Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Alert

Question mark on startup when reinstalling OSX

Apr 26, 2015 5:30AM PDT

Hi,
The question is about my MacBook Pro 13'' 2.9 Ghz Mid-2012.
I will start of by writing a summery of the history of problems before asking the question.

10 months ago my HD failed. I bought a new Samsung 500GB SSD but the disc utility failed to recognize it. I solved the problem by replacing the hard drive cable, whereupon I successfully installed the OSX. Until this week everything has worked fine: The problems started when installing an update for Yosemite. The system became unstable, it froze and would shut down spontaneously and have some problem with the prohibitory sign error upon startup. Believing it was just a bad update, I was happy to see that a new update for Yosemite was released the following day, though installing it just worsened the problem: The instability was left, but now it would get stuck at the prohibitory sign every startup (except when draining the battery to zero, then it would start up just fine for some reason). I did the Apple Hardware Test (no error), checked the disc in the Internet recovery disc utility (no error), NVRAM reset and SMC reset. The problems persisted so I figured I might as well swipe the disc and do a new clean reinstall of the OS. I did a secure erase (writing over the disc with zeroes) but it failed after one hour for some reason. I then reformatted the disc to Mac OS Extended Journaled and partioned it. When installing the OS, at the restart it now get stuck at the question mark error. I have tried reaching the boot disc by pressing "options" on startup, but when choosing it I still get stuck at the question mark. I have also tried to erase and reformat the drive repeatedly but with the same result.

Now to the question: I have read that this could be a problem with the hard drive cable failing, but I do find it unlikely having changed it so recently. Furthermore, unlike last time, the disc utility do recognize the hard drive. What do you guys think I should do?

Best Regards,
JL

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
I'd keep an eye on this link.
Apr 26, 2015 5:35AM PDT
- Collapse -
Thanks
Apr 26, 2015 5:49AM PDT

Yeah, I thought it would be wise to reach out to as many competent people as possible as it will increase my chances of getting a solution! The panic to live without a functioning computer is strong...

- Collapse -
When you cross post....
Apr 26, 2015 5:54AM PDT

Folk need to know so duplication of effort and answers don't get you upset. So if someone notes try another drive/cable/part or a diagnostic, we don't duplicate all that and drain what little help is out there or upset you by getting the same answer in more than one place.

For me I'd pop in a new blank drive (here a 500GB HDD is 49 bucks) to see what's what.
Bob

- Collapse -
My mistake
Apr 26, 2015 6:14AM PDT

True that, I should have written it in the post! I will not do this misstake again. Regarding testing a new HDD, thanks for the tip! As a poor student I will wait a day or two to see if there are any cost-free solutions to try first though haha...