2011 iMac 27" No Upgrade Available

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So I am running High Sierra 10.13.6. For the past couple of months the problem I am experiencing has been getting progressively worse. It occurs when I try to make an online purchase, usually on the final page of the transaction. The screen will regenerate and then go blank with the message "a problem repeatedly occurred". I contacted Apple Support and they came on to my system and made some changes but this did not help. They advised me that the problem was being escalated to engineering. After 3 weeks Apple Support called today and said nothing further could be done to correct this and that the problem would get worse as more websites update their security. I would need to upgrade to Catalina and this can't be done because my hardware won't support the new security format. I find this difficult to believe. They suggested that I might look at buying a refurbished iMac to resolve this.
Any thoughts on this? Others must be running into this also.
 

chscag

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I have no idea what Apple is talking about or what they're telling you. Sounds to me like a put off by their support folks. Many users are still running High Sierra on various Macs and have no difficulty ordering things on line with credit cards, debit cards, etc.

I suspect there are other reasons why your purchases are getting rejected not because of site security. Have you tried to contact one or more of the on line sellers support to see what they have to say? Or, maybe contact your credit card holder or bank to make sure the card(s) you're using are okay.
 
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Have you tried making purchases using a different browser? Maybe Chrome of Firefox?
 
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Have tried using Chrome also. The problem occurs prior to inputting any credit card information. Should I look at a system reinstall, although I would not have a clue as to how to do it.
 
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I do have a backup using Time Machine. Any opinions as to if doing a system recovery might help my problem?
 
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I have no idea what Apple is talking about or what they're telling you. Sounds to me like a put off by their support folks.


+1!!! That sure sounds like Apple has certainly lowered other support staff's Knowledge level.

I would suspect some sort of antivirus protection etc. type software is at work.

You could try booting up into Safe Boot Mode, but then I'm not sure if your browser will work and let you access the site or not, But you can always try.

Or can you guarantee that you are not running any type of Antivirus/Protection software???





- Patrick
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I have been using the free version of Malwarebytes for years. If this is the possible culprit should I remove it?
 
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I have been using the free version of Malwarebytes for years. If this is the possible culprit should I remove it?


I would very much doubt it would be causing to the problem.

Are you running it in its automatic paid mode???

Do you have a Mac using friend you could give the URL to and see if they can get in and access the theoretical purchase, or maybe just get them to make the purchase for you if they are able to get in and make the purchase.





- Patrick
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With regards to the Malwarebytes I am using the free version so no, I have to do manual scans. I have a a 2014 Mac Air which is running Catalina 10:15:4 on it and can complete the purchases on it when my iMac with High Sierra fails.
 

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So I am running High Sierra 10.13.6. For the past couple of months the problem I am experiencing has been getting progressively worse. It occurs when I try to make an online purchase, usually on the final page of the transaction.

I'm going to stick my neck out here & say this issue has nothing to do with hardware...it's totally something software related. Either an installed app or apps is messing things up...an installed app or apps is causing a conflict with the OS...or maybe there's some sort of file corruption somewhere. There are too many users out there over the years that have owned a 2011 27" iMac & have run macOS 10.13 for a hardware issue to suddenly appear in 2020 that's causing online purchase issues.

Here's what I would suggest to troubleshoot things:

1. Download & install the free maintenance app called Onyx. Then run Onyx via the default settings (don't change anything)...and see if this helps.
2. A 2nd thing to try is create a brand new user account on your iMac...then reboot the computer & log into that account. With this new user account...only the macOS is available (no other apps to cause conflicts).

Please let us know how things go.

Thanks,

- Nick
 
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Okay, at 9:34 AM EST I have started to run Onyx. Right now it has the spinning pinwheel which I see is to be expected.
 
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I selected "RUN TASKS" when I started Onyx. Should I have selected "Restore Defaults" instead?
 
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MrGreentank - you haven't said but are you using Firefox by any chance? I'm having similar issues with sites that involve making or receiving payments (either error messages, lockup or just needing the refresh icon being clicked on). I have found that these issues do not occur if i use Safari. Firefox has had a lot of updates recently so i keep thinking that perhaps the latest version will fix the issue but it seems to be getting worse.
 
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to me it sounds like you have some form of software issue,

I have a 27 iMac 2011 same year and have no issues with it running high Sierra on any website as apple are still pushing updates to the OS, in fact I haven't long had an update for the OS and safari,

so it more than likely is some files have got corrupt and id recommend a reinstall of the os try not restoring from time machine at first and see how you go

or as others have said create a new user account and see if the error's are there then

let us know how you get on ?
 
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So when I ran Onyx I selected "RUN TASKS" when I started Onyx. Should I have selected "Restore Defaults" instead? Anyway, after running it the problem still exists. So I set up another User Account but also with that the problem remains.
 
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Maybe it has something to do with your home Wi-Fi network setup? What type of security are you using, WPA2, or WEP? Can you test by connecting an ethernet cable to your router?
 
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normally most routers today are using WPA2

as I said no issues here to report I can buy anything fine have no webpage error's

if connecting by ethernet remains the same id say you need to reinstall the OS
 
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I am connected with an ethernet cable so wifi can't be the issue. I am no expert at this so am hesitant to try a reinstall. but that sounds like the only remaining option to resolve this
 

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