solutions as I would have wasted more hours trying to figure it all out. I guess I am lucky that Apple still have the OS's available. I have gone from Mountain Lion to Catalina as I had before.




MacOS 10.8 Mountain Lion can't connect to external services (App Store, iLok, Avid, etc)

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