2010 Macbook Pro no longer recognizes drive, tried replacing HD+cable

Hello,
About a week ago during user sign-in my 2010 13" Macbook Pro froze. I forced restarted. Upon restart, I got the dreaded screen with the question mark folder. I did the usual, booted from the install CD. Installer couldn't locate drive to install to. Nor could disk utlity to repair anything. I suspected HD failure, so I replaced the drive with one I had on hand. The new HD was still not recognized by the system. I did put the old original drive back in, just to test it, and it actually did boot 1 time, but froze almost immediately. I put the drive in an external SATA enclosure and booted from USB. Booted fine, pulled off all my files, etc. So I then replaced the SATA cable. After replacing it, the computer did recognize the drive, but only if I held Option and told it to boot from the internal HD. Now I'm not getting the question-mark folder (unless I don't do the Option-select drive, in which case, if I do a normal power-button boot, I stlll get the question-mark folder), but instead, after selecting the drive, I'm getting a grey-screen with crossed-out circle (kernal panic?).
Everything else seems to be working fine. I took it to an Apple Store, he ran a diagnostic on it, and all he could tell me was that the HD isn't being recognized. Is my motherboard or SATA port on the motherboard shot or something? If the MoBo shot, why would we go from not seeing the drive at all (hence the question-mark folder and it not being recognized under any situation), to me replacing the SATA cable and getting the supposed kernal panic symbol.
Any thoughts?

At the Apple Store, all I was told was that the computer was not recognizing the HD. No more than that. He told me a HD replacement would be upwards of $200. I took it to the Apple Store before I tried to do anthing myself. He suggested that it could either be the HD itself, or the cable. So, seeing as a HD replacment isn't brain surgery, and that I could do it for significantly less than $200, I did it myself. So I replaced the HD, that did nothing. After replacing the HD the computer would still not recognize its existence, under any circumstance. I tried Option, resetting PRAM, booting into recovery, booting from the install disk, launching disk utility, running the hardware diagnostic from the CD ... under all cases, the HD was not recognized. Seeing as it still wasn't recognized even with the new drive, I replaced the SATA cable. Again, as stated in my description above, replacing the cable only changed the problem from not recognizing the HD at all, to recognizing it now (when, and only when I hold Option) and booting to the crossed-out circle screen. It doesn't even recognize it every time I hold Option to launch the StartUp Manager. Only a few times out of 10 will it even recognize its there. I also tried, once again, doing all the usual - resetting PRAM, CD install, recover, disk utility, etc... and none of those ever recognize its there. Its only the rare case that it will recognize the new-drive and new-cable configuration in the StartUp manager, I select the drive, and it boots only to the crossed-out circle grey screen.
I have put the original drive in an external SATA enclosure and the computer will boot from it and works fine, except as would be expected, its incredibly slow because its running through a USB port instead of a SATA connection.

Similar Messages

Macbook pro no longer recognizes external hard drive

Hi everyone,
My Macbook Pro (2013) running OS X 10.8.5 will no longer recognize my external hard drive.
The hard drive, a Maxtor OneTouch 4, is granted quite old (c. 5 years) but has been working fine with my Macbook pro since I bought it 2 years ago. It is too full to do time machine backups but I just need to get some files off of it. It doesn't appear in Finder or in Disk Utility when connected and turned on.
Since it's only stopped working recently I suspect some software update may have rendered it obsolete. I have also noticed some glitchiness with my USB ports, but some things work fine.
If anyone has any suggestions of what to try, I would really appreciate it! I really need to access those files.
Thanks very much in advance!

Ari343 wrote:
No, the external hard drive does not show up on Disk Utility. I don't have another computer to try it on.
Perform a PRAM reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379
Have you tried all the ports?
Have you tried with a different cable?
Have you tested all the ports with other devices to see that they are functioning?
Ciao.

