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13" Pro Freezing w/ Install Disc

MacOG728893

MacOG728893

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Sep 10, 2010
1,716
114
Orange County CA
I have a MacBook Pro 13" that is having some serious issues while trying to install OS X from its original disks or my Lion backup.

Problem: When trying to install OS X on brand new (Formatted with GUI partition and OS Extended Journal) WD Blue 5400RPM HDD I am encountering the spinning loading sign freezing after about 3-5 minutes of trying to load the disk.

Solutions Tried:
- Computer is reading both HDD & Disc (Holding option display both on boot)
- Computer boots fine with old HDD in place
- Tried a third HDD to rule out the possibility of a bad drive
- Reset the PRAM
- Reset the SMC
- Boot from a USB drive
- Tried my OSX Lion backup DVD
- Tested both discs in my iMac to make sure they work
- Use an external DVD drive instead of the built in super drive
- Tried installing Lion on the HDD through my iMac, but when finished said that installation had encountered an error.
- Tried booting into safe mode. It loads the bar and the bar then freezes shortly after loading is completed.
- Got the installation working through my iMac and have a fully working brand new HDD with OS X Lion loaded on it, but still gets stuck.

Not sure what else to do? Any suggestions?
 
Last edited:
Create a bootable USB drive with the Lion installer on it and see if you can install that.
 
I must regrettably report back that even with a bootable Lion thumb drive I'm still getting stuck. Does anyone have any other input. I feel I've exhausted all my resources.
 
MacOG728893 said:
I must regrettably report back that even with a bootable Lion thumb drive I'm still getting stuck. Does anyone have any other input. I feel I've exhausted all my resources.
Click to expand...

Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember a thread about issues with these drives....:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3761763?start=0&tstart=0

Seems you are not alone, and I think it's the drive that is the root of your problem. I'd try another drive...Anything you can grab that's to hand...If it works you may have to reconsider the WD.
 
Macman45 said:
Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember a thread about issues with these drives....:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3761763?start=0&tstart=0

Seems you are not alone, and I think it's the drive that is the root of your problem. I'd try another drive...Anything you can grab that's to hand...If it works you may have to reconsider the WD.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the reply as I am pretty desperate and anyone willing to chime in is a big help.

I have tried unplugging the ribbon cable completely from the board and now the grey spin wheel gets stuck about 20 seconds in.

I have also tried it with other HDD's and it's getting the same problem. I have not seen anyone else online having the grey spin wheel go for a bit and then complete freeze with absolutely no response after that.
 
MacOG728893 said:
Thank you for the reply as I am pretty desperate and anyone willing to chime in is a big help.

I have tried unplugging the ribbon cable completely from the board and now the grey spin wheel gets stuck about 20 seconds in.

I have also tried it with other HDD's and it's getting the same problem. I have not seen anyone else online having the grey spin wheel go for a bit and then complete freeze with absolutely no response after that.
Click to expand...

Hmm, if you have tried other hdd's it sounds more like a hardware issue...Possibly the Logic Board..Best advice I can give you is to get it looked at by a genus at an Apple outlet I'm afraid.
 
Macman45 said:
Hmm, if you have tried other hdd's it sounds more like a hardware issue...Possibly the Logic Board..Best advice I can give you is to get it looked at by a genus at an Apple outlet I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

I kind of figured it was the board as well, but it boots fine with the original HDD in. Do you find that kind of odd? Because I think if it was a bad board I probably couldn't boot at all.
 
MacOG728893 said:
I kind of figured it was the board as well, but it boots fine with the original HDD in. Do you find that kind of odd? Because I think if it was a bad board I probably couldn't boot at all.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, the only way to be sure is to get it checked out...It won't cost you to have them look at it and run some tests...Have you tried running the AHT from your original media? It's not always accurate, but it might point yoiu in the right direction:

http://support.apple.com/error/503.html?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
 
:confused: Yours came with install disc?

Are those well hidden in the box, or did they just not send me any? I guess it is a moot point for me now since I did a clean install of Mountain Lion, but it would have been nice of them to have included backup discs when I bought the computer if they were supposed to.
 
i had issues installing OSX once kept getting OSX could not download addition files error, found out i had faulty RAM replaced my RAM and OSX installed without an issue, so thats something to test
 
cshel24 said:
:confused: Yours came with install disc?

Are those well hidden in the box, or did they just not send me any? I guess it is a moot point for me now since I did a clean install of Mountain Lion, but it would have been nice of them to have included backup discs when I bought the computer if they were supposed to.
Click to expand...

No, I made a backup copy of OS X Lion. It came with OS X Snow Leopard install discs.

iisforiphone said:
i had issues installing OSX once kept getting OSX could not download addition files error, found out i had faulty RAM replaced my RAM and OSX installed without an issue, so thats something to test
Click to expand...

Thank you. I have tried that but to no avail. This is quite frustrating.
 
Macman45 said:
Well, it looks like Apple is the only way left to go now. Get it checked, I'm thinking LB now.
Click to expand...

Yeah me too. Everything I have looked at online people say that it gets stuck at boot but the spinning wheel continues to spin. They also say that they can boot from a CD which I cannot because the spinning wheel freezes.

I have seen no where online with anyone that has a similar problem as mine.

Pretty sure it's the board and pretty sure it's out of warranty. I guess it's time to part this sucker out..........
 
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