Chosen Solution
I attempted to replace original hard drive with an SSD. The drive was reformatted, El Capitan was downloaded and all the files were transferred to the new drive. The new drive was then tested outside of the computer and the computer booted normally while the original drive was still in the computer. I replaced the original drive with the new SSD. Computer booted normally, but none of the applications work. They just do not open. So I took out the new SSD, left it outside and kept the original drive in the computer. Everything works fine. Computer boots off of the new SSD and all the applications work. Trying to see whether anyone has any clue as to why the new SSD could not work independently while in the computer. Thank you.
Make sure the new drive is formatted GUID and MacOSX extended. A different type of format will work externally, even a FAT format will but internally it will not. As to how you transferred the files: use migration assistant instead of dragging and dropping. This will move the Library sources which many programs require.
