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Installer keeps failing?

My buddy gave me his old 2011 Macbook Pro running OS X Mavericks. I wanted to start with a fresh computer so i booted the laptop into recovery mode and erased the hard drive. After hours of trying to re-download Mavericks, i found that the date had to be changed on the computer terminal. Now on boot up, i am taken right to the installer. It gets to about 4 minutes left in installation, then i get message saying "install failed". How can i fix this?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on May 7, 2015 2:24 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on May 7, 2015 2:32 PM

Do you have the installer discs that came with the computer originally? If so, then boot from Disc One, erase the drive, then reinstall Snow Leopard. You can then download Yosemite from the App Store using your Apple ID. Note that you no longer can download Mavericks.


If you don't have the original discs then it's possible to do a Network Recovery if the computer is qualified: Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery. You now can do the following:


Install OS X Using Internet Recovery


Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:


Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.


Partition and Format the hard drive:


  1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
  2. After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
  3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.


Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.


Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

2 replies
Question marked as Best reply

May 7, 2015 2:32 PM in response to triplef54

Do you have the installer discs that came with the computer originally? If so, then boot from Disc One, erase the drive, then reinstall Snow Leopard. You can then download Yosemite from the App Store using your Apple ID. Note that you no longer can download Mavericks.


If you don't have the original discs then it's possible to do a Network Recovery if the computer is qualified: Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery. You now can do the following:


Install OS X Using Internet Recovery


Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:


Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.


Partition and Format the hard drive:


  1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
  2. After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
  3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.


Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.


Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

Installer keeps failing?

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