ustenhau

Q: Recovering mountain lion over Internet - "object currently not available"

I am not able to get OS X in after a disk crash - any suggestion to what I can do?

 

When the harddisk crashed on my iMac 27" mid 2011 (EMC no 2429) I installed a new disk, and started the machine while pressing Control+R. The display then showed me a spinning globe for a couple of minutes with the text "Starting recovery over Internet" which ended when a dialog whith four options appeared. I started using the function to Erase/(format?) the disk. As I don't have a Time Machine copy to recover from, I then selected the function for "Installing Max OS X again" (not sure of the English wording - I translate it from Norwegian). The installer starts and asks me to click Continue for "Confguring the installation of Mac OS X 10.7". A message appears and disappears about Apple having to confirm that the computer is authorised for the operation. Next I choose the new disk as the target for the installaion and is then requested to log on to App Store with my Apple ID. I don't get any feedback about being authorized, but the log-on window closes and after some seconds the process ends with the words "The object is currently not available. Try again later."

 

Of course I have tried the installation procedure several times, and as I don't see how I should be able to decipher why I get the last message I am afraid that I will not be able to install over Internet.

 

Google helps me in finding proposals indicating that it's possible to download the OS from Apple Store and put in on a USB stick that is made a bootable drive. These proposals, however, have in common that this is done on a "live" computer - either the one where the OS is going to be re-installed or any other Mac that I own. Apart from a 2006 iMac with a crashed disk I don't have any other Mac. Any suggestions how I can achive having a bootable USB drive with the OS? (Mountain Lion or a newer OS X version)

 

By the way, after logging on to my Apple account I was able to verify that the serial number of the computer was associated to me as the owner of the computer. Still I wonder if the internet installation fails because the Mountain Lion was purchased/intalled by the previous owner of the computer - which I bought second-hand about three years ago. I was however not able to find any registration of what software I had downloaded - and then also no confirmation of my faint memory of having upgraded to a later version of the OS X since I bought it.

 

I shall wait in excitement for an interesting answer!

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), Mac OS X (10.7), null

Posted on Mar 11, 2016 7:44 AM

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Q: Recovering mountain lion over Internet - "object currently not available"

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  • by Limnos,

    Limnos Limnos Mar 11, 2016 7:50 AM in response to ustenhau
    Level 9 (54,353 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 11, 2016 7:50 AM in response to ustenhau

    This Mac may have come with OSX 10.6.6 originally and later upgraded to 10.7 by the original owner. The upgrade is licensed to the original owner and you will have to buy a Lion download code if you want to use it. Alternatively it may be possible to run free El Capitan on this computer though you may wish to consider RAM (memory) first.

     

    Read the following link. Although you are not selling your computer it discusses the steps required to install an OS on different generation Macs.

     

    Linc Davis Feb. 2016 post on restoring computer to new condition - https://discussions.apple.com/message/29726244#29726244

  • by ustenhau,

    ustenhau ustenhau Mar 11, 2016 8:44 AM in response to Limnos
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 11, 2016 8:44 AM in response to Limnos

    Thank you very much!

    The referenced article/post informs about a couple of actions I should have done immeditaly after taking over the computer. I fear that now it will not be easy to get help from the previous owner who was a foreign student at the local university.

    Your suggestion for acquiring El Capitan (or for that matter if it's possible to buy: Yosemite) sounds straight forward - only I don't see how to get it into a bootable USB stick without first buying another Mac.

    Still I keep my spirit up in hoping that the local store where it was originally sold from, can assist - I will visit them over the weekend.