Internet recovery isn't working.

I was forced to buy and install a new empty HDD (HGST 1TB Travelstar) on my early 2011 15" Macbook Pro. I had upgraded to 10.8.3 several months ago. While attempting to perform an Internet recovery (Command+R) the install was taking a prohibitively long amount of time. I thought something went wrong and restarted the machine attrmpting to re-engage the operation. When I turned it back on holding Command+R the spinning globe reappeared. This tine the download happened in an unrealistic fast manner. The bar filled up in 10-15 seconds. After which it went to the gray screen with Apple logo and spinning gear. After 10ish seconds the screen went black for a moment and then went entirely gray. It stays gray indefinitely, fan runs wildly and computer heats up. I suspect I made a booboo in restarting during the install. Perhaps a portion of the OS was downloaded and the computer is trying to pick up where it left off and cant? Are there workarounds? Can I somehow erase the tiny slither of 10.8.3 that has been written to the HDD prior to the restart to make it truly start over again? I'm at a loss. Thanks in advance.

Using a partition recovery isn't possible as the old HDD is hopeless. I don't have the original Snow Leopard install CD and lost the Lion OS USB key I made. Don't