Trying to downgrade Mountain Lion to Lion
hey team:
I've been attempting to downgrade Mountain Lion 10.8.5 to Lion for a client's Mac Pro machine and am having a hard time doing something that I've done easily in the past.
The Mac Pro came with Lion installed, but for some reason I advised my client to upgrade to Mountain Lion, thinking that Apple would improve their operating system. Since installing Mountain Lion, he's had trouble with large file transfers crashing, screen turning green / grey and then crashing, FCP 7 frame issues on playback, etc etc
I've since made a Lion install clone to USB, and my Macbook Pro laptop will boot to that when I hold the Option key.
Holding the option key on the keyboard on the Mac Pro at startup however, with the same Lion USB inserted, yields the startup tone and a black screen. No option to boot to an alternate drive. No Apple logo. Nothing.
I've also made a Mountain Lion USB install, and holding option with that inserted, yields the startup tone and a black screen. No option to boot to an alternate drive. No Apple logo. Nothing.
When I hold Command-Option-R, it will boot from the Mountain Lion USB, but not the Lion USB, even though the same workflow works fine on the laptop.
I've even tried booting to my Snow Leopard DVD; the DVD drive spins up for a while, then stops. All with a black screen. I understand though that this might be a newer machine that won't support Snow Leopard (which is ridiculous by the way -- how is this good enough Apple?)
Is there something about 10.8.5 that locks you into 10.8.5 on a MacPro tower? This machine came with Lion installed, so obviously it can run it. Why does holding Option on bootup on the MacPro no longer work? The Option-boot works on my Macbook Pro laptop, which is also running 10.8.5.
Thanks for any help and advice!
Paul
Solved my problem cloning an old Snow Leopard machine with Carbon Copy Cloner -- a great free program that saved me this time -- to an external hard drive.
Mac Pro still wouldn't Option mount the cloned drive (I'm wondering if it's a hardware problem on this tower), so I set the tower to Target Mode, attached a Firewire to my laptop, and attached the external hard disk with the cloned Snow Leopard machine also to my laptop.
After the Mac Pro tower drive appeared on my lappy as a firewire drive, I wiped it using my laptop's Disk Utility, then cloned the cloned Snow Leopard external hard drive to the Mac Pro tower hard drive.
Mac Pro started up fine -- and apparently this tower can run Snow Leopard! But I then immediately updated to Lion using the USB stick previously mentioned, which was succesful first time out. Running Software Update brought me up to the latest version of Lion 10.7.5
Thank goodness for Carbon Copy Cloner -- and that I had a laptop still running Snow Leopard in my arsenal!
Similar Messages
-
I have installed the most recent version of Snow Leopard on my MAC, and I am trying to install Mountain Lion from the Apple Store. It will not install, because it says I do not have 2GB of memory, even though I have over 200GB available. Please help.
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
One thing is the memory, and another thing is the hard disk space. You are telling me that you have 200 GB of free space on the hard disk, but the App Store is telling you that you have to install 2 GB of memory or more on your Mac if you want to upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion.
First of all, open > About this Mac > More Info, and copy "Model Identifier" here, so we can know what Mac you have got and how much memory you can install.
We recommend to buy the memory in OWC or Crucial (Crucial is cheaper and offers the same compatibility warranty as OWC) because you won't probably have any problem with the memory you buy there -
App Store keeps Crashing when trying to purchase Mountain Lion.
Help! I've tried everything. I am using a Mac OS X 10.6.8. I am trying to buy Mountain Lion off the app store to update my OS so I can purchase Pages but everytime I open the app store and click buy the color wheel starts spinning and the app store won't respond.I have to force quit everytime. I tried to purchase some free apps to see if they would work and I'm getting the exact same problem. I've researched several solutions and have had no luck. I called apple and they said it could be because everyone was updating their iphone so try at non peak hours I did that and still no luck. I don't think thats the problem anyway. Any solutions?
You could also try enabling the debug menu for the App Store, using the terminal command below:
In there it gives you the option to delete cookies and reset the app... This might help you.
Nobody knows for sure what these options do, but it has never caused me any problems. However, be very careful not to click around too much, it may damage your machine.
Quit App Store.app
Open Terminal
Type "defaults write com.apple.appstore ShowDebugMenu -bool true" (without the quotations)
Hit ENTER
Relaunch App Store.app
Locate Menu and select the appropriate topic
Close & relaunch App Store.
Fingers crossed it will work for you. -
I'm getting S.M.A.R.T. error when trying to install Mountain lion. Hard drive works pretty well despite the Failing status. I understand that many users have been facing the same issue. My hard drive was/is working perfectly. Has Apple patched it yet?