MacBook Pro no longer recognizes USB external hard drives or built-in iSight

I have an older MacBook Pro 17" Intel that I use with various external USB hard drives (8 of them). It is connected to my LG 720p 32" flatscreen and works perfectly. Recently, when visiting, I disconnected my external HDs and connected my MBP to my brother's LG 1080p and it was OK.
When I returned home and reconnected my external HDs and TV, it would not recognize the HDs and couldn't find my built-in iSight. Viewing System Information, the USB buses showed an assortment of items, such as the Apple Internal Keyboard/Trackpad, IR Receiver, and Bluetooth USB Host Controller in the buses. The High-Speed Bus showed an external HD as a Vendor-Specific Device, but none of these appeared on the desktop. I plugged in my external iSight to Firewire and it showed up in Photobooth, iChat, and Skype.
What is the problem and can I fix it myself or must I take it to be serviced?
Has anyone encountered the same problem? Got any answers?
I really would appreciate all the help I can get. Thanks.

I have never heard of this before, but the fact that your external iSight works shows that at least some parts of your Macv's AV circuitry are undamaged.
Depending on exactly how you "disconnected" your "external HDs and connected" your "MBP to" your "brother's LG 1080p", I suppose it is possible that your software settings have been compromised somehow. Here is what I would try if my system showed the symptoms you describe.
(0) Start by making a current backup if you do not already have one.
Then try any of the following you have not already considered or used. Use them in any order you think appropriate and test after each one to determine if the problem is resolved:
(1) Shut down (do not merely restart) your MBP. Wait a couple of minutes before starting.
(2) Test in a different user (NOT the "Guest") account: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.7/en/mtusr001.html
(3) Reset SMC http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
(4) Reset PRAM: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.7/en/mh26871.html
(5) Repair your startup disk: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.7/en/mchlp1718.html
(6) Reinstall Lion and apply the 10.7.2 Combo Update: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1459
(7) Contact Apple or an Apple-Authorized Service Provider for service
Message was edited by: EZ Jim

Macbook Pro No Longer Recognizes Primary Display After Boot Camp/Linux Installation

Hey All,
So my old 15" early 2006 Macbook Pro (1,1) no loger recognizes the primary display. I can use an external monitor just fine, but when I go into System Profiler, it's like my primary display disappeared. I reinstalled Snow Leopard, reset PRAM, NVRAM, repaired my permissions, tried to update my mac, but litterally nothing I have tried has worked.
It started when I tried to install both Windows 7 and Ubuntu. After completing the Windows 7 installation, I restarted my computer and it just hung on the Apple logo. I could feel the fans begining to spin really fast and it felt like my laptop was on fire. I restarted my computer, let it cool down, and it hung at the Apple logo again. I rebooted it a final time, and nothing. Black screen. No backlight or image...nothing.
Is this a hardware or software issue? Did a software issue cause my screen to overheat and just die?

Hi,
it seems we are both suffering from the same problem. I described mine in https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4299194
Did you get your problem solved? If so, can you tell me how?
Thank you in advance!
Stefan

My Macbook Pro no longer recognizes my P2 card reader

I am trying to transfer P2 cards through my P2 Card reader (AJ-PCD2) into my Macbook Pro so that I can Log & Transfer through FCP 7.
This has always worked in the past. Now the computer will not recognize the P2 Card reader at all.
I have tried two different P2 card readers, both USB ports on the Macbook , 5 different USB cables and various P2 cards.
The mini USB 2.0 cable is plugged into the Signal port on the P2 card reader. The other end of the cable, which is a regular USB connector, is plugged into the Macbook's USB port. The P2 card reader is blinking green as usual but I do not get the P2 icon in the computer.
I have checked the Disk Utility file and finder as well.
My computer is 10.9.5 Mavericks
Also,I tried this on a 10.8.5 IOS
Please help.

You need to go to the HP Printer Support web site and download the newest Lion-compatible printer drivers for your model of printer, and install them.
Hope this helps

My Macbook Pro no longer recognizes my iPhone! My iPhone doesn't sync, what do I do?

My iPhone used to trust my Macbook Pro and sync, but now it doesn't and there's no option to "Trust this computer"

Are you using a genuine Apple cable? Do other USB devices work?

Hey guys I have a mid-2010 MacBook Pro and I am attempting to replace the Hard drive with an SSD and have run into an issue

So after installing the SSD, I tried rebooting into recovery mode and erasing it and was successful, I think at least. Now I am trying to reinstall Yosemite and everytime I go to do it, it says an error has occurred. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong or is there just a step that I am missing? Thanks

https://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/index.cfm?page=HDDppcintelformat/HDDppcin telformat.html
Start up the macbook and hold down CMD+R. Then choose disk utility from the drop down menu. Partition the harddrive as you would normally using "MacOS Extended Journaled" GUID partition table. 1 partition or more (not current.)

