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Installed new SSD but won’t boot

S

Storm917

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 8, 2012
37
2
Okay so I have a MacBook Pro (Late 2011) I bought new back in March of 2012. A couple months back it started running very sluggish and acting odd. I had windows installed on it as well and it would flag me saying my hdd was damaged and to backup my files. Eventually my Mac would boot to the logo screen, bar would load, and then it would continue to a plain gray screen like you see before the login screen. During this time it would get hot and loud and eventually just shuts down. I assumed my hdd finally bit the dust so I installed a new one today.

It’s a Samsung 850 Evo. I installed it and ran the internet recovery. The globe appeared and it downloaded in about 10-12 minutes, which seems fast. After it’s done it goes to the gray screen and does exactly what it did with the old hdd.

Does anybody know what the issue could be? Thanks in advance!
 
Sounds like graphics failure. If you have the 15” or 17” that’s almost certainly the case (colloquially known as Radeongate).

If it’s the 13” it’s probably the HDD cable.
 
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keysofanxiety is most likely spot on - the SATA cables in the 2011 models caused exactly those kinds of symptoms. I've never dealt with the Radeongate issue, and seems like that would cause hangs on boot, but not sure if it would cause I/O lag and hard drive errors where the cable definitely will.

The good news is replacement cables aren't hard to find and are fairly inexpensive. I paid about $40 on eBay a couple years ago to replace one of ours, and just searched for them now and they're running $10-$20.

In my case, the part description was:

922-9771 Apple A1278 13 inch 2011 MBP Hard Drive Cable Bracket 821-1226-A

iFixit also has a great guide on doing the swap:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBoo...+Early+2011+Hard+Drive+Cable+Replacement/5120

If you have a 15" or 17" model the instructions are similar, but just do a quick search as they full have instructions for all of them. It's not a difficult fix, but isn't 100% straightforward as the SATA cable ribbon also includes the IR sensor and sleep LED bracket, and many of the replacement cable kits include pads to stick on to help prevent the bottom of the case from rubbing the cable, which is apparently part of the cause for the failures.
 
keysofanxiety said:
Sounds like graphics failure. If you have the 15” or 17” that’s almost certainly the case (colloquially known as Radeongate).

If it’s the 13” it’s probably the HDD cable.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately its a 15" :( sounds like that could be the issue. What exactly do I do to go about fixing this? I was doing a little research and saw something about Apple acknowledging the issue but I'm not sure how true that is.

TuxToaster said:
keysofanxiety is most likely spot on - the SATA cables in the 2011 models caused exactly those kinds of symptoms. I've never dealt with the Radeongate issue, and seems like that would cause hangs on boot, but not sure if it would cause I/O lag and hard drive errors where the cable definitely will.

The good news is replacement cables aren't hard to find and are fairly inexpensive. I paid about $40 on eBay a couple years ago to replace one of ours, and just searched for them now and they're running $10-$20.

In my case, the part description was:

922-9771 Apple A1278 13 inch 2011 MBP Hard Drive Cable Bracket 821-1226-A

iFixit also has a great guide on doing the swap:

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBoo...+Early+2011+Hard+Drive+Cable+Replacement/5120

If you have a 15" or 17" model the instructions are similar, but just do a quick search as they full have instructions for all of them. It's not a difficult fix, but isn't 100% straightforward as the SATA cable ribbon also includes the IR sensor and sleep LED bracket, and many of the replacement cable kits include pads to stick on to help prevent the bottom of the case from rubbing the cable, which is apparently part of the cause for the failures.
Click to expand...
I'm hoping that this might be the case but I think keysofanxiety is right it sounds a lot like the Radeongate issue mentioned.
 
