Blinking Question Mark - Mid 2009 MacBook Pro

[09MacbookPro]

Hi all,

I have a mid-2009 Macbook Pro with the gray screen and blinking question mark/folder. I've spent hours and days following tutorials on the internet and am now ready to post in a forum after exhausting the potential solutions I’ve found.

Background
-purchased mid 2009 Macbook Pro (used) in 2013
-currently running El Capitan
-upgraded RAM
-upgraded to Samsung Evo SSD hard drive in 2017
-added a USB mouse because the trackpad cursor was jumping all over. (the usb mouse solved the problem immediately)
The computer has been generally fine until now.

Solutions Attempted:
1. Tried to boot in Recovery Mode (Cntrl and R while holding down power key). Would not boot in Recovery Mode.
2. Tried to boot in Safe Mode (holding down Shift key after power key). Only a cursor appears…no files
3. Suspected malfunctioning hard drive. Removed SSD hard drive sent back to Samsung to test and repair under warranty. Got the hard drive back from Samsung and they said they "updated the firmware and the unit tested fine." Installed "repaired hard drive" and was met with the same flashing question mark.
4. Suspected a malfunctioning hard drive cable. Ordered a hard drive cable from Ebay (new) and installed. Was met with the same flashing question mark.
5. Suspected my installation of the hard drive cable was poor. Acquired an external SATA hard drive to USB cable so I could remove the hard drive and connect it externally to the USB port and bypass the internal hard drive cable. Was met with the same flashing question mark.
6. Reset PRAM (held down option+command+p+r after power button) and SMC (disconnected the internal battery and reconnected). Was met with the same flashing question mark.
7. Tried to boot up with Boot Options (held down D key after power key).
8. Followed online instructions to create a bootable USB disk with El Capitan. Used TransMac software to create the bootable USB flashdrive (using a PC) and downloaded El Capitan dmg file from Apple. Tried to boot the macbook pro from the bootable USB flashdrive. Was met with the same flashing question mark.

Most tutorials I’ve sifted through on the internet have suggested all of the above, but I have not found anything that mentions potential problems beyond the hard drive or the cable. I’ve spent quite a bit of time and, for me, have exhausted the options I’ve been able to find. Any ideas would be appreciated! Thank you in advance.

 

[chscag]

Welcome to our forums.

Thanks for providing what troubleshooting steps you went through.

I would have suggested replacing the drive and the SATA cable but I see that you already did that. Also, it appears that you tried to boot from an external drive.

That leaves us with very little to go on. What I suspect is that you may have a failed GPU and is preventing startup. You didn't give us the exact model MacBook Pro you have, but the model year (2009) through 2011 were plagued with GPU problems. Apple even had a recall with free repair for those models but that has long expired.

You might want to do some googling about a failed GPU for your particular MacBook Pro and see how others have dealt with it. However, it might be a good idea to think about replacing your MacBook Pro with something much newer.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...
-added a USB mouse because the trackpad cursor was jumping all over. (the usb mouse solved the problem immediately) ...

Your complaint of a jumping cursor is typical of a MacBook that has a swollen lithium battery. The battery swells, it presses up against the track pad, and the cursor jumps around at random.

Apple used to have an extended repair program to fix this problem, but it has expired (at least for your year of MBP).

I'm afraid that Apple considers your MBP to be "obsolete" and they won't touch it, even if you are willing to pay to have it repaired, at this point:
Vintage and obsolete products - Apple Support
you will have to pay a third party to repair your MBP. This isn't a problem you should try to repair yourself. Swollen lithium batteries can rupture and give off a toxic gas.

Don't let this problem go on too long...a swollen lithium battery can potentially cause a fire.

 

[krs]

In addition to the replies already posted....

A flashing question mark means that the Mac can't find a valid OS to boot with.

Do you not have an external bootable backup you can use to boot?

You said you made a bootable USB flash drive and tried that - this should normally work, however you stated:

Used TransMac software to create the bootable USB flashdrive (using a PC)

I have seen many posts here in this forum where a bootable USB flash drive made using TransMac does not work.

I think you need a proper external device to boot from and then see what happens.

 

[MacInWin]

@09MacbookPro, I was tracking right along with your post until this:

7. Tried to boot up with Boot Options (held down D key after power key).

That was the first "clanger" that raised a small flag on the depth of knowledge you might have on boot options and processes. So I'm going to ask a pretty basic question. If you know this and did this, I'll apologize in advance.

Boot options (holding keys for things) depends on holding the key down until the boot is finished, so, for example, to get to Boot Options, you hold the Option Key down from before the chime until it finishes the start up and displays all the boot options. Ditto for holding the D key for the hardware test, and all other boot option keys. To boot from your tansmac USB, you would hold the Option key until the options appeared. It's much more than a tap, it's a hold, and sometimes it seems a long hold.