Macbook Pro

S

StefanPeeters

Weaksauce
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Oct 7, 2013
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Hi,
My macbook crashed and installed a new hard disk. My mac is form 2011 (OSX Lion). When I want to install the OS again but that is not possible. I took the hard drive out and placed it in an Imac from the same periode. I installed High Sierra and placed it back into the macbook. Booting was no problem until I installed updates. The first time it asked me to reboot. This was no problem. The second time when I installed updates the macbook starts to hang. Now I can't even boot my macbook. I tried all the commands but no result. When I put the hard drive in the imac it boots fine. When I do a clean install on the imac and place it back into the macbook I get the same problem. Apple logo, progressbar til 50% and than a light grey screen before going dark. Even when I try recovery (option + CMD + R)
Please, help is very appericiated!
 
Sounds similar to what happened with my MBP when the SATA controller failed.

Does the MBP boot OK if you connect the drive to a USB-SATA adapter?

Have you tried running hardware diagnostics?

May also want to take it to an Apple store if you have one nearby. Not much they (or anyone else for that matter) can do for a system that old, but they should be able to make a diagnosis.
 
cant you do the internet recovery thing to get the OS reinstalled?
 
that^^ its a well known problem and also try making an install usb to install from using your imac.

dbwillis said:
cant you do the internet recovery thing to get the OS reinstalled?
Click to expand...
if the firmware isnt updated it will keep getting the old os from the servers.
 
dbwillis said:
Yeh, but then upgrade from the store?
Click to expand...
yeah that should work too, maybe.

also op, i think its just command+r to get to the recovery mode. if you get there make sure to reformat the drive to get rid of the imac stuff.
 
BlueLineSwinger said:
Sounds similar to what happened with my MBP when the SATA controller failed.

Does the MBP boot OK if you connect the drive to a USB-SATA adapter?

Have you tried running hardware diagnostics?

May also want to take it to an Apple store if you have one nearby. Not much they (or anyone else for that matter) can do for a system that old, but they should be able to make a diagnosis.
Click to expand...

Hi,
When I plug an ssd via usb/sata and press the option-key on boot I can select that disk as startupdisk. After that it seems like it boots but at arround 50% again the lightgrey screen before its poweroff.
I have done a detailed hardware diagnostic. No problems where found.
Thank you for the pointers
 
dbwillis said:
cant you do the internet recovery thing to get the OS reinstalled?
Click to expand...

Hi,
After selecting the Option+CMD+R keys and selecting the wifi-network I get the globe with countdown.
After that I get the Apple logo with progressbar,
Arround 50% I get a black screen with blue vertical lines.
Thank you
 
pendragon1 said:
that^^ its a well known problem and also try making an install usb to install from using your imac.


if the firmware isnt updated it will keep getting the old os from the servers.
Click to expand...

Hi,
When I try to install from an USB I get the Apple logo and the spinning donut below. After a while I get the cirkel with stripe. My empty Mac OS Extended (Journaled) formated ssd doesn't show. Not via Sata or usb/sata.
Thank you for helping!
 
pendragon1 said:
yeah that should work too, maybe.

also op, i think its just command+r to get to the recovery mode. if you get there make sure to reformat the drive to get rid of the imac stuff.
Click to expand...

Hi,
I have an installation USB for OSX Lion and El Capitan.
I formated my ssd (Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to delete all the Imacstuf After pressing control+R the recovery starts (spinning globe).
I get the Apple logo with the spinning donut below. After a while the screen turns black and after light grey again. I hear that the fans are working very hard.
Thank you for helping!
 
If you end up taking the macbook to service do not use Apple service unless you want to pay a grand extra - they will swap your motherboard without even looking. Contact Rossmangroup in N.Y. if youre in US. https://rossmanngroup.com/
 
StefanPeeters said:
Hi,
I have an installation USB for OSX Lion and El Capitan.
I formated my ssd (Mac OS Extended (Journaled) to delete all the Imacstuf After pressing control+R the recovery starts (spinning globe).
I get the Apple logo with the spinning donut below. After a while the screen turns black and after light grey again. I hear that the fans are working very hard.
Thank you for helping!
Click to expand...
Keep in mind that the internet recovery takes dozens of minutes depending on your network speed.

If you can get the MBP to boot and you have the old drive left, you can boot from it using USB and then install to the new disk.
 
Last edited:
This is a GPU issue, the BGA soldering has failed. If you have a bootable OS, try holding down shift at boot to boot into safe mode and see what happens.

I've fixed this before by reflowing the solder joints, not the most ideal solution, but most of the time it works - For how long is anyone's guess.
 
B00nie said:
Keep in mind that the internet recovery takes dozens of minutes depending on your network speed.

If you can get the MBP to boot and you have the old drive left, you can boot from it using USB and then install to the new disk.
Click to expand...

Hi,

I tryed to do an internetrecovery but after waiting for 3 houres I still got a light grey screen. When trying to install via the USB I first get the apple logo with a spinning donut below before it jumps to light grey screen.
 
