When I press in the bottom left corner of my 2012 Macbook Pro, my computer freezes

My question is basically what I said above. When I press anywhere in the lower left corner with any decent amount of force (eg picking it up by that corner) the computer freezes and needs to be shut down and restarted. I tested the hardware and nothing came back problematic. Any ideas?

MacBook Pro, iOS 8.2

Posted on Apr 10, 2015 11:25 PM

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10 replies

Apr 11, 2015 11:57 AM in response to lukester43

"When I press anywhere in the lower left corner with any decent amount of force (eg picking it up by that corner) the computer freezes and needs to be shut down and restarted. I tested the hardware and nothing came back problematic. Any ideas?"


So if this is the non Retina 13" that area is where the hard drive is. That hard drive cable is a known problem area.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Hard+Drive+Rep lacement/10378


I would test it by taking the bottom off and running it while up on blocks or hanging over the edge so you can access that area where the cable is. Gently disturb the cable and see if you can replicate the fault.

If that's the problem you can get the part at iFixIt.

Apr 11, 2015 12:09 PM in response to spudnuty

spudnuty wrote:


So if this is the non Retina 13" that area is where the hard drive is. That hard drive cable is a known problem area.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Hard+Drive+Rep lacement/10378


The hard drive is only on the left when you turn it upside down! 😁

Looking at the keyboard, the hard drive is on the right. (next to the DVD slot).

Apr 11, 2015 12:24 PM in response to spudnuty

Sometimes some horizontal black bars show up on the screen and either flash or stay on the screen when it is frozen, but sometimes the computer simply freezes. I have already taken it to a local computer shop and they couldn't find anything wrong with any connections that were easily visible, although that doesn't mean some small hidden connection couldn't be faulty.

Apr 11, 2015 11:45 PM in response to lukester43

"some horizontal black bars show up on the screen and either flash or stay on the screen when it is frozen,"

So since Macs are GUI then a failure in the GPU chip will cause the OS to freeze. It could still be the hard drive cable but more unlikely w/ the black bars.

"but sometimes the computer simply freezes."

That could be because the GPU interruption is very short.

"they couldn't find anything wrong with any connections that were easily visible"

Yes that would be because the actual problem is with the GPU chip itself. It would be the attachment to the logic board.

You could run the AHT and cause the fault and see what the AHT shows. Not sure if the AHT works this way the ASD does.

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When I press in the bottom left corner of my 2012 Macbook Pro, my computer freezes

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