15'' Mid-2012 MacBook Pro A1286 stuck in Apple Chime boot loop

[tr3ndz]

I've had this unit for awhile that I acquired from a closing business. I've trying diagnosing and troubleshooting it and feel like I'm just going in circles. Thought I would ask and see if anyone has experienced this and/or has a cause and remedy. It powers on, but just displays a white/gray screen, sometimes won't chime and just stays powered on, with fans running high. When it does chime, it just stays stuck in a loop, will chime infinitely with fans running on high until I just power it off. Not sure what OS was running prior as it had no storage drive installed and this all the activity it has ever displayed. Thanks for any and all help!

 

[MacInWin]

Does it have a drive in it now? Is there an OS on the drive? It does sound like a logic board problem, which may make it expensive to get going. But let us know about the drive and what is on it and we'll see if there is something we can suggest.

 

[tr3ndz]

Does it have a drive in it now? Is there an OS on the drive? It does sound like a logic board problem, which may make it expensive to get going. But let us know about the drive and what is on it and we'll see if there is something we can suggest.

No drive installed, had a test one installed at one point, but doesn't display any icons. Just the white/gray screen.

 

[ferrarr]

Did the test drive have an OS installed on it?

Try to see if it will boot into Internet Recovery?

How to start up from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

macOS Recovery is your computer’s built-in recovery system, with utilities to reinstall macOS, repair or erase your startup disk, restore from a Time Machine backup, and more.

support.apple.com

 

[chscag]

No drive installed, had a test one installed at one point, but doesn't display any icons. Just the white/gray screen.

Jake is correct. That's a logic board problem; most likely a failed graphics chip which is soldered to the logic board. That particular model MacBook Pro was plagued with graphics failures. Not worth repairing.

 

[tr3ndz]

Did the test drive have an OS installed on it?

Try to see if it will boot into Internet Recovery?

How to start up from macOS Recovery - Apple Support

macOS Recovery is your computer’s built-in recovery system, with utilities to reinstall macOS, repair or erase your startup disk, restore from a Time Machine backup, and more.

support.apple.com

Correct, test drive has a few OS versions installed, and internet recovery doesn't function as well either. The chime loop appears to halt any functions.

Jake is correct. That's a logic board problem; most likely a failed graphics chip which is soldered to the logic board. That particular model MacBook Pro was plagued with graphics failures. Not worth repairing.

I figured as much, as it won't boot properly. Would appear corrupted firmware or failed bios chip. I know the 2011 models were plagued with GPU issues, I haven't really acquired any 2012 with GPU issues.