I just bought 13" mbp base model

[imeth]

I started up, ready to go. Comes with Lion. Then I shut it down, installed 8GB ram and 750GB Hdd. I started it up, got the folder with question mark. Then I restarted the Mac , pressed n hold option key but only mouse shows up. Help

 

[alust2013]

You have to install Lion on the new hard drive as well, otherwise the computer has nothing to load.

 

[Naimfan]

You need to install Lion on your new hard drive.

 

[dsciel]

I started up, ready to go. Comes with Lion. Then I shut it down, installed 8GB ram and 750GB Hdd. I started it up, got the folder with question mark. Then I restarted the Mac , pressed n hold option key but only mouse shows up. Help

the HDD need to formatted using Utilities to MAC OS Journal

 

[imeth]

How do I install lion on the harddrive? Where is the option to get to that screen? Note Apple didnt ship Lion on disc

 

[alust2013]

You'll need an external enclosure for the hard drive that came with it so you can access the recovery partition.

 

[imeth]

I am sorry, I don't know what that means. All I have is the HHD

 

[alust2013]

You need an enclosure that will allow you to connect the original hard drive to the computer via USB, so you can boot from it and get into disk utility. You could also try putting the original back in, then searching for instructions on how to make a Lion install disk, and use that to install Lion on the new drive.

 

[thunng8]

I started up, ready to go. Comes with Lion. Then I shut it down, installed 8GB ram and 750GB Hdd. I started it up, got the folder with question mark. Then I restarted the Mac , pressed n hold option key but only mouse shows up. Help

Another option is to Put the old hard disk back in, do a software update. The update contains new firmware for the macbook pro that has internet recovery. Put in new hard disk and hold Command-r on startup, this will download Lion (almost 4gb) and then install Lion on new hard drive.

 

[imeth]

Another option is to Put the old hard disk back in, do a software update. The update contains new firmware for the macbook pro that has internet recovery. Put in new hard disk and hold Command-r on startup, this will download Lion (almost 4gb) and then install Lion on new hard drive.

Trying this right now. Wish me luck

 

[imeth]

That didnt work. Shows up icon ? Folder

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What is the best and easiet route. I don't want to take this back to apple store frustrated.

 

[i4k20c]

That didnt work. Shows up icon ? Folder

----------

What is the best and easiet route. I don't want to take this back to apple store frustrated.

do you have a spare USB?

use this to create a lion boot and install it from there.

http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1433

 

[thunng8]

That didnt work. Shows up icon ? Folder

----------

What is the best and easiet route. I don't want to take this back to apple store frustrated.

It should work. Did the software update include the new EFI firmware? It is on the front page that the EFI firmware includes internet recovery. You would need to install the firmware before internet recovery works.

 

[imeth]

Yes. I installed new firmware. Restarted and everything. I then installed the new HDD. Command r but folder with question mark appeared

 

[imeth]

Thanks to all that replied. It's a success, I had to install and update Lion twice, apparently the first update didn't update the recovery. Put it on a USB, hit option and viola.. So happy (3hrs of stress) ha.