MacBook – Exchanged HDD in MacBook Pro – OS X installation disk shows prohibitory sign

Try to retrace your steps. What have you installed on you Mac since the freezes started? Some suspicious software/freeware from the internet, maybe some illegal software... If you can think of something like this, try to uninstall/delete the software.

Try to detect which process is running (Activity monitor) when the freezes happened. If you detect the mall function service or software, try to figure out if the software is installed correctly.

Worst case scenario, you can back up your data (not software!!) via TimeMachine or just an external hard drive, and completely reïnstall you OS. It quite radical (and unnecessary if you ask me if you can figure out the bad software/process described in the above paragraphs). In this way, you have a completely new OS and you can restore your documents and reïnstall your software (be aware on what you install).

My advice, figure out your bad piece of software/process and fix it. So you can keep your documents without reïnstalling the whole Mac...

@cybergeek654

A common problem with the 13" early generation of the macbook pro. More than likely this is simply a hard drive CABLE which is a 14$ replacement at an apple store. Quick easy repair, and can usually be done while you wait. 9 out of 10 repairs for this issue were remedied by replacing the cable, and in turn we were able to save all of the data as the HD was not replaced. Best of luck.