Cannot download anything in Mojave from factory
I just received today my new iMac with Mojave 14.1 preinstalled.
I have pervasive issues downloading anything. Downloads get interrupted all the time.
The connection does not seem to be the root cause. I have a good Internet Fiber connection, browsing is just awesome. Everything renders fast, including images.
But downloads are a nightmare, a real blocking issue. For example:
- Nearly no application can be downloaded. If I try to download Visual Studio Code, Chrome and many other applications it always gets interrupted.
- If I try to download from the Mac Store, downloads start but are eventually reset. I only was able to download Microsoft Remote Desktop.
- I was able to download Firefox. If I try to download Chrome from Firefox, I get the error
/Users/pcondal/Downloads/rEZCkycn.dmg.part could not be saved, because the source file could not be read. - The 10.14.1 update download did not work either (could not be 'verified'). If I click Update Now to restart download of 10.14.1, it says
To update, you must restart your Mac. If I restart, it abends the install and starts again. So I cannot redownload 14.1.1 because it thinks it already has it and I all can do is restart with a damaged package.
Clearly, this is not the first day with an iMac one dreams on.
What options do I have to try to solve these pervasive download issues?
Solution 1:
Apple offers 90 days of complimentary support and setup assistance so you qualify for free online / phone support to make amends. You've clearly got something that's not even close to happy, so this isn't the on boarding experience that was designed (clearly)
If it were me, I would just boot to recovery and erase and start the setup over. That takes about 15 minutes plus however long it takes to re-download the installer. It's often much harder to determine what went wrong and if you have a new machine, a fresh start will let you know right away if it was just some things that didn't get set up, a poor image of the OS or a very rare case of something not right. Getting Apple involved sooner if you're not sure how to erase would be my winning move if I wasn't super comfortable with recovery mode.
- https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904
- Reinstall Mac OS X Mountain Lion before selling a Mac
- Trying to reinstall OS Sierra
- Can I install an older OS X over a newer OS X without restoring from backup?
Solution 2:
I'm answering my own question so that a possible solution has a bit more visibility. I solved the issue by using Ethernet instead of Wifi.