SOLVED Unable to install any OSX to an iMac Mid2010

[hanswr]

My friend bought this cheap 27" iMac Mid2010 (11,3). Intel i5 16gb RAM. Working. I don't know what OSX version was installed on it, but it was indeed working fine; it just had old users and information from the previous owner. The lady who sold him the iMac logged out of everything related to her Apple ID.

Now, my friend wanted it to be factory reset. I proceeded to go into recovery mode and erase the hard drive. Then I tried reinstalling OSX from the recovery mode, it tries to download and install El Capitan. It asks for an Apple ID to log in and verify the download. The download begins, and the screen says it will restart automatically when completed. The OSX download completes, but when the machine restarts, it goes back to recovery mode as it nothing happened.

I tried installing via USB El Capitan, pressing Option Key to boot from USB, the USB is detected, and I see the option to boot from "Install El Capitan" but then the Apple logo appears (white background), progress bar and then goes back to recovery mode.

I tried with a different USB drive, following the steps from Apple support to create the bootable USB from another mac.

Furthermore, I also tried with a different OSX Version (High-Sierra). Same thing happens, it never begins to install the operating system; it just boots and goes to the recovery mode. I also ran the First Aid tool from the Disk Utility. No errors.

I feel bad because this computer was working with an installed OSX when I received it. Could you help me get this machine running again?

What else can I try?

Thank you in advance.

 

[TonyAguila]

My friend bought this cheap 27" iMac Mid2010 (11,3). Intel i5 16gb RAM. Working. I don't know what OSX version was installed on it, but it was indeed working fine; it just had old users and information from the previous owner. The lady who sold him the iMac logged out of everything related to her Apple ID.

Now, my friend wanted it to be factory reset. I proceeded to go into recovery mode and erase the hard drive. Then I tried reinstalling OSX from the recovery mode, it tries to download and install El Capitan. It asks for an Apple ID to log in and verify the download. The download begins, and the screen says it will restart automatically when completed. The OSX download completes, but when the machine restarts, it goes back to recovery mode as it nothing happened.

I tried installing via USB El Capitan, pressing Option Key to boot from USB, the USB is detected, and I see the option to boot from "Install El Capitan" but then the Apple logo appears (white background), progress bar and then goes back to recovery mode.

I tried with a different USB drive, following the steps from Apple support to create the bootable USB from another mac.

Furthermore, I also tried with a different OSX Version (High-Sierra). Same thing happens, it never begins to install the operating system; it just boots and goes to the recovery mode. I also ran the First Aid tool from the Disk Utility. No errors.

I feel bad because this computer was working with an installed OSX when I received it. Could you help me get this machine running again?

What else can I try?

Thank you in advance.

The maximum system version for your Mac is 10.13 High Sierra, which is good news in relation to compatibility and features. I suspect that the problem has something to do with Find My. If you can get a hold of the previous owner, see if they can remove that device from their iCloud account. You can also try resetting the SMC and PRAM. Merely reformatting the internal drive will not totally delete the previous identity of the Mac.

If you already have an installer for High Sierra, you may want to try it again after the SMC and PRAM resets. If you still need to download the 10.13 installer, you can find it here:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

Good luck.

 

[hanswr]

The maximum system version for your Mac is 10.13 High Sierra, which is good news in relation to compatibility and features. I suspect that the problem has something to do with Find My. If you can get a hold of the previous owner, see if they can remove that device from their iCloud account. You can also try resetting the SMC and PRAM. Merely reformatting the internal drive will not totally delete the previous identity of the Mac.

If you already have an installer for High Sierra, you may want to try it again after the SMC and PRAM resets. If you still need to download the 10.13 installer, you can find it here:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

Good luck.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I was able to install High Sierra finally. After trying to command + V during startup, this made the system show a blinking folder with a question mark, looks like this took it out of the recovery mode loop. After that I used the same USB with High-Sierra installation files, erased once again the HDD and installation was successful!

Nothing related to Find my. As I mentioned in my original post. The previous owner logged everything out, Apple ID related.