Problems reinstalling osx

[SirBobson]

I have recently fitted a 500GB WD blue 2.5" drive into my mum's mid 2010 macbook pro ( I think ) after she dropped it and broke/damaged the hdd. A friend gave me a mountain lion usb recovery drive which they had made on their macbook. Now I have booted into OS X Utilities and clicked on 'reinstall OS X'. I then shows a picture of a mountain lion and i click continue. A box pops down saying 'To download and restore OS X, your computer's eligibility will be verified with Apple.' I click continue then that box dissappears and another one appears saying 'An error occured while preparing the installation. Try running this application again.' We don't have the osx installation disc. I don't know what to do as I don't know that much about this topic and any help is greatly appreciated! 

Thanks!

[flibberdipper]

Is it connected to the internet via wireless or ethernet?

[Speedbird]

You might want to make a new USB. Your Mac can run OSX Yosemite.

 

 

Do you (or does your friend) have another Mac? I've found several tutorials on how to create install media, but they all run from OSX.

[SirBobson]

Is it connected to the internet via wireless or ethernet?

wireless

 

You might want to make a new USB. Your Mac can run OSX Yosemite.

 

 

Do you (or does your friend) have another Mac? I've found several tutorials on how to create install media, but they all run from OSX.

The friend that gave me the usb recovery does have macbook (im not sure how new)

[Speedbird]

wireless

 

The friend that gave me the usb recovery does have macbook (im not sure how new)

First of all, try Ethernet instead of wireless if you can.

 

Well, here are the 10.10 requirements. Basically anything after 2007.

MacBook Air (late 2008 or later)

MacBook (late 2008 aluminum or later)

MacBook Pro (mid 2007 or later)

iMac (mid 2007 or later)

Mac mini (early 2009 or later)

Mac Pro 9 (early 2008 or later)

Xserve (early 2009)

2 GB RAM minimum

[SirBobson]

First of all, try Ethernet instead of wireless if you can.

 

Well, here are the 10.10 requirements. Basically anything after 2007.

MacBook Air (late 2008 or later)

MacBook (late 2008 aluminum or later)

MacBook Pro (mid 2007 or later)

iMac (mid 2007 or later)

Mac mini (early 2009 or later)

Mac Pro 9 (early 2008 or later)

Xserve (early 2009)

2 GB RAM minimum

I don't think that it's to do with internet connectivity because i can still access the internet through OS X utilities 

[jadar]

Have you formatted the new drive with Disk Utility yet? If you havent, then you can do so by hitting Disk Utility and following these steps.

 

1. Click hard drive on the left.

2. Go to the "Partition Tab"

3. Select "1 Partition"

4. Click "Options" and change the radio selector to "GUID Partition Table"

5. Under "Name" type in a volume name like "Macintosh HD"

6. Under "Format" select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"

7. Click "Apply"

 

Quit Disk Utility and try reinstalling OSX again.

[SirBobson]

Have you formatted the new drive with Disk Utility yet? If you havent, then you can do so by hitting Disk Utility and following these steps.

 

1. Click hard drive on the left.

2. Go to the "Partition Tab"

3. Select "1 Partition"

4. Click "Options" and change the radio selector to "GUID Partition Table"

5. Under "Name" type in a volume name like "Macintosh HD"

6. Under "Format" select "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"

7. Click "Apply"

 

Quit Disk Utility and try reinstalling OSX again.

Didn't work

[jadar]

If Mountain Lion is not working, you can try making a Mavericks or Yosemite installation drive. Mountain Lion was the last OS to be a paid upgrade. After that they were free. I think that is the reason they you cannot install it; because your friend made the disk and paid for Mountain Lion and you didn't. It's pretty easy to do. Here is a guide to do so:

 

http://betanews.com/2014/03/07/how-to-create-a-bootable-os-x-10-9-mavericks-usb-drive/

[SirBobson]

If Mountain Lion is not working, you can try making a Mavericks or Yosemite installation drive. Mountain Lion was the last OS to be a paid upgrade. After that they were free. I think that is the reason they you cannot install it; because your friend made the disk and paid for Mountain Lion and you didn't. It's pretty easy to do. Here is a guide to do so:

 

http://betanews.com/2014/03/07/how-to-create-a-bootable-os-x-10-9-mavericks-usb-drive/

Ok thanks for help will get my friend to try that

[jadar]

Ok thanks for help will get my friend to try that

The process for Mavericks and Yosemite is the same except you change the name from Mavericks to Yosemite. You can also just make the disk without upgrading the computer that you're making it on.