How do I restore MacBook to factory settings?

jonmanheim said:

It's a 2008 MacBook Pro. That should boot over the network? Does it let me know that will happen when I select the option?

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It is a 2008 MacBook Pro. Should that work over the network? And does it let me know that is going to happen when I erase the hard drive?

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Only machines after 2010 have Internet Recovery, so yours won't have it.

Let me try and clarify what is going on a bit. With any Lion or Mountain Lion machine the OS creates a 650MB partition called Recovery HD and you can do a command-r boot to start from that partition and reinstall the OS. That is what you are seeing on your machine.

For machines built after 2010, there is an added feature in firmware that allows you to do that same recovery boot even if there is no Recovery HD partition on the drive. This would be useful if your drive died and you had to reinstall the OS on a new drive.

For users like you who do not have Internet Recovery available and are reliant on the local Recovery HD partition, the down side is if your drive dies there is no built in method to get the OS installed again. Apple has provided a way around that for you called the Recovery Disk Assistant. Install this utility and use it with a 1GB or larger USB key to make a recovery USB key for yourself. This is not the full OS, but just a recovery system like the one you see from a command-r boot. If you drive ever dies and you need to reinstall the OS, you will need this.

jonmanheim said:

So I guess we are back to the initial question. How do I restore my computer to factory settings if I want to wipe it and possibly sell it? Do I need to find a disk?

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I apologize. I got so involved explaining recovery, I overlooked your original issue.

Your machine would have come with OS X Leopard 10.5 on an install DVD. I assume you do not have that any longer. At this point I think the best path is to call 1800MYAPPLE and for $29 order a DVD of OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and install that, then provide that DVD to the buyer.

When you get the DVD, pop it in and then reboot and hold down the "C" key when booting. That should boot to the DVD. Once the DVD starts use Disk Utility from the Utilities menu to format the entire drive. To do that select the disk name at the top (like 500GB Seagate for example) then format the drive to Mac OS Extended format. Then quit Disk Util and install the OS.

That will give you a fresh drive with nothing but the OS on it.

kirkwoodgirl said:

My macbook pro can not connect to the internet. I want to erase it before recycling. Any ideas ?

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Not as good as an wipe and install, but the next best thing... make a new admin account (call it temp or whatever). Now logon to that account and from within that account go to System Pref Users & Groups and delete your personal account.

Now start Disk Util and follow this to erase free space on the drive.

libella25 said:

Same issue here. Stuck in the "self assigned IP" pit of hell. Tried everything. Next was to erase everything and start again. It tries to connect, but will find every WiFi except the one I have a password to. Now what?

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https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

Scroll down to the middle of this support doc. to see a list of supported wifi for recovery. You may be in a wifi type that is not supported.