2012 Macbook Pro suddenly turned slow two weeks ago, now it keeps rebooting while trying to reinstall OS X El Capitan. Afraid it's dead!

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2012 Macbook Pro suddenly turned slow two weeks ago, now it keeps rebooting while trying to reinstall OS X El Capitan. Afraid it's dead!

Hi everyone.

I own a Macbook Pro from summer 2012, just after an upgrade in the hardware. Can't remember exact stats, and now I can't get anything out from it.

It has been running fairly decent with no problems until two weeks ago, the day after a small update of remote desktop, where it suddenly took 10 minutes to boot the computer, and opening apps like Safari took +1 minute. There was no error messages at any time.

I feared an impending hardware failure and bought an external HD and made a Time Machine backup of the 206 GB's of data I have in total, it took 2,5 days! It would seem to be on pause for 20 minutes and then resume copying data slowly.

However I got the full copy made.

Then I ran Etrecheck, but wasn't wise enough to copy it to another device, so I can't give you the full report, but the results were only 1 major issue: "It took more than 45 minutes to run", two smaller issues were unverified apps all with matches in the white list and no SSD HD. That's all.

I also managed to run DiscUtility and check the HD, no failures reported. The check took a whole night...

Now after the backup was secured, I tried to reinstall El Capitan using the recovery tool. It stopped quite soon and moved nowhere for 18 hours, whereafter I turned the computer off and on again. Then this screen started coming over and over again, and I can't seem to stop the updating from trying and then fail and reboot.

Any good advice?? Is my mac dead? Thanks in advance to all answers and help

Kind regards, Thomas from Denmark

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on May 31, 2018 12:44 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Kappy

Level 10

362,007 points

Jun 3, 2018 1:12 PM in response to EZ-Bird

Assuming the disk drive hasn't failed:

Internet/Network Recovery of El Capitan or Later on a Clean Disk

If possible backup your files before proceeding.

Restart the computer. Immediately after the chime hold down the (Command-Option-R) keys until a globe appears.
The Utility Menu will appear in from 5-20 minutes. Be patient.
Select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button.
When Disk Utility loads select the drive (usually, the out-dented entry) from the side list.
Click on the Erase tab in Disk Utility's main window. A panel will drop down.
Set the partition scheme to GUID.
Set the Format type to APFS (SSDs only) or Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
Click on the Apply button, then click on the Done button when it activates.
Quit Disk Utility and return to the Utility Menu.
Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

Note:

1. To install the version of OS X that was currently installed use Command-Option-R.

2. To install the original factory version when the computer was new use Command-Option-Shift-R.

If the above fails because the disk drive has failed then you will need to replace the disk drive.

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Answer 2

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,416 points

Jun 13, 2018 12:48 PM in response to EZ-Bird

Certainly has the tell signs of a failing HD, especially considering this might be the OEM HD that shipped with the Mac in 2012.

Always advised to install a new internal SATA cable with any HD/SSD upgrade, a nominal expense.

Highly recommend an SSD Apple Mac Upgrades - RAM, SSD Flash, External Drives and More

How to create a boot clone

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Answer 3

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,416 points

Jun 13, 2018 6:19 PM in response to EZ-Bird

EZ-Bird wrote:

I chose to try and revive my Macbook by ordering and replacing the original HD, which turned out to be a Toshiba, with a Samsung V-Nand 860 Evo SSD 250 GB. Using internet recovery and Disk utility to erase the drive, it failed with an "input-output error" and a "invalid argument" and saying that the drive couldn't be erased or formatted.

So now I'm waiting for a new SATA cable and crossing my fingers that it will fix everything. If it's not working after replacing the cable, then I'm pulling the plug and out for a new Macbook.

Do you think it will work with a new cable, or might it as well be the motherboard or some other component that is failing?

I/O errors I would not suspect the logic board as a first guess.

If it wasn't stated earlier it should have been: "always change the SATA cable when upgrading a new HD."

It is standard procedure for Apple Store HD replacements to include a new SATA cable—and this is for good reason.

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Answer 4

EZ-Bird Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 18, 2018 1:18 PM in response to leroydouglas

Hi all, so sorry for my very delayed reply!

I installed the new HD cable and the Macbook turned on without any more problems - however I wasn't able to reinstall High Sierra, I kept getting the "servers are not available" error. Instead I was able to reinstall OS X Lion, which was the original version of OS X on the machine, using the standard recovery without internet. From there I could update OS X to El Capitan, and then on to High Sierra (though I am reluctant to go for High Sierra, as it would make my MS Office 2011 incompatible...) So I'm still using El Capitan. I recovered my files from my backup, and haven't lost any data!

So I can very much support the claim from LeroyDouglas: "always change the SATA cable when upgrading a new HD." :-D

Thanks for your help everyone who wrote replies.

Kind regards, Thomas

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Answer 5

Jun 3, 2018 1:17 PM in response to EZ-Bird

Given it took over 29 minutes to run etrecheck I suspect your hard drive is failing.

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Answer 6

Jun 4, 2018 11:53 AM in response to EZ-Bird

Getting an SSD is a good option but personally I would not spend any money on a 6 year old computer. But if a new computer is out of the question then the SSD is the only option.

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Answer 7

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,416 points

Jun 4, 2018 12:50 PM in response to EZ-Bird

Being as you seem to use the machine minimally , I guess that depends on how deep your pockets.

