Judy Churchill

Q: what does it mean when the sleep light flashes and the computer beeps?

Trying to test a newly created bootable system backup created on an external HDD. Running OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard on a mid 2011 13" MacBookPro. All seemed to be fine, then suddenly the computer started beeping and the sleep light started flashing. What does this indicate?

 

A different external HDD with OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard functioned as the boot drive with no issues on the same computer.

 

Both external HDDs were connected to the MacBookPro via firewire 800 cables.

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.1), Cinema Display

Posted on Feb 4, 2015 11:15 AM

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Q: what does it mean when the sleep light flashes and the computer beeps?

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  • by appleaddict190,

    appleaddict190 appleaddict190 Feb 4, 2015 11:26 AM in response to Judy Churchill
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 4, 2015 11:26 AM in response to Judy Churchill

    Return the RAM. It might be faulty.

  • by Judy Churchill,

    Judy Churchill Judy Churchill Feb 4, 2015 11:32 AM in response to appleaddict190
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 11:32 AM in response to appleaddict190

    I think that is unlikely in this situation since the symptoms only happen when I try to boot from that one external HDD. The computer works just fine when booting from its internal HDD or from a different external HDD -- and all of those circumstances are using the same RAM modules.

     

    Any idea of what might be missing on that bootable system backup that causes the flashing sleep light and beeping? What, in addition to faulty RAM modules, will cause this symptom set?

  • by spudnuty,

    spudnuty spudnuty Feb 4, 2015 12:28 PM in response to Judy Churchill
    Level 5 (7,097 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 4, 2015 12:28 PM in response to Judy Churchill

    "A different external HDD with OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard functioned as the boot drive with no issues on the same computer."

    So is this all in the same external enclosure?


    " mid 2011 13" MacBookPro"

    Wasn't aware of a mid, only early and late. I have an early and a late.


    " What, in addition to faulty RAM modules, will cause this symptom set?"

    How was the external created? I prefer Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner because they make an exact copy. I've never had boot problems using either. Currently mostly Super Duper  because I finally bought it.


    "Both external HDDs were connected to the MacBookPro via firewire 800 cables."

    Same cable or different cables?

    So could be cable problems or enclosure compatibility.

  • by Judy Churchill,

    Judy Churchill Judy Churchill Feb 4, 2015 3:13 PM in response to spudnuty
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Feb 4, 2015 3:13 PM in response to spudnuty

    Both external HDDs are in separate enclosures. Both are bus powered OWC Mercury On-The_Go Pros since they get moved around a lot. The problematic HDD is 1TB and the one that works is 500GB. I use the 500GB HDD to boot my office 2006-iMac. I'm running out of space on that HDD, so wanted to replicate its contents on the 1TB drive so I could replace it with the 1TB HDD.

     

    I don't remember if I daisy chained the 2 external HDDs or used them with the same firewire 800 cable by switching the HDDs but keeping the cable the same. I've been reluctant to try that HDD again until I knew what was going on.

     

    I've used Synchronize! X Pro since 2005 to make bootable system backups or to just synchronize the contents of selected folders. Back in 2003-2005 I tried both Super Duper and Carbon Copy Cloner. When I found that the backups created by those programs in 2003-2005 didn't have the same creation dates as the originals, I decided to go with Synchronize! X Pro. I've been very satisfied with that product for quite a few years. (I still have Carbon Copy Cloner.app ver 2.3 from 2003 in my Applications folder.)

     

    I mis-spoke -- the computer is an early 2011 MacBook Pro. I have 2 other MacBook Pros (2009, 2012), 3 iMacs (2006, 2011, 2014), a MacBookAir (2010), and a MacBook (2008). I use either Snow Leopard or Yosemite.

     

    So -- it sounds as tho the only suggestions I'm getting are hardware related as to what would cause the beeping and sleep light flashing?

  • by OGELTHORPE,

    OGELTHORPE OGELTHORPE Feb 4, 2015 3:32 PM in response to Judy Churchill
    Level 9 (52,101 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 4, 2015 3:32 PM in response to Judy Churchill

    Did you format the 1TB HDD to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in Disk Utility?

     

    Connect the 1 TB HDD to the MBP and run Disk Utility>First Aid, Verify and Repair.

     

    You might consider erasing the 1 TB HDD and Use Disk Utility>Restore to clone the HDD.

     

    I would take out the RAM, clean the contacts and re-install the modules.  Please read these support articles:

     

    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203576

     

    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201702

     

    http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202768

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH14205

     

    Ciao.

  • by Judy Churchill,Solvedanswer

    Judy Churchill Judy Churchill Feb 5, 2015 11:25 AM in response to Judy Churchill
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Feb 5, 2015 11:25 AM in response to Judy Churchill

    Update -- using Synchronize! X Pro, I re-did the create bootable system backup on that problematic 1TB HDD using the 2006 iMac booted from the external 500GB HDD. ~16GB data needed to be written to the 1TB HDD. I then was able to boot the 2006 iMac from the 1TB HDD with no issues -- no beeps or complaints from the computer. That was my original goal and plans for this 1TB HDD.

     

    The 1TB external HDD was also able to function as the boot drive for my 2009 MacBookPro. The 2011 MacBookPro is busy doing something else so couldn't be tested right now.

     

    I think the issue came about due to the set-up I used when making the bootable system backup in the first place. I was booted from the internal HDD of the 2011 MackBookPro with firewire 800 cable to the 500GB HDD and another firewire 800 cable to the 1TB HDD. I instructed Synchronize! X Pro to create a bootable system backup on the 1TB HDD using the 500GB HDD as source. It's likely that scenario resulted in an incomplete creation of a bootable system backup on the 1TB HDD.

     

    Anyway -- there apparently is another reason than faulty RAM modules that will cause a MacBookPro to beep and flash its sleep indicator. Note that these signs of distress didn't appear upon start-up but only after I started mousing around and opening folders when booted from the faulty backup.

     

    Thank you for all of your suggestions, but none of the support documents cited were appropriate for my issue.

  • by Judy Churchill,

    Judy Churchill Judy Churchill Feb 5, 2015 12:14 PM in response to Judy Churchill
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Feb 5, 2015 12:14 PM in response to Judy Churchill

    Additional update -- I was wrong -- there's something unique about the 2011 MacBookPro and the 1TB external HDD combination. When I try to boot that computer from the 1TB external HDD the start-up appears to be OK with the Finder loading and the screen looks as it should but when I start to mouse around, then the beeping and flashing start. 3 beeps & flashes, pause, 3 beeps and flashes. Starts as soon as I use the Logitech USB mouse. I don't even have to click on anything. Pointer freezes and alarm begins. The report that was sent to Apple said panic(cpu 3 caller ....: Kernel trap at ...., type 14=page fault, registers:.... Note that the alarm does not happen during start-up but only once I start to mouse around.

     

    However, the 500GB external HDD has no issues when used to boot the same 2011 MacBookPro (using the same firewire cable and same Logitech USB mouse). No freeze of pointer and no alarms or flashes. No problems opening folders and mousing around through the file structure.

     

    Fortunately, my goal for that 1TB HDD was for it to drive the 2006 iMac -- which it did. Thus my original question was answered.