Try making a bootable USB installer from the El Capitan version you downloaded. The eligible packages error is I think because the certificates used to authenticate the installer have expired. Apple could renew them and reissue the installer but they want everyone to use Catalina so like to make it difficult.
Do you have a spare USB drive with 16GB or greater capacity that you wouldn’t mind wiping? _ Regards Sam Mullen +44 (0)7747778022 <tel://+447747778022> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> www.macambulance.com <http://www.macambulance.com/> MacAmbulance Ltd. Providing Affordable Mac/PC Support and Web Development MacAmbulance Ltd. is a registered company in England & Wales, registration number 8466597 This email is intended solely for the addressed recipients and may contain privileged or confidential information. If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and delete the email immediately. > On 4 Aug 2020, at 10:42, Rob Beattie <[email protected]> wrote: > > I was trying to do a clean install of El Capitan on an old MacBook and have > run into some bother. > > Having erased the hard disk and then used Cmd+R to get at OSX Utilities, it's > saying that it can't re-install OSX- "no packages were eligible for install. > contact the software manufacturer for assistance. Quit the installer to > restart your computer and try again." > > I've done that several times to no avail. > > I have located the El Capitan package > (https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT206886 > <https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT206886>) and downloaded it onto another > Mac. I can presumably then copy this onto an external USB drive and then plug > that into my old MacBook. > > BUT, given my old Macbook won't boot up (so I can't see or use the Finder > etc.) how do I get it to understand that I have this El Capitan (it's a dmg > file) on the external drive and then access it so I can carry out the > re-install? > > Any advice really appreciated! > > Rob > ----------------- > Rob Beattie > Freelance writer and book author > www.robbeattie.com <http://www.robbeattie.com/> > 07769 902820 > Twitter: @robbeattie > Author of The Bluffer's Guide to Fishing > <http://bluffers.com/product/bluffers-guide-fishing/> > and 101 Things to do in a Shed > <http://www.amazon.co.uk/101-Things-To-Do-Shed/dp/0091906113> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Sussex Mac User Group" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/CADm1gJ4vm_XUq13O%3DP%3DnjHcgwjqneeghwJCBQg6wYm7adtLScg%40mail.gmail.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/CADm1gJ4vm_XUq13O%3DP%3DnjHcgwjqneeghwJCBQg6wYm7adtLScg%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sussex Mac User Group" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/smug/37885546-5277-45EE-B594-97D400DFD5EF%40macambulance.com.
