Self Repairing MacBook Pro?

[mrjimmy]

Hey all,

I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro that I use for light duties. The ram is maxed out, it has an upgraded 2TB drive, and I recently changed the battery.

It's always been problem free (knock wood), until the other night when it started the dreaded slow down/ freeze/ beach ball combo. I assumed something was up with the drive and restarted to see what that would do. I was immediately greeted with the grey prohibited icon which periodically showed the folder with the question mark. I thought this was odd, as I was running High Sierra, which is compatible with the model. Again chalked it up to drive, but before taking it to the shop I booted into recovery mode and reinstalled from my TM backup. This did nothing, as on start-up, same grey prohibited circle.

I did it once again and ran both the Apple diagnostic and disk utility. Both showed nothing wrong.

I did it once more and this time chose the start up disk, and it rebooted and ran perfectly.

The plot thickens... After a day or so, the dreaded freeze and beach ball started up again. Oddly, it didn't affect all functions. Powered down, re-booted and same grey circle.

Rinse and repeat, recovery, start-up disk selection and again it's running fine.

I've never experience this before. Thoughts?

 

[ferrarr]

It may need to have the NVRAM reset,

Startup key combinations - Apple Support

Learn about the Mac features and tools that you can access by holding down one or more keys during startup.

support.apple.com

 

[MacInWin]

I suspect the internal drive is failing, or that the connection to it is failing. The folder/question mark is an indicator that the system could not find the drive to boot from it.

 

[pigoo3]

I have a mid 2012 MacBook Pro that I use for light duties. The ram is maxed out, it has an upgraded 2TB drive, and I recently changed the battery.

Is this a Retina or non-Retina 2012 MacBook Pro. Sounds like it could be a non-Retina model...since you mentioned "maxed out RAM".

For anyone not familiar...the 2012 non-Retina models still had user upgradeable RAM...the 2012 Retina MacBook Pro's were the first MacBook Pro's with non-upgradeable RAM.

@mrjimmy...how long ago was the 2TB drive installed? Also is it a "spinner" hard drive...or an SSD?

Thanks,

Nick

 

[pm-r]

I've never experience this before. Thoughts?

I would agree with Jake and I would strongly suspect and suggest the hard drive is failing as well and I would suggest making sure you have a proper current backup while you can occasionally still Boot It Up if you haven't got a good working current backup already.



- Patrick
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[mrjimmy]

Is this a Retina or non-Retina 2012 MacBook Pro. Sounds like it could be a non-Retina model...since you mentioned "maxed out RAM".

For anyone not familiar...the 2012 non-Retina models still had user upgradeable RAM...the 2012 Retina MacBook Pro's were the first MacBook Pro's with non-upgradeable RAM.

@mrjimmy...how long ago was the 2TB drive installed? Also is it a "spinner" hard drive...or an SSD?

Thanks,

Nick

Hi there,

Non-Retina, and the drive is a spinner, installed roughly 8-9 years ago.

 

[pm-r]

and the drive is a spinner, installed roughly 8-9 years ago.

So as suggested, I'll repeat the problem is probably the drive failing 'cuz it's well past its prime if it has been used for 8 to 9 years, that's well past its prime and normal expected life expectancy.

Make sure you have a current backup of your data if and when you get a chance to do so if you haven't done so already.

Sorry for repeating, but I'm sure you know the reasons...



- Patrick
=======

 

[pigoo3]

Non-Retina, and the drive is a spinner, installed roughly 8-9 years ago.

Thanks for the extra info. Agree with Patrick & others. An 8-9 year old spinner HD...high probability the issue is drive related.

Which is a GREAT opportunity to replace it with an SSD. An SSD will definitely make the computer feel snappier!

Nick

 

[krs]

I'll jump on the bandwagon as well - the drive needs to be replaced.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...the other night when it started the dreaded slow down/ freeze/ beach ball combo. ...

Have a look at:

Macintosh Slowdown Solutions
http://www.macattorney.com/sd.html

Among other things, the page will tell you how to test your hard drive to see if it is failing, rather than having to guess.

 

[techiesteve]

Either the HD or the HD cable are the likely culprits. The HD cable is notorious for failing. In the past its replacement was covered by an Apple quality program. Due to the age of the HD consider replacing both together.

 

[mrjimmy]

Thanks everyone for the replies! DriveDX (thanks Randy B. Singer) diagnosed a failing drive and pooched cable. Next step is to order both from OWC and do the swap. Fingers crossed, I can get a few more years out of it. I did just replace the battery...

 

[mrjimmy]

Have a look at:

Macintosh Slowdown Solutions
Macintosh Slowdown Solutions

Among other things, the page will tell you how to test your hard drive to see if it is failing, rather than having to guess.

Thanks for that Randy! I ran the DriveDX free trial and it immediately confirmed what everyone here was saying. I also downloaded a trial for my iMac, but it said the trial period expired. I guess it doesn't like you running multiple versions on the same network. I liked it so much, I decided to buy it. Although, perhaps coincidentally, my iMac is lagging a bit now after the download. It doesn't seem to be a resource heavy app...