Unable to install Mac OS X on MacBook 2015

First up is if you are trying to install from Apples Recovery Servers you really need to have your Mac connected to your router using a cabled connection, WiFi is too unreliable, and has the habit of resetting the date back to today.

As you have a MacBook you will need to use either a Thunderbolt to Ethernet cable or a USB to Ethernet cable.

If you can do that you may want to try resetting the date back again and trying to download.

If you want to try again read this.

Boot to your Recovery HD, click on Utilities in the menubar select Terminal.

Make sure WiFi is switched off, it can reset the date back to today.

Enter a new date, for example or just copy and paste

sudo date -u 011421002016

press Return

enter your password

press Return

If Terminal returns an error saying sudo : command not found, then try again without sudo.

Now try downloading the OS.

If this works then when the OS is installed and booted up you can Open System Preferences> Date & Time

and reset the time back to today.

OR:

If you have or can borrow another mac that you know can run or has run El Capitan at one time you

can try the following method.

How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan – Apple Support

Go to Section 4 and click on Download OS X El Capitan.

This downloads InstallMacOSX.dmg to your Downloads folder.

When downloaded open to InstallMacOSX.pkg, double-click on

that and an installation window will open, this does not install El Capitan

but converts the .pkg to the Install OS X El Capitan.app which you will find in 

your Applications folder, it should be 6.2GBs in size.

Now that you have the Install OS X El Capitan.app in the Applications folder you can create a

bootable USB installer using the createinstallmedia command in the Terminal app.

Read the instructions here,

How to create a bootable installer for macOS – Apple Support

Having created the bootable USB installer plug it in to your mac.

Restart the mac whilst pressing and holding down the option/ alt key,

in a minute or two you should see the Startup Manager, this shows the bootable

volumes attached to your mac, select the USB installer and press Return.

The mac will now boot to the USB installer, when booted up you will see a Utilities panel

select Install OS X and click Continue. The installer screens should open, follow the prompts

at some point you will be asked to choose which disk you want to install El Capitan on

make sure you choose your macs internal disk, probably called Macintosh HD.

When booted up in Recovery mode have you ran Disk Utility> First Aid on the disk to check for errors, or tried to

reformat it.

To reformat click on the Disk in the left panel, so that would be the uppermost Disk not the indented Volume,

now click on Erase, give the Disk a name,

Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Scheme: GUID Partition Map

click Erase.

Yeah that is a pity you do not have the cables to hand, you could order them on Amazon, they're still delivering.

If you feel you can only use WiFi then move the mac as close to the router as possible, when trying to download

from the Recovery Servers make sure any other devices that share the same internet connection are not being used.

Yes the El Capitan download can only be converted on a mac that came preinstalled with El Capitan or earlier

so any mac that came with Sierra, High Sierra, Mojave or Catalina preinstalled will refuse the conversion of the

InstallOSX.pkg to Install OS X El Capitan.app.

If you manage to create the bootable USB stick with El Capitan on it, plug it in to your

sick mac.

Because you are going to install El Capitan from the USB stick it does not matter

if you have WiFi on or not, all the installer files are on the USB stick. You are not

downloading anything from Apples servers.

You do not need to change the date to 2016, the download you use to make the bootable USB

has the updated certificates, it is only the version on the Recovery Servers that have outdated

certificates.

If you had reformatted the disk earlier and Disk Utility First Aid said it was okay

then there is no need to reformat it. But it would do no harm if you formatted it again.

As long as it has enough battery charge it should be okay a clean install usually takes between 15-30 minutes

but if the charger is handy I would use it.

Have you ran Disk Utility First Aid on the Disk to check for errors?

Have you tried reformatting to see if that might help?

If it continues with getting stuck then you can only assume that either the disk is damaged

and needs replaced or there is some other hardware failure, after all you were reporting

kernel panics before you decided to wipe your mac.

Yes if you reformat you choose the uppermost Disk not the indented Volume.

Give it a name, format as Mac OS Extended(Journaled)

and Scheme GUID Partition Map.

Do not know why you are getting that error message.

Seems like thing have gone backwards.

I feel like inviting people to cough all over me and hoping i get the coronavirus,

it might be more fun than this.

So, so many people having problems reinstalling OS's on macs lately.

I see no picture, okay so give it time, is the USB stick plugged directly in the mac, if not try that.

Remove any other devices that are not strictly necessary that may be attached to the mac while installing.

If it fails again my money would be on a hardware error.

Anyway going outside, going to lick people.

Sometimes it does come to a standstill, be brave and leave it alone, if after an hour

it is still stuck, then quit and try it all over again.