MBP wont recognize drives after replacing SATA cable

Background: I decided to replace my existing drive with a SSD. While in the process of replacing the drive, like a morron, I picked up the drive too fast and ripped the SATA cable. Stupid, I know. So I ordered a replacement. Hooked up the replacement without any trouble, fired it up, the computer wont recognize any drives, formatted or not, SSD or HDD. So I thought "great, terrible luck, I must have gotten a bad cable." So I contacted the seller and they were kind enough to overnight me a new one. Hooked up the new one, same **** problem.
What on earth is going on here? The computer worked great before I ripped that cable, and now it's like it's just given up on reading drives all together. Is there anything I can try?
Please help! :/
(MBP is a mid 2010 if relevant)

Ok then you either have bad cables or you are not installing it correctly. Like not seating it properly on the logic board.
There is also a piece of foam on the top of the part that connects to the logic board. If you did not move that foam from the original to the replacements it could be shorting to the bootom case.

MacBook Pro won't recognize 1TB external drive

Hey team,
My mid-2010 MacBook Pro won't recognize my WD My Passport 1TB drive. I was copying files from the drive to my computer when my computer went to sleep (didn't run out of power, just went to standby mode). Turned computer back on and now it won't recognize the drive.
It is a USB 3.0 cord (computer is only USB 2.0 and the cord works with other drives) and when plugged in, the light turns on and the disk spins but isn't recognized my this or other computers (also not in Disk Utility).
Tried a handful of disk recovery programs but nothing wants to 'see' the disk plugged in.
Thanks for any and all suggestions.

yes yes yes, I warn people about WD drives on this link:
Your dead external hard drive is likely fine! Great hope for your 'faulty' external HD
theReKleiner wrote:
What now?
Only option is to buy the SAME exact HD and swap controller boards, or pay someone a LOT more $$$ to do the same thing.
its not soldered there, its just a controller/ SATA "one piece"
They do that to save 50 cents in mfg. costs.
I mention your "issue" in that link. Which is why you do NOT buy WD ext. HD.
they make the controller board and SATA card one piece.
CURRENT MFG. THAT HAVE controller board and SATA cards as one piece are : WD USB drives, and Toshiba USB Canvio
However Toshiba didnt USED to do that, but they started doing it at the end of 2013.
avoid those 2.
To avoid that nonsense, buy Hitachi drives in USB.
Or, the best option:
Save money and invest in a bare hard drive backup and redundancy plan
Its cheaper
less fuss
more reiable, removes the nasty failure point of SATA card interfaces.
takes up lot less space.
Bare hard drives and docks. The most reliable and cheapest method of hard drive data storage, archives, and redundancies
The best method for your data archives and redundancies, which is also the least expensive, the most reliable, and the most compact option is the purchase of naked hard drives and at least one USB 3.0 HD dock ($40 roughly).
While regarding Time Machine and your Macbook or desktop, your primary backup is best saved to a conventional USB (or Firewire / thunderbolt) hard drive inside an enclosure, the most important part of your data protection begins after your 1st / primary Time Machine / backup; and these are your secondary (most important) data storage devices, archives and their redundancies.
However bare hard drives and docks (below) also work perfectly as a Time Machine backup, this is for home use, since the docking station is certainly not very portable as a notebook Time Machine backup device should be; nor should bare HD be packed around with a notebook, rather remain at home or office.
Six terabytes of 2.5" HD pictured below in a very compact space.
Bare hard drives and docks have the lowest cost, the highest reliability, and take up the smallest storage space
Drawbacks:
1. Care and knowledge in general handling of naked hard drives (how not to shock a bare HD, and how to hold them properly). Not a genuine drawback.
Advantages:
1. By far the least expensive method of mass HD storage on a personal basis. Highest quality naked HD can be purchased in bulk very cheap.
2. Eliminates the horrible failure point of SATA bridges and interfaces between external drives and the computer.
3. Per square foot you can store more terabytes of data this way than any other.
4. Fast, easy, no fuss and most simplex method of data storage on hard drives.

What does "You can't open the application "Setup QuarkXPress6.1" because power PC applications are no longer supported" mean? I am trying to install an old version of Quark on my 2010 Macbook pro.