Has someone found a solution which is not replacing the hard drive which works just fine? Or Is anyone aware of a procedure that can force the installation despite the S.M.A.R.T error? Below details of my hard drive
Thanks
ST31******ASQ:
Capacity: 1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 bytes)
Model: ST31000528ASQ
Revision: AP24
Serial Number: 6V***5JR
Native Command Queuing: Yes
Queue Depth: 32
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk0
Rotational Rate: 7200
Medium Type: Rotational
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status: Failing
<Edited By Host>If you haven't done so, run Disk Utility /Applications/Utilities
to run a live verification.
The drive may be ok at the moment, but that's not to say the drive may fail at anytime.
Hopefully you have all your important data backed up just in case. -
I just tried to buy Mountain Lion but I am getting this message, yes, even after I reboot: The product distribution file could not be verified. It may be damaged or was not signed.
I don't understand what this means? Is my MacBookPro too old to work with Mountain Lion?The Apple Support Communities are an international user to user technical support forum. As a man from Mexico my first language is Spanish. I do not speak English, however I do write in English with the aid of the Mac OS X spelling and grammar checks. I also live in a culture perhaps very very different from your own. When offering advice in the ASC, my comments are not meant to be anything more than helpful and certainly not to be taken as insults.
Always search the forum before posting. This is asked at least three times just below your post.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3604789?tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4153268?tstart=0 -
Anyone has tried upgrading to Mountain Lion on MacBookPro5,5?
So, yeah, as I asked on the topic – Has anybody tried upgrading to Mountain Lion on MacBookPro5,5?
If you've upgraded, I would like to know these information
How long is the Battery life?
Is everything smooth as on Lion?
Any troubles on upgrading?First we need to know which one of the 9 different models of MacBook you have. To see which model you have go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info. When System Profiler comes up check the Model Identifier and post it back here.
The Early 2006 model 1,1 Core Duo can only run a maximum of 10.6 Snow Leopard.
The models Late 2006 Core 2 Duos 2,1 through Early 2008 4,1 can only run a maximum of 10.7 Lion.
The Late 2008 model 5,1 Aluminum Unibody through the Mid 2010 White Unibody model 7,1 can run 10.8 Mountain Lion. -
how do i delete from the startup disk? I am trying to get Mountain Lion from the App store and it says that the purchase was not complete because i need 4.06 GB space to download OS x 10.8. and to remove items from my startup disk to increase space. How?
ThanksYou can use iCloud with 10.7.5. You do not need to upgrade to Yosemite. You should provide a minimum of 15 GBs of free space or 10% of the hard drive's capacity, whichever is greater.
Freeing Up Space on The Hard Drive
1. See Lion/Mountain Lion/Mavericks' Storage Display.
2. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
3. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
4. Also see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
5. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
6. See The Storage Display.
You must Empty the Trash in order to recover the space they occupied on the hard drive.
You should consider replacing the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
Try using OmniDiskSweeper 1.8 or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located. -
Tried to download Mountain Lion 10.8 upgrade but it failed even though my card has been charged
I tried to download Mountain Lion upgrade from Lion but it failed even though my card has been charged
http://www.apple.com/support/mac/app-store/contact.html?form=account
-
when trying to download Mountain Lion after click on buy I get this message: The product distribution file could not be verified. It may be damaged or was not signed.
The Apple Support Communities are an international user to user technical support forum. As a man from Mexico my first language is Spanish. I do not speak English, however I do write in English with the aid of the Mac OS X spelling and grammar checks. I also live in a culture perhaps very very different from your own. When offering advice in the ASC, my comments are not meant to be anything more than helpful and certainly not to be taken as insults.
Always search the forum before posting. This is asked at least three times just below your post.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3604789?tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4153268?tstart=0 -
While trying to instal Mountain Lion OS on my macbook pro, I got the error message that my HD was damaged and it reverted to my Lion OS. Why does this happen? I bought the OS online through the app store.
The Mountain Lion installer looks at your internal drive to make certain that it's error-free before continuing installation. You should have an application named "Install OS X Mountain Lion.app" in your Applications folder now so you shouldn't have to download it again. Do this...
Boot to your Lion recovery partition by holding down both the Command and the R keys while booting. Open Disk Utility from the Recovery partition and select your hard drive (usually named "Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it) and click on Verify Disk. If you come up with any errors, click on Repair Disk. At the end of the cycle you will get a message that the disk was successfully repaired or a message that the hard drive could not be repaired.
If you're able to repair the disk, just reboot as normal and open the "Install OS X Mountain Lion.app" and the installation will proceed. If Disk Utility was unable to repair the disk, you need to get to your local Apple Store as soon as possible so that they can see if the disk is salvageable or beyond repair.
Good luck,
Clinton -
Trying to up date my OSX currently use 10.7.5. i have tried to download mountain lion but it says i need 10.8.0 but i cant find the download link to download 10.8.0 HELPPPP!!!
Download Mac OS X 10.9 from the Mac App Store. If it's incompatible with your computer, Mac OS X 10.8 will be as well.
