MBP 13" Mid 2012 Hard Drive Problems

[andrewcole836]

So I installed an SSD in my Mac several months ago, no issues. Then all of a sudden a few weeks ago it wouldn't boot into the SSD, it started booting to the old HD that I had swapped out for the CD drive. I did some troubleshooting and externally the SSD works fine. I put the CD drive back in and just the SSD and I get the flashing folder at boot up. Searching around I found that it is likely the cable for the hard drive.

So my question is if anyone else has had problems like this and has found that replacing the hard drive cable fixes it? I'm planning on buying the cable from ifixit.com but wanted some feedback before I do it. Has anyone else had this problem and the cable didn't fix it? I.E. It was actually the main motherboard that needed to be replaced?

Thanks for any help.

 

[chscag]

A defective SATA cable is a common problem and an easy fix. I've seen this numerous times and as a matter of fact, now recommend that the cable be replaced whenever the hard drive is replaced. Nothing wrong with your logic board or your Mac would not have booted to the old HD. Buying the cable from ifixit is a good plan as they also have instructions for replacing it.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

When you option boot the machine, is the SSD listed?

Booting off the HDD or into internet recovery, is the SSD listed at all in Disk Utility?

If no to either, then yeah it's likely the HDD cable as above.

 

[andrewcole836]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah. Most of the time it doesn't show up at all, anywhere. I was able to see it but not access it early on with DiskWarrior. I even replaced it with the same exact SSD I have as a spare for work, and it saw it. So I installed OS X over the internet, updated to El Capitan, and then it proceeded to start acting funny.

So I've been through a lot trying to figure out what was wrong, and just wanted to ask here before I took another step in the repair process. I just don't really understand how a cable goes bad? In my line of work, electrical engineer, the only cables I see fail, are the ones that rotate around in my machines. Cables that sit there and never move, never go bad. So that was why I was reluctant to think it might be the HD cable.

Thanks again for the replies and help. I'll post back after I've done the cable swap to confirm it fixes it.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

As to why, I don't know, but this is an extremely common issue with this model.

 

[DeltaMac]

...I even replaced it with the same exact SSD I have as a spare for work, and it saw it.
... I just don't really understand how a cable goes bad? In my line of work, electrical engineer, the only cables I see fail, are the ones that rotate around in my machines. Cables that sit there and never move, never go bad. So that was why I was reluctant to think it might be the HD cable.

Thanks again for the replies and help. I'll post back after I've done the cable swap to confirm it fixes it.

I think that a lot of folks here recommend the cable, because it does often fix the problem.
(your SSD doesn't move either, yet occasionally do fail I think the simple task of replacing the drive means that the ribbon cable does get adjusted, and can be stressed, then fail as time passes. It's just a fairly common failure here, so folks go to that first - and it's a quick, inexpensive fix, unlike your other hardware possibilities. I think as an engineer you will appreciate the old saying "try the simple stuff first "
But, you also said you swapped in an identical SSD, and THAT one worked - is that correct?
In that case, I think you can suspect your SSD...

 

[andrewcole836]

But, you also said you swapped in an identical SSD, and THAT one worked - is that correct?
In that case, I think you can suspect your SSD...

Right. I swapped it with an identical SSD, that did work for a time. Then it OS X started acting funny, after about an hour or so after finishing the upgrade to El Cap. Then I rebooted and got the flashing folder again.

So after that, and not sure why I hadn't tried sooner, I used an external adapter and found out there is nothing wrong with the first SSD, all the files are still there, etc. So that's when I started thinking cable or "controller" on the logic board.

I think as an engineer you will appreciate the old saying "try the simple stuff first "

Absolutely! While yes, a cheap fix, with no repair funds to spare right now, I was thinking the option of using DirecTV Protection Plan, in case it was the logic board. But seeing that this is a common problem, I will certainly give it a try. Tomorrow is payday! So I'll order it up and give it a try.

 

[andrewcole836]

Yay! Home from trip to Cali, the part was waiting for me. 30 minutes later, my MBP is back up and running. Would have been quicker, but I forgot to swap back to my original SSD. Ran updates, and now I'm posting from my repaired MBP.

Thanks everyone for the help.