MacBook Pro Mid-2012 Hibernate Restore Error

Make sure you know what you're doing if you decide to work on it yourself!!! This is intended to be more like a reflective article, this article is NOT a DIY or anything like that. If you break something it's on you.

This isn't so much of a question as much as it is sharing my experience for Hibernate Restore Error on a Mid-2012 MacBook Pro.

I bought it used 2015

Put a Samsung 850 SSD = runs amazing!

The Issue

After swapping out the drive and booting up I received a circle with a horizontal line error. This circle error would sit on the screen for a few moments, then the screen would flash back and fourth between the circle with the line through it and the apple logo. Eventually, it stopped spazzing out and booted up!

Every once and a while when the MBP would go into hibernation, ie. the lid was closed or the max time was reach as set in "Settings", upon opening the lid or pressing a key the screen would sit on a black screen. Before long every once and a while turned into several times a week. It appeared to be *on*; however, wasn't responsive (since the black screen).

At this point I would have to hold the power button down to have the MBP turn off. Typically it would give me the circle with the horizontal line that would sit on the screen for a few moments, then the screen would flash back and fourth between the circle with the line through it and the apple logo. And, again it eventually stopped spazzing out and booted up!

Once booted it would give me a "Hibernate Restore Error". I tried some of the terminal commands to delete the hibernate image; however, I wasn't convinced it was working; as seen here: MacBook Pro Mid 2012 Hibernation Restore Kernel Panic

When Life Gave Me Lemons....

One day, at the very end of my Master's degree program when I was working on my thesis, I couldn't get it to boot. It chimed, but that same circle with the horizontal line came up, and stayed up. With 3 weeks left before graduation, and the thesis deadline, I was concerned to say the least. A little research on the internet and I discovered that failure to boot was often the hard drive data cable, and from my knowledge it was at one point (not anymore) had some warranty deal to have it replaced...as I was told at the Apple Store. At the Apple Store I was told many times by the Geniuses how obsolete my MBP was; one of the Geniuses came and told me what I thought to be the problem a bad data cable. They were going to charge around $100 dollars to fix it. I was also told how easy they could put all my info on a new MBP if I bought a new one.

....I Got a Replacement Cable From eBay!

About a week later after I got the $10 replacement hard drive data cable from eBay, and I changed out the cable using iFixit's DIY and ~15-20 minutes of time. Two months later, and I haven't had any of the problems previously discussed as of writing this article. I actually feel that it is running better than it has the entire time I have had it; more responsive. Also, I did find an article that talked about carefully applying electrical tape (I used painter's table) to the new data cable, which I also did. I got the thesis done, passed it and earned an A in the course, and I now have Master's.

Why the Cable Fails

The reason for the warranty deal was because so many of the Mid 2012 MBP's had this exact problem of the data cable failing. What is said to cause the failure to the hdd data cable is from the aluminum that the hard drive cable sits up against in the hard drive bay wasn't a smooth finish. This means that there are nearly microscopic textures on the metal that end up destroying the paper-thin data cable. Putting tape is said to help protect the new cable from having the same fate as the original.

Again, Make sure you know what you're doing if you decide to work on it yourself!!! This is intended to be more like a reflective article, this article is NOT a DIY or anything like that. If you break something it's on you.