Hi so my dad gave me hi A1278. It was running increadably slow so I decided to totally wipe it. I am stuck on a screen that gives me 4 options, see the pick below. I did the disk utility, erase, APFS, I have adjusted the time, it still does not work. I am hooked up to my wifi and that all works. When I try the "Reinstall macOS" option, it thinks for about 30 seconds and then says: "the recovery server could not be contacted". I saw someone suggest you need to nuke it by downloading macOS high sierra, but that is on the mac store and I do not have another working mac. Is there a place I can get this off of windows? I have an ipad and an iphone. Is there a way to restore the mac enough to download high sierra though the appstore on this mac??
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Ok, I messed up, not a mac person. I have an A1278 trying to wipe it, "the recovery server could not be contacted" Now I am stuck
- Thread starter caliskier
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Try some of these.
www.howtogeek.com
How to Fix "The Recovery Server Could Not Be Contacted" Mac Error
You might see this error when trying to restore macOS from your recovery partition.
Thank you oh Sheepish-Lord, lol.... yeah, so that is everything I have already done. the only thing I have not done is the "install macos via usb option. how can I get a coppy of the os? How can I get at least the apstore back?Try some of these.
How to Fix "The Recovery Server Could Not Be Contacted" Mac Error
You might see this error when trying to restore macOS from your recovery partition.
You need a working usb installer to fix this situation. Get another Mac (coffeeshop, friend). Create a USB installer. You might want to use OCLP to download and create one. (looks like the most straight forward solution)
Boot from USB installer, run disk utility, check your hard drive, install the MacOS of your choice. Enjoy.
I had this same issue and resolved it as @amaze1499 has suggested:
- get another Mac
- create a bootable High Sierra or Ventura USB Drive - instructions here
- insert the bootable USB drive into the defective Mac
- boot to the USB drive by holding down the left "Option" button on the defective Mac while it is booting up
- open disk utility
- erase the hard drive
- format it as either HFS+ Journaled (for High Sierra) or APFS (for Ventura)
- quit disk utility
- install either High Sierra or Ventura
- That's it!
You guys rock! I wonder if I can just buy one from someone...
Actually I can... this guy on ebay, is this what I need for my
A1278
Mac OS X High Sierra 10.13 Bootable USB Drive Install/Upgrade/Repair Service | eBay
We are not connected to Apple Computer, and we respect that Mac and Apple are trademarks of Apple Computer.
www.ebay.com
Use the following app to download a copy of the High Sierra installer - https://twocanoes.com/products/mac/mds/You guys rock! I wonder if I can just buy one from someone...
Actually I can... this guy on ebay, is this what I need for my
A1278
Mac OS X High Sierra 10.13 Bootable USB Drive Install/Upgrade/Repair Service | eBay
We are not connected to Apple Computer, and we respect that Mac and Apple are trademarks of Apple Computer.www.ebay.com
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Thanks, anshuvorty, is this something I can do from windows and transfer it over to my mac? I don't have a wroking mac.
Is what I need?
www.ebay.com
I can get this off ebay unless there is a way to download and copy from windows
Mac OS X High Sierra 10.13 Bootable USB Drive Install/Upgrade/Repair Service | eBay
Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Mac OS X High Sierra 10.13 Bootable USB Drive Install/Upgrade/Repair Service at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!www.ebay.com
I can get this off ebay unless there is a way to download and copy from windows
I did an update to High Sierra on a 2011 Macbook pro just the other day, and had this exact error message. I found eventually that it's a 'planned redundancy' thing from Apple. In my case it would not have thrown this error just a few months ago. Even with a USB installer, you can expect to get it.
The solution is pretty simple, there are a few tips about it out there, here is one. You set the time/date back via terminal, and stay unplugged from the internet so it doesn't automatically correct it - then the USB installer will work, and the time will auto update on first run with high sierra online.
Like I said, I did this just a few days ago, I could have saved a few more links, but I didn't. I think I used a date in 2018.
Here's another link: iFixit.
(I guess I could make my Highsierra installer disk image available for you for download, about 11GB, then you'd have to know how to restore that to a drive or partition with Disk Utilities. Let me know. It's still posible to find online, but not easy.)
The solution is pretty simple, there are a few tips about it out there, here is one. You set the time/date back via terminal, and stay unplugged from the internet so it doesn't automatically correct it - then the USB installer will work, and the time will auto update on first run with high sierra online.
Like I said, I did this just a few days ago, I could have saved a few more links, but I didn't. I think I used a date in 2018.
Here's another link: iFixit.
(I guess I could make my Highsierra installer disk image available for you for download, about 11GB, then you'd have to know how to restore that to a drive or partition with Disk Utilities. Let me know. It's still posible to find online, but not easy.)
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I think you can create one using a macOS VM on a Windows host. It's tricky to set up, but once it is set up, you should be able to create the installer on the macOS VM.
(I guess I could make my Highsierra installer disk image available for you for download, about 11GB, then you'd have to know how to restore that to a drive or partition with Disk Utilities. Let me know. It's still posible to find online, but not easy.)
Yes please!... If you are tracking this, my father is comming out to see me in a few weeks, and I could get it from his laptop, I assume he will bring his mac. If he doesn't can I come back to you?
I'm sorry to disappoint you, I was a bit too fast. I found that I had successfully installed 10.13.0! And I struggled to find an updater to get the mac to 10.13.6. And on each try/fail go thru the thing with fooling the installers/updaters with setting the date back. But I don't have a 10.13.6 installer.
I can make available to you the 10.13 installer and the 10.13.6 updater (ca 11+5GB) but it takes some knowledge and experience to make this work. I spent quite a few hours on it. This is NOT 'click OK to install' at all.
And the way Apple has set this up, it's like one after another, people using ten years old macs will meet this wall of not being able to install an older, compatible macOS if they haven't backed up old installers. Installers not being available on Appstore, and installers not working with specific combinations of OS/machardware. (I had to use a newer mac to get a updater for 10.13.0 to 10.13.6.
Actually, that's how I got this old MBP for almost free, the owner said 'this mac can't be updated anymore. I don't know what happened.' People are throwing away old macs because of this, I think.
Ben,
Thanks for keeping up with me. I am going to try to do it on my own, just talked to my dad and he will bring his mac with him. i will see if I can get it to work that way and if it doesn't, I may be coming back here.
