Help Please! new HD can’t load OS X

[misterminibus]

I have replaced my HD in my mid 2009 MacBook Pro with a Kingston SSD. I had taken a time machine image before swapping the HD, I don’t have any OS X on disk and have tried an internet recovery using cmd-alt-r I have also tried cmd-r which either brings up an Apple logo followed by no entry sign or question mark using both methods, I have booted using just alt with my time machine plugged in alt is the option key and I get a logo which says it’s time machine yet when I select this shortly after it changes to a no entry sign. I have tried this many times over several hours can someone please help?

 

[maflynn]

have tried an internet recovery

Your machine is too old for internet recovery, you will need your system disks that came with the laptop.

Another option is to get an enclosure of your HD, boot off that as an external drive, and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy your HD to your SSD.

 

[mbosse]

I have replaced my HD in my mid 2009 MacBook Pro with a Kingston SSD. I had taken a time machine image before swapping the HD, I don’t have any OS X on disk and have tried an internet recovery using cmd-alt-r I have also tried cmd-r which either brings up an Apple logo followed by no entry sign or question mark using both methods, I have booted using just alt with my time machine plugged in alt is the option key and I get a logo which says it’s time machine yet when I select this shortly after it changes to a no entry sign. I have tried this many times over several hours can someone please help?

If you have another Mac available and a free USB stick of minimum 8 GB, you can load a macOS installer on it and start from there:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Your Macbook can run El Capitan, so you're fine with the instructions.

Magnus

 

[Fishrrman]

I agree with what maflynn wrote regarding CCC.

OP --
If you don't have any luck, try this:

1. Get a USB3/SATA adapter/dongle like this (cheap):
https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-...478&sr=1-2-spell&keywords=sabremt+usb3+to+ssd

2. Connect the OLD drive to the adapter.

3. Now, boot up from the OLD drive. Press the power on button and IMMEDIATELY hold down the option key, and KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the startup manager appears. Select the old drive with the pointer and hit return.

4. Do you get a good boot? Then, let's continue...

5. Before going further, I suggest you open Disk Utility and ERASE the internal SSD. Choose "Mac OS extended with journaling enabled, GUID partition format". Let DU do its thing, and when the erased SSD shows up on the desktop, give it a name you like

6. Now, download CarbonCopyCloner from here:
http://www.bombich.com/download.html
(CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days -- this will cost you nothing)
BE AWARE that if you use an older version of the OS, you might need an earlier version of CCC. They have a page for older version downloads.

7. Once you have CCC, open it and accept the defaults. Put your source drive (the OLD drive) on the left. Put the target (the SSD) in the middle. Click clone.

8. If CCC asks if you want to clone over the recovery partition also, YES, you want to do this.

9. Let CCC do its thing. It will take a while. BE PATIENT.

10. When done, power down. Disconnect the old drive.

11. Press the power on button and AGAIN repeat the trick you used above with the option key to bring up the startup manager. The new SSD should appear. Select it with the pointer and hit return.

12. Now, THE MOMENT OF TRUTH. Do you get a good boot?

13. If you do, GREAT, you're almost done, but one more thing:

14. Open System Preferences, select startup disk. Click the lock and enter your password. Select the SSD (it should be the only choice, but select it anyway) and close system prefs.

15. Final step: REBOOT one more time. Do you "come right up" to the login screen?

If so, DONE.

PRINT OUT this post, and save it for reference.

 

[misterminibus]

Your machine is too old for internet recovery, you will need your system disks that came with the laptop.

Another option is to get an enclosure of your HD, boot off that as an external drive, and then use Carbon Copy Cloner to copy your HD to your SSD.

Enclosure what’s that? I have a time machine image can this be loaded straight on?
[doublepost=1552421219][/doublepost]

If you have another Mac available and a free USB stick of minimum 8 GB, you can load a macOS installer on it and start from there:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Your Macbook can run El Capitan, so you're fine with the instructions.

Magnus

Yes I have another Mac I can use

 

[DeltaMac]

Enclosure what’s that? I have a time machine image can this be loaded straight on?
...
Yes I have another Mac I can use

Enclosure is a case that you could use to connect your old hard drive, and use THAT to boot as an external drive. That simplifies booting, and installing, and makes setting up (erasing/adding partitions) your new SSD easy from an already working hard drive. You can also use a simple SATA to USB cable, such as this

 

[Gator1pk]

Enclosure what’s that? I have a time machine image can this be loaded straight on?
[doublepost=1552421219][/doublepost]
Yes I have another Mac I can use

This is where Google is your friend. You need to connect your 2.5” SATA hard drive to your laptop via USB.

