Reinstalling Yosemite on old iMac

[mortagnesupport]

I have an old iMac with Yosemite. I think it's a 2009 model, but still very functional, large 27inch screen, has a DVD player which I can use to play old movies.

I recently decided to reset it: I booted with the special menu and erased my disk. When I then select install the OS from the menu, I have a problem. After entering Wifi credentials, it asks for my Apple Store login. However, it hangs after I enter my credentials - as if it's it waiting for the Apple Store to confirm authentication. Same if I click on "forgot?". Therefore, I'm stuck before the download stage.

To make things more complicated, I'm not certain this is the original Apple Store id I used to login back pre-2010 when I purchased this machine (did I even need an id back in those days?), so I'm not sure if it would work. However, it doesn't seem to be why it hangs.

I did some internet searches but didn't find others with this issue. I found lots of peoples having issues with the Download getting stuck, but not at the Apple Store stage.

If I bring it to a Mac repair shop, would someone be able to install Yosemite, perhaps via some Time Machine backup (I don't have any)? Or would there be a licensing issue if they used their own backup?

 

[TonyAguila]

I have an old iMac with Yosemite. I think it's a 2009 model, but still very functional, large 27inch screen, has a DVD player which I can use to play old movies.

I recently decided to reset it: I booted with the special menu and erased my disk. When I then select install the OS from the menu, I have a problem. After entering Wifi credentials, it asks for my Apple Store login. However, it hangs after I enter my credentials - as if it's it waiting for the Apple Store to confirm authentication. Same if I click on "forgot?". Therefore, I'm stuck before the download stage.

To make things more complicated, I'm not certain this is the original Apple Store id I used to login back pre-2010 when I purchased this machine (did I even need an id back in those days?), so I'm not sure if it would work. However, it doesn't seem to be why it hangs.

I did some internet searches but didn't find others with this issue. I found lots of peoples having issues with the Download getting stuck, but not at the Apple Store stage.

If I bring it to a Mac repair shop, would someone be able to install Yosemite, perhaps via some Time Machine backup (I don't have any)? Or would there be a licensing issue if they used their own backup?

I think the most important thing is for you to be able to sign into your Apple ID, so make sure first that your ID and password are recognized by Apple. You can do this from your iPhone or iPad, or even sign in using someone else’s Mac. All you need to check is that your Apple ID is what you remember it. You can try logging in to iCloud.com from another device to test the validity of your ID.