[SOLVED] Got a Macbook Pro from a friend, Can someone help me with my issue?

[Ragnarok6]

Hey I'm posting here because I am at my wits end. I was given a older macbook pro with no hard drive. I checked the serial number and the version I have is a
Apple MacBook Pro 15-Inch "Core i7" 2.2 Late 2011 A1286. I have a spare WD 500GB hdd thats been used once and thought I would just install Lion on it and get it up and running again. Now when I was given this laptop I was told nothing was wrong with it my friend just kept the hard drive.

Well trying to install an OS on this machine has been breaking my head. I am using a flash drive with Lion installed on it through TransMac. I work on PC's mostly but I want to get this up and running for my mom as her needs are very low and the laptop is in great condition. My issue is no matter what I do I hold the option key down to bring up the drives and I select the USB that has Lion on it so it can boot it. It brings up the Apple Logo and a spinning loading thing and after about 10 or so seconds it will just vanish and stay on a white screen. When that happened the first time I tried other versions. I saw that this model can go up to 10.13 High Sierra. Well for some reason 10.13 to 10.10 whenever I try and boot it through the USB it goes to a blue screen and nothing happens. Only 10.7, 10.8 and 10.9 don't give me a blue screen but they all do the same thing the apple logo shows up I see the spinning loading and then after a couple of seconds it disappears and stays on a white screen as if it cannot boot into it. I've searched high and low for answers but to no avail. If anyone can help me with this situation I would greatly appreciate it.

I tried putting as much information as possible here and if anyone thinks of more info needed I will be glad to provide it.

 

[velocityg4]

You should only be using High Sierra for that Mac. As it is the last supported version and still gets security patches. Plus it'll keep running updated web browsers the longest. I'm sure Chrome and Firefox won't support El Capitan much longer. Hardly anything current supports Lion.

Before doing High Sierra. I'd install Sierra or El Capitan first. Mainly because you can download directly from Apple without using the App Store. To make sure you are getting a clean copy. Once installed. You can then update to High Sierra through the App Store. Also I seem to recall that Sierra installs a firmware update on some Macs. Which is necessary before upgrading to High Sierra. My memories a bit fuzzy on this.
Sierra: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202
El Capitan: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886

Are you following these instructions for TransMac?
https://techhowdy.com/high-sierra-bootable-usb-installer-on-windows-10/

Do you have any access to a working Mac? If so use Diskmaker X instead.
https://diskmakerx.com/download/

When you plug in the flash drive. Do you hold down the option key while booting? Then select the flash drive.

SSD: Have you considered gifting your mom an SSD upgrade. It's like $20 for a 120GB SSD. An SSD makes a huge difference in performance on Macs. Even more so than they do in Windows in my experience.

 

[Ragnarok6]

Hey Velocityg4 I greatly appreciate the reply. To answer some questions yes I am using TransMac and following those same instructions. I do not have access to a working mac I only have access to my own desktop running windows 10. I looked at Apples download list for a while and they only have update packages available. Apple does not list the full installer which is incredibly frustrating because it tells me to just go to the app store and download it there but as I am in windows the apple store cannot load.

Honestly only copies I can find are if I torrent it.

 

[Kelly_sprint]

I have a MacBook PRO 2011 13' and I never managed to install High Sierra right away. I automatically installed Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard and then gradually I upgraded to High Sierra. I don’t know why, but without Leopard, I didn’t can install the necessary drivers for further installation High Sierra.

 

[velocityg4]

Hey Velocityg4 I greatly appreciate the reply. To answer some questions yes I am using TransMac and following those same instructions. I do not have access to a working mac I only have access to my own desktop running windows 10. I looked at Apples download list for a while and they only have update packages available. Apple does not list the full installer which is incredibly frustrating because it tells me to just go to the app store and download it there but as I am in windows the apple store cannot load.

Honestly only copies I can find are if I torrent it.

Did you look at the links I gave you? The step 4 in either instruction is a direct download link for the full DMG. Which I tested. I believe it is only High Sierra and later which requires using the App Store.

 

[Unat2025]

hi. mbp 15 2011 years - have major problems with GPU. I think 2011 models not the best to purchase in 2020 year. You need to test gpu and ram before trying to install new OS. (and dont forget if you will try to install 10.13- it may be some problems with expired certificate (and you need to set data 2019 year for example to avoid it)). Good luck!

 

[firelighter487]

the gpu's in those have problems, and it will die. sell it while it's still working, since it's worthless when it fails.