MacBook Pro(2010 Model) fresh install problem

malachi · 16 Jan 2015 at 15:08

My brother gave me his MBP(MC371B/A) which he bought in May 2010. It wouldnt boot anymore, only showing the blinking question mark on folder. I took the HDD out to test, turns out it had completly died. So I replaced it with a new Samsung 500GB HDD, my brother has lost the original install discs :rolleyes:

So I ordered the retail version directly from Apple. This is Mac OSX Snow Leopard, which has New Version 10.6.3 on the box.

When I put the disc in and hold the C key to boot, the discs loads showing the Apple logo then nothing happens. The disc looks fine and shows as bootable on the screen. I dont know what is wrong, this is the first time I have worked on a Mac, so I dont have access to another Macs. Any ideas?

Emlyn_Dewar · 18 Jan 2015 at 09:54

If you boot up pressing the alt key, does the installed DVD show as an icon to boot from?

Suppose worse comes to worst, you could create a bootable USB drive from the DVD and try that. :/

Birthmark · 18 Jan 2015 at 11:24

I'm having a similar problem with my 2010 MBP. I've tried everything I can think of to try and get it back up again:

- Making bootable USB from a few different OSX images I've kept hold of.
- Using Internet Recovery
- Using different hard drives ( All appear to be fine, I'm using one in this machine I'm posting on)
- Booting from the original SL DVD that came with the laptop ( seems to time out like you mentioned)

I can't get into the Apple hardware test from boot. When trying to boot from any of the above the laptop goes into an endless reboot loop or hangs when loading from USB.

I've checked for bad RAM sticks etc so the only thing I can think of is something is up with the motherboard or possibly the hard drive cable. I'll probably take it to an apple store to see if they can confirm if that's the case. It's around £400 for the logic board so probably not worth upgrading in my case.

Anyway I'll let you know if I manage to sort it! Good luck.

malachi · 18 Jan 2015 at 17:06

Emlyn_Dewar said:
If you boot up pressing the alt key, does the installed DVD show as an icon to boot from?

Suppose worse comes to worst, you could create a bootable USB drive from the DVD and try that. :/

Yep, I dont have access to another Mac so I cant create a bootable USB drive.

Birthmark said:
I'm having a similar problem with my 2010 MBP. I've tried everything I can think of to try and get it back up again:

- Making bootable USB from a few different OSX images I've kept hold of.
- Using Internet Recovery
- Using different hard drives ( All appear to be fine, I'm using one in this machine I'm posting on)
- Booting from the original SL DVD that came with the laptop ( seems to time out like you mentioned)

I can't get into the Apple hardware test from boot. When trying to boot from any of the above the laptop goes into an endless reboot loop or hangs when loading from USB.

I've checked for bad RAM sticks etc so the only thing I can think of is something is up with the motherboard or possibly the hard drive cable. I'll probably take it to an apple store to see if they can confirm if that's the case. It's around £400 for the logic board so probably not worth upgrading in my case.

Anyway I'll let you know if I manage to sort it! Good luck.

I have tried everything too. I've got it booked in the Apple Store next week but I was hoping to solve it at home without having to travel so far.

would have been easy if this was a Windows based laptop

OhEsEcks · 18 Jan 2015 at 18:41

I had a 2010 MBP that I thought had a dead HDD, and instead it was a failed SATA cable. Once I replaced that, all problems with booting and installing software was resolved. My older brother has it now and it's still ticking along nicely, with the HDD I originally thought was dead.

Emlyn_Dewar · 19 Jan 2015 at 00:14

I use a 2010 13" MBP, and also had a failed SATA cable...
Didn't even think about that.

Did you try the old drive in an external caddy to confirm it was dead?

malachi · 19 Jan 2015 at 09:21

Emlyn_Dewar said:
I use a 2010 13" MBP, and also had a failed SATA cable...
Didn't even think about that.

Did you try the old drive in an external caddy to confirm it was dead?

Yep, just hands on POST when you put it into another computer. Sometimes you get that horrible clicking sound of the platters trying to spin.

bloodiedathame · 19 Jan 2015 at 17:05

My 2010 MBP had a failed sata cable too, had one shipped over from the other side of the world. Lot's of head scratching working that one out as I had two drives in at the time, one containing the install and another containing the user folders.