Do I need to replace my SSD?

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Level 1

8 points

Do I need to replace my SSD?

I have a mid-2012 Macbook Air that has been suffering from a range of issues over the past few months. It freezes and shuts down randomly. It also sometimes shows the flashing question-mark folder upon startup. It also often runs extremely slow even when first turned on (it should be fast as it has 8gb of ram). I have been trying to figure out what the problem is, and I think it may be the SSD for the following reasons:

I tried erasing the internal SSD from disk utility and installing and running MacOS on an external hard drive. Everything works perfectly on the computer while running MacOS from the external drive (it was on for 24+ hours without shutting down/freezing and without slowness issues).
While I was using MacOS from the external drive (it had been on for a few hours), the following message suddenly popped up in the top right corner:
It seemed strange to me that the internal SSD would "eject" randomly while I was using the computer.
Many of the times I've tried to run the Apple Hardware Tests (by holding down D during startup) the computer randomly shuts down before I'm able to complete the test. Sometimes it even shuts down before I am able to begin the test (while inputting the WI-Fi network details).

I tried opening up the back of the computer and removing the SSD, cleaning the area with compressed air, and then reinserting the SSD, however the problems/issues persist. Do you think I need to replace the SSD? Maybe the issue is the SATA cable that connects to the SSD? Do you think I should replace that?

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 14, 2017 8:35 PM

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Answer 1

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Sep 15, 2017 8:24 PM in response to leopold_

That points to the SSD being ok. Unfortunately, I think it also points to something else being wrong. In your position, I would bring the Mac to an Apple Store “genius” bar, where they have actual diagnostic tools, for a free diagnosis: https://support.apple.com/contact

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Answer 2

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Sep 15, 2017 7:43 AM in response to leopold_

Also, I neglected to mention in my previous post, it could also be the RAM. If you have replaced the original RAM, it is best to reinstall it for test purposes. Your Mac removable RAM, it will be mounted in two slots. To test out one RAM module at a time and one slot at a time, remove one of the modules and try running your Mac. If the issue is gone, then the other RAM module or slot is bad. If the issue persists, move the module to the other slot and trying running again. Repeat this process for the other module. In this way you should be able to identify whether it's one/both of the RAM modules or one/both of the RAM slots.

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Answer 3

leopold_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 15, 2017 11:18 AM in response to tjk

Thanks for the response tjk!

Where could I buy an HD cable for the mid-2012 MacBook Air? Is this the correct item?

As I mentioned, when I run MacOS from an external hard drive, everything works perfectly (it was on for 24+ hours without shutting down/freezing and without slowness issues). Wouldn't that rule out RAM issues?

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Answer 4

tjk

Level 9

51,116 points

Sep 15, 2017 1:26 PM in response to leopold_

Forget my replies, I was thinking of the 2012 MacBook Pro, which has had a lot of HD cable issues with symptoms such as this. I am not recommending replacing the cable and SSD slot as I can't remember hearing about one going bad (and it's difficult to know if the one you linked is the correct one, but I don't think so). Also, the MBA's RAM is non-replaceable. My bad all the way around. 😟

Where does that leave you? I'd do is run First Aid to see if it catches anything with the SSD:

Open Utilities > Disk Utility > select your HD on the left (the first item on the list) > make sure S.M.A.R.T. status says “Verified” (if it doesn’t it means there is a hardware issue with the HD, or an impending one) > click on the second item on the list (which should be Macintosh HD or the name you named your internal HD) > click on “First Aid” > (depending on your OS, you may have to click on Repair Disk or Verify Disk) > click on “Run” > allow it to finish running > click on “Show Details” > look at the last few lines and see if it says something like "Appears to be OK" and/or “Operation successful;” if it repaired anything, run it again, until you get two clean runs in a row. Click on “Done,” go to the Disk Utility menu and select “Quit Disk Utility.”

If it says “Cannot be repaired” or something like it any time during the run, run it a few more times to see if Disk Utility can repair it. If not, click on “Done,” go to the Disk Utility menu, select “Quit Disk Utility.”

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Answer 5

leopold_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 15, 2017 8:07 PM in response to tjk

Thanks for the reply tjk!

I ran First Aid and after all of the checks it says the following:

"The volume Macintosh HD appears to be OK"

"File system check exit code is 0"

"Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required"

"Operation successful"

When I run it again it says the same stuff.

Do you think I need to replace the SSD then to solve the issues? If so, where should I buy it from? What kind?

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Answer 6

leopold_ Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 16, 2017 11:32 AM in response to tjk

Thanks tjk!

What I don't understand then is why the computer works perfectly when I boot and run MacOS from an external hard drive. Doesn't that mean there would have to be something wrong with the SSD?

Even if the computer is out of warranty and has had unauthorized work done on it in the past, are they likely to do a free diagnostic to tell me what's wrong with it?

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