Mazzspeed said:
This is a GPU issue, the BGA soldering has failed. If you have a bootable OS, try holding down shift at boot to boot into safe mode and see what happens.

I've fixed this before by reflowing the solder joints, not the most ideal solution, but most of the time it works - For how long is anyone's guess.
Click to expand...

Hi,
I tried it and got this result:
I got the apple logo, folder with questionmark and cirkel with line true it. These were constanly changing. After releising the shift key it rebooted. Then I got the apple logo with the spinning donut before turning to light grey again.
 
StefanPeeters said:
Hi,
I tried it and got this result:
I got the apple logo, folder with questionmark and cirkel with line true it. These were constanly changing. After releising the shift key it rebooted. Then I got the apple logo with the spinning donut before turning to light grey again.
Click to expand...

You have GPU issues. See if you can find a repairer that can repair the problem. As soon as the OS switches to the GPU as opposed to the iGPU, that's when it's crashing and going white screen. Not uncommon on the 2011 MacBook and iMac's.
 
Mazzspeed said:
You have GPU issues. See if you can find a repairer that can repair the problem. As soon as the OS switches to the GPU as opposed to the iGPU, that's when it's crashing and going white screen. Not uncommon on the 2011 MacBook and iMac's.
Click to expand...
What he's describing in the first part is most likely a failing drive or a bad SATA cable. He needs to get it diagnosed as it sounds like there may be multiple issues here.
 
Shoganai said:
What he's describing in the first part is most likely a failing drive or a bad SATA cable. He needs to get it diagnosed as it sounds like there may be multiple issues here.
Click to expand...

I've come across the cable issue before, when the cable fails the replacement HDD is usually not recognized at all, but for some obscure reason the old HDD is. What the OP is describing with booting to white screens and lines on the screen is definitely a GPU BGA solder issue.

If you suspect the cable you chuck the HDD into a dock and try to boot from USB. If it boots from USB fine than the cable is at fault.
 
Mazzspeed said:
I've come across the cable issue before, when the cable fails the replacement HDD is usually not recognized at all, but for some obscure reason the old HDD is. What the OP is describing with booting to white screens and lines on the screen is definitely a GPU BGA solder issue.

If you suspect the cable you chuck the HDD into a dock and try to boot from USB. If it boots from USB fine than the cable is at fault.
Click to expand...

Hi,
I switched the entire motherboard with anonther macbook same model and everyting works fine. Now I switched it back and must look more in dept what the problem exactelly is. I could buy another motherboard to make it easy but apple doesn't sell them anymore and they are to expensive.
 
StefanPeeters said:
Hi,
I switched the entire motherboard with anonther macbook same model and everyting works fine. Now I switched it back and must look more in dept what the problem exactelly is. I could buy another motherboard to make it easy but apple doesn't sell them anymore and they are to expensive.
Click to expand...
Where do you live? There are independent Mac services like the Rossman group where they can replace faulty cables and components for a fraction of the cost of Apple services. They fix machines Apple refuses to touch.

 
B00nie said:
Where do you live? There are independent Mac services like the Rossman group where they can replace faulty cables and components for a fraction of the cost of Apple services. They fix machines Apple refuses to touch.

Click to expand...


Hi,
I live in Belgium. I went to an Apple store and apparently the macbook pro 2011 is a machine the refuse to touch because the are not supported anymore.
 
StefanPeeters said:
Hi,
I live in Belgium. I went to an Apple store and apparently the macbook pro 2011 is a machine the refuse to touch because the are not supported anymore.
Click to expand...

No, they class them as vintage! How good are Apple!

Any reputable third party repairer should be able to at least reflow the GPU to get this machine back up and running.
 
Now I try to boot via a linux live cd (Fedora 24, tried also other versions and distros). I try to get some more information about what prevents me to boot mac os normal. I constantly get the message (Disabling IRQ #17) what prevents me from booting the linux live cd?
Does anyone can help me what to do?


Thanks
 

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StefanPeeters said:
Now I try to boot via a linux live cd (Fedora 24, tried also other versions and distros). I try to get some more information about what prevents me to boot mac os normal. I constantly get the message (Disabling IRQ #17) what prevents me from booting the linux live cd?
Does anyone can help me what to do?


Thanks
Click to expand...
I would try to boot OSX from USB instead of linux. Macbooks are not so simple to boot on linux IIRC.
 
B00nie said:
I would try to boot OSX from USB instead of linux. Macbooks are not so simple to boot on linux IIRC.
Click to expand...
I already did that but without result. When I press the option key when booting I can select the osx drive but after that I get the light grey screen.
Tips are welcome
 
StefanPeeters said:
I already did that but without result. When I press the option key when booting I can select the osx drive but after that I get the light grey screen.
Tips are welcome
Click to expand...
This bug should be fixed in linux kernels 3.16 and upwards. Why are you using an ancient 2016 version? Current kernels run at 5.0
 
It's the GPU, take the device to any repairer worth a pinch of salt and they'll tell you the same thing. It was 'very' common on 2011 MacBooks, I've repaired a few myself.
 
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