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TiCiKay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 28, 2017
2
0
Please help!!!! I have a mid 2009 MacBook Pro and it has died on me. At first it crashed, I bought a new cable and it was fine. Then it crashed again. New hard drive. Tried booting it up. It got halfway through the bar on the loading screen and didn’t get any further. Tried restarting it. Flashing file symbol. Tried a different hard drive + new cable. Still nothing. I get the flashing file and none of the hard drives are recognized in my disc utility. When I try to boot the original hard drive, it will start loading and then immediately shut off. I’m at a loss here! I can’t afford a new computer or to really take it anywhere. Any help is appreciated. (I already tried resetting PRAM as well.)
 

linhdao199yahoo.

macrumors newbie
Oct 28, 2017
1
0
You go to where you bought your machines asking people to guide you how to fix and repair and what warranty and where the seller promised you how to re-suing him and feel it Help me change and the new ones which are better and the more money and benefits than I used to use myself not to use the damage done when the job I was back then things will not be perfect. Not to be better than my advice to you should think carefully every time there must be backup
 

Audit13

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2017
6,905
1,845
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Have you tried loading the OS to or booting from an external drive?

By shut off, you mean it powered itself off completely? If yes, try this: ensure the MBP is powered off and not connected to the magsafe. Remove the bottom cover and disconnect the battery from logic board, replace the bottom cover but don't insert the screws, connect the magsafe and wait about 30 seconds. If the machine powers itself on and everything works, the battery probably needs replacement.

If nothing works, you may have to replace the optical drive with a DVD hard drive caddy and boot from the optical connection.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,279
13,378
This is one of those "I can't boot!" situations where having a "known-bootable" backup drive can make a big difference.

OP:
Do you have a second, bootable external drive and a means to connect it via USB?

Have you tried booting that way?
(Your post above doesn't make that clear)

Can you connect the original internal drive via USB, and try to boot that way?

Do you have access to another Mac?
 

TiCiKay

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 28, 2017
2
0
This is one of those "I can't boot!" situations where having a "known-bootable" backup drive can make a big difference.

OP:
Do you have a second, bootable external drive and a means to connect it via USB?

Have you tried booting that way?
(Your post above doesn't make that clear)

Can you connect the original internal drive via USB, and try to boot that way?

Do you have access to another Mac?

I do have a bootable external hard drive - I have tried booting from it but still nothing.

I don’t have access to another Mac.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,279
13,378
If you can't boot from a "known-bootable" external drive, then it sounds like the problem is not "drive related" -- something else is broken. Exception would be if the OS that's on your external drive has a problem (i.e., wrong OS for MacBook or some critical software component damaged).

With an 8-year-old MacBook, I probably wouldn't put any more money into it.
I'd look for something new or "late-model used" (like an Apple-refurbished).
I'd salvage the drives and re-purpose them in external enclosures...
 
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