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Errors Using Bootable El Capitan Installer

hi! looking for some help resurrecting an old macbook, and have been running in circles:


macbook pro 17", around 2009/2010, was running El Capitan. hard drive is erased, no backup, no time machine.


on another machine (also el cap) i download OSX 10.11 installer dmg (from: How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support (UK)), unpack, and use createinstallmedia on a USB drive as directed (here: How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support).


restarting the target machine with option key i can choose the installer disk to boot, get to disk utilities, but the install OS X fails with 'download cannot be verified/validated'.


i see some conflicting information here about the date on the certificates from reading forum posts, so try to repeat and set date in terminal to 2015, 2018 (different posts suggest either). same error. have tried with wifi off (but not simultaneously cable-connected to router).


booting in cmd+R on the native machine and selecting reinstall OS X i get error that some required download is missing.


i have tried making bootable high sierra but have a suspicion that the machine doesn't support it.


spoke to apple support, who ran me through some of the sme things as well as doing first aid on the HD (no problems, but no progress after).


would highly appreciate any tips or suggestions! i see some similar questions here that were resolved by what i think i have tried, but i'm not having the same result. thank you for any help!


np-junction :)



MacBook Pro 17″, OS X 10.11

Posted on May 19, 2022 11:41 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 20, 2022 4:51 AM

According to this site, the Last 17' MBP 5,2 was released January 2009 and can run OS X 10.11


Here, I'm not totally certain Internet Recover Mode ( Option + Command + r ) will function.


If you what to give it a try - connect to Router via an Ethernet Cable for this attempt.


If works much like Recovery Mode except to counts to Apple Servers Directly and the Spinning Globe will spin until it totally loads.


If it works - choose Reinstall OS X


EDITED

Similar questions

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 20, 2022 4:51 AM in response to NP-Junction

According to this site, the Last 17' MBP 5,2 was released January 2009 and can run OS X 10.11


Here, I'm not totally certain Internet Recover Mode ( Option + Command + r ) will function.


If you what to give it a try - connect to Router via an Ethernet Cable for this attempt.


If works much like Recovery Mode except to counts to Apple Servers Directly and the Spinning Globe will spin until it totally loads.


If it works - choose Reinstall OS X


EDITED

May 21, 2022 2:01 AM in response to NP-Junction

You are welcome and thank you too 😌


Do come back to the Apple Support Communities ( ASC )  in the future, if / or when additional questions may arise


As for upgrading back to El Capitan - would do in once the MT is all settled down and any Security Updates have been applied.


At least in El Capitan - you may have a wider chose of compatible( El Capitan ) Web Browsers other than Safari

May 20, 2022 2:50 PM in response to PRP_53

so there was *another* boot mode i hadn't tried! :)


but VERY happy to say that this worked! although the process downloaded lion, which i have to assume is the OS that the machine shipped with. i don't know if this gives any insight into the trouble i was having with el capitan installer; i (obviously) expected that to work ok, but now i do have a working machine. would it be stupid to expect a different result to try to install el capitan again from this working version of lion? maybe i won't rush into that...


anyway, huge thanks P. Phillips!


np-j :)




Errors Using Bootable El Capitan Installer

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