Resetting to factory not working

[Powderfinger]

I have been trying to do a complete 'factory reset' on a 2008 MacBook which originally came with OS X Snow Leopard - in order to pass it on to a new user. I had eventually upgraded to El Capitan & replaced the HDD with an SSD. I have successfully followed instructions to erase the disk & re-installed Snow Leopard, then moved on up to El Capitan, using my Apple id/credentials to sign in & download/install. I understand that I should be able to roll back via 'recovery mode' to a fresh install of El Capitan with none of my personal details but each time I try to achieve this I encounter problems at the macOS utilities stage. I get a message showing the hard drive & an exclamation mark & cannot go any further. I have noticed that when in disk utilities there are 4 entries. I understand that I should be erasing the actual disk which is the very first entry & not the indented one – or the lower ones. However in this view on another Mac I use, it only shows the actual SSD & then indented is 'MacOS'. Any help would be very welcome as I have now tried this several times with no success. I must be doing something wrong but not sure what, yet! Thanks in advance.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello and welcome.

Here is a good guide from Apple: What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac

Check that out and see if the steps in the section: Erase your hard drive and reinstall macOS work for you.

C

 

[Powderfinger]

thank you, much appreciated, I will give it a try

regards

 

[Powderfinger]

hi - I have followed the instructions in the links to Apple but still cannot achieve a clean install. I have been trying to erase the very top entry (as advised) but no joy. Any advice would be extremely welcome - thanks. (photos of what I see in disk utility are attached).

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hi,

What happens when you select the CT240BX200SSD1 Media and click Erase? Do you get an error message?

C

 

[Powderfinger]

Hi - I get the message as in attached photo. My process is: restart, recovery, page displaying 'what language', OSX utilities, disk utility, choosing top entry (CT240BX200SSD1 Media) click erase, error message. Very frustrating... Regards