Cannot restore Macbook Pro OS.

Question

I have a mid-2010 Macbook Pro. I am trying to reset the OS. I currently have Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63) installed, but the disc I have is Leopard.
When I try and reset it to factory conditions (following the instructions on the support website) the boot screen goes gray and shows a message instructing me to manually shut down and turn on the computer. It is the same image I have seen associated with kernel panic, but it only happens when booting from the disc.
I recently installed new 8GB RAM, but I have tried with both sets of chips and see the same result.

Answer 1

Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
  1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
  2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
  3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
  4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.