MacBook Pro Early 2011 - Stuck in booting

I Hello everyone,


I have a MacBook Pro 15" early 2011.

It has been slow and full since a long time so I decided to upgrade it with a Samsung 870EVO 2.5 SATA SSD.


Since then, I can't access anything.

I can't boot from a USB with High Sierra (tried 2 USB keys) white screen of death when I boot with the USB. I can no longer access recovery mode (white screen of death after loading).


When I put in the old disk, I get a sign that I can't get through after loading with the logo. I can't access recovery mode either (white screen of death).


I can't type a command in verbose (with old disk) plus it goes into error too.

Do you have any ideas ?

MacBook Pro 15″

Posted on Sep 2, 2023 8:55 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 3, 2023 12:56 PM

From the second picture it would seems like either a GPU failure which is very common with the 15" & 17" models, or the LCD Panel has a hardware fault assuming the text was not still scrolling by at the time the picture was taken.


To eliminate the possibility of the internal drive failure or compatibility issue, remove the internal drive and try booting from the USB installer and Internet Recovery Mode.


When booting with Verbose Mode, that mode only prints out the boot log so there is no way to enter any commands. You are mixing up Verbose Mode with Single User Mode (Command + S) where it boots to the command line which allows you to issue commands.


FYI, Samsung SSDs, especially the EVO series do not have the best reputation with Macs, they seem to have compatibility issues. I'm not saying this is the case here, but generally there are issues at least from what I've seen discussed on these forums over the years.


Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. Usually the diagnostics won't detect most problems, but it never hurts to try. If you see the same graphical anomalies while booted to the diagnostics, then you definitely have a hardware issue of some sort.

Similar questions

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 3, 2023 12:56 PM in response to MélJol

From the second picture it would seems like either a GPU failure which is very common with the 15" & 17" models, or the LCD Panel has a hardware fault assuming the text was not still scrolling by at the time the picture was taken.


To eliminate the possibility of the internal drive failure or compatibility issue, remove the internal drive and try booting from the USB installer and Internet Recovery Mode.


When booting with Verbose Mode, that mode only prints out the boot log so there is no way to enter any commands. You are mixing up Verbose Mode with Single User Mode (Command + S) where it boots to the command line which allows you to issue commands.


FYI, Samsung SSDs, especially the EVO series do not have the best reputation with Macs, they seem to have compatibility issues. I'm not saying this is the case here, but generally there are issues at least from what I've seen discussed on these forums over the years.


Try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. Usually the diagnostics won't detect most problems, but it never hurts to try. If you see the same graphical anomalies while booted to the diagnostics, then you definitely have a hardware issue of some sort.

Sep 4, 2023 6:49 PM in response to MélJol

That Mac shipped with optical installation media (DVDs) that must accompany it from cradle to grave. Boot from the one labeled "System Install DVD" to format the replacement SSD and install its shipping software which for that Mac would be OS X 10.6.x "Snow Leopard".


Assuming you no longer have those two grey discs, the next best option is to obtain a retail, white, Mac OS X Snow Leopard DVD. Apple no longer sells them but they can be found from aftermarket sources.


Do not purchase a "USB installer" since there can be no guarantee they don't contain malware. Besides, selling them would be violating Apple's licensing restrictions.


For unrelated reasons there is no way to install macOS from Apple's Recovery servers at present. Either their Recovery servers for older macOS versions are down (and have been for several weeks) or Apple silently removed that option. The only practicable option at the moment are those installation DVDs.


As HWTech noted the Samsung "EVO" series SSDs have been perennial problems on Macs. If they work at all, they have a tendency to fail or become abysmally slow in a short time. Slower than HDDs. You might be better off reinstalling that Mac's original hard disk drive for now.


The AMD Radion discrete GPUs are also a notorious trouble spot on that model Mac. Since they are long since out of production, replacements require harvesting them from equally old Macs, supplies of which are now practically nonexistent.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

MacBook Pro Early 2011 - Stuck in booting

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.