I can't connect to the internet in OS X recovery utilities.

Question

I can't connect to the internet in OS X recovery utilities.

I recently bought from a friend a Macbook Air Early 2014 Edition.

I decided to perform a hard/factory reset because I want to clear all of his files, applications, etc.

So I turned my computer off (shut down), pressed command + r +power, and then OS X Recovery Utilities came up.

I formatted the "Macintosh HD" drive.

Then, when I proceed to reinstall Mavericks, I can't. This is because I can't connect to the my wifi network.

Now, it turns out that in my brother's other Macbook Air, in order to connect to the wifi network, he needs to manually set the IP Address using the System Preferences.

My problem, in essence, is that I can't manually set the IP address for the wifi network under OS X Recovery Utilities.

Is there any way to resolve this problem besides looking for another Wifi network?

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Oct 10, 2014 8:22 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Oct 10, 2014 1:25 PM in response to justinrsantos

Boot the MBA with the OPTION+COMMAND+R keys. It should result in a display with a revolving globe. There should be an option to select an Internet connection. Try to select your preferred local one. If not successful, you will have to try another one or use an ethernet connection. If successful, follow the instructions and you will be connected to the Apple servers and the original OSX will be installed.

Ciao.

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Answer 2

Oct 10, 2014 4:10 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

The problem isn't the fact that I can't select an internet connection; I can actually select my local wifi network.

The problem is that when my computer connects to the local network, it displays this error: "Alert: No Internet Connection." and there is an exclamation mark over the Wifi icon.

Is this a router problem? Also, I have an USB to ethernet adapter, however, I also cannot use it for some reason.

Thanks for the reply

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Answer 3

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Oct 10, 2014 4:42 PM in response to justinrsantos

Since I do not use a router, I do not have any expertise on that subject. I do know that sometimes restarting the router will solve some problems.

Ciao.

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Answer 4

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Oct 10, 2014 4:58 PM in response to justinrsantos

Internet recovery has limitations on the types of wifi network it will connect to if you have an 'open' network it may not show up…

OS X: About OS X Recovery

If you can use a wired ethernet connection if available.

Rebooting the router may not hurt if you have access to that - but it will affect others on the network for a brief period.

It does sound like your router is setup not to hand out DHCP leases - these are responsible for giving the Mac a local IP address. Nowadays this is non-standard networking setup & will make recovery mode fail. One thing you could do is share the internet connection from your friends Mac, but that would require a cable between the two computers. At least then his Mac would run DHCP & give your Mac an IP address to make internet routing work.

This covers how to share an Internet connection assuming you have the required cable & adaptor.

http://osxdaily.com/2012/01/05/enable-internet-sharing-mac-os-x/

You could also resolve it by changing the router setup to hand out addresses via DHCP, but that requires admin access to the router, find the router manual & see how you enable DHCP on it.

The ethernet adaptor will also fail if the router is not giving out addresses on the wired LAN.

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