Macbook Pro 7,1 (Mid 2010), OSX 10.8 giving SOS code!

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So, I have a bit of a story on how I got my Macbook Pro to an SOS code state.

The other day, I woke up to a great amount of fan noise from the machine. I could not get the screen to come on by pressing the trackpad or keyboard, so I put the lid down hoping it would go to sleep and cool down. It did not go to sleep, and just kept spinning away. I ended up holding the power button to force it down. Coming home later, I attempted to boot it. It goes from the grey screen with Apple, to grey screen with spinner. After staying there for a while, it kernel panicked. It overlayed the text on the grey screen, like a terminal. This link shows what it looked like. (note, not my image, but the panic was similar). I force shut it down, and tried again. I have had kernel panics before while the OS was running, and a restart has always solved the problem as far as I could remember. Haven't had any in at least a year. On the next boot however, it didn't make it as far as the spinner, just the grey + apple. The kernel panic also has Unknown for BSD process and Not yet set for OSX version, as well as type 6. I held option, my HDD showed up, rebooted various times, plugged in, unplugged, reset SMC, reset PRAM etc with no luck. After one panic though, it sat there for a few seconds and then the screen went black and the speaker played 3 short tones, 3 long tones, 3 short tones in sync with the sleep light. I forced it down again, and now it just starts up straight to the tones and a black screen. After the tones, it does stay on, sleep light solid, no screen. Apparently this is some firmware recovery thing? I let it stay like this for a while, it burned through the battery, no change in startup. Having it doing this now while plugged in, we'll see if I can get anything good. Any advice is appreciated, some people say it's RAM, others say a new logicboard is required. I haven't touched anything inside yet. I don't have another Mac just PCs, but I know people who do, and I can use theirs to make CDs or anything else I may need to I'm sure. I do have some data on the hard drive that would be nice to get back if I have to reinstall the OS (assuming I can even do that at this point), but if there is no way that's happening I think I can part with it.
 
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chas_m

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After one panic though, it sat there for a few seconds and then the screen went black and the speaker played 3 short tones, 3 long tones, 3 short tones in sync with the sleep light.

The good news: the hard drive and your data are probably fine.

The bad news: the tones indicate that the logic board has developed a fault, and there's no way for you to fix that. You'll need the services of an Apple Authorised Service Technician.

Why did it develop a fault? I have no idea, sorry.
 

chscag

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I agree with member chas_m. Those tones usually indicate some kind of logic board fault not a memory fault. Memory fault beeps are different. Take your MacBook Pro to an Apple Store genius and let them run diagnostics. The diagnostics are free provided you use a genuine Apple Store not an authorized reseller. Authorized resellers will charge for the diagnostics. A replacement logic board (if that's the problem) can be expensive so you might think about how much your 2010 MacBook Pro is worth before deciding on replacing the board.
 
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chas_m

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Let's not jump to conclusions that the logic board is dead. That could well be the case, but I've also seen this sort of thing happen from interrupted firmware updates, so perhaps all will be well after a visit to the tech. Keeping my fingers crossed for a happy ending. :)
 
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I agree with member chas_m. Those tones usually indicate some kind of logic board fault not a memory fault. Memory fault beeps are different. Take your MacBook Pro to an Apple Store genius and let them run diagnostics. The diagnostics are free provided you use a genuine Apple Store not an authorized reseller. Authorized resellers will charge for the diagnostics. A replacement logic board (if that's the problem) can be expensive so you might think about how much your 2010 MacBook Pro is worth before deciding on replacing the board.

Thanks for your reply. My nearest Apple Store is an 8h drive away, so I'm sort of out of luck there. I do have a couple places I can get to diagnose the issue though, and they say it will cost $50 since I don't have Apple warranty. I think I will probably buy a hard drive enclosure, get my data, and then take it in. If they want to replace the logic board, I'll probably just give up on this machine. If they can fix it, then I guess I'll get it fixed. I like having a mac around for various reasons, and can't afford a new one right now as I'm just a student.
 
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yep get a diagnostic but you might need to know something about the 2010 macbook pro i do take it is the aluminum model correct??

if so i am sorry to say it is your logic board i have had to deal with 50 of these just this month alone you get beep codes or no codes no codes is when the main board in the model is completely dead this means all you hear is the hard drive and cd rom spin up thats it.

Now you have beep codes which is not good nor bad the beep codes can mean bad ram or bad hard drive which sounds bad but isn't if its ram just replace the ram and you are good to go if its not ram or the hard drive it is your graphics card that has failed.

in this model of macbook pro the Ati / and Nvidia chipsets where rigged into the macbook pros drive controller to help speed up graphics performance all would be well with this model if it where not for nvidia using a unstable graphics card gpu unit in this model when the nvidia fails it sends heat across the heat sink of the graphics processor to the main processor and takes them both out requiring a new logic board apple had a replacement plan in place to fix the problem with this model but no longer it stopped jan of 2013 sorry on that note.

However if its the ati unstable problem you might just need new ram the ati chipset in this model just took out ram when it causes a issue so ram might still save the machine
 

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