Macbook Pro 13" (mid 2010) reboot loop during Mountain Lion install
Hi all.
I have a very frustraiting issue with my mid 2010 MBP 13" (7.1) that started a mounth ago:
Before all my troubble began it was fully updated with the latest Mountain Lion, Firmware and SMC.
During an iPad sync my MBP went into hybernation because of low power (yeah, I know. I should have noticed that)
When I got it back on power it failed to snap out of hybernation. When I held down the power button for a few seconds it did start to boot.
When it came back to the desktop it rebooted only after 10 seconds or so. I let it reboot like this about 5 times until I started to hunt down a way to resolve this on the support forums. Based on the forums I have tried the following:
- Reset PRAM. http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4405
- Reset SMC. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
- Refit RAM blocks
- Disconnect it from power, remove battery and press and hold power button for 10 + seconds
- Go to Disc Util, verify/repair disc http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1417
- Go to Disc Util, verify/repair permission http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1417
- Run Apple Hardware Test http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509 This test returned no errors in both standard and extensive mode.
None of this solved my problem. It possibly only made it worse. It reboots during boot or just after desktop appears.
A suggestion from a forum was to replace the HDD with a new one. I then bought a WD SSHD 1TB thinking that i might as well upgrade while troubbleshooting.
I switched the HDD and booted. Since the MBP came with the Snow Leopard (10.6.3) DVD I installed with this.
The install went perfect so I thought to myself that I made it. I then went on to upgrading to Mountain Lion through App store.
During the ML install the computer rebooted.... and rebooted.... and rebooted... and........ (imagine my frustration level here).
I tried all of the above but to no avail.
Thinking that Snow Leopard seemed to work I found an old 128 GB HDD and installed that with Snow Leopard. I made a full system update including iLife components.
Now, That works fine except for an extremely slow boot. It takes a coupple of minutes to enter desktop and keystrokes/mouseclicks are cashed for about 5 minutes.
I then took it to a professional Mac repair shop and let him have a go at it (with the original HDD). He worked on it a whole day and tried to switch just about everything (Logic-board, Top case, all cables, HDD, Superdrive, DC-In, Fan) but again with no resolution.He concluded that there is no apparent hardware errors.
When I got it back the fan ran at 100% and I could see (with the Snow Leopard disc) that SMC version was 0.000 ???
An extensive search lead me to this: http://chimac.net/2010/04/27/how-to-flash-the-firmware-3rd-party-hack/
I followed the guide and the SMC was back to 1.6
I re-inserted the SSHD and went into Disc Util to erase the disk to start all over. I erased the main partition but coudn't erase the restoration partition.
Now the disc is installing through the restoration web installer (Reinstall OS X) but it keeps rebooting after about 2.5-3 minutes after the chime. Sometimes I don't even get to type in my Apple-ID before it reboots, and it is so far only downloading the installer!!!
Here is what i don't understand:
- Why does the MBP keep on rebooting even when the OS is not yet installed?
- Why is there a sluggish keyboard/mouse response the first 8-10 minutes?
- If there is no hardware error why does Single User Mode give me bluetoothusbhubport error?
- If there is a faulty Bluetooth, how can that result in constant reboot even when the OS is not yet installed?
I suspect that the root cause is with the iPad being connected/syncing while it went into hybernation but the right solution keeps eluding me.
I appologize for the long entry but this is REALLY testing my paitence. I hope some of you great people can point me in the right direction.
MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)