What does "You can't open the application "Setup QuarkXPress6.1" because power PC applications are no longer supported" mean? I am trying to install an old version of Quark on my 2010 Macbook pro.

jennyba wrote:
What does "You can't open the application "Setup QuarkXPress6.1" because power PC applications are no longer supported" mean? I am trying to install an old version of Quark on my 2010 Macbook pro.
As has been mentioned, the software in Mac OS X that supported the running of PPC applications rather than current Intel applications on Intel computers such as your MBP was last seen in Snow Leopard. However, since I believe your MBP originally came with Snow Leopard, you may be able to boot from the DVD's that came with the computer and install it on an external HD and try to install Quark on that.
I think a better solution would be to buy Snow Leopard Server from Apple by phone (800-692-7753 and be specific about wanting part # MC588Z/A), installing it as a virtual machine in software like VMware Fusion, and then installing Quark 6 in that. You'll still need a license number to authorize the Quark installation.

My 2010 13" MacBook Pro will not recognize or start a DVD or a utility CD. It will play a music CD

My 2010 13" MacBook Pro will not recognize or start a DVD or a utility CD or boot up from either TechTools Pro or DiskWarrior. I tried to just install these on the computer with the computer running and it will do the same. When pressing the C key to start from the disc, it still does not accept it. It will cycle several times then reject disc.
It will play a music CD.
OS 10.6.8
CD/DVD Player.
Ideas?
Thanks,
Fijim

Thanks for the reply!
I had set up an appointment at my local Apple store previously so they could reinstall Mavericks, so I just went in a little early, showed them the error message, and they determined that it just needed to be reformatted. I didn't have anything on there that I needed, since I hadn't accessed it for a few years, so we wiped the drive, reformatted and now I have my back-up.
I appreciate the suggestions

I have a mid 2010 Macbook Pro, How can I install Windows 7 without an Optical Drive?

For clarity: I have a mid 2010, Macbook Pro. I recently decided to upgrade to a Crucial SSD drive, double the ram (8 gigs), and remove the optical drive in favor of using my old drive as a back up. I am also currently running Yosemite.
I want to install Windows 7 onto my SSD, using bootcamp. Unfortunately I no longer have an optical drive installed, which makes things difficult as Bootcamp does not even give me the option to create a bootable USB.
Now, this is where things get kinda fuzzy:
MId 2010 macbooks use EFI, and are quite capable of booting from USB. How do I know? Because I booted from a USB drive in order to do a fresh install of Yosemite on my SSD.
I have read mutliple forums and threads with claims that folks have had no problems doing this on 2008 Macbook Pros running Snow Leopard. However, what seemed to be required was some clever .plist modding. I have used both text wrangler, and x-code to do this, unfortunately upon booting of bootcamp, bootcamp instantly crashes. Naturally, I can restore bootcamp because I made backups of the .plist file.
It would seem that modffying the .plist file assumes that the option to create a bootable USB device is grayed out. In my case, it is non existent.
I have also read that folks have had success using rEFIt, however rEFIt has been forked to rEFIned, and the developer of rEFIned made mention on his site that Yosemite handles booting differently than previous versions of OSX.
WIth that, I was hoping that some kind person could explain to me whats going on, what I am missing, and what I can do to make this happen just shy of tearing down my MBP and reisntalling the Optical Drive and dusting off my Win 7 disc.
Also, my Model Number/Bootrom is MBP 6,2.
Thanks in advance!

Thank you for your reply, and the information. This is what I came up with:
I added the strings as instructed, however when I went to sign the script in terminal, I was told:
/Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app: replacing existing signature
/Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app: code object is not signed at all
In subcomponent: /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app/Contents/info.plist
Also, here are screen captures of the lines that I added. Mine are the top string entries:
Thank you for your help, thus far!

MacBook pro does not recognize my WD external hard drive anymore

I use TIme Machine on my WD external hard drive. Everything was working great up until about a month ago. My MacBook Pro does not recognize my external hard drive anymore...I have done nothing differently than usual. I did search in previous discussions and tried rebooting both the hard drive and the computer.
The USB port is fine as it does recognize another external hard drive and also pen drives....Please help! I haven't backed up in a month and need to figure out how to get this to work soon. Should I call WD?

