Upgrading 10 year old Macbook Pro past 10.10.5

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ProfBA Author

Level 1

4 points

Upgrading 10 year old Macbook Pro past 10.10.5

I have an old but good MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013) with OS version 10.10.5 (14F2511).

I would like to upgrade this to a more recent version, specifically Catalina.

According to this article macOS Catalina is compatible with these computers - Apple Support

my laptop should be compatible, since the article specifically lists MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013).

My laptop also satisfies the memory and free space requirements.

I have been trying the methods listed here: How to download and install macOS - Apple Support. But when I follow the instructions above to the App Store and try to upgrade to Catalina, I get an error message saying that this version of the OS is not compatible with your computer. So is the list of compatible computers above incorrect? Or is something else wrong?

PS: I am now trying to go High Sierra -> Mojave -> Catalina. The first step seems to be working...

MacBook Pro 15″

Posted on Nov 27, 2023 10:42 AM

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ProfBA Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 28, 2023 6:05 AM in response to jeffreythefrog

I am happy to report that the following procedure worked:

(1) App Store Yosemite (10.10) -> High Sierra (10.13)

(2) App Store apply all updates

After (2) App Store was stuck as shown above and the laptop would neither power down nor reboot nor restart, not even with 'sudo shutdown -h' or 'sudo shutdown -r'. I eventually did a hard-power-down with the power button and then restarted the laptop. On reboot it applied the updates correctly.

(3) App Store High Sierra -> Mojave (10.14)

(4) App Store apply all updates

(5) App Store Mojave -> Catalina (10.15)

(6) App Store apply all updates

Note that steps 3-6 involved several restarts initiated by App Store, since the upgrades/updates are typically applied as part of the boot process.

So this laptop is now running the final compatible version of Mac OSX.

Thanks for the support!

Note for the next person doing this: for steps (1) and (3) and (5) I used the App Store links given here: How to download and install macOS - Apple Support.

Answer 2

Nov 27, 2023 11:00 AM in response to ProfBA

it could be because you are on such an outdated OS X. I think I would first use your above links to upgrade to macOS High Sierra (10.13.x) before trying to install Catalina. but if you have the time, I would upgrade one macOS at a time all the way up to Catalina.

Answer 3

Nov 27, 2023 4:03 PM in response to ProfBA

as long as you are confident that you successfully upgraded to High Sierra, I would try and force quit the App Store and then try and apply the available updates for High Sierra again through the App Store.

Answer 4

Nov 27, 2023 11:15 AM in response to ProfBA

Be sure you supply all available software UPDATES so that you get safari 9 installed. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to make encrypted connections to do anything on the Internet.

Answer 5

ProfBA Author

Level 1

4 points

Nov 27, 2023 3:33 PM in response to ProfBA

OK, this got me up to 10.13.6 (High Sierra) so I am halfway there. After the upgrade I used App Store to do updates. But now I am stuck, because it seems that it is time to restart (see screen shot below) but App Store will not restart, and the Apple menu item "Restart" has no effect. Suggestions welcome!

Upgrading 10 year old Macbook Pro past 10.10.5

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