mid 2010 Macbook Pro hard drive died

Install an SSD. The Crucial MX500 SSD is an option, but stay away from the Crucial BX500 SSD as it is just a low end model which can be just as slow as a hard drive and tends to overheat easily plus it has a very high rate of failure. The OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSD is another option. You do need to be careful since not all SSDs are compatible with all computers. With an older 2010 laptop which has just a SATA II controller for the drive is even more critical getting a compatible SSD. Most SSDs today use a SATA III controller which in theory is backwards compatible with the SATA II controllers, but in reality some SSDs just cannot auto-negotiate to the slower SATA II speeds so they tend to have intermittent issues. I have used a Crucial MX500 SSD in a few 2010 Macs without issue, although the SSDs were bought & installed several years. I don't know whether the SSD is still exactly the same or not since many SSD manufacturers tend to change the hardware components without changing the model numbers.

The OWC Mercury Electra 3G SSDs utilize a SATA II controller so there should be no compatibility issues with the 2010 laptop.

If this laptop had macOS 10.12.6+ installed at some point in the past, then you should be able to access the online macOS installer by using Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R). You will need to launch Disk Utility and erase the whole physical drive as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). If the laptop won't boot into Internet Recovery Mode, then you will need to create a bootable macOS USB installer using the instructions in this Apple article:

How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

To make a bootable macOS USB installer requires access to another Qualifying Mac. A Qualifying Mac is one which is compatible with the OS you are trying to download. For example to create a bootable macOS 10.13 USB installer requires a Mac from Late-2009 to 2018. To create a bootable macOS 10.11 USB installer requires a Mac from 2008 to 2015. You can find out which versions of macOS are compatible with various Apple hardware in order to identify a Qualifying Mac for each version of macOS by using this article:

https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility

Hi,

Resetting NVRAM could solve your issue.

Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

If it doesn't help, you would need to replace 2.5inch SATA HDD or SSD drive with died drive.