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dustrho · Mar 16, 2009, 06:56 PM

About a year ago I dented my MBP by accidentally dropping it, and there's now a nice dent in the bottom right-hand corner of my case. I had no working issues with it until about a month ago, where the following occurs:

1) Turn on MBP
2) The "gong" sound comes out of the speakers
3) Apple logo appears
4) Spinning wheel starts spinning
5) Spinning wheel stops with black lines in upper right-hand corner
6) Nothing further happens (doesn't boot up any further)

Now I've done a tone of research on this, and most have said that the mfr HDD is dead. I ran the Disk Utility off the Leopard DVD and that didn't help. I did all the other key combos when booting up, that didn't help. So, I purchased the 500 GB Western Digital HDD, installed it myself, and things have been working perfectly. Until the other day, when it started happening again to me.

The booting up issue doesn't happen all the time, but it's happening at least once every other day. Like just a few minutes ago, I tried booting it up TEN times and wasn't working for me. The 11th time it booted up just fine. WTF? I don't think it's a HDD issue, but could it be a logic board issue? This computer is just over one year old for me and is now out of warranty (no AppleCare protection), so what do I do? Any suggestions?

Here's a photo of what happens when it locks up when booting up:

Hawkeye_a · Mar 16, 2009, 09:46 PM

What kind of video card does your MBP have ?

If you have graphical anomalies like that it's usually the video card or logic board. And i know that Nvidia/Apple had a recall of some of the models. You might want to look into that first.

Also i suggest(if you havent already) 'zeroing out' all data on one of the HDD(after backing up whatever you need to) and reinstall the OS just to eliminate the HDD from the possible problems.

Good Luck.

amazing · Mar 16, 2009, 10:14 PM

The definitive way to test is to try to boot from an external drive. If your logic board is bad, it won't boot. If it does boot OK, then chances are that your 2nd HD has gone bad.

I had a 320 GB Hitachi HD go bad in an external case after only the most minimal use, barely 3 months after getting it. I'm testing the replacement HD from Hitachi right now, as I'm posting.

So, anyway, does it boot reliably from an external HD? External USB cases for 2.5" HDs are very cheap.

Also, put your original HD in the case to see if it will boot on another Mac.

dustrho · Mar 17, 2009, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by Hawkeye_a

What kind of video card does your MBP have ?

I have the 256 MB video card option in there, but I'm not sure if it's a separate card or built onto the motherboard. How can I tell?

Originally Posted by amazing

The definitive way to test is to try to boot from an external drive. If your logic board is bad, it won't boot. If it does boot OK, then chances are that your 2nd HD has gone bad.

How do you boot from an external drive? I still have my original 120 or 160 GB HDD (can't remember which size it was) with Leopard installed, but I don't have an external enclosure to put it in (I can certainly purchase one though).

amazing · Mar 17, 2009, 12:10 PM

The MBP will boot either from USB or firewire. You can choose from the Startup Disk panel in System Prefs or you can hold down the Option key while booting.

newegg.com has a variety of USB 2.5" enclosures, as cheap as $10. Firewire400/USB enclosures cost a bit more, just be sure that you get a SATA enclosure.

dustrho · Mar 17, 2009, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by amazing

newegg.com has a variety of USB 2.5" enclosures, as cheap as $10. Firewire400/USB enclosures cost a bit more, just be sure that you get a SATA enclosure.

Is there one in particular that would work well on a Mac? I'd like it to be able to read up to 500 GB of data if possible, but so far I believe I've only seen up to 320 GB.

And if this isn't a HDD issue, it's more than likely a logic board problem?

Simon · Mar 17, 2009, 04:00 PM

Originally Posted by dustrho

I have the 256 MB video card option in there, but I'm not sure if it's a separate card or built onto the motherboard. How can I tell?

On every portable Mac all the graphics circuitry is soldered to the MLB. It's never been a "card" even thogh the misnomer seems to be really popular.

Simon · Mar 17, 2009, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by dustrho

Is there one in particular that would work well on a Mac? I'd like it to be able to read up to 500 GB of data if possible, but so far I believe I've only seen up to 320 GB.

Every SATA->USB enclosure will work.

Personally I like SATA docks that come with USB and eSATA. They take both notebook and desktop drives and they offer universal connectivity (USB) as well as performance critical connectivity (eSATA). This one is $35 (includes shipping) at Newegg. There are also more fancy versions that come with built-in USB hubs or card readers.

amazing · Mar 17, 2009, 04:32 PM

Simon: somewhat off-topic: have you used an esata card in an MBP? I've got 2 different cards from OWC for my MBP, both of which will disconnect disastrously right in the middle of large copies. On a fresh install. One card is natively supported by Leopard, had a severe kernal panic yesterday. The USB interface works fine...

Simon · Mar 17, 2009, 05:14 PM

Yeah, heard about that. It's been a while since I tried it with my MBP. It worked fine. But it wasn't an OWC card. Can't remember the model anymore. A colleague is now using it. I'd have to check with him.

dustrho · Apr 6, 2009, 10:04 AM

I haven't been able to purchase an external HDD case yet to test the hard drive out. If this is related to a possible video card issue that may be a defect, is it worth contacting Apple support if I'm out of warranty? If it's truly defective with me being out of warranty, would Apple replace the logic board for free?

I'm currently contemplating just buying a new Macbook or Macbook Pro, as I'm sure Apple will end up charging me some horrific amount of $$$$ to repair/replace my logic board. I still don't think this is a HDD issue.

dustrho · Apr 6, 2009, 11:25 AM

I spoke with Apple support and they believe it is an issue with the defective Nvidia video cards, so they scheduled an appointment for me to see someone at a local Apple store tomorrow. If they have these in stock, the person I spoke with said they should be able to replace it there on the spot.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2377

Keeping my fingers crossed on this!