Can't Install Mac OS X 10.8 after erase

Hello guys,

I have the same problem with my macbook. I bought it as it was completely empty. It's trying to install the Lion but it's not available. And have no more options. I made all the steps you guys wrote but no success. What can I do? Thanks

We need to know what model it is before any useful advice can be given.

Go to this page and enter the serial number. It should be on the bottom of a MacBook.

Then post a link here of the model it shows you is the MacBook you have.

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is marked solved and is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.

What computer model/year of computer do you have and what OS are you using?

I went through everything that was said on here too and it didn't work as well. Call the apple store and let them walk you through it and they can give you an answer. I solved my issue by buying a cd to install the OS and worked just fine.

I have to ask. Where was this CD purchased from? Apple? eBay? Or, could you provide a link to the web site you purchased it from?

It may be important to know the source. Any non-official installer (not made and sold by Apple) should be treated as dangerous.

Well, I decided to buy a disk too. But I couldn't find any official sources for Lion. I found one seller on Amazon in the states but he is not shipping to UK.

Other thing I'm thinking about to buy a flash drive but I had another Mac for a day I've made a bootable drive for mine but after booting it cause a kernel panic all the time. I've tried different flash drives, tried to make it from under windows too. No success.

So yeah at the moment I'm looking for an official disk too.

(I'll provide a serial number when I get home)

Thanks

Thank you!! Good to know, exactly that's why I'm here to ask You guys.

So I'm in the middle nowhere again by the way. It seems like the only solution could be an official Lion flash drive for me.

But I've no idea where can I get that from.

If I'm buying Lion in appstore would be any option to ask for this or??

I don't mind paying officially I would be happy to see my Mac running.

(sorry to be a bit of a payn in the *** but this is my first mac)

It's a MacBook from 2009. If you need more details let me know and I can provide them tomorrow.

So, if it's all good and I purchase the Lion, will/could they send an install flash drive to me?

Otherwise I'm trapped again. Can't do anything online with it.

Thanks for your help Kurt!

A 2009 Macbook came with Leopard, 10.5.x. If the Mac didn't come with its original gray disks, you don't really need them. It's more a question of what OS you eventually want installed. Your Mac tops out at El Capitan 10.11.x.

What you could do is purchase Snow Leopard on DVD, or the electronic App Store download versions of Lion or Mountain Lion. Finding a genuine Lion flash drive would be a bit difficult, and likely overpriced.

Is the Macbook currently bootable, or has the drive been wiped and you currently have no OS you can install? If it is bootable, what OS is on it now? At the desktop, click on the Apple logo at the upper left and choose About This Mac. A small box will appear telling you what OS is on the drive.

Don't purchase anything until we know where you're at, and what OS you ultimately want to be on the drive. Be aware that it's possible to purchase some old versions of OS X, most browsers either down support them anymore (Snow Leopard), or soon won't for the slightly newer versions (Lion, Mountain Lion). These old OS releases also haven't seen security updates for a long time and will never see another one.

My suggestion would be to purchase what you can for certain install (Snow Leopard 10.6.3 on DVD from Apple), assuming your disk drive works, then update it to 10.6.8 (free). That will put the App Store on the drive and you can then obtain El Capitan for free and install that. That also does depend on how much RAM is installed. 2 GB is the minimum to run El Capitan, but it will run very slowly on only 2 GB of RAM.

Thanks,

I've checked with the previous owner in a meantime. He said the El Capitan was running on it before he gave it to me and erased everything.

So yeah that will be the solution for my problem. I'll purchase the Snow Leopard disk tonight and really really hoping the drive is working :D

Thank you guys!

Really thanks for all your help! Apple has a new customer now :D

I've ordered the Snow Leopard disk on day X 6pm. It has been delivered by AppStoreUK via Royal Mail on the following day at 10am. I haven't paid for the next day delivery by the way.

Make the story short, it's done, all good. El Capitan running on it smoothly.

Thanks again I appreciate it!

Cheers

Hi I am having the same problem same problem when I try to reinstall Mac OS X it says after going the whole process and putting my Apple ID it says THIS ITEM IS TEMBORARILY UNAVAILABLE, Please try later! And when I try to partition it , it says Partition failed with error: couldn't unmount disk. I used cmnd, alt +r and the cmnd alt + r and a but nothing works. GUlD partion was selected as well. Please help.

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is marked solved and is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.

Have you ever downloaded the OS previously using your Apple ID? Is this a used computer? What year computer is it?

I believe it means either the server your OS is on is unavailable, or is currently too busy to accept more connections. About all you can do is wait a bit and try again. That can mean wait an hour, a few hours, or the next day.

Extra info.

I presume you're already starting up in Internet Recovery Mode? If so, that is supposedly one way to get past the message. Also, if you're using a Wi-Fi connection, temporarily use a wired Ethernet connection to your router. Plug the cable into your Mac (of course), and then to any open LAN port on the router.

Also, if asked, make sure to login with your Apple ID.