There's a service article about a repair program for those MBPros with video issues. Those issues would sometimes show up with OTHER issues that were all caused by problems with the logic board on those MBPros.
The issue was fixed by replacing the logic board. BUT, those logic boards were just repaired boards, which many times would simply fail again (the real underlying cause really needed a redesign of the logic board, which never happened)
And, for you, if you look at the support article, scroll to the bottom. You will see your model listed as too old now for covered repairs. Yours is, unfortunately, no longer included in that repair program.

HOWEVER, I think you should try simply replacing your SATA cable. THAT'S really the issue that you are experiencing, I think. It's not expensive, pretty simple to replace, and may fix your issue.
 
Storm917 said:
Eventually my Mac would boot to the logo screen, bar would load, and then it would continue to a plain gray screen like you see before the login screen. During this time it would get hot and loud and eventually just shuts down.
Click to expand...

Regardless about the HDD warnings you received (the SATA cable may also be failing), this in itself is synonymous with failed graphics.

If there’s an Apple Store local to you I’d definitely recommend going there for them to take a look.
 
Look for somewhere local that can reflow your GPU. Apple and AASPs won't touch your Mac - their extended warranty for the 2011s ended years ago.
 
Storm917 said:
Okay so I have a MacBook Pro (Late 2011) I bought new back in March of 2012. A couple months back it started running very sluggish and acting odd. I had windows installed on it as well and it would flag me saying my hdd was damaged and to backup my files. Eventually my Mac would boot to the logo screen, bar would load, and then it would continue to a plain gray screen like you see before the login screen. During this time it would get hot and loud and eventually just shuts down. I assumed my hdd finally bit the dust so I installed a new one today.

It’s a Samsung 850 Evo. I installed it and ran the internet recovery. The globe appeared and it downloaded in about 10-12 minutes, which seems fast. After it’s done it goes to the gray screen and does exactly what it did with the old hdd.

Does anybody know what the issue could be? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Your problem has the common failures for logic board. Only way to be sure is to take it to Apple so that a Genius can diagnose it and give you a quote.
 
keysofanxiety said:
Regardless about the HDD warnings you received (the SATA cable may also be failing), this in itself is synonymous with failed graphics.

If there’s an Apple Store local to you I’d definitely recommend going there for them to take a look.
Click to expand...
I have an appointment with Microcenter tomorrow. Apple store is booked out until Saturday. If Microcenter can't figure it out I'm booking an appointment there.

DeltaMac said:
There's a service article about a repair program for those MBPros with video issues. Those issues would sometimes show up with OTHER issues that were all caused by problems with the logic board on those MBPros.
The issue was fixed by replacing the logic board. BUT, those logic boards were just repaired boards, which many times would simply fail again (the real underlying cause really needed a redesign of the logic board, which never happened)
And, for you, if you look at the support article, scroll to the bottom. You will see your model listed as too old now for covered repairs. Yours is, unfortunately, no longer included in that repair program.

HOWEVER, I think you should try simply replacing your SATA cable. THAT'S really the issue that you are experiencing, I think. It's not expensive, pretty simple to replace, and may fix your issue.
Click to expand...
I'm assuming they'll be able to determine if its the SATA cable at the appointment tomorrow. I'm hoping that's all it is.

Mr_Brightside_@ said:
Look for somewhere local that can reflow your GPU. Apple and AASPs won't touch your Mac - their extended warranty for the 2011s ended years ago.
Click to expand...
Where might one go to get that done? As I said previously I have an appointment at microcenter tomorrow do you think they'd do it?
 
IF it's a 2011 MBPro 15" or 17"
and
IF it's "RadeonGate",
then
...it's probably not worth fixing any more.

Not much more to say, really, unless you like "throwing money down a hole"...
 
Mr_Brightside_@ said:
You can always disable the discrete card.
https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...able-discrete-gpu-permanently-from-efi/296781
Click to expand...
I’ve looked into this. Unfortunately my dGPU has already died. How can I do this modification when it won’t even boot?

Fishrrman said:
IF it's a 2011 MBPro 15" or 17"
and
IF it's "RadeonGate",
then
...it's probably not worth fixing any more.

