01-21-2020, 10:03 PM
Buzz was having a problem installing 10.12 on his 2012 mini. http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1,2438222 The consensus was that it was driver error - that Buzz's computer needed the date to be updated to current or that his installer was out dated and needed replacing. He was trying to go from 10.9 to 10.12
I just got 2011 mac mini missing a hard drive, so I have no idea of it's history.
I upgraded the drives and then started a 10.13 install and got the same error:
OS X could not be installed on your computer
Volume contains an OS X installation which may be damaged.
Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.
I quit and tried again - twice. No help. I reset SMC and zapped pram. Same. Set the clock back even though I KNOW this is a good installer. No help, but then I got an idea...
Maybe this thing has missed too many of those firmware updates that is installed with every new OS update. I checked an identical 2011 mini that I had and saw that it's SMC version was the same, but the Boot ROM was way different.
I grabbed a drive that had 10.13 installed and I booted the mini via TB external. It booted properly. I ran the security update that was suggested by the update app and when it was done, the Boot ROM matched that of the other 2011 that I had that had successfully been updated.
I booted to the HS installer and now it's installing properly.
Buzz' computer missed all the firmware updates after 10.9 and the computer I have arrived with no hard drive, but it wouldn't surprise me if the last OS this thing ran was old. FINALLY got this thing going...
...and the install is DONE!
I just got 2011 mac mini missing a hard drive, so I have no idea of it's history.
I upgraded the drives and then started a 10.13 install and got the same error:
OS X could not be installed on your computer
Volume contains an OS X installation which may be damaged.
Quit the installer to restart your computer and try again.
I quit and tried again - twice. No help. I reset SMC and zapped pram. Same. Set the clock back even though I KNOW this is a good installer. No help, but then I got an idea...
Maybe this thing has missed too many of those firmware updates that is installed with every new OS update. I checked an identical 2011 mini that I had and saw that it's SMC version was the same, but the Boot ROM was way different.
I grabbed a drive that had 10.13 installed and I booted the mini via TB external. It booted properly. I ran the security update that was suggested by the update app and when it was done, the Boot ROM matched that of the other 2011 that I had that had successfully been updated.
I booted to the HS installer and now it's installing properly.
Buzz' computer missed all the firmware updates after 10.9 and the computer I have arrived with no hard drive, but it wouldn't surprise me if the last OS this thing ran was old. FINALLY got this thing going...
...and the install is DONE!