HD failure with neither time machine back-up or OSX install working

Question

Hi,
I recently had the OEM HD fail on my Mac book pro resulting in the blinking folder question mark on startup. I purchased a new intel SSD to replace it and it installed it in the laptop. I then performed the command + r on boot and went through the system recovery from network. This seemed to be working fine at first and I was able to open the disk utility after load, I created a single partition on the SSD and then was able to verify successfully. I then closed this window and tried to restore from a time machine back up on an external hard drive. About 30 seconds after it started, it returned an error saying that it was unsuccessful and to restart the computer. I accepted and then it rebooted.
I power cycled the system and again tried the command + r on reboot. This time I first erased the new SSD from the disk utility and then proceeded to create the partition. This time I tried the option to load the OSX and did not plug in the external HD. It began to download from the network and looked to be working fine. However, at some point about 1.5-2 hours later it looks like the system reset itself and came up with the flashing folder with a question mark.
When I power cycled the system for a third time to check the disk again it gives a white screen and command + r does not do anything. I tried resetting the PRAM which the system responded to the option+ command+ p+r and rebooted but it still returns to this white screen. In order to check if it was the SSD that was the problem I opened the computer again and disconnected the SATA cable from the SSD. Then with the SSD disconnected at boot I was able to attempt a system recovery from network using the command + r.
Does anyone have any advice or did I just end up ruining the $200 SSD?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Followed the directions on this page and it worked!
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1102423
Part One - Turn on SSH (in the admin panel)
[1] Go to to http://mybookworld.local
[2] login: username will be admin, password will be whatever you have setup. If you can't remember it should be in your Mac OS X keychain (Utilities > Keychain Access, search for "mybookworld"). If you have not changed if from the default the password will be admin as well.
[3] Switch to advanced mode.
[4] From the System tab, pick Advanced.
[5] Enable SSH Access, and click submit.
[6] Click on the network tab and then the LAN button
[7] Make a note of the IP address
Small, maybe obvious, but nevertheless important point: For the install to work, your NAS needs to be connected to a router with internet access.
Part Two - Install netatalk2.2
[8] Open Terminal.app (Utilities > Terminal)
[9] Enter the following command (substitute in 127.0.0.1 for the actual IP address you noted down in step 7), then hit return:
Code: 
ssh [email protected]
[10] When prompted, enter the ssh password (will be welc0me).
[11] You are now going to download the installer. Enter the following command, then hit return:
Code: 
wget http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/local--files/netatalk2-2-on-whitelight/install_netatalk.sh -O install_netatalk.sh
[12] Once completed, you will need to run the installer. Type:
Code: 
sh install_netatalk.sh
[13] You will be asked a number of question during install, answer yes to all. When asked about the "DHX2 login process", I opted to install the modified version, so I can confirm it works.
[14] Once the box has restarted, you should be able to connect to your afp shares and continue to use Time Machine.