Novice Macbook Pro user in need of assistance

[jkennedy1970]

Hello,

Im really a novice when it comes to Macs. My buddy recently sold me a Macbook Pro, but he told me I needed to replace the hard drive. So, I purchased a SSD and installed it.

This is where I get stuck.

Purchased Snow Leopard install disk, but I first must format the SSD and I'm unsure of how to do that. Right now, when the Macbook is turned on, all i get is the flashing file with the question mark. No chime. No anything.

If someone can guide me through formatting the SSD and installing the OS, I would be very grateful.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[maflynn]

Put the Snow Leopard disk in your optical drive.
Boot up the computer and hold the C key.
That will cause the computer to boot up using the install disk
After it boots up and you get through the first splash screen (or two), select Utilities from the menu and then Disk Utility.

Select the disk, click partition, 1 partition, name it (Machintosh HD is the classic name many people use) and then hit ok to partition and reformat it.
Close the utility and then go through the installation process.

I may have missed a step but I think it gets you going - I typed this from memory since I'm at work using windows

 

[jkennedy1970]

Thank you. I will try this today and see where it gets me.

 

[jkennedy1970]

So, I held the C button down upon booting the MBP and all I get is the apple logo on the screen. Not sure what I am doing wrong. Formatting a new SSD cannot be this time consuming.

Any other work arounnds for this issue?

Thanks.

 

[Weaselboy]

So, I held the C button down upon booting the MBP and all I get is the apple logo on the screen. Not sure what I am doing wrong. Formatting a new SSD cannot be this time consuming.

Any other work arounnds for this issue?

Thanks.

What year/model is the Macbook? The retail version of Snow Leopard has an older version (I think it is 10.6.3) that will not run on some newer MacBooks and you may need to call 1800MYAPPLE and buy the grey OEM installer disks that have the newer build of Snow Leopard.

Is your Macbook on this list so it can run Mavericks? If it is, can you get temp access to a friends Mac? You could then logon to the App Store with your own AppleID and purchase the free Mavericks update under your account, then download it and use this app and a 8GB USB key to make yourself and installer.

Then you would option key boot to the installer on your Macbook and use Disk Utility to erase the SSD to Mac OS Extended format and install Mavericks.

 

[jkennedy1970]

Thank you guys very much for the help. Im going to a friends and put Mavericks on a USB then see if I can install it. Ill let you know if it works. thanks again