Time Machine does not load like a clone of a drive. You need a working OSX installed first, then use Migtration Assistant to bring settings, libraries and files from your Time Machine backup to new drive.

 

[misterminibus]

Enclosure is a case that you could use to connect your old hard drive, and use THAT to boot as an external drive. That simplifies booting, and installing, and makes setting up (erasing/adding partitions) your new SSD easy from an already working hard drive. You can also use a simple SATA to USB cable, such as this

Yes I have this
Tccmebius TCC-S862-UK USB 2.0 to 2.5 3.5 Inch SATA IDE Dual Slots External Hard Drive Docking Station with All in 1 Card Reader and USB 2.0 Hub For 2.5" 3.5" IDE SATA I/II/III HDD SSD https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075ZF845X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_UBbICbDNK35YM

I can put my working HD in this and boot from it?

 

[DeltaMac]

Yes I have this
Tccmebius TCC-S862-UK USB 2.0 to 2.5 3.5 Inch SATA IDE Dual Slots External Hard Drive Docking Station with All in 1 Card Reader and USB 2.0 Hub For 2.5" 3.5" IDE SATA I/II/III HDD SSD https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B075ZF845X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_UBbICbDNK35YM

I can put my working HD in this and boot from it?

I think you can boot from that. You should be OK.

 

[misterminibus]

I think you can boot from that. You should be OK.

I have eventually been able to use carbon copy clone by putting my old hd in my machine and my new ssd in the hdd dock. I had a confirmation message that shows it was successful, however when I place the new ssd in my machine it wont boot from it I get a no entry sign which changes to an apple logo and back. Yet when I place the ssd in the hdd dock and use the option key to boot from it via usb it boots in fine. Can anyone please help, i'm nearly there.

 

[DeltaMac]

Try replacing the SATA cable (the ribbon cable that connects the internal boot drive to the logic board.)
This is a common complaint. The cable can have a minor fault, and will work perfectly fine with the old spinning hard drive, yet fail when you install an SSD. I think it is simply because the SSD operates at a much faster speed, and minor timing issues that don't affect the slow hard drive, will cause a quick fail on the SSD.
And, that's why you get a fail internally from that SSD, despite the fact that the SSD boots fine from the external dock.

 

[Fishrrman]

This may be improbable, but...

... I'm wondering if there could be a conflict between the 2009 MBP and the controller circuitry on the drive's controller board?

 

[mbosse]

This may be improbable, but...

... I'm wondering if there could be a conflict between the 2009 MBP and the controller circuitry on the drive's controller board?

I don't think so - as others have said its in most cases the ribbon cable. The defect only shows when a fast SSD is mounted.

Magnus

 

[treekram]

Computers with the Nvida MCP79 SATA chip (which the OP's 2009 MBP likely has) can have problems with certain SSD's. However, the problem usually results in slower speeds rather than failure at boot, which is more typical of the cable problem. However, if you search the web for Nvidia MCP79 Kingston and then the model number, you can see if there's a problem with the SSD and the MCP79.

 

[Ries]

I have eventually been able to use carbon copy clone by putting my old hd in my machine and my new ssd in the hdd dock. I had a confirmation message that shows it was successful, however when I place the new ssd in my machine it wont boot from it I get a no entry sign which changes to an apple logo and back. Yet when I place the ssd in the hdd dock and use the option key to boot from it via usb it boots in fine. Can anyone please help, i'm nearly there.

Did you use trim enabler?

"
We see this quite frequently when trying to boot from a USB 3.0 enclosure, especially on pre-2013 Macs. We also see this more frequently on Yosemite when a critical kernel extension's code signature is invalid. This can happen, for example, when using something like TRIM Enabler to modify macOS Storage drivers.

• Try booting into Safe Boot mode (hold down the Shift key as you start your Mac, after selecting the backup volume as the startup disk).
• Try installing macOS directly onto the cloned volume while booted from the Apple Recovery volume. If the installation also fails, there is a compatibility issue between the enclosure and your Mac that makes it unsuitable as a startup device.
• If you used a third-party utility to modify macOS software (e.g. TRIM Enabler), undo that modification, then run the backup task again.

"

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/help-my-clone-wont-boot

 

[misterminibus]

Did you use trim enabler?