A consumer grade 500GB SSD from OWC is $174.99 + SATA cable $12.99

OWC SSD Upgrade Kits For MacBook Pro 2012

https://eshop.macsales.com/search/?q=SATA+cable+2012+Macbook+Pro

A new 15" MBP w/ 256GB Storage and 16GB start at $1999.00

Customize MacBook Pro - Apple

I can say the 2012 is still considered a real work horse, with its many ports including SDXC, USB3, Firewire, ethernet, thunderbolt, DVD superdrive.

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2012), macOS (10.13.5), i7 480GB SSD 16GB RAM iPhoneSE iOS11.3 Parallels13.0.1, HP OfficeJet Pro 8620

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Answer 8

EZ-Bird Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2018 1:11 PM in response to Kappy

Thank you very much for your reply!

I managed to get OS X High Sierra installed using internet recovery the way you listed above.

However, my computer is still running slowly.

I have made another run of EtreCheck, report listed below. Note this is with a completely newly reinstalled operating system and no extra apps or programs...! That explains the missing time machine backup...

I sense that something I broken inside my computer, but how can I tell what it is??

EtreCheck version: 4.3.2 (4D034)

Report generated: 2018-06-03 21:57:11

Download EtreCheck from https://etrecheck.com

Runtime: 29:44

Performance: Poor

Problem: Computer is too slow

Major Issues:

Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.

No Time Machine backup- Time Machine backup not found.

Poor performance- EtreCheck report took over 10 minutes to run. This is very unusual.

Minor Issues:

These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.

Upgradeable hard drive- This machine’s hard drive could be replaced with an SSD. This would dramatically improve your machine’s performance.

Hardware Information:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)

MacBook Pro Model: MacBookPro9,2

1 2,9 GHz Intel Core i7 (i7-3520M) CPU: 2-core

8 GB RAM - At maximum

BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok

BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok

Video Information:

Intel HD Graphics 4000 - VRAM: 1536 MB

Color LCD 1280 x 800

Drives:

disk0 - TOSHIBA MK7559GSXF 750.16 GB (Mechanical)

Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA

disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB

disk0s2 [Core Storage Container] 749.30 GB

disk1 - Macintosh HD (Journaled HFS+) 748.93 GB

disk0s3 - Recovery HD (Journaled HFS+) [Recovery] 650 MB

Mounted Volumes:

disk1 - Macintosh HD 748.93 GB (733.40 GB free)

Journaled HFS+

Mount point: /

Network:

Interface en0: Ethernet

Interface fw0: FireWire

Interface en2: Wi-Fi

802.11 a/b/g/n

One IPv4 address

Interface en3: Bluetooth PAN

Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge

System Software:

macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 (17E199)

Time since boot: About 2 days

System Load: 1.49 (1 min ago) 1.55 (5 min ago) 1.63 (15 min ago)

Security:

System	Status
Gatekeeper	Mac App Store and identified developers
System Integrity Protection	Enabled

System Launch Agents:

[Not Loaded]	7 Apple tasks
[Loaded]	175 Apple tasks
[Running]	109 Apple tasks
[Other]	2 Apple tasks

Internet Plug-ins:

QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-03-28)

Time Machine:

Time Machine Not Configured!

Top Processes by CPU:

Process (count)	Source	% of CPU	Location
WindowServer	Apple	9
sandboxd	Apple	4
find	Apple	3
kernel_task	Apple	2
syncdefaultsd	Apple	0

Top Processes by Memory:

Process (count)	Source	RAM usage	Location
com.apple.WebKit.WebContent (3)	Apple	849 MB
kernel_task	Apple	787 MB
MTLCompilerService (11)	Apple	239 MB
spindump	Apple	165 MB
mds_stores	Apple	163 MB

Top Processes by Network Use:

Process	Source	Input	Output	Location
mDNSResponder	Apple	154 KB	80 KB
com.apple.WebKit.Networking	Apple	16 KB	23 KB
apsd	Apple	5 KB	5 KB
netbiosd	Apple	2 KB	2 KB
SystemUIServer	Apple	0 B	128 B

Top Processes by Energy Use:

Process (count)	Source	Energy (0-100)	Location
WindowServer	Apple	5
launchd	Apple	0
syncdefaultsd	Apple	0
com.apple.iCloudHelper	Apple	0
SystemUIServer	Apple	0

Virtual Memory Information:

Available RAM	3.71 GB
Free RAM	417 MB
Used RAM	4.29 GB
Cached files	3.31 GB
Swap Used	0 B

End of report

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Answer 9

EZ-Bird Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 13, 2018 1:04 PM in response to leroydouglas

Thanks again for your answers Leroy and Bob.

I chose to try and revive my Macbook by ordering and replacing the original HD, which turned out to be a Toshiba, with a Samsung V-Nand 860 Evo SSD 250 GB. Using internet recovery and Disk utility to erase the drive, it failed with an "input-output error" and a "invalid argument" and saying that the drive couldn't be erased or formatted. It recognised the drive as it should.

So now I'm waiting for a new SATA cable and crossing my fingers that it will fix everything. If it's not working after replacing the cable, then I'm pulling the plug and out for a new Macbook.

Do you think it will work with a new cable, or might it as well be the motherboard or some other component that is failing?

Reply

Answer 10

EZ-Bird Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 4, 2018 11:50 AM in response to leroydouglas

Thank you both for your replies.

I guess I can't avoid getting money out of my pocket :-)

But on a 6 year old machine such as mine, would you recommend replacing the hard drive with an SSD, or am I better off simply buying a whole new macbook? It's mostly used for texting, mailing and surfin' the web. No gaming or other demanding tasks.

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2012 Macbook Pro suddenly turned slow two weeks ago, now it keeps rebooting while trying to reinstall OS X El Capitan. Afraid it's dead!

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