HELP! MacBook Pro 2012 question mark folder. Tried almost everything.

[Joaquin_bloch]

Well, I am coming today to this forum to ask for some help. Quite recently my MacBook Pro 2012 (now 3-4 year old) starts up with a question marked folder. I did some research on the matter and came back with the conclusion it was either the hard drive or the hard drive cable. So, I looked in the MacBook disk repair section and didn't see a hard drive listed. So I though damn not sure which it could be. So I brought a new cable, tried that and had no success. Then I brought a new hard drive, (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0...hard+drive&dpPl=1&dpID=41pRoaOmysL&ref=plSrch) please can you help me. I need this laptop up and running for my school work. God forbid that I have to use paper and pen for a few more weeks.
[doublepost=1485191348][/doublepost]New addition to this problem. I will have to now reorder another hard drive cable because I've just snapped my new one. Or I will have to take it to a "specialist" who said he cad do it for £90 which I thought was an absurd price. But now I'm not so sure. 'Sigh'

 

[keysofanxiety]

13"? Take it to an Apple Store. SATA cable is a known fault. They have a silent repair program for it.

If you bought a refurb/used cable then it won't really fix the issue as they're just as bad.

Also try holding Alt on Startup. Anything visible? Be aware that if you replaced the HDD, it will still show a question mark if it can't find an operating system (i.e., if you just fitted a new hard-drive and did nothing else). So hold CMD+Alt+R on startup to boot into Internet Recovery, format internal drive through Disk Utility, Reinstall OS X.

Alternatively plug your old HDD via USB>SATA, hold Alt, and boot into the external Recovery partition. That will enable you to reinstall the last OS you had, rather than the original OS the machine shipped with.

 

[Joaquin_bloch]

13"? Take it to an Apple Store. SATA cable is a known fault. They have a silent repair program for it.

If you bought a refurb/used cable then it won't really fix the issue as they're just as bad.

Also try holding Alt on Startup. Anything visible? Be aware that if you replaced the HDD, it will still show a question mark if it can't find an operating system (i.e., if you just fitted a new hard-drive and did nothing else). So hold CMD+Alt+R on startup to boot into Internet Recovery, format internal drive through Disk Utility, Reinstall OS X.

Alternatively plug your old HDD via USB>SATA, hold Alt, and boot into the external Recovery partition. That will enable you to reinstall the last OS you had, rather than the original OS the machine shipped with.

Thanks for your speedy reply. 1. I have thrown away my original sata cable which I presumed broken will that be a problem then if I wanted to pay apple a visit without it, also at the moment I have a broken sata cable which i brought which was a refurb, can i go in with that. (I accidentally ripped off the sata part at the top when disconnecting it from my hard drive.
2. Wont be able to try your other steps for now with no sata cable

 

[keysofanxiety]

Thanks for your speedy reply. 1. I have thrown away my original sata cable which I presumed broken will that be a problem then if I wanted to pay apple a visit without it, also at the moment I have a broken sata cable which i brought which was a refurb, can i go in with that. (I accidentally ripped off the sata part at the top when disconnecting it from my hard drive.
2. Wont be able to try your other steps for now with no sata cable

Oh I see... I don't think they'd be able to do anything if the SATA cable is damaged. Where did you order yours? Not sure if you've tried Amazon, but you can try order a new one here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B008DKIR2C/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485196226&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=13"+2012+macbook+pro+sata+cable&dpPl=1&dpID=31XBYKJRRPL&ref=plSrch

I take it you're in the UK? Look no promises but if you're comfortable PMing me your Mac serial number, tomorrow morning I'll enquire with a company we're familiar with and see if it's possible to get a new OEM SATA cable ordered free of charge for you, if the above one doesn't work

 

[Joaquin_bloch]

Oh I see... I don't think they'd be able to do anything if the SATA cable is damaged. Where did you order yours? Not sure if you've tried Amazon, but you can try order a new one here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B008DKIR2C/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485196226&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=13"+2012+macbook+pro+sata+cable&dpPl=1&dpID=31XBYKJRRPL&ref=plSrch

I take it you're in the UK? Look no promises but if you're comfortable PMing me your Mac serial number, tomorrow morning I'll enquire with a company we're familiar with and see if it's possible to get a new OEM SATA cable ordered free of charge for you, if the above one doesn't work

Thanks again for another speedy reply, I have PM'ed you my Mac Serial Number and if you are unable to get me a free one sent I will have to order another one.

 

[BarracksSi]

Call/email Apple Support and at least make them aware of your issue. Seems like it's the season for mid-2012 13" MBPs to have their cables go bad (happened to mine about 2-3 weeks ago; good as new today).