Does the WD drive show in Disk Utility?
Many times, a USB port simply cannot provide the power a hard drive needs. It is not uncommon for any electric motor to draw more power as it ages. A drive that worked before can stop working when it gets older because age has made it tak more power than any USB port can supply. There are a couple of cheap things to try:
1) A "Y" USB cable---two plugs go to the computer and one to hte drive, giving a power boost.
1 Meter USB 2.0 A to 5 Pin Mini B Cable - Auxiliary USB "Y" Power Design for external hard drives.
2) a POWERED USB hub. That takes the power delivery burden off the USB port so it can deal with data.
WD bare drives are fine but their enclosures are not very Mac-friendly. One thing that has reported helping is to get rid of the proprietary formating that WD puts on their drives. If you don't have to share the drive with a Windows computer, use Disk Utility to erase and reformat the drive to Macintosh Extended Journaled.

My macbook pro will not recognize my WD external hard drive 1tb

My macbook pro will not recognize my WD 1 tb external hard drive that I have as my time machine backup. I worked just fine for a long time now The only way I can see it is through Disk utility. And when I try to repair the disk it say it cant be repaired, and i need to back up files and reformat. All my backups are on the hard drive. How do I back up the back if I cant get it recognized? Uggghhhhh I have several years of info on the hard drive .. PLEASE HELP!!!

Hi cterry66,
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities!
I understand you would like to reset the user account password on your computer but do not know the original password. If you set up your Apple ID with that user account, you can use that Apple ID to reset your OS X user password. Please use the information provided in the attached article to complete the process.
OS X: Apple ID can be used to reset your user account password - Apple Support
Cheers,
Joe

Should I put the new SSD drive in main HDD bay or the Superdrive/Optical bay for a Mid-2010 Macbook Pro?

Hello All,
I'm considering getting a new SSD drive to add on to my Mid-2010 Macbook Pro (13 inches, unibody), and wondering which one of the following two options I should really adapt:
(1) Replace the original OEM hard drive in the main bay with the new SSD drive, and then remove the Superdrive (or the optical CD drive) and to be fitted into an external enclosure for using it externally in the future, and then relocate the original OEM hard drive into the Superdrive position, so both the new SSD (preferably for running the OS and system files) and the old OEM hard drive (for storing media and documents for example) could be used; and
(2) Keep the original OEM hard drive in place in the main drive, and buy a superdrive/optical drive caddy to goes with the new SSD drive, and together place the new SSD drive fitted inside the caddy into the position of the Superdrive/Optical CD drive, and configure the boot preference to be booting from the Superdrive/Optical Drive (which is now the SSD drive with OS and system files);
I've done some researches and some suggested that option (2) is better approach for at least two reason: (a) the MBP main drive come with some sort of shock proof sensor, so placing the original optical hard drive in the main is better than placing it in the super/optical drive where there is NO shock sensing feature provided, and placing SSD in the super/optical drive, one doesn't really have to worry so much about shocks; and (b) as during the process of shutting down the MBP, for optical hard drive, some power will sometimes needed to finally spin down the drive, but if such optical hard drive is place in the superdrive, the power maybe cut off right away when MBP shut down, which may cause issue to the optical hard drive in a long run as it never properly spin it down.
Then the main concern is that, if I adapt option (2) above, placing SSD in the super/optical drive bay and install and running the OS from there, will it decrease the performance (i.e. speed, latency, and etc.) as if i was to put the new SSD in the main drive?
Also, any suggestions with respect to Samsung 840 EVO vs. Samsung 850 EVO (250GB)? any well-rated HD caddy aside from OWC for moving the main HDD to optical CD bay? and perhaps an external enclosure for the Superdrive? Thanks in advance for any comment and/or suggestion.
- Jack

Could you provide some rationale(s) behind it? As far as I know, the mid 2010 Macbook Pro, the HDD is running via the SATA interface at running at 3.0 Gb/s, which is SATA II, and the Super-drive and/or the Optical drive, which is also running via SATA II interface, so I would assume the performance (i.e. primarily in speed) would be similar if not the same by placing the SSD drive in either one of the two places.
Also, wouldn't it be better by placing the SSD in the optical so the OEM HDD could be kept in the original main bay since it has the shock-sensing feature there?

2010 Macbook Pro no longer recognizes drive, tried replacing HD+cable

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for