"
We see this quite frequently when trying to boot from a USB 3.0 enclosure, especially on pre-2013 Macs. We also see this more frequently on Yosemite when a critical kernel extension's code signature is invalid. This can happen, for example, when using something like TRIM Enabler to modify macOS Storage drivers.

• Try booting into Safe Boot mode (hold down the Shift key as you start your Mac, after selecting the backup volume as the startup disk).
• Try installing macOS directly onto the cloned volume while booted from the Apple Recovery volume. If the installation also fails, there is a compatibility issue between the enclosure and your Mac that makes it unsuitable as a startup device.
• If you used a third-party utility to modify macOS software (e.g. TRIM Enabler), undo that modification, then run the backup task again.

"

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4/help-my-clone-wont-boot

Its using El Capitan and I didn't use trim enabler. The operating system on the ssd works great and its really fast but it will only work when I used the option key at startup so I think its looking like it may be the sata cable. Anyone know where they can be found for the best price?

 

[CoastalOR]

I have booted using just alt with my time machine plugged in alt is the option key and I get a logo which says it’s time machine yet when I select this shortly after it changes to a no entry sign. I have tried this many times over several hours can someone please help?

FYI: Normally TM is bootable to the Recovery utility archived on the TM disk, BUT there was bug with El Capitan that it did not work to boot from the TM backup if the most recent backup was from a El Capitan system. EL Capitan was the only macOS that had the bug with TM.

 

[DeltaMac]

Its using El Capitan and I didn't use trim enabler. The operating system on the ssd works great and its really fast but it will only work when I used the option key at startup so I think its looking like it may be the sata cable. Anyone know where they can be found for the best price?

The cable also has the IR sensor, so is usually higher cost, but you should be able to find that cable for less than $20 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077HQ2NWV

 

[misterminibus]

The cable also has the IR sensor, so is usually higher cost, but you should be able to find that cable for less than $20 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077HQ2NWV

building it back up I had to pull the cable at the top left to line it up for the screw I have marked the cable on the picture with a red X and now the wifi doesn’t work with the message “wifi no hardware installed” is this the wifi cable and have i broke it?

 

[DeltaMac]

Yes. Apple calls that the "camera cable", but it also connects to the airport card (which is inside the clutch cover - that black "tunnel" the cable feeds into!), so, unfortunately, that is also the cable that provides both power and signal to the airport (wifi) card
You need to recheck the connector on the other end of that cable, where it attaches to the logic board.
But, there appears to be an out-of-place wire where your red X is placed. That may be important to make sure that wire is inside the wrap, where it should be. It may be broken, but you will have to do more close inspection of that area to make sure. And, after moving that cable, you might even have disconnected that cable where it plugs in to the airport card. You will have to remove the clutch cover to find out, and reseat THAT connector.
If you have a broken wire, I don't know what to suggest. Apple does NOT offer a part number for that camera cable in the official service manual for that MBPro, so that makes it really difficult to source a correct replacement.
It's a good idea to get the service manual, just to have another way to find out how to get in an out of your MBPro without getting yourself in trouble so easily.
If you want a copy, you can find it by searching for the file name: mbp15_253_mid09.pdf

 

[misterminibus]

Yes. Apple calls that the "camera cable", but it also connects to the airport card (which is inside the clutch cover - that black "tunnel" the cable feeds into!), so, unfortunately, that is also the cable that provides both power and signal to the airport (wifi) card
You need to recheck the connector on the other end of that cable, where it attaches to the logic board.
But, there appears to be an out-of-place wire where your red X is placed. That may be important to make sure that wire is inside the wrap, where it should be. It may be broken, but you will have to do more close inspection of that area to make sure. And, after moving that cable, you might even have disconnected that cable where it plugs in to the airport card. You will have to remove the clutch cover to find out, and reseat THAT connector.
If you have a broken wire, I don't know what to suggest. Apple does NOT offer a part number for that camera cable in the official service manual for that MBPro, so that makes it really difficult to source a correct replacement.
It's a good idea to get the service manual, just to have another way to find out how to get in an out of your MBPro without getting yourself in trouble so easily.
If you want a copy, you can find it by searching for the file name: mbp15_253_mid09.pdf

Better late than never lol. I didn't want to dismantle it for fear of killing it further and so it went in the cupboard for 3 years and after using several windows machines and finding them to feel very cheap I bought a 2017 MBP which made me remember how much I love mac but I didnt like the keyboard and so it was sold. I did however pull the old 2009 out of the cupboard and asked my brother to take a look and the plug had come out behind the screen, plugged back in with a new SSD and i'm posting this on it now. Don't you just love happy endings?