Sorry for any confusion. I work as IT at a company that almost exclusively uses Windows. So, my colleagues and I are quite unfamiliar with OSX. I got this Macbook Pro when the initial user left the company. The disc was labelled as the correct one for this machine.
Ok understandable & good deal…always wiling to help.
The computer was locked and no one knew the password, so I wiped it, in the hopes of just installing a fresh OS. (which I know now probably wasn't the best idea.) Since I was locked out I couldn't check the model number.
Ok…understandable.
It's definitely not one of the new machines, since it has an optical drive.
No problem. The last MacBook Pro model with an optical drive was/is a Mid-2012 model. So the initial thought that this is a 2011 MacBook Pro would not be incorrect. But…it does sound like the exact model (at this point) could still be in question. This is very important…since it tells us exactly what OS versions are compatible with it.
When I boot up normally, the screen is white for a while, and eventually I get a folder icon with a '?' in it.
What this means is one of three things:
1. There's no OS installed on the hard drive to boot from.
2. The hard drive is dead or damaged.
3. There is no hard drive (probably not it…but it is a possibility when seeing the flashing "?").
If I hold 'C', the disc starts and stops spinning, and the screen stays white indefinitely.
Again…if we're talking about this gray disk. The gray disk may not be the correct one. And if so…it will never work with this computer.
If I hold 'Option', I can see the HDD and the DVD, but clicking either will lock up the machine. (the cursor stops moving, the image never changes, and the disc will stop spinning after a bit.)
If choosing the DVD…the problem could be that:
- it's the wrong gray disk
- the disk could be damaged/dirty
- the optical drive could be dirty
- the optical drive could be damaged
If choosing the hard drive. Since you're getting the flashing "?"…this means no bootable OS is installed (or missing altogether).
If I hold 'Command + R' Everything seems to work perfectly but when I try to reinstall from the internet it prompts me for an Apple ID (I put in my personal one) and I get a prompt saying:
"This Item is temporarily unavailable
Try again later"
This is the result of the Apple ID issue. The computer is "associated" with a particular Apple ID (someone else's). As you may or may not know. This Apple ID association is in place to verify that a person has purchased apps from iTiunes or the Mac App Store…so in the future this same person can download apps they already purchased if they happen to need to reinstall them.
Of course since you don't know what the Apple ID is (and the associated Apple ID password)…you cannot proceed.
Here are two things you can try:
1. You can purchase a Snow Leopard install DVD (this is OS 10.6). These cost $19.99 from Apple (link below). This was the last Mac OS to be distributed/sold on DVD/disc. Since you would be installing 10.6 (with this disk)…you bypass all this Apple ID "stuff"…since you are not connecting to the internet to do it.
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.)
After successfully installing 10.6 (even though it's an old OS version)…at least you will have the computer up & running.
Then what you would want to do is…do an "Software Update"…and update 10.6 to OS 10.6.8. This will give you access to the Mac App Store (which needs OS 10.6.6 as a minimum).
Then when you connect to the Mac App Store (you may need to setup a brand new Apple ID at this point)….then you can decide which OS you want to upgrade the computer to (10.7, 10.8, 10.10). FYI…Yosemite is OS 10.10.
2. The second idea is to try following the instructions in this article (below)…and see if it works. If not (because of the Apple ID issue)…you may need to try option #1 that I suggested.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-5641
HTH,
- Nick