"Recovery server could not be contacted" Error Message

To find out if it's system wide or user specific, try this...

Open System Preferences>Users & Groups, unlock the lock, click on the little plus icon, make a new admin account, log out & into the new account.

Does it work in the new account?

This totally worked!

I was stuck with the same problem for 2 days!

Just as Desmet said, I used the terminal to set the current date and time and it worked!

Try that one i posted..its helped me!! Credit to owner post.

Hey guys I fixed it my date time was correct all I had to do was connect it to my wifi.

Reply to Jo Desmet: when setting the time in Terminal, it didn’t work for me until I set the time in UTC time zone, that this London UK.

The issue, is most likely, that their Apple ID is still assigned to this Mac.

Have them take a look at the following link to try to remove it:

What to do before selling or giving away your Mac - Apple Support

I have found one other solution to the problem. In disk utilities click on apple add and delete it, not erase, but delete it and everything else that is there. Keep only the OS X base system. Then check to make sure you have a WiFi connection and shut off the computer. You now need to boot into recovery mode and from there go to disk utilities. You should notice your sad is back along with other greets out drives. Click the apple sad and click erase, rename it as Macintosh HD, format it as OS X Extended Journaled, and choose guid partition map underneath that. You may exit utilities and click reinstall OS X, good luck:)

How do I get out of this thread? Idiots keep posting theories but I posted the solution above and people keep saying things that don't work

You have to do the terminal command to sync the time, the cmos battery has died so the time can't be kept correct, the cmos battery is suffered to the board cause Apple and if you remove it threads say nothing but problems occur

That error also pops up in my screen everytime I intend to upgrade my mac to high Sierra.... Many attemps and call from apple support... And after several days of trying... I finally did upgrade my mac... Since i dont have an adaptor from thunderbolt to ethernet... My option is only wifi... The upgrading needs a stable internet connection(just try and try with your wifi) and internet recovery command:

1. Shutdown your computer

2. Press alt+command+R

Internet recovery was my last option... And lucky me the download tooks only awhile.. Maybe the time i was downloading; the internet was at its peak (wifi only)... Then in mac utility.. Install the downloaded data... If you failed.. Just try again... Your patience is strongly needed... Hope this helps...

Have you tried the solution from this post: Re: The recovery server could not be contacted.

If yes and it didn't work out, you can try searching for the solution out of the apple discussion.

I have searched and found different things, I don't know if these might help you since I can't test them but, you can just check it out:

http://blog.peschla.net/2011/09/trouble-with-ntpdate/

https://www.martin-brennan.com/set-timezone-from-terminal-osx/

https://slaptijack.com/system-administration/set-mac-os-x-time-zone-from-the-com mand-line/

I am not sure why it won't let you change the time. I am not a mac expert here or anything, just willing to share what I've figured.

I apple, it's either you DIY, bring your mac to them to fix it, have a geek friend to fix it for you, or nothing else. I'll leave the rest to you.

Best of luck.

Go back to terminal and try this command

csrutil disable
reboot

That worked!! I changed the memory simms- guess computer reset. Many thanks!

See the earlier comments about setting the date. That solved it for me.

How are you trying to reinstall macOS High Sierra? What OS is currently running on your Mac? Are you trying to perform an upgrade or fresh install of High Sierra? What steps have you taken, so far, to try to resolve this yourself?