Unable to login in to Mac App Store using valid account.

Question

I recently inherited a spare MacBook Air from my wife (who got a new one). I deleted her user account, and set up a new admin user account for me. The machine is running 10.7.5.
Now, I am absolutely unable to login to the App Store. I am using my valid Apple ID -- for example, the same Apple ID that I used to gain access to this very forum. System Preferences accepts my ID. iTunes accepts my ID. BUT the App Store will aboslutely NOT respond. It will not load. I get the red "connection failed" alert, and then after several tries it doesn't respond at all.
It doesn't give any option to switch users -- perhaps once the original owner has used the App Store, the computer will never again allow anyone else to use it? It doesn't say that there is another user logged in. There appears to be no way of deleting and reinastalling the App Store. There is no cache file I can find to be cleared. There is no preference option. There is no information. There appears to be no way of fixing this at all, short of wiping the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system. Is that what I have to do? WHY IS THIS SO HORRIBLY DESIGNED? And why is there no support short of the forum? I hate this about Apple (despite being a long-time Apple evangelist and OSX devotee).
Thanks.

Answer 1

The first thing you should do after acquiring a second-hand computer is to erase the internal drive and install a clean copy of OS X. How you do that depends on the model. Look it up on this page to see what version was originally installed.
If the machine shipped with OS X 10.4 or 10.5, you need a boxed and shrink-wrapped retail Snow Leopard installation disc, which you can get from the Apple Store or a reputable reseller — not from eBay or anything of the kind. If the machine has less than 1 GB of memory, you'll need to add more in order to install 10.6. I suggest you install as much memory as it can take, according to the technical specifications.
If the machine shipped with OS X 10.6, you need the gray installation discs that came with it. If you don't have the discs, order replacements from Apple. A retail disc, or the gray discs from another model, will not work.
To boot from an optical disc, insert it, then reboot and hold down the C key at the startup chime. Release the key when you see the gray Apple logo on the screen.
If the machine shipped with OS X 10.7 or later, it should boot into Internet Recovery mode when you hold down the key combination option-command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a spinning globe.
Once booted from the disc or in Internet Recovery, launch Disk Utility and select the icon of the internal drive — not any of the volume icons nested beneath it. In the Partition tab, select the default options: a GUID partition table with one data volume in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. This operation will permanently remove all existing data on the drive, which is what you should do.
After partitioning, quit Disk Utility and run the OS X Installer. When the installation is done, the system will automatically reboot into the Setup Assistant, which will prompt you to transfer the data from another Mac, its backups, or from a Windows computer. If you have any data to transfer, this is usually the best time to do it.
You should then run Software Update and install all available system updates from Apple. If you want to upgrade to a major version of OS X newer than 10.6, buy it from the Mac App Store. Note that you can't keep an upgraded version that was installed by the previous owner. He or she can't legally transfer it to you, and without the Apple ID you won't be able to update it in Software Update or reinstall, if that becomes necessary. The same goes for any App Store products that the previous owner installed — you have to repurchase them.
If the previous owner "accepted" the bundled iLife applications (iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band) in the App Store so that he or she could update them, then they're linked to that Apple ID and you won't be able to download them without buying them. Reportedly, Apple customer service has sometimes issued redemption codes for these apps to second owners who asked.