Updated MBP Late 2009 to El Capitan and I'm having some problems

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Updated MBP Late 2009 to El Capitan and I'm having some problems

Hi Guys

I updated my MacBook Pro Late 2009 from OS X Yosemite to El Capitan. All was working fine until today when I tried to open Opera Browser (which was working), and my screen showed flickering striped lines (red, black, grey...). It then shut down on its own. I then tried turning it on and it was beeping, showing a black screen. The beep was one in 1 to 2 seconds. I tried resetting the PRAM/NVRAM (I googled it) but nothing happened. I left it for an hour and tried booting it, and it worked. I then went on to try Opera and it did the same problem. Is there something I need to know that is making my machine behave this way? Are there any software issues that my Mac is having with this new OS X? What is the best thing to do now considering the fact that i did not BackUp my Mac while using Yosemite? Help me out guys.

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.3), Late 2009 Model, 4GB RAM, 250GB SSD

Posted on Feb 29, 2016 7:48 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,519 points

Feb 29, 2016 8:02 AM in response to Pete_ZW

Which tome did you hear?

1 tone, repeating every 5 seconds: This indicates no RAM is installed.
3 successive tones, a 5 second pause (repeating): This indicates RAM does not pass a data integrity check.
1 long tone while holding down the power button: Indicates an EFI ROM update is in progress on a computer manufactured before 2012.
3 long tones, 3 short tones, 3 long tones: Indicates EFI ROM corruption is detected and the computer is in EFI ROM recovery mode.

From:

About Mac computer startup tones - Apple Support

This is the Mac Pro desktop forum. I requested your post be moved to the MacBook Pro laptop forum.

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Answer 2

Pete_ZW Author

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Feb 29, 2016 9:13 AM in response to lllaass

Hi there.

Thanks for your reply. I can safely say that it was the First one, but I disagree with it in the sense that it would boot up normally if i left it for a while. Once I boot up it shows that the RAM is installed on the "About this Mac" option. Once I open the Opera Browser it misbehaves again. Also it usually crashes when I connect my Samsung Galaxy Pocket, after I installed the Kies Software from Samsung.

I"m confused

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,519 points

Feb 29, 2016 9:24 AM in response to Pete_ZW

Try reseating the RAM

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/macbookpro_17_unibody_mem/

Run Apple hardware test

Using Apple Hardware Test - Apple Support

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Answer 4

Pete_ZW Author

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Feb 29, 2016 9:28 AM in response to lllaass

I've tried re-seating the RAM. There was no problem there. Let me try the "Hardware Test" and I'll tell you what I found.

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Answer 5

dwb

Level 7

33,298 points

Feb 29, 2016 10:31 AM in response to Pete_ZW

Keep in mind that the RAM test is only conclusive if it shows a fail. If I had a dollar for every RAM test I’ve run that has passed but the RAM was actually bad I could have retired in my late 40s. (How do I know it was bad when the test didn’t fail? Put the RAM in a computer that is functioning fine and watch it crash. Or put RAM from a healthy computer into the crashing one and watch it run fine.)

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Answer 6

Pete_ZW Author

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Mar 1, 2016 12:06 AM in response to dwb

Hi there.

Can only one or two applications show that the RAM is bad? If I open Safari, Mail, iTunes, MS Office Apps,..., the MacBook doesn't crash. If I open Opera and/or Samsung Kies, it freezes, showing flickering stripes; then shuts down itself. Does it mean that these and some other apps are crashing the machine or damage the RAM? What is quite confusing me is that even if I open iMovie, Safari, Mail, GarageBand, iTunes, RStudio and MS Office Apps, all AT THE SAME TIME, the machine works just fine.

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Answer 7

lllaass

Level 10

210,519 points

Mar 1, 2016 12:42 AM in response to Pete_ZW

Yes. Only a few bits on RAM stick are likely bad and yo only have problems when data is written to and red from those bits. It is actually more complicated than that since accessing an bit can corrupt an adjacent bit. That is why testing for memory problems is very very hard.

Since you got the tones that said memory problems that means a hardware problem since no information is is read from any disks, only from the EFi firmware.

As a test yo can remove one stick of memory but with only 2 GB of memory the computer wlil be slow

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