MBP (Mid 2009) wont boot into recovery mode
I have a MacBook Pro (Mid 2009, serial W8*****66E) that is having some trouble booting into any form of recovery mode. I had recently updated the system to run OS X El Capitan 10.11.6, to test the stability. I intended to erase the 500GB HDD completely and reinstall OS X, but after my first attempt at erasing the HDD and using a bootable USB drive to install the OS, the Mac restarted and prompted me with a "Prohibitory" symbol. I rebooted the Mac, and then it presented me with the question mark folder symbol. Rebooting while holding the Option key or Command+R only bring up a white screen, along with my cursor. It then shuts off by itself after about 30 seconds. I am not worried about recovering any files on the hard drive, but I would just like to know if I can make this Mac work again myself.
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