Mountain Lion reinstall isssue

Are you trying this over wireless? If so try a direct connection to your modem/router. You could also try to reset the PRAM by hold the command, option, P and R and listen for two chimes. Also confirm that your Apple id is working by trying to log into the itunes store or App store.

I had this same problem and so I called Apple. I pressed command+r at startup and used disk utility to erase my SSD. Then they said to go in and reinstall Mountain Lion, and the same thing happened to me. I then was told to shut down my computer and hold down command+option+p+r and then tap the power button. Then for me the folder with a ? popped up and I had to force shut down my compter by holding down the power button for about 7 sec maybe less. Next I had to turn on my computer and it prompted me install Lion right after I turned it on. Then once I re set up my computer, I updated it to Mountain Lion and its back to normal now! I hope this solved your problem, and any questions just ask!

Have you erased your ssd?

Replied to this on the thread mentioned above, same issue;

"I have had this problem today as well, I phoned Apple and they said it's a known issue that they don't know how to fix it at the moment. I can't get past the grey start up screen with the Apple logo and the spinning wheel. I can get in to the recovery utility but can't download ML.

I went to a repair centre earlier today and they installed it from a disk they had made themselves and it booted twice after that and then died again.

I've booked in for them to call me tomorrow morning so I'll see what they have to say."

Same here, in contcat with a guy at Apple and will point him to these posts aboyt the subject. It was working fine until last night for me.

TRy holding option at start and select recovery hd if you dont have a recovery hd then install lion then upgrade to mountain lion which should force your Mac to create a recovery had for mountain then you can create a recovery hd though I would suggest checking out lion disk maker before reinstalling mountain lion ps the reason you would be getting the lion installer instead of mountain lion is because your Mac would be loading Internet recovery or your recovery hd was not upgraded during your initial mountain lion install

Install Lion how? I cannot get on to the App store or log in using my Apple ID in the recovery disk to download Mountain Lion. Since Apple do not ship any install disks this is the only way to reinstall. The Apple guy I spoke to earlier literally said there was no fix and he could only apologise on behalf of Apple.

The recovery works fine, it just will not download a frest install of Mountain lion, It was working fine earlier in the week. Seems like Apple have a server hitch. On another therad someone suggested the internet recovery (alt+cmd+r) is giving an error now, but I cannot conform that as I have had enough of 4GB downlads for the day 😉

If you use alt+cmd+r while in the recover partition it will enable you to download Lion straight from that partition, without going to the app store (I think its gone from there anyway) I had to use this method myself to recover my iMac today. Not all Macs have Internet recovery but it was added incase the recovery partition became corrupt and you could not download the latest version your have installed. Its worth a try.

AS long as your Mac came out before 2011 you can purchase an os x lion USB thumb drive over the phone with AppleCare and the price isn't 75 like it was before lion came out it is the same price it was from the Mac AppStore before mountain lion was release as for the installer not asking for an apple I'd first just try to continue and install without entering it if that fails your other options are 1 if you or a friend have another Mac download mountain lion and create a lion usb installer or 2 of you or a friend have another Mac and a FireWire cable put your Mac into target disk mode and install it from the other Mac if you need any instructions for any steps repost good luck

Thanks for your help, I'm creating an ML installer from my MBP that should get my iMac out of the infinite loop it's stuck in!

You say before 2011? I got mine less than a month ago.

yer the retail lion thumb drives come with a copy of 10.7 and there was never an upgrade to its so it's basically useless to your Mac because the design of any Mac that came in 2011 or later was still in the works when 10.7 was released the original build will not work with newer macs so if you purchased a lion USB thumb drive for your Mac over the phone with apple it would not work with your machine but if you download lion from the Mac AppStore using an apple I'd that had purchase it before mountain lion was released or you have another Mac running 10.7.4 or later you should be able to create a recovery/installer USB thumb drive that will work with your Mac because those versions were released after the latest macs went onto the market