Try Again (BlackMambaJesus) Mac OS

Try Again (blackmambajesus) Mac Os 11
Try Again (blackmambajesus) Mac Os X
Try Again (blackmambajesus) Mac Os Catalina

Issue

Installing Mac OS X on iMac's blank formatted hard drive. Installation runs for 5-10 minutes and then fails with following error:

To write and save the file hit ESC (just to be safe) and then:wq, then hit Enter. This basically tells vi to write then quit; if you made an error in the file, it will tell you so and ask you want. Dec 26, 2017 Shut down your Mac, turn it on while holding down Command+R. Your Mac will boot into the recovery partition. If you’re using an older Mac (from 2010 or earlier), there’s a chance that you can’t use Recovery Mode. On those devices, hold “Option” while turning your computer on, then select the recovery partition instead.

An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again.

Tried installing OS X El Capitan (10.11) and OS X Sierra (10.12) - the same error occurs in both cases.

Resolution

Issue was resolved by fixing incorrect time on the iMac and then clearing NVRAM.

Fix incorrect time

Boot from Mac OS X installation disk / USB.
Go to Utilities > Terminal.
Type date to check the current date and time.
If it's incorrect, run following to fix the date and time: date mmddHHMMyyyy
Where: mm - month, dd - day, HH - hour, MM - minute, yyyy - year

Clear NVRAM

Shut down the Mac
Start the Mac and as soon as you hear startup chime press and hold keys Command + Option + P + R.
Keep holding the keys until Mac reboots and you hear another startup chime.

iMac 21.5' (2009)
Mac OS X El Capitan (10.11)
Mac OS X Sierra (10.12)