Mac AirBook A1466 EMC3178 -The Installer Information On The Recovery Server Is Damaged- Error

[Michale32086]

Be gentle with me.. MAC virgin here.. I know my way around MAC Hardware to a certain extent, but I usually work with Windows OS and OS Installs and such.. MAC OS installs are like voodoo magic..

Anyways, I have a MAC AIRBOOK I am trying to resurrect..

When doing the normal CMD-R bootup, I connect to the internet then follow the prompts to re-install SIERRA..



This is what my disk setup looks like:




I get a -The Installer Information On The Recovery Server Is Damaged- error



I have tried the MAC CMD-OPT-R bootup which takes me to a MONTEREY install screen, but I can't install that because it says I need to be connected to the internet and there is no option to do so.



I have read all I can find about booting/installing from a thumbdrive, but the AirBook in question won't let me boot from a thumbdrive.. When I try (Hold the OPT Key) it only gives me an INSTALL FROM INTERNET option.. I have a MAC INSTALLER ThumbDrive and a MACOS SIERRA ThumbDrive.. But I can't figure out how to deploy them..

So I am kind of at an impasse here.. It's real important to get this MAC installed, but I don't know enough about MACs to know how to proceed..

Any assistance, hints or tips would be most appreciated.. Thanx in advance...

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I'm going to briefly address a pet peeve here. "Mac" is short for "Macintosh". "MAC" is an acronym for "Media Access Controller"; "Medium Access Control"; and so on. There is no such thing as a MACintosh.

And welcome to the platform!

 

[Michale32086]

"Thank you for the attitude adjustment, Chief Earle. Info assimilated."
-Lenina Huxley, DEMOLITION MAN



heh

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Ok, so there are 3 ways to install macOS:

1. Via macOS Recovery. This reinstalls the OS from a hidden partition on your system, accessed by holding down CMD-R on startup.
2. Via macOS Internet Recovery. This will download and install macOS from the internet. Obviously, an internet connection is required. Useful when the hiddent partion for normal recovery is missing or corrupt.
3. Via an installer that you download in advance while booted into a working installation of macOS. One popular way to do this is to create a bootable USB thumb drive installer. This has to be done while booted into macOS, but can be done on any Mac and the installer used on any other Mac compatible with the version of the installer that you made. DiskMaker X is a free utility that can make these for you.

You've tried #1 and that failed. Some reading suggests it could be due to an expired certificate. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about that via this route. Which leaves #2 or #3.

Your next option is #2. You say you have no option to connect to the internet. Do you LITERALLY have no internet available? If you follow the prompts, you will eventually get to a prompt to connect to Wi-Fi, at which point you select an access point and enter the Wi-Fi password.

Let's discuss #3 further later if #2 truly isn't possible.

Oh, and BTW, it's a MacBook Air. There is no such thing as an AIRBOOK.