Can't reinstall OSX

I can't seem to be able to reinstall Mac OS El Cap on an older MacBook Pro. MB Pro belongs to a friend. It boots up on a folder with a question mark. I started Mac OSX Recovery:

- Tried to install OSX El Cap, Mac HD is the only drive and is greyed. I can't install on it, and getting the alert that "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer".

- No Time Machine backup to restore from.

- Disk utility shows:

- Internal > Mac HD > blank. Options are first aid, partition, erase, unmount, and info. Partition is greyed out.

- Disk images > Apple disk image media 2.15 GB Disk image external physical disk

OSX Base System.

I tried to reinstall Mac OSX from the "original CD" but I am getting an error message after selecting the language that Mac OS X cannot be installed with this CD. It makes me wonder if that is the wrong CD, but my friend only had 1 MacBook Pro and CD looks like the correct one.

Any help and info to reinstall Mac OS X would be appreciated. Thanks!