LostName

I have had success! So very late last night I got to the machine and thought I would take another poke at it. Firstly I booted into single user mode to see if the keyboard was working, it was single user mode loaded, from here I thought it would be a good idea to find out what Mac I was working with so I typed system_profiler SPHardwareDataType which gave me the following information and so on, next i thought i would check the system version so I typed sw_vers output was Anyways at this point I knew internet recovery would not work, so I restarted the machine, Holding the ALT key. I have tired this before but this time it brought up a drive selection options. Bingo! Rushed to my windows desktop download Ubuntu using their guide and Rufus to make a usb boot. Inserted the usb stick into the machine and the drive showed up in the drive section options without even a reboot. Booted into Ubuntu and did the install and all is good. There is some slight performance issues but I think this is driver based. Thank you all for your help.

Yeah sure thing, Firstly go to Here and download Ubuntu I take it your a windows user so follow this guide to make a USB boot drive Look at the quick guide on using Ubuntu desktop a good place to learn more server idea of Linux is Raspberry Pi Guides, they are great because they are simple to follow and explain everything on the way (be aware that not everything could be the same but remember google is your friend) For more advance Ubuntu topics here is a list by Digital Ocean

This is probably true for mine, as I have got it into single user mode. I will try a USB boot of Ubuntu. Will update later

If your new to Linux then go with Ubuntu desktop / server. depending on use. I have never used Arch but from what I have read from being tempted is that it can be a headache to setup.

I did try this, well I think I did, I don't have a mac keyboard so what's the windows keyboard equivalent? What is COMMAND+OPTION+R on a windows keyboard? my mac one has gone missing, blame that on the move. Well the idea for this box is to be a general media centre for the living room, it has no other use so I thought this would be a great use for it. Maybe this would be a good use for your Macbook Air. Otherwise I would be tempted to sell it.

I don't have another mac, so that method is out the window. I will try a Ubuntu usb boot drive, does it need formatting in certain way or will it work if I follow these steps?

you could try a different OS, depends on what you use the laptop for. Also a reformatting a machine if you have been using it for a while can be helpful.

I have a Mac Mini Server, not sure on the year but it doesn't have a CD drive so its mid 2011+. However the hard drive failed after it had a slight fall, as I was moving house I knocked it off the desk and ever since the drive has just made a clicking noise. Anyways I have accepted this and brought an SSD to replace the drive. The only problem the failed drive has the OS on it. So now when I boot I get the apple logo and a loading spinner but not much else. I knew I would have to reinstall OS X somehow so I thought of using the internet recovery mode. however the mac won't boot into that mode, it doesn't even try. I can get into single user mode and also see the verbose mode on boot. but nothing else. Any tips on what to do from this point? I am hoping to install Ubuntu.

Keyboard & Mouse: Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Headphones: Sennheiser HD201