fredrikb81
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Boot issues Macbook Pro 17 inch (Yosemite)

Hi all,

 

All of sudden my MacBook won't boot properly. It is a MacBook Pro 17 inch, 2011 model, running Yosemite.

 

The symptoms are as follows;

 

  • When turned on, I get the normal "chime" and the Apple logo appears (black on grey background)
  • After a few seconds, the "progress bar" turns up under the Apple logo and starts progressing
  • When at about 40%, it sticks for a minute and then disappears and is replaced by a completely grey screen
  • In some cases, it reboots after a while, in some cases it sticks at the grey screen
  • It never boots properly, this fault is constant

 

I have looked around online for pointers (although I have not found anyone describing this same symptom) and so far I have tried the following without success:

 

  • Replaced all RAM to rule out hardware issues with them (did not help the problem)
  • Reset SMC (succeeded but did not help the problem)
  • Reset PRAM/VNRAM (succeded but did not help the problem)
  • Start into safe mode (failed, safe mode won't start and i get the same progress bar)
  • Start into recovery mode (failed, safe mode won't start and i get the same progress bar)
  • Start from an installation disk/drive (failed, it allows me to select the drive to start from , but then gives the same progress bar issue)

 

So now I am a little lost for ideas. Could this be an indication of a hardware malfunction or am I missing some other way of overriding the software? I have all my important data backed up so I am not so concerned about losing it. However, I am not too keen at sending it in for repairs unless I really have to.

 

Any tips, pointers or crazy ideas are highly appreciated!

 

Best,

Fredrik

MacBook Pro (17-inch Late 2011), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 8, 2015 5:54 AM

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fredrikb81

Q: Boot issues Macbook Pro 17 inch (Yosemite)

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Smokerz,

    Smokerz Smokerz Mar 8, 2015 6:19 AM in response to fredrikb81
    Level 6 (9,699 points)
    Mar 8, 2015 6:19 AM in response to fredrikb81

    at minimum go to apple support and search for refi and sm. firmware updaters. You can cross check the versions using ASP. Just make sure you are up to date.

    I had the early 2011 17 inch MBPro and ran Yosemite 10.10.2 no issues. Although I made sure efi and smc was updated first.

     

    EFI and SMC firmware updates for Intel-based Macs - Apple Support

  • by fredrikb81,

    fredrikb81 fredrikb81 Mar 8, 2015 6:40 AM in response to Smokerz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 8, 2015 6:40 AM in response to Smokerz

    Thanks for your reply!

     

    Sounds like something I should have done before installing Yosemite? Anyhow, I guess there is nothing I can do about it now as I cannot access the operating system?

  • by Hotchili,

    Hotchili Hotchili Apr 24, 2015 12:51 PM in response to fredrikb81
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 24, 2015 12:51 PM in response to fredrikb81

    I don't have anything to add except that I'm seeing the exact same behavior on a 15" MBP EMC 2417. It seems to get all the way to to login window and crashes, no matter how I try to boot the machine (even using another working Mac in target mode). Single user mode is the only mode that doesn't crash, but can't do a whole lot there. I say it's crashed because the caps lock key doesn't work as soon as it goes to the blank screen, which usually indicates a crash of some sort in my experience. Couldn't even get it to run diagnostics. I think it's a hardware issue, but not sure what.