Unable to install El Capitan: "No packages were eligible for install"

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Unable to install El Capitan: "No packages were eligible for install"

During installation of El Capitan I receive the error: "OS X could not be installed on your computer. No packages were eligible for install."

I am presented with the option to restart, after which the computer enters the installer again and I am shown the same error. Holding down the option key during reboot gives me the option to enter the OS X installer or the Recovery disk. From the Recovery disk (version 10.11) I am able to use Disk Utility to verify that everything is in order with the hard drive. Attempting to use the Reinstall OS X option fails and I am given the message: "An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again." Repeated attempts have shown the same error.

The laptop is a mid-2009 MacBook Pro (previously) running the latest version of Yosemite (10.10.5).

Ideally I'd like to either continue with the installation of El Capitan or return to the version of Yosemite already installed on the laptop. At the moment the laptop is unusable. I have a time machine backup of Yosemite I could revert to if need be.

Anybody else experience this problem? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11), Mid-2009

Posted on Oct 1, 2015 1:28 AM

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Answer 1

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Kriedi Author

Level 1

25 points

Oct 1, 2015 10:21 AM in response to Kriedi

I was able to finish the installation after creating a bootable El Capitan USB drive on a different computer (using these instructions), and booting into it by holding the Option key during startup. I then selected the Install/Upgrade option before receiving an error that stated: "This copy of the Install OS X El Capitan application can’t be verified. It may have been corrupted or tampered with during downloading." After researching this error, I was able to find a workaround by entering Terminal (via the Utilities menu) and resetting the system clock to the correct time (using these instructions), then proceeding with the installation.

After that, the installation preceded normally, albeit VERY slowly. I left my laptop running for several hours before it became usable. Now however everything is working normally again. Even if things appear unresponsive, be patient – waiting appears to pay off.

Hope this is useful to someone. Cheers!

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Answer 2

cklchin

Level 1

9 points

Oct 4, 2015 6:40 AM in response to Kriedi

HI kriedi,

The instructions given by you worked well for me.

what I did was to go into terminal mode and updated the system date to current date, then I proceeded with the installation as I did previously.

this round, it went through successfully and I have my El Capitan up & running after it rebooted.

thanks for the help

rgds

clemeny

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Answer 3

Oct 5, 2015 7:46 AM in response to Kriedi

Very helpful Kriedi!

I had the exact same problem on a unibody MacBook running Yosemite. The process you outlined worked perfectly for me. But . . . as you rightly said it is very slow and patience definitely paid off. I also went into the terminal mode ahead of the install and reset the date and it worked as advertised.

Thanks for the rescue,

best

Macinbike

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Answer 4

Oct 5, 2015 6:52 PM in response to Kriedi

Thank you for working through this problem, which seems to be a less-than-common issue out there. I did not need to create a USB boot drive when this error occurred on my 2009 iMac - the date change alone in Terminal solved the problem. Once the date was changed, the install reinitiated and completed successfully. Before creating the boot drive, try the date change in Utilities > Terminal first and restart the install.

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Answer 5

!mmie

Level 1

0 points

Oct 7, 2015 10:43 AM in response to Kriedi

Thanks a lot. This helped me out...

Like Coldplay519 said..., edit the date in Terminal will be enough to proceed the install of El Capitan.

Cheers 🙂

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Answer 6

r0b1nL33

Level 1

0 points

Oct 14, 2015 10:26 AM in response to Kriedi

Exactly these symptoms, but setting the date and time correctly fixed everything - thanks!

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Answer 7

doggel

Level 1

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Nov 3, 2015 11:14 AM in response to Kriedi

My profound thanks to Kriedl 😉 Trying a fresh install of El Capitan, I was stuck and thoroughly fed up, until I came across the advice about checking that the computer clock was correctly set- mine had somehow been reset back to 2001!

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Answer 8

Nov 6, 2015 5:33 PM in response to Kriedi

Thank you for this fix! After researching the forums came across info regarding copying HD to external drives, then rebooting, plus a lot more info., that I wasn't ready to tackle. Glad I kept searching. After setting the date and time, install completed successfully!

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Answer 9

Nov 14, 2015 8:28 AM in response to Kriedi

i want to thank everyone who posted this solution and the success rate. I was able install 10.11 once I updated the time using terminal as well. No sure why the time would be off as my computer is on 24/7 and always date and time had always been correct. Thank you all for spening some time and helping others resolve similar issues.

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Answer 10

daman007

Level 1

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Nov 27, 2015 6:21 AM in response to Kriedi

Thanks so much for this post! Saved many hours of frustration!! Worked like a charm

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Answer 11

Nov 27, 2015 1:44 PM in response to Kriedi

Great instructions!

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Answer 12

cic_atl

Level 1

0 points

Dec 3, 2015 9:34 AM in response to Kriedi

Thank you, Kriedi! I was getting a totally different error at home so I read where some people brought their computers to work to use a different network. I brought my computer to work today & received the "no packages eligible for install" error. I found this thread, corrected the time, and now I'm a happy camper again! 🙂

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Answer 13

phil_red

Level 1

0 points

Jan 6, 2016 2:23 AM in response to Kriedi

Hey Kriedi,

THANK YOU!!! you advice certainly saved me! Thanks for posting! after following your advice and link I had no problem what so ever and was able to complete installation of IOS X.

Thanks once again.

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Answer 14

Jan 26, 2016 4:44 PM in response to Kriedi

Thank you to Kriedi and all those that pointed out that fixing the date was the only thing needed to fix the problem. I was getting no where until I found this page. I had this exact issue and solved it with this link provided by Kriedi: https://bensmann.no/changing-system-date-from-terminal-os-x-recovery/

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Answer 15

Jan 30, 2016 12:06 PM in response to cklchin

I updated two computers from Yosemite to El Capitan with no problem. Then I tried to update a friend's computer from 10.6.8 Snow Leopard to El Capitan and I got caught up in the limbo where it keeps downloading but won't install and worse yet, won't go back to the previous system. I didn't create a bootable usb drive but I did reset the date from the year 2001 to the current year of 2016 and then the upgrade went through smoothly. I went through the "Utilities" and "Terminal" to reset the date. One trick I missed on my first attempt is that the command is "date (space) and then the year" I left out the space between the date and the year command digits and it didn't work on the first attempt. I can't imagine why an OS upgrade would reset the computer date back to the year 2001 but that seems to be the problem. While I was caught in "no man's land" between Snow Leopard and El Capitan, my friend thought I had ruined her computer and I am so grateful for the advice about resetting the terminal date that came to my rescue!

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