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So my Mac had become Uber slow, so I thought I would take everything I need off it, reset to factory settings, then start again.
Followed the options/cond/r/o button procedure, cleaned the hard drive, went to reinstall but apparently the 2011/12 version of my pro doesn’t allow for internet software resets and I’m helpfully told ‘there is a download missing’.
Are there any clever than me people ( to be fair, there are lots….clearly.
But any gurus know how to get around this little snag, or do I now have a hefty placemat ?
Rereading that post- I swear I have only been on the non alcoholic beers today!
If you hold down option on start up is there a recovery disk you can boot from?
Absolutely worst case scenario you need someone you know with a Mac to download the an appropriate OS version and make a bootable USB drive. Instructions are easily Google-able.
What type of Mac? And what's the latest version of the OS you can run?
Once you know this Apple has OS downloads available that can be put on a bootable USB drive to re-install. You will need access to another Mac to make the USB drive bootable as there is a terminal command that you can run to do the job.
I think you will need the installation discs. Either the originals or any full retail version since then. You may need to check which OS can be installed. They are not cheap though even on Ebay. There might be another way so see what others say but from memory I don't think so.
Alternatively you could possibly flip it to a Chrome OS variant https://www.neverware.com
Or try a few different Linux distros via live USB and see what works/you like. PopOS or Ubuntu or Mint are easy starters.
Ah there you go. They beat me to it.
options/cond/r/o
Do you mean Option-Command-R at startup? That should offer you the latest version available for your MacBook. Shift-Option-Command-R should give you the closest to the original OS currently available.
However, I seem to recall 2011 versions do not have the internet restore option. In which case do you have system discs? Or, do you have a Time Machine backup? If so Command-R at startup should give you the option to install from the backup and it may also give you an option to install from the recovery partition.
Cheers collective!:) knew the awesomeness of this forum would have the knowledge and help me out.
I think El Capitan is the latest software I can download, and yes I have another Mac so il download as you suggested.
Happy new year and many thanks!
A how-to on USB installers. Use copy and paste for the terminal commands.
The 2011 MBPs I've seen can go to 10.13 High Sierra. You can check the latest version of OS X your mac will run here:
https://everymac.com/ultimate-mac-lookup/
and yes I have another Mac
Phew, I was concerned you had to resort to posting using a Windows machine.
good news is no PC - I would rather resort to listening to and speaking beeps down a telephone line 🙂
Bad news is my Mac is too modern to run OS X, so I'm getting a friend to bring hers down and hopefully I can install the boot up usb from hers ( fingers crossed)
OP I'm not quite understanding your last post. It should be possible to download you El Cap software through the App Store. Click on your name bottom left and your previous purchases should show the OSX download (yes we don't buy it but it's sort of logical). Download and then quit out of the installer and it should all go swimmingly. (You need to tell the newer Mac that you want to download anyway).
My mistake, changes to the App Store stop the behaviour in my previous post. You need to go here on the Support site and download the OS.You may need to scroll down a bit to find the version you need.
Edit Use the combo download as hopefully (it's a while ago) all the security updates are in place on that, otherwise you'll be patching the OS for a few hours.