MacBook Pro + new SSD = continious restarts?

[Kurtco]

Hi, hope someone here can help me solve this:

I have a 2012 MacBook Pro 16gb RAM, running the latest Mojave OS X.

I had a 500gb SSD drive seemingly go bad. Replaced it with a new 500 gb SSD. Running fine until a few days in when screen goes blank and MacBook restarts then 5 seconds later restarts and on and on it goes.

I put old original drive in (non SSD) and attemtpted to run first aid on new SSD from dock. As soon as i plug dock with new SSD, my MAcBook pro begins to do the restart loop! I unplug the dock with new SSD and try to run first aid on my old non SSD and the MAcBook freezes up.

I put my new SSD in a friends MacBook and it begins the restart madness on her machine as well. So... it’s not hardwear, right? What could cause all of this chaos?

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[DeltaMac]

hmm...?
If you had spontaneous restarts with the SSD, then moved that SSD to another MBPro, and it continues with the same bad behavior by rebooting in that different MBPro, then you appear to have a faulty SSD.
Was the old SSD failing in the same way?
Did you move the SATA cable (the ribbon cable) with the SSD? So the same cable was used in both MBPros?
(assuming that your 2012 MBPro is not a retina model, but has a 2.5-inch SATA SSD)
If yes, try changing that cable, too.

 

[Kurtco]

Thanks for your reply. The SSD I replaced was acting odd by having memory disappear. Overnight i went from 260GB down to 85GB. Then, it began taking time to process simple tasks in Photoshop and Lightroom. I did a time machine backup before refortmatting the drive. Once I erased/reformatted the drive, it would not accept my timemachine backup. The initial erase only gave me 185GB of space. The second erase gave me the full 500GB. Again, it errored out when trying to use my timemachime backup. So, I bought the new SSD (samsung 869 EVO). It accepted my backup and about 4 days after installing the new drive, this “restart” issue began.

I did not move the SATA cable. Correct, my 13” MacBook is not retina.

hmm...?
If you had spontaneous restarts with the SSD, then moved that SSD to another MBPro, and it continues with the same bad behavior by rebooting in that different MBPro, then you appear to have a faulty SSD.
Was the old SSD failing in the same way?
Did you move the SATA cable (the ribbon cable) with the SSD? So the same cable was used in both MBPros?
(assuming that your 2012 MBPro is not a retina model, but has a 2.5-inch SATA SSD)
If yes, try changing that cable, too.

 

[DeltaMac]

...
So, I bought the new SSD (samsung 869 EVO). It accepted my backup and about 4 days after installing the new drive, this “restart” issue began.

I did not move the SATA cable. Correct, my 13” MacBook is not retina.

hmm...
Replace the SATA cable anyway.

I'm guessing you mean a Samsung 860 EVO. Should be a good match for your Mac, but apparently you got a bad one.

Here's what I do:
step 1 - boot to your USB Mojave installer, erase the new SSD. Make sure that the format is correct.
step 2 - Install your macOS (Mojave) system.
step 3 - When the new user setup comes up, migrate from your Time Machine backup, then
(my own idea)
step 4 - boot to the installer again, and reinstall Mojave (again)
Totally not necessary, but gives me reassurance that the system, after the migration, is as good as it will get (without doing a complete rebuild of everything from scratch/reinstall all other apps, etc.)