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.
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.