MacBook Pro won't boot from USB installer or go into recovery. Tried everything...

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Level 1

9 points

MacBook Pro won't boot from USB installer or go into recovery. Tried everything...

Hi I have a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2012) that won't boot using any method.

Around 6 months ago, the mac started making loud scratching sounds, but they stopped after a day or so. However, a few days later the mac suddenly froze and then shut down automatically. When attempting to boot, it would reach the Apple logo and fill the progress bar half-way before restarting. This would happen several times in a row before it would finally boot. Then the computer would function normally for a while before the whole process (but no sound this time) would happen again.

When it did turn off, the screen would sometimes fill with rainbow colored bands and any sounds playing would get stuck with one note playing over and over, sounding like a stuck vinyl record. Then when it would get to the half-way loaded point, it would suddenly shut down and restart. It would take luck to finally get to the password screen.

I wiped the hard drive and this solved the problem for a few months. No issues at all. But then back in December it started having the same problems (again, no more sound, just the sudden shut downs and difficulty booting). I was set to wipe the disk again, but this time it refused to boot entirely, no matter how many times I tried restarting and waiting.

It's been a few months since then and nothing has changed. I bought an external hard drive and a USB flash drive in an attempt to boot from a different source than the internal drive. Here is what I have tried and what the results are:

Reset the NVRAM and SMC. Successfully reset, but had no effect.
Try to use Recovery Mode and Internet Recovery Mode. The spinning globe appears, asks me to enter the wi-fi password, then the progress bar completes. The globe goes away and then the screen remains gray but hangs there indefinitely. The options for Disk Utility, Reinstall OS, etc never appear.
Install OS X Lion from a different Mac on to external hard drive and attempt to boot from there. The Apple logo appears, the progress bar fills up half-way, then the screen turns black, before it turns blank gray. It hangs there indefinitely.
Download OS X El Capitan installer on USB drive and use terminal to run createinstallmedia and attempt to go into recovery from there. Same result as above. Currently staring at the blank gray screen as I type this.
Launch into Safe Mode. No error messages found.
Run Apple Hardware Test. I ran the extensive test, but no issues were found with the hardware.

So I've tried all of these methods and I can't even get to Disk Utility or any other options. I don't care if I lose all the data on the old hard drive, I just want to be able to boot from the external drives or at least get to the point where I can run Disk Utility. What could be wrong with the computer?

TL;DR : MacBook Pro 2012 can't boot into recovery from internet, USB drive, or external hard drive. Gets to Apple logo and then either shuts down or hangs on a blank gray screen indefinitely. Help!!!

Other Info: I don't have TimeMachine backups. All the methods I've listed work on the second mac so I'm not entering any commands wrong. When charging my iPhone, if I attempt to boot from the internal drive, the phone will stop charging for a few seconds as the progress bar fills up before resuming charging.

Thank you for any help you may have. It is really appreciated.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Feb 16, 2019 12:46 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

DonH49

Level 6

16,704 points

Feb 16, 2019 5:20 PM in response to broken_mac

If you have a mechanical hard drive in that 2012 MacBook Pro then I'd suspect it is failing or has failed. If true no method of booting is going to work reliably. Go to fixit or OWC and review their repair videos and remove the internal hard drive and insert a good SSD. I'm assuming you do not have the retina 2012. if so you can also insert a second drive in place of the optical drive with a kit from OWC. Lastly, if you are successful and I guessed correctly then you have a good chance to get your data off that internal drive by placing it in a dock or external enclosure. If my guess is correct then STOP putting pressure on that internal drive tenable it to live a little longer.

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Answer 2

broken_mac Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 17, 2019 3:27 PM in response to DonH49

Thank you for your reply. Yes, you're correct that the drive is mechanical and that the mac is not retina. I removed the drive last night before I got a chance to read this post.

But can you explain why no booting method will work in my case? I understand that the internal drive is most likely damaged, but why won't booting from an external drive work here? I have a WD 512 GB SSD that I've tried booting with. Is there a difference between using this external drive as opposed to installing an SSD internally?

Thank you.

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Answer 3

DonH49

Level 6

16,704 points

Feb 17, 2019 4:17 PM in response to broken_mac

I can't explain why but through my experiences since 1986 I do notice that a damaged internal or even external drive is going to hinder the boot process. The process probably is trying to 'read' what's connected and gets stuck.

The SSD is ok as long as its rated 6 Gb/sec because your internal data is 6 GB/sec

If you have it in a external usb or thunderbolt, it will be slower than internal 6Gb/sec An example will be , going off memory here. write 310 mb/sec and read 385 mb/sec compared to internal write 650 & read 750 maybe higher. And that depends upon link width is either 4 or 2 but maybe that only applies to m2 drives and NVMe drives. Big difference in speed though. Also you can check ASP under sata and see if link speed is 6 or 3. 6 is going to be faster but you will bot see that using USB. AND....if you use trim force then you can trim a external thunderbolt drive using disk Utility but not USB.

Also if you go to OWC they sale a kit to place a drive where the optical bay is. I would not install a operating system but I would data no problem. I use a early 2011 MacBoon Pro 17 inch with a 2 terabyte mechanical for movies, tv , photos, music and a Samsung for system. Works fine both are 6 Gb/sec. Can't do that on a retina MacBook Pro. Don't ever get rid of that 2012. Run it until it dies for good.

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Answer 4

broken_mac Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 17, 2019 6:27 PM in response to DonH49

Thank you very much for this information, you obviously are very knowledgeable about this topic. I will see if using your tips will work!

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