(91497) -
Trying to install Mountain Lion, getting Disk not formatted properly
I am currently running osx 10.6.8, trying to install Mountain Lion and when I am selecting the drive to install too I get:
"This disk is not formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)..."
This is my master HD so i cant really just reformat it? Im not great with macs so step-by-step would help.
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
System Version: Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)
Kernel Version: Darwin 10.8.0Open Disk Utility, select your Macintosh HD volume. In the status area at the bottom check that it is partitioned using GUID. Now click on the Journal icon in the toolbar above. This should fix it for you without having to reformat the drive.
Since you have the downloaded Mountain Lion installer I suggest you make a copy of it in your Downloads folder. Then do the following:
Make Your Own Mountain/Lion Installer
1. After downloading Mountain/Lion you must first save the Install Mac OS X Mountain/
Lion application. After Mountain/Lion downloads DO NOT click on the Install button.
Go to your Applications folder and make a copy of the Mountain/Lion installer. Move
the copy into your Downloads folder. Now you can click on the Install button. You
must do this because the installer deletes itself automatically when it finishes
installing.
2. Get a USB flash drive that is at least 8 GBs. Prep this flash drive as follows:
a. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
b. After DU loads select your flash drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left
side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
c. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one.
Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the
partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until
the process has completed.
d. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side
list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
e. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the
button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
f. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to an hour depending upon the flash
drive size.
3. Locate the saved Mountain/Lion installer in your Downloads folder. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on the installer and select Show Package Contents from the contextual menu. Double-click on the Contents folder to open it. Double-click on the SharedSupport folder. In this folder you will see a disc image named InstallESD.dmg.
4. Plug in your freshly prepared USB flash drive. You are going to clone the content of the InstallESD.dmg disc image to the flash drive as follows:
a. Double-click on the InstallESD.dmg file to mount it on your Desktop.
b. Open Disk Utility.
c. Select the USB flash drive from the left side list.
d. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
e. Select the USB flash drive volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
f. Drag the mounted disc icon from the Desktop into the Source entry field.
g. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
When the clone is completed you have a fully bootable installer that you can use without having to re-download Mountain/Lion.
Note: The term Mountain/Lion used above means Lion or Mountain Lion. -
I've tried to purchase Mountain Lion but when I click 'buy' I get the message, "We could not complete your purchase. OS X Mountain Lion is not compatible with this computer." I'm using an iMac with Lion OS on it, Why is it incompatible?
Your Mac must be one of the following models:
iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)
From here > Apple - Upgrade your Mac to OS X Mountain Lion. -
I am trying to purchase mountain lion but I get the following message:
"We could not complete your purchase. The product distribution file could not be verified. It may bedamaged or was not signed." Any help?Installing the appropriate combo update may help...
If you are running v10..7 Lion, install the OS X Lion Update 10.7.4 (Client Combo)
For 10.6 Snow Leopard > Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo
Then restart your Mac. Try the App Store.
If that doesn't help, try the following..
Quit the App Store if it's open.
Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar top of your screen click Go > Go to Folder
Type this exactly as you see it here:
/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration
Click Go
Move the NetworkInterfaces.plist file from the SystemConfiguration folder to the Trash.
Relaunch the App Store and try downloading Mountain Lion.
You may also need to disable anti virus software and turn off the Firewall in System Preferences > Security (or Security & Privacy) > Firewall -
Tried to install Mountain Lion and it comes up with the following message Mac OS X Update Combined can't be installed on this disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update. My laptop is using 10.7.3
Go to > Software Update and install updates. Finally, go to App Store, buy Mountain Lion and install. Open > http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/
Maybe you are looking for
-
Having trouble with website loading(Believe its Lion Related)
Hello All, I have a website I goto to view Ford Manuals about my car, the website is www.iihs.net/fsm/?dir=0 . Here is what is strange, I have been using this website for several years to access PDF files. I tried going to this site on my brand new
-
How can i add voice to my imix
I would like to create an imix workout that also gives brief instructions of what workout to do on each song. Is there any way to do this with imix?
-
Monitor Replication Health in Failover Cluster Manager?
Have two Hyper-V 2012 R2 Clusters. One Cluster contains all production VM's.The second cluster is on another location and is intended only for HA purposes. All production VM's from the first clusters should be replicated to the other cluster. What is
-
Hello Gurus, I'm loading data from staging table to target and need to generate sequence while loading target. Using below tables. Table 1 SRC (staging table) Table 2 : TGT ( target table) ID name Sal Seq ID name Sal 10 'abc' 200 1 10 'abc'
-
I'm trying to do some detective work. I'm not sure what could have caused this, but this morning I discovered that all email messages that I sent after February 24 have disappeared. Yesterday evening I ran MacScan, which I have configured to scan my