Not much more to say, really, unless you like "throwing money down a hole"...
Click to expand...
You’re right. It’s not just money but my time would be spent trying to fix it when I could otherwise be productive. I had diagnostics done and they also said it looks like a GPU issue. Rip.
 
Well, you can either bake it yourself:
http://ales.io/2014/03/09/how-to-bake-a-mac.html (looks intimidating but it's not)
or you can go with the fire hazard method:
1) get a heavy blanket
2) plug your macbook in to power
3) open mac and power it on
4) close the lid
5) wrap in blanket for a hew hours (preferably stay nearby)
6) go back - it will be hot - power it off, and try powering back on

What both these methods do is help to reflow the solder and get things working again. I've done both to MBP and Time Capsule boards, and they've been effective, and not caused any fires!
 
1) as for the HDD-cable:The problem is that the inner surface of the MBP is NOT polished. So, the rough inner side of the aluminium housing sometimes is wearing off the isolation of the ultra thin flat cable on the side towards the aluminium surface. To test if it is the HDD-cable just unfix the ssd/HDD, put something like a piece of dry paper between the cable and the inner surface of the housing and try to start again. To be absolutely sure just make a test with a friends HDD-Cable (to exchange within minutes) ...

There is an excellent video showing and explaining the potential effect of the bad design:


BTW: To prevent the shortcut between the cable and the housing this bad design just take some adhesive tape and tape it on the inner side of the housing between it and the HDD-cable.



2) Are you sure that you did correctly connect the connector of the cable and the SSD?

3) As for saving old MBP with dead GPUs from 2011 take a look here:

edit:

look first at this thread, then the one below ...

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ntel-integrated-gpu-efi-variable-fix.2037591/

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-on-a-2011-macbook-pro-grub-solution.2087527/

good luck
 
Last edited:
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Mr_Brightside_@ said:
Well, you can either bake it yourself:
http://ales.io/2014/03/09/how-to-bake-a-mac.html (looks intimidating but it's not)
or you can go with the fire hazard method:
1) get a heavy blanket
2) plug your macbook in to power
3) open mac and power it on
4) close the lid
5) wrap in blanket for a hew hours (preferably stay nearby)
6) go back - it will be hot - power it off, and try powering back on

What both these methods do is help to reflow the solder and get things working again. I've done both to MBP and Time Capsule boards, and they've been effective, and not caused any fires!
Click to expand...

I had Apple do a video test on it and it failed immediately so it's definitely the GPU. I'll consider trying these options, the local shop that will reflow the GPU wants to charge $125 for the service. I think I'm better off trying to just run off the iGPU with the linux workaround; that seems more reliable.

Audit13 said:
Reballing is not good according to Louis:
Click to expand...

Actually watched the video; he makes a good point (if he's actually right that is). I'll be better off just deactivating the dGPU. Even with a reflow it'll obviously fail again.
 
Mr_Brightside_@ said:
You can always disable the discrete card.
https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...able-discrete-gpu-permanently-from-efi/296781
Click to expand...
So just a small update; after disabling the dGPU with the efivars fix my MacBook boots again! Only issue afterwards is it runs really sluggish at times. It hung up a few times just typing this. I can't really use any programs without them crashing (Visual Studio, Xcode) and even loading webpages can be pretty slow. Any ideas? I feel like this could be unrelated to the dGPU at this point since I went through and even deleted the AMD kext.
 
Storm917 said:
So just a small update; after disabling the dGPU with the efivars fix my MacBook boots again! Only issue afterwards is it runs really sluggish at times. It hung up a few times just typing this. I can't really use any programs without them crashing (Visual Studio, Xcode) and even loading webpages can be pretty slow. Any ideas? I feel like this could be unrelated to the dGPU at this point since I went through and even deleted the AMD kext.
Click to expand...
That’s exactly why. Not sure there’s a workaround
 
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