Mountain Lion all Screwy on used Mac

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Level 1

9 points

Mountain Lion all Screwy on used Mac

Got a used Mac last week and the previous owner had it wiped, but it looks like it was cleaned out too thoroughly.

Upon the first restart after taking possession of the computer, it booted to the Mountain Lion OS X Utilities screen. I'm not sure which version of Mountain Lion it is.

I tried a few things:

-All the disks verified and were fine in Disk Utility.

-Online recovery not possible

-Held Option while booting to select the Recovery partition, but it still booted to the Utilities screen

The online recovery was not possible because because the previous owner's AppleID had not purchased it previously, as the computer was pre-loaded with ML at the factory. I'm not sure what options I have left here. Any advice would be helpful.

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Posted on May 18, 2014 8:53 PM

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Answer 1

May 18, 2014 8:57 PM in response to cdgraves

The Recovery partition is supposed to display the Utilities screen. Choose the Reinstall OS X option. If it's the same version that came with it, I'm pretty sure it shouldn't ask for an Apple ID.

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Answer 2

John Galt

Level 10

141,126 points

May 18, 2014 9:02 PM in response to cdgraves

The previous owner didn't finish the job. What you have to do is select Reinstall Mac OS X from the Mac OS X Utilities screen.

If it is asking for an Apple ID, shut it down again and boot OS X Internet Recovery by holding ⌘ option r (three fingers) while you start your Mac. That will force it to load its originally installed operating system. You will need an Internet connection, preferably a fast one since the entire OS must be downloaded. It's approximately 5 GB in size.

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Answer 3

cdgraves Author

Level 1

9 points

May 19, 2014 6:33 AM in response to John Galt

Well that one almost worked.

I booted up with "command option R" and got the little spinning globe and it said "internet recovery" for about 10 minutes.

Then it booted back to the Utilities screen again

Tried going to Internet Recovery from there, but it's still asking for an Apple ID. I went ahead and purchased Mountain Lion from the Apple Store yesterday, but won't have the email password for 1-3 days (which makes no sense to me). Will I even be able to download it onto the busted computer?

The next step is to upbraid the person who attempted to clean the computer out. Any other tricks I can try at home?

EDIT: The "Command Option R" reverted the computer to regular Lion, not Mountain Lion.

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Answer 4

cdgraves Author

Level 1

9 points

May 19, 2014 6:54 AM in response to cdgraves

addendum: I am also unable to download Mavericks from the Utilities screen.

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

141,126 points

May 19, 2014 7:30 AM in response to cdgraves

Please enter the Mac's serial number on this page:

https://selfsolve.apple.com/agreementWarrantyDynamic.do

Don't divulge its serial number here, but post the model description that appears directly below Your Service and Support Coverage.

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Answer 6

cdgraves Author

Level 1

9 points

May 19, 2014 7:48 AM in response to John Galt

It says Macbook Pro (13-inch, Early 2011

I've also made an appointment at the local Genius Bar this afternoon. Hopefully someone can get this sorted out once they see it in person. Definitely going to have a word with the person who "cleaned" the hard drive.

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Answer 7

John Galt

Level 10

141,126 points

May 19, 2014 8:22 AM in response to cdgraves

That model was produced during Apple's transition to Lion, which means it may have shipped with Snow Leopard on optical media, or it may have shipped with Lion which required no optical media. If the seller has discs, he was obligated to include them with the sale (see Paragraphs 3 "Transfer"). Install Snow Leopard from those discs, then upgrade directly to Mavericks.

The seller was remiss in not erasing the disk completely and reinstalling its original OS. Only its original OS can be transferred, which was either Snow Leopard or Lion. He upgraded to Mountain Lion by purchasing it from the App Store. That license cannot legally be transferred to anyone (see Paragraph 3B), and as a practical matter cannot be transferred due to operational problems that will result from doing so: the "all screwy" result you experienced.

If that MBP was produced after (approximately) August 2011, booting OS X Internet Recovery will install Lion, and will not require an Apple ID. Install Lion and then upgrade directly to Mavericks.

Either way you will not have to pay for any OS X upgrades. Only Lion and Mountain Lion required payment, but there is no reason for you to install either one since Mavericks is better, and free.

In any event the Genius Bar will straighten things out for you.

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Answer 8

cdgraves Author

Level 1

9 points

May 19, 2014 8:48 AM in response to John Galt

A friend of mine let me borrow a Snow Leopard disk, but when I tried to boot from it I got a Windows/DOS-like death screen and Panic message ("you must restart your computer...").

The forced internet recovery you advised earlier reverted the computer to regular Lion, so I think that was the original OS. Even after doing that, it went to the Utilities screen, where the Reinstall option had changed to Lion instead of Mountain Lion, and it was still asking for an Apple ID

The non-transferability of the OS makes sense. I guess when the previous owner deleted her own account, it locked the OS to prevent transfer.

I'll update with the results from the Genius Bar. Because I purcahsed Mountain Lion yesterday and Mavericks is free, I imagine the worst case is that they wipe it clean and start with one of those.

Thanks for the help, I'll let you know how it turns out.

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Answer 9

May 19, 2014 8:50 AM in response to cdgraves

That sounds like a kernel panic

Probably caused because the Snow Leopard DVD was hardware specific to another Mac and could not boot your Mac.

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Answer 10

cdgraves Author

Level 1

9 points

May 19, 2014 6:30 PM in response to John Galt

Indeed, this was pretty much the case. The previous owner had gotten the computer wiped by someone who didn't totally know what they were doing and failed to do more than delete a bunch of stuff. Genius Bar re-partitioned the hard drive and upgraded to Mavericks.

Thanks for the helpful comments; I will be sure to check back in with these forums if I have other problems in the future.

Also might name my next musical project "Kernel Panic".

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