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I’ve recently tried to reset an old MacBook Pro 2011 so I can sell it and after going through steps to get it up and working again I’m stuck on the part about re installing the Mac OS as it’s been erased I have no os I go to reinstall the os and get errors I’ve tried the date change and still nothing is there any way I can get it back to working order?
Earlier Mac models
Try booting into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R to attempt to access the online macOS 10.13 High Sierra installer.
If you are able to access the online High Sierra installer, then you will likely need to use Fix #3 in the following article since Apple has broken that online installer:
If you cannot access the High Sierra installer, then what are the exact errors you are getting when trying to reinstall Lion?
If you have changed the date & time to something other than the current date & time, then you will need to reset the date & time to the current date & time in order to access the online High Sierra installer.
If you have trouble with Internet Recovery Mode, then you may need to create & use a bootable macOS USB installer, but you will need access to another compatible working Mac. You generally need a Mac from 2007 to mid-2018 in order to create a bootable macOS USB installer for your 2011 Mac (macOS 10.11 or 10.13 depending on the model of the other Mac).
To confirm compatibility of the other Mac with a specific OS, you can use the information in the following article since the models I listed are just generalizations:
https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility
This is quite interesting. Because there is disk utility, can you restore the USB to a partition on the HDD? Then, boot to the HDD installer? I take it that you got the official mac os lion usb installer?
Wait, you said the USB is locked or the HDD? The USB installer is set to locked because apple does not want the user to be messing with it. Another try would be formatting the HDD to "normal" then running through the installer.
Long story short, I wanted to reset the Mac back to factory settings I went through the process and got to the point of re installing the os, followed tips to do the internet recovery which gives me the option to reinstall OS X Lion, from there says installing but shows the time waiting as -2 billion saw a method to change the time in the terminal to back when the os would’ve been working then tried to install again and does the same thing showing -2 billion seconds minutes remaining, at the moment there isn’t any os to boot into only comes up with a grey screen with a circle and cross in the middle can only boot to the command prompt when holding command alt r, I am stuck from there
Unfortunately if you cannot access the High Sierra online installer and are only able to access the Lion installer (it happens with some Macs), then you will need to resort to creating & using a bootable macOS USB installer for macOS 10.11 or 10.13 using the information I provided previously. If you personally don't have another compatible Mac, then check if a family member, friend, or co-worker has one so they can create a bootable macOS USB installer for you.
If you have the Early-2011 model, then you can use the original OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard 10.6.6 gray Restoration DVD to get the original OS onto the drive. Then you will need to jump through a few more hoops before you can get to finally installing macOS 10.13 High Sierra.
Assuming this purchased installer actually works, you would need to Option Boot the USB stick by holding the Option key down immediately after hearing the startup chime in order to boot the installer.
FYI, these "purchased" USB installers are illegal and they have a high potential of being broken or having nefarious software on them.
Tried installing a different way and it said the usb needs journaling, I enabled it on the usb, went back to reinstall Mac OS X Lion, the journaling message went and now I get the -2billion minutes remaining message??
I’ve purchased a usb with Mac OS lion 10.7.5 what can I do from here to get this up and running
I’ve got a compatible USB what is the next steps
Hold Option key at startup to see if the Lion USB installer is an option to boot from.
usb shows up in the utilities screen, when I choose to install Mac OS X Lion the usb says the disk is locked
Wow, we need better help in here, sorry.
usb also shows up in the disk utilities no gives me option to erase, repair and other options nothing to say about unlocking
Did the reboot with holding option key and shows still locked
it gives me two options to install from Macintosh and then the usb which is named lion, the lion usb says this disk is locked
Yes, you cannot install to the installer USB, is Macintosh HD not a choice?
Reinstall Mac OS X Lion
