Update on my Macbook Pro (mid 2010) 15", 2.4 GHz

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8 points

Update on my Macbook Pro (mid 2010) 15", 2.4 GHz

Hello all,

Few weeks ago I posted a question because my Macbook pro suddenly went into a sleep mode all of a sudden and now it does not respond to commands when I start it. It just shows a black screen, the disk status light is on but there is no light in the keyboard and it gives no power to external devices (mouse and keyboard) when connected.

I upgraded my Macbook pro few years ago with 8gb of RAM and an SSD running currently High sierra (macOS 10.13.6). Apart from this, I removed the optical drive and I installed the HDD that I had to have extra storage. Everything worked perfectly.

After trying many things, the computer still does not respond and, as I understood, this should be a problem with the Logic board.

Luckily, I realized that my sister had the same computer but she does not use it so I was thinking on transferring the RAM, SSD and HDD to my sisters computer to see if it works.

Now the computer turns on, but there is this folder with a question mark sign in the screen. I read that

this is because the startup disk is not properly working. I tried to press Cmd+R while starting but I cannot access the recovery mode or so.

I do not know if it would make sense to install the SSD as second hard drive and start the computer with the HDD (this works) and access disk utility to check.

Should I erase the SSD and reinstall macOS?

What would you recommend me?

Thank you very much

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on May 6, 2021 12:25 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

HWTech

Level 9

55,730 points

May 6, 2021 7:03 PM in response to berguss

A blinking folder with question mark indicates that a bootable version of macOS is not found on any drive or the internal drive may be missing due to a drive failure, loose cable connection, or a bad cable.

You can definitely try installing the old hard drive if it is running macOS 10.13.6 since you don't want to run an older version of Disk Utility to repair a volume. Another option is to create a bootable macOS 10.13 USB installer. You can use it to check with Disk Utility First Aid plus if necessary to reinstall macOS. Did you try Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R?

If you don't see the SSD with Disk Utility, then within Disk Utility click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. If you don't see the physical SSD, then it means you have a cable connection issue, or a bad/incompatible SSD, or a bad SATA Cable.

What version of macOS was your sister's laptop running before?

Are you really sure it is the exact same model? It is possible it could be a 2009 model where it may not be able to run macOS 10.13. You can get this information by clicking the Apple menu and selecting "About This Mac" or by entering the serial number here:

https://checkcoverage.apple.com/

Make sure to reseat the hard drive SATA Cable as it may have come dislodged slightly.

As for your laptop that won't power on did you try an SMC Reset? Also try disconnecting the battery and try powering on the laptop with just the charger while the battery is still disconnected. Sometimes a bad battery or a completely depleted battery will prevent an Apple laptop from powering on or charging. IIRC this model is also known for GPU failures which can also prevent the laptop from powering on in some cases.

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

55,730 points

May 10, 2021 7:50 AM in response to berguss

I think all you need to do is first back up the hard drive's data just to be safe. Then I would install High Sierra onto the hard drive since the hard drive in this laptop is only running Yosemite. By doing this you will be updating the system firmware on the laptop. Once the system firmware has been updated I think your SSD which already has High Sierra will work just as it is.

If my hunch is wrong, then you can perform a clean install on the SSD.

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Answer 3

berguss Author

Level 1

8 points

May 9, 2021 4:33 AM in response to HWTech

Hello!

Thank you very much for your feedback.

Regarding the models, they are both mid 2010 15”.

I connected the HDD from my sister (currently running OS X Yosemite 10.10.5) as starting disk and I connected my SSD that was running OS High Sierra (in the optical drive space) to see if I could reach it in disk Utility. I do see the SSD in disk Utility and I clicked on repair. Then, I checked on boot drive in preferences but I only see the HDD. Also I do not see it in finder.

Then I realised that, when I start the computer pressing the option key, I only see the HDD running Yosemite so it is not possible to start the SSD to see if the operating system works. When I start the internet recovery mode I can also access the disk utility and there is an option to install OS X.

I have a bootable USB with High Sierra from when I installed it in Oct. 2019.

At this point, I understand that there is no other way to start the computer with the SSD (High Sierra) so I cannot access the info (it was mainly apps, the documents were mostly in my second storage HDD. Let’s call this one HDD2).

Should I then erase the info in the SSD so that I can boot the computer with the installation USB to install High Sierra from the scratch?

If so, how should I proceed?

Is it better to erase everything from disk utility when I am running the HDD with Yosemite with the SSD as second drive so that I can, later on, install the SSD as first disk and then the HDD2 as storage in the optical drive space?

Is it better to start the computer (SSD as first drive and HDD2 as storage) and boot with the USB so that I delete the SSD and install high Sierra from the USB?

which option is better?

Thank you very much

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Answer 4

HWTech

Level 9

55,730 points

May 9, 2021 8:06 PM in response to berguss

If your SSD has macOS 10.13 installed, then macOS 10.10 won't be able to mount & read the contents of the SSD since the SSD will be formatted with the new APFS file system that macOS 10.10 does not even understand. If your daughter's laptop has never had macOS 10.13 installed, then the system firmware is unlikely to recognize the bootable APFS volume since the older system firmware doesn't understand the APFS file system so that is likely why your daughter's laptop won't boot the SSD.

Is the bootable USB with High Sierra a full install of macOS or just an installer?

You should definitely install the SSD into the main drive bay because the SATA Controller of the optical drive bay may not work reliably with an SSD especially for a boot drive especially on a 2010 model. I would use a bootable macOS 10.13 USB installer if you have one available. I think if you upgrade your daughter's hard drive from Yosemite to High Sierra that your SSD will be able to boot in your daughter's laptop as is.

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Answer 5

berguss Author

Level 1

8 points

May 10, 2021 7:36 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you very much.

I do think that the USB is a bootable full install since I used it last time to install High Sierra in my SSD.

So, then I understand that the best solution is to start the computer with the SSD as first drive and the other HDD as storage and initiate the High Sierra installation from the USB. I will erase the SSD from disk utility and install again High Sierra, right?

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Answer 6

berguss Author

Level 1

8 points

May 10, 2021 7:53 AM in response to HWTech

Thank you very much!

It sounds good

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Update on my Macbook Pro (mid 2010) 15", 2.4 GHz

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