Erase and reinstall Lion – HELP PLEASE!

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My name is Denise, I am new to this group.:)

I just bought a brand new 27" iMac. I have a client that still uses QuarkXPress 6 which will not work on Lion. So I tried to get Leopard running on my machine....won't work...and in the process I have messed up my Lion. I just want to reinstall Lion...there is nothing on my computer, I have only had it a week.

When I go to the Disk Utilty I have two drives show up:
1. Denise_HD
2. Mac OS X Base System

I have erased the drive: Denise_HD. Then I go back to Mac OS X Utilities and do the : Reinstall Mac OS X, hit continue, verified with apple, continue, agree to terms, slect Denise_HD and hit install

Then it goes for about 15 mins and then comes up with an error "Can't download the additional components needed to install Mac OS X"

what am I doing wrong??? Please help me...I have this big computer that I can't do anything with.

Thanks!
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Way... way too many specs to list.
Well, I just did this process on Friday, and what you've described is exactly what I did.

Mac OS X Base System <--- this is the Lion Recovery partition

So, it would seem that you're doing nothing wrong. What kind of network connection are you using? Wifi or ethernet? If you're using wifi, try running an eth cable. It took ~3 hours to download Lion via wifi the other day. Something I complained about to the 'Geniuses' last night when they replaced the iMac.
 

chscag

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Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
As you found out, you can not install an older operating system on your new iMac.

Are you starting the machine by holding down the option key and then selecting the Recovery Partition? I think you are.. anyway, use Disk Utility from Recovery to wipe the original OS X partition clean. Afterward, select to reinstall Lion. If that doesn't work, you may have to call Apple care and have them walk you through some steps to get you back up.
 

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