[SOLVED] Help on installing Mac OS onto completely wiped hard drive -

[JandersonHTML]

Hey everyone,

I work for a small IT company. We were given an iMac (from 2012 or later) and the reason I have no idea which model it is, is because someone had completely wiped the hard drive. As in the internet recovery does not work, it simply sits there for two hours and goes into an error. This dilemma has caused this mac to sit on my desk for over a week now. I have made bootable drives with Mavericks, no dice. We ordered and overnight shipped an installer disc, nothing. Is there anything else I could do to fix this? or is it a lost cause? Thanks in advance.

 

[Robert Cook]

If you cannot get into regular recovery mode, then there is little hope. one thing you could do is find the local apple store, and schedule an appointment with a "genius" they have this magic software that connects via ethernet port, and can tell them everything that is wrong (a good place to start troubleshooting). best of all it is free, and they do not really try to sell you anything if they realize you know what you are doing.

 

[COLGeek]

Not trying to be flippant, but did you guys start here?

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

 

[Robert Cook]

HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST SUCH A SITE!
nah in all seriousness, apple support is pretty great, I agree, try that before the genius bar idea.

 

[McHenryB]

Internet recocovery mode doesn't depend upon the hard drive. So it sounds as if there is some other hardware problem.

 

[BadAsAl]

The serial number is under the base (aka foot) of the iMac. Look that up on everymac.com (select lookup from the bar near the top) and it will tell you everything you will ever care to know about it.

 

[BadAsAl]

So when you hold option key after the chime, does it do anything? You should get a screen showing the hard drive and any other bootable media so you can select one of them.

 

[Robert Cook]

So when you hold option key after the chime, does it do anything? You should get a screen showing the hard drive and any other bootable media so you can select one of them.

If this is a completely wiped drive, would it even pop up as bootable media? I just run in to the question mark, but perhaps it is different on macbooks?

 

[McHenryB]

How else are going to boot from your install media?

 

[Robert Cook]

How else are going to boot from your install media?

well yes, you would have a bootable USB, but does it try to take the hard drive if it is not formated? When I was installing OSX onto new drives, It would only boot to the USB. If I can find my OSX el capitan flash drive, I'll try this right now with no HDD, as I have a 2010 MBP to fix up that lacks a HDD. (sadly I have no HDD to try it with as of now.)

 

[JandersonHTML]

So when you hold option key after the chime, does it do anything? You should get a screen showing the hard drive and any other bootable media so you can select one of them.

Does nothing. it shows internet recovery, but no bootable disks or drives. I may just take it to the apple store.