Trying to install High Sierra from USB - Recovery Server could not be located

[tawnytim]

This macbook:

Mid 2010
MC516xx/A
EMC 2395
7,1
A1342

It had a HDD with Yosemite, and I'm upgrading it to SSD and High Sierra - at least that's what I'm trying to do. I'm using a High Sierra USB installer, and once I click on Install(the arrow), it hangs a moment then says it cannot contact the recovery server.

NOTES:
-Using a known-good usb installer
-verified connected to wifi

WHAT I'VE TRIED:
-properly formatted the SSD (view > show volumes) and have tried it with Journaled/Extended as well as APFS, both with the same result
-verified the correct date using the date command in terminal. Appears to be using UTC, but that UTC time is in fact correct

Not sure where to take it from here. I would just clone the HDD, but then I'd have an SSD with Yosemite, which is not what I was going for.

Any thoughts?

 

[3166792]

People have had success updating the date with Apple's servers. After repeated attempts it seems to sync up and continue with install

I believe it's ntpdate -u time.apple.com for High Sierra

 

[tawnytim]

People have had success updating the date with Apple's servers. After repeated attempts it seems to sync up and continue with install

I believe it's ntpdate -u time.apple.com for High Sierra

Man, I was so hopeful. I fired it back up, issued that command, it set the time so I went ahead to the installation and bam... same thing. Womp.

 

[3166792]

You could try manually setting the date to the past with, say date 1016200017. This is something I've had to do when trying to install El Capitan for example.

Perhaps you could try a different WiFi network somewhere if you have access but I have a feeling that may not help.

 

[winxmac]

Installing High Sierra using internet recovery no longer works... It still works when trying to download and install Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, and Monterey... All of these I tried on MacBook Pro 2015...

Another thing, checking for security updates for High Sierra through the App Store no longer works but I was still able to download security updates for Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra, which is odd since they are all older than High Sierra...

All of what I mentioned above, I have performed in 2023 and it is really weird...

Make sure that you connect first to internet either by wi-fi or ethernet cable then use the High Sierra flash drive... You can download and create a flash drive installer for High Sierra by either using a Sierra or Mojave Mac...

You may need to create a new High Sierra bootable installer...

You can download the DMG for Sierra and install it first and download High Sierra and create a flash drive for it...

How to download and install macOS
Create a bootable installer for macOS

 

[tawnytim]

Installing High Sierra using internet recovery no longer works... It still works when trying to download and install Yosemite, El Capitan, Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, Big Sur, and Monterey... All of these I tried on MacBook Pro 2015...

Another thing, checking for security updates for High Sierra through the App Store no longer works but I was still able to download security updates for Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra, which is odd since they are all older than High Sierra...

All of what I mentioned above, I have performed in 2023 and it is really weird...

Make sure that you connect first to internet either by wi-fi or ethernet cable then use the High Sierra flash drive... You can download and create a flash drive installer for High Sierra by either using a Sierra or Mojave Mac...

You may need to create a new High Sierra bootable installer...

You can download the DMG for Sierra and install it first and download High Sierra and create a flash drive for it...

How to download and install macOS
Create a bootable installer for macOS

Well, I give up. I have to believe Apple is behind this. There is NOTHING WRONG with this MacBook. I have tried changing the date, updating/syncing the date with Apple. I've tried internet recovery, and two different High Sierra install USB drives. If I'm installing from a USB drive, the machine shouldn't even need to contact recovery servers. As a computer repair shop owner, I'm really frustrated with this type of stuff. macOS is lightyears beyond Windows, and Apple's hardware is amazing, but the fact I can't get High Sierra installed onto an eligible machine is no coincidence in my opinion. Matter of fact, in internet recovery, using CMD-OPT-R, it gives me only the option of Installing Lion, which I chose, just to see, and it wouldn't install that either. It began, and then quit, citing it couldn't download required files. Total Lunacy. So, this is actually my 79yo father's laptop, and now he's going to be forced to replace a perfectly working device - shameless.

Thank you for your help.

 

[jorgk]

Did you try to set the time to a -past- date? That's not clear from your posts above. I remember one got into a situation that some software in the install process may deem a too new date as void. Thus, go close to the original software appearance date and it may work; later you can change to the actual date.