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Hard Drive Formatting Issues - 2011 MBP

I have a late 2011 Macbook pro that started acting up a few weeks ago. Took it to an Apple store for a consultation and they came to the conclusion that part of my hard-drive not functioning properly. It just so happened to be the portion that had the bootup info on it (according to the tech). Rather than pay to have Apple install a new drive, I decided to go for it on my own as I've built more than a dozen PC's over the last 3 years, swapping out a hard drive is not a big deal to me. Even the tech at the store told me I shouldn't have any issues.


So I disconnected the battery, installed the new drive, inserted the disk that came with my MBP and I get nothing but a grey screen after the DVD drive makes noise reading the DVD for several minutes. I did some searching online and found that I could try to download the disk via holding Command + R at startup (just in case something on the physical DVD wasn't reading properly). The Command + R function shows me my wifi, connects, and downloads what it needs to, but I once again end up with nothing, but a grey or blue screen. I've tried two hard drives, both with the DVD and Command + R function several times now to no avail.


Am I missing a step here or could there be something else wrong with my machine? Are there any other utilities built into the machine I could be running?


I installed a Western Digital 7200 RPM, 500GB drive. Same specs as my original drive, but different manufacturer. I researched and found several other reviews of people using this drive in MBP's.


I re-formatted the original drive a few years back with the same DVD and no issues. I have no backups or other drives to go off of. I was running Windows 7 through boot-camp. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Feb 16, 2015 2:27 PM

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6 replies

Feb 16, 2015 3:26 PM in response to sp0tts

Hi I'm guessing that your install disk is ether 10.5 or 10.6. Try reseting the pram. Hold down Command/Option/P/R for three chimes. Could also remove battery and power cord then hold down the power button for 10 seconds. SMC reset. Then startup and insert the install disk holding down the C key. If it boots to install use the disk utilities off the install disk to prepare you internal drive.`Erase the drive use mac extended journaled Select 1 partition /option/GUID/Erase.http://support.apple.com/en-us/TS2570 The install disk has to be machine specific or a universal install disk. http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT3910

Feb 16, 2015 8:12 PM in response to my ginger

Thank you for the response. The disk is 10.6.6 and it is the disk that came with this Macbook Pro.


I tried the PRAM reset (3 separate times) as well as the SMC reset. Previously, I had been getting a grey screen, it's now going to blue after the DVD gives up on reading.

I also tried running the hardware checking tool on the accessories disk, 3 times, twice in the more thorough mode with no errors. I am being patient every time and trying to let it run it's process.

This is beyond frustrating. My best guess at this point is the hard drives aren't being recognized. Others who reviewed the same hard-drives I bought had success doing the same thing I'm trying here (with similar versions of OS X).

Hard drive model purchased is wd5000bpkx.

Any more suggestions?

Feb 16, 2015 9:48 PM in response to sp0tts

A little more digging done, I'm pretty sure the "Genius" was wrong to begin with. My issues started similar to a lot of the issues stated in this thread: Macbook Pro (15" early 2011) horizontal lines on screen and not booting...?


Appears not it's the GPU on the Logic Board and a lot of others are having the same issue. Looking back, my problems all started this way.


<Edited by Host>

Feb 17, 2015 9:22 AM in response to sp0tts

Hi. Reading your posts and I am starting to wonder if your internal optical drive is having trouble reading your install disk. The blue screen would be normal to have with the install disk in , just before it show an install screen. Showing a problem with the disk drive or the install disk.You could try an external dvd drive to check this out. I myself have found that sometimes I have had to very carefully with water and a very soft cloth, clean an install disk that has sat around for a long time, to get it to read.Trying your internal hard drive in an external inclosure is not a bad idea ether.

Feb 17, 2015 9:54 AM in response to my ginger

Thank you for your suggestions. It is definitely not a dirty disk, damaged disk, or the optical drive. If the optical drive or disk had anything to do with the issue at hand, a remote recovery from Apple's servers (Command +R) would have worked (failed several times - it connects to Apple's servers and downloads the recovery, but screen goes blue or grey the same as it does with the DVD, after the download completes and when recovery tries to initialize).


Like I said in my last post (that was edited by the mods, probably bc I linked the class action site). The issue here is a failed GPU on the Logic Card. Genius got it wrong here when I went to the store. If I felt like wasting any more of my time and money I'd take the scrapheap to the store and let them put in a new hard drive and pay their labor to then be told after the fact that I need a new logic board.


After reading the other thread (Macbook Pro (15" early 2011) horizontal lines on screen and not booting...?) - and reading ALL PAGES, I'm certain the hard drive was never the issue here. The thread I linked explains several others having the same symptoms my laptop started with (the screen jumping around and lines on the screen) before complete failure of the system. Several others in that thread have had the same problems trying to reformat as I am having. The symptoms and results are all the same. There is a class action lawsuit ongoing for this issue as there have been many hardware failures on these GPUs from this model year. The Hardware checks I'm running and the ones Genius ran simply didn't pick up on the issue. Others in that thread have even had replacements fail and the replacements only carry a 90 day warranty. At this point, it's a 3 year old machine that needs a new logic board, and a new battery, not a worthwhile investment of $300-$500 in my opinion.


Thanks again for your help.

Hard Drive Formatting Issues - 2011 MBP

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