Level 1

22 points

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

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

140,009 points

Posted on Sep 13, 2023 7:28 AM

SSL to TLS:

In 2015, researchers discovered that Secure Socket Layer (SSL) Internet encryption was not nearly as secure as was thought, and needed to be replaced. Internet encryption quickly moved to Transport Layer Security (TLS) which was rapidly deployed across the Internet. Over time, sites tightened requirements for what was acceptable for encryption.

Apple issued Safari version 9 in 10.11 El Capitan version of MacOS, which included TLS encryption. It was later provided by retro-fit into the two previous versions of MacOS as a Security update. 10.10 Yosemite and 10.9 Mavericks, PROVIDED you applied all available software updates.

MacOS versions older than those can not make a lot of secure [httpS:] connections on the Internet, because by todays standard, your proffered SSL encryption is considered inadequate.

Mac Pro 4,1 42 lb silver tower is supported to run 10.11 El Capitan.

MacBook Ppro 4,1 from 2008 can run 10.11 El Capitan if it has at least 4 GB or RAM. 6GB is possible, but requires just the right chips.

View in context

Similar questions

31 replies

Sep 19, 2023 10:23 AM in response to ksmm

I cannot believe that i'm having a similar issue to this with Mountain Lion.

Mine is on a Mac Mini that bought for a specific task as my trusty old iMac 27 2011 failed fatally, but I cannot get beyond Mountain Lion for the same reason.

In a word or two, am I screwed. I can't even access the pages on Apple to get the security updates.

Am I wasting my time trying with this or could there be light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you

ksmm Author

Level 1

22 points

Sep 19, 2023 11:54 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

In my case, this options from the menu opens App Store, which then says that it can't connect. So I can't receive any updates/upgrades. I have been able to list updates and execute them via the CLI and the "softwareupdate" command; however, the list was very short and it did not fix App Store.

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?

Jun 18, 2024 11:10 AM in response to Morpheus666

You only did less than HALF of the process required.

• When you direct download any of those (which appear to be DIRECT http: links for Apple Servers) you get downloaded a large.dmg.

• When you open the .dmg, it shows a .pkg.

When you open the .pkg, and it runs for a while and completes successfully, but it has NOT Installed -- it has PLACED the Actual installer.app in the /Applications folder and is now ABLE to begin the installation, when you decide to start the Installation.

• Only when you double click on the 'Install macOS...' item in the /Applications folder does the Installer launch, check your Mac from the inside, and start to discuss this with you seriously, like What will be installed and Where.

Jun 18, 2024 2:31 PM in response to Morpheus666

I hope this helps others. The "installers" on this page are not OS upgrade/update/installers. They simply create an actual installer in the Applications folder. In there (for me) was a file named something like "install MAC X Yosemite ".

Unfortunetly the article(s)on the Apple site about upgrading don't mention that part.

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

keven73

Level 1

8 points

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

glad

Level 1

145 points

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.

ksmm Author

Level 1

22 points

Sep 13, 2023 8:06 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thank you! I will try that and let you know if it worked :)

ksmm Author

Level 1

22 points

Feb 29, 2024 9:42 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Yes, my time is correct within 5 minutes.

svgeeks

Level 1

6 points

Mar 6, 2024 11:49 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

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.

Jun 18, 2024 4:45 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

if You can’t open the App Store, then you can’t update anything. Even worse, if you can’t load the Apple webpage, you can’t download anything. So advising someone to update their machine is useless.

muabeh

Level 1

14 points

Jul 22, 2024 2:10 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

So I have Mac OS lion how do I get the most recent update because I’m suffering over here😭

kyle3434

Level 1

14 points

Aug 28, 2024 3:11 PM in response to muabeh

Check the post I just made, might help ya out

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Aug 28, 2024 10:03 PM in response to kyle3434

👍

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

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