Can't Install Mac OS X 10.8 after erase

Returning to your previous post, there's a conflicting statement. You said the MacBook had been upgraded to Lion. However, an upgrade would mean it originally came with an OS older than Lion. Macs that shipped with Snow Leopard or older don't have the ability to boot into Internet Recovery Mode.

What exact model Mac is this, and what OS did it ship with? The model should be printed on the bottom (something similar to MC207LL/A, or A1342). Please post that. Do not post the serial number. Or, since you can boot to an installation screen, you should be able to choose About This Mac, or open System Information. From there, you can get the model classification, such as MacBook 4,1.

If you see that, please post only the model number designation, and CPU info. Such as:

MacBook 4,1

2.26 GHz Core Duo 2

That's all we really need to know to figure out what model it is, and what OS it shipped with.

Thanks for reply Kurt,

My Mac Model is Apple MacBook "Core 2 Duo" 2.4 13" (Mid-2010) SpecsIdentifiers: Mid-2010 - MC516LL/A - MacBook7,1 - A1342 - 2395*.

Like i post before, at everymac site my Mac shipped with OS X 10.6.3. That snow leopard right?

So if my mac don't have ability to boot into Internet Recovery Mode, what should I do to reinstall mac OS?

Correct. With the drive wiped, reinstall Snow Leopard from the original gray disks the Mac shipped with. Run the 10.6.8 Combo updater after that. Ignore any other updates for Snow Leopard.

The App Store will be on the drive after updating to 10.6.8. You can then login to your App Store account and reinstall Lion. This is of course assuming you obtained Lion when it was available. If so, it will always be in your account.

After that, in the future, to bypass having to install Snow Leopard before Lion, download the full Lion installer from the App Store. When it presents the start of the installation, simply quit as you would any other app. The Lion installer should remain in the Applications folder. Get yourself an 8 GB flash drive. Then download DiskMaker X. I've linked to their page of older downloads since you'll need an old version in order to run it in Lion (version 1.7 at the bottom). Run that and it will create a bootable flash drive with the entire Lion install file set on it. When it's done, you can delete downloaded Lion installer from the Applications folder, or move it to an external drive. Either way, it doesn't need to be taking up space on your drive anymore.

So, all of that means if you wipe the drive in the future, you can boot to the Lion flash drive you made and install Lion directly. No need to install Snow Leopard first.

10.6.8 Combo Updater

Restart the Mac and hold down Command+R to enter Recovery Mode. That boots to a hidden partition on the drive which will allow you to reinstall the OS. If it asks for an Apple ID, it will be expecting the ID and password of the person who purchased Mountain Lion (10.8.x). If you never had that version of OS X in your App Store account as a purchase, you won't be able to install it.

If that's the case, you'll have to restart the Mac and hold down Command+Option+R to enter Internet Recovery Mode. Use Disk Utility to repartition the drive. You must do this in order to completely remove all data from the drive, including the hidden partition, or it will try to install Mountain Lion, which you can't do. Once the drive it completely wiped, then choose to install OS X. The version of OS X the Mac shipped with will be installed.

Yes, you can purchase your own copy of Mountain Lion at Apple's site for $20. You will receive a redemption code in an email, which you then enter in the App Store to download the OS. It then permanently stays in your list of purchased items.

However, before spending the money on ML, see what the Mac installs via an Internet Recovery. It may be Mountain Lion, and that would be a machine specific version for your MacBook Air. Which means you can't use the App Store version of ML. Anytime you would need to reinstall ML, you would do it from Recovery mode, or Internet Recovery mode.

Just to be certain what model MB Air you have, enter the serial number on this site, then please post the page it shows as your exact model. Do not post the serial number here.

If you want to go higher, you can also download Yosemite, which will keep it in your Purchases tab.

I think Kurt is saying boot using command - option - R which will put you in Internet Recovery. Install the system from there. Then reboot normally and go to the  menu/About this Mac to see what version of the OS is installed.

Sorry, but what is it you don't understand? You'll have to be more specific.

Though if you mean the last sentence of my previous post, the words "on this site" are a clickable link. When that page opens, enter the serial number of your Mac in the field next to the button that says "Lookup", then click the button. That will lead you to a page which will be exactly your model Mac. Post the web address (URL) of that resulting page here so we can see when it was made, and what OS it shipped with.

Thank you. Your Mac shipped with Lion. Which means you can do an Internet Recovery startup by turning the Mac on and immediately holding down the Command+Option+R keys. This will boot the Mac to its firmware. When the work screen appears, you first need to make sure the drive is completely wiped clean, or it may try to install Mountain Lion, which is what the hidden Recovery partition should be. However, you will not be able to reinstall Mountain Lion since it will ask for the former owner's App Store ID and password.

So follow these steps:

1) Make sure you know your router's wireless password since you will be required to have an Internet connection to reinstall OS X. Better would be to use a wired Ethernet connection to your DSL or cable router.

2) When you boot to the Internet Recovery Screen, first choose Disk Utility. When the screen comes up, you will see something similar to this:

I have multiple hard drives here, you will likely only have one showing. But what you need to do is click on the physical drive name. That will allow you to partition the drive. Click on the Partition tab at the right to get this screen:

Where the drop down menu says "Current", change it to something else. Even if the drive is already one partition for the whole thing, and you only want one. In which case, choose "1 Partition". You'll notice that the Options button is now no longer grayed out. Click that and make sure the radio button for GUID Partition Table is selected. Click OK.

Make sure the Format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled). It should be by default. Make the Name anything you want to call it. Click Apply. It will take just 10 seconds or so to complete. When it's done, quit Disk Utility.

3) Now choose to install OS X. The machine specific version of Lion for your Mac will be installed.

4) When the install is complete, you can open the App Store and create your own account. Normally, you use the same Apple ID and password you use to access these forums.

5) Then it's up to you what you want for an OS. You can either stay with Lion, or upgrade. It's $20 to purchase Mountain Lion, 10.8.x. You'll receive an email with a redemption code you use in the App Store app to initiate the download and installation. Once you have it installed, that purchase will forever remain under your list of purchased items and can be reinstalled at any time. Or, you can jump all the way to Yosemite, 10.10.x for free. Mavericks, 10.9.x is not on option as Apple has pulled it from the App Store.