Firmware password forgotten..how to install OSX

[brainwave89]

A friend whose hard drive crashed on his MacBook (I'm not sure of the year but it has a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor and is a unibody model A1278). After installing a new SSD and boot to a USB that has El Capitain using the option key - i'm asked to enter a firmware password. My friend does not the password. Command+R is not an option on the laptop.

What can I do so I can install the new OS on the new hard drive?

Thank you for looking.

 

[KALLT]

The firmware password will prevent you from booting on any other partition that was not previously designated as the startup partition. You need Apple’s help to remove it.

https://support.apple.com/HT203409

 

[brainwave89]

The firmware password will prevent you from booting on any other partition that was not previously designated as the startup partition. You need Apple’s help to remove it.

https://support.apple.com/HT203409

Thank you KALLT.

 

[MacForScience]

For a 2008 laptop you simply need to remove a stick of RAM, reset the PRAM 5-6 times and reboot the computer and the firmware password should go away. You can then put the RAM you removed back in. It wasn't till the 2010 MacBook Air and all 2011+ machines that Apple started putting the firmware password in that security chip on the board.