"You cannot associate this computer with another Apple ID for 72 days"

[utleymu]

Hey guys!

Thanks to a great guide posted by ammulder, I have successfully installed El Capitan!

Just about everything works great. I'm still only showing half of my ram and 5ghz wifi isn't working, but I've seen posts in this thread about those issues and will look into them later.

I'm having one big issue that I can't seem to find any information about. I am able to authorize my computer for iTunes, but I cannot enable iCloud library management. I get the error, "You cannot associate this computer with another Apple ID for 72 days".

At first I thought I had coincidentally chosen the same serial as somebody else, so I started the process over from scratch and created a different serial number. Even after this, I'm still getting the same error, with the same 72 day wait.

I was able to use iCloud for my photos, and I can browse through Apple Music. It seems so strange that I can't download any of my purchases and I can't enable iCloud library. I've googled around but haven't found much. If anyone has any ideas, I'm all ears. :-]

Thanks!

 

[P1LGRIM]

Computers and devices can be associated with a different Apple ID once every 90 days.

Link

 

[utleymu]

Link

I understand that, but this makes no sense. It's possible that I created a random serial number the first time that somebody else had used. However, I started over from scratch and completely reinstalled El Capitan with a totally different serial number and I have the same error, with the same 72 day wait.

 

[P1LGRIM]

It would appear that despite your best efforts Apple are still seeing it as the same machine.

 

[utleymu]

Do you think it's possible that there is an issue with my Apple account?

I'm not sure how Apple would recognize it as the same machine. Is it possible that I need to spoof my MAC address or something along the lines of that?

 

[P1LGRIM]

I have a machine that is in use by me for everyday use.
It is also used occasionally with another ID for test purposes.

The two accounts have different names and Apple IDs and are on separate hard drives.
The computers have different serial numbers and SMBIOS information.
The drives are never both in the computer at the same time.
To all intents and purposes they are two completely different computers operated by completely different people.

Every now and again the 'other' machine appears in my iCloud account even though I have never logged into it with my own AppleID. To reiterate, the two machines both appear in my iCloud account.

Evidently Apple are able to identify a machine by other means than the information we include in the SMBIOS.
Like you, I suspect this is achieved by comparing the MAC address.

 

[utleymu]

Thanks for the input. It seems that many of the info and guides are a bit dated. I read through the "fixing iMessages" guide but that is two years old. I'm just surprised that nobody else seems to be having this same issue. I couldn't find anything about hackintosh users experiencing this from Google. It's also really strange that my other iCloud services work.

 

[Nexus8963]

I had the same problem with having to wait for 90 days to get my purchased album in iTunes. Today I changed my bios chip and after that I could use my iCloud music library without any problems. I do not know if it was just coincidence that it worked after I changed my bios chip, or whether Apple using any data from bios to determine whether it is the same machine or not.

 

[porpin]

Hello everyone! Just summoning this old thread founded out with search box.
Got the exact same problem since couple of week now and cannot find a valid solution with all I've tried (except for the new bios chip suggested that ain't got).
Already called the Apple support once and they did the trick, although telling me expressly that was a "one time reprieve", but few days after the problem pops up again. Never had this problem in about 4 years of hackintoshing on the same machine before updating to Sierra 10.12.6 and persisting even now that I installed High Sierra and used migration assistant to import my account. Also tried lot of different serials generated randomly within clover configurator.
The only way the iTunes Match sign in worked without problem was at first boot of High Sierra when with the config-sample.plist the system smbios matched a Mac Mini configuration instead of my ever used 14,2 iMac. So I suppose the problem is related to some account's file or machine definition.
Anyone found a solution in the meanwhile or has any suggestion now?
Thank you very much for all helping supports, I'm ready to learn!

 

[porpin]

UPDATE: Called Apple support again and convinced them to do the trick last one time. iTunes Match sign-in solved for not more than 2 hours, then again the error message popped up. I gave up convinced of facing a no way solution problem and need to wait the remaining days, but leaving iTunes signed in with my account and with automatic downloads flagged in itunes->download->preferences.
Couple of days later, once purchased a new song from iTunes Store on my iPhone, I came back on my Hack and, unexpectedly, iTunes downloaded the track and popped up asking to change to the new Apple ID association (even if it was already logged in with my only one ever, the same of the newly bought track!), and warning about the need to wait 90 days before changing Apple ID log in again. Confirmed the association and boom! iCloud music library showed again and for good since last 10 days.
Hope could help anyone else