Cousin took a magnet to my MBP

[mg2090]

Hi all

I have an early 2010 MBP that was running SL. Recently, my cousin was playing with magnets (not hugely powerful but imagine 10 of them being daisy chained) near my computer and the laptop shut itself off while I was away. When I restarted the machine, a clicking noise was heard from around the trackpad region and a flashing question mark came up on the screen.

I tried to reboot with the option key held down and tried to do the internet recovery but there is no drive I can repair/reinstall to. I don't have the original SL install that came with the computer at the moment. The clicking noise is heard every time I start up the machine.

Any ideas if the hard drive is screwed or if it's just gone magnetic for a while and should be sorted if I leave the machine at peace?

Thanks

 

[sevimli]

Sorry, but I would say your HDD is gone. Did you have back ups? Hope you have, then you can upgrade your HDD to a SSD...

 

[striker33]

But more importantly, where did you dump the body?

 

[iLikeTurtles!]

magnets will not hurt the macbook pro LOL

 

[mg2090]

I have backups so I'm not concerned about the data as much as the physical state of the HDD. I read somewhere that the HDD reader can get temporarily magnetized and the charge can be removed by removing the battery. Unfortunately I have a unibody so guess that's not an option.

I'm in India at the moment for a month so I guess I'll be taking it to one of Apple's resellers since there are no stores here

 

[FWRN]

Well the Macbook does usually go in standby if a magnet is close to certain areas. Umm, but if it's a clicking noise, it's probably that you're HDD is dead.

 

[mg2090]

Right, so when I get a new HDD how do I get OSX back on? Would I still be able to download Mountain Lion?

I was wondering if there is an alternative?

 

[sth]

Install the new hard drive, then use internet recovery to reinstall the OS.

 

[geoffreak]

I once watched my roommate put a magnet up against his Dell laptop's HDD and it shut off instantly as well. His machine worked fine on reboot, but the drive died shortly thereafter. He claims that putting a HDD in a freezer for awhile fixes it, but I don't know...

To get Lion back on the hard drive, you can make your own installer thumb drive or go in to the Apple store and ask them to install it (though they may only do ML at this point).

 

[themumu]

I once watched my roommate put a magnet up against his Dell laptop's HDD and it shut off instantly as well. His machine worked fine on reboot, but the drive died shortly thereafter. He claims that putting a HDD in a freezer for awhile fixes it, but I don't know...

The freezer trick is real, but the only thing it's good for is to bring the disk to life for a short while to recover data.

 

[joepunk]

The freezer trick is real, but the only thing it's good for is to bring the disk to life for a short while to recover data.

That's nice to know.

 

[Xerotech]

Right, so when I get a new HDD how do I get OSX back on? Would I still be able to download Mountain Lion?

I was wondering if there is an alternative?

You can call Apple Support and they'll said your original discs, but it'll cost $15.
I would buy ML and make a usb stick.
Removal of the HDD is simple, take the bottom plate off and there'll be a black bracket holding the HDD in. Simply remove the screws and pop the SATA calbe out.

 

[mg2090]

Is there any way of making sure it is my hdd that is the problem? I don't want to buy one and later discover something else has gone wrong.

I ran the apple hardware test from the Internet and it only seemed to test the main logic board and the memory. Then it reports everything as normal with no mention of the hard drive. I'm gonna try the freezer trick to see if it gets a jump start for a bit but any other ideas to determine that this is the true problem?

 

[tninety]

Yes. Put the hard drive in another computer

 

[heisenberg123]

Is there any way of making sure it is my hdd that is the problem? I don't want to buy one and later discover something else has gone wrong.

I ran the apple hardware test from the Internet and it only seemed to test the main logic board and the memory. Then it reports everything as normal with no mention of the hard drive. I'm gonna try the freezer trick to see if it gets a jump start for a bit but any other ideas to determine that this is the true problem?

the hard drive is the only thing it can be based on your descriptions

magnets kill hard drives have you never seen breaking bad

 

[Jiten]

Heh, you learn something new everyday.

 

[mg2090]

right, I've ordered a new HDD. Just one more thing. I've downloaded Mountain Lion from a friend's computer and copied the files off it. However, he has left and I don't have access to a mac for a while. Is there anyway to make the usb from a windows computer?

 

[arashb]

Well the real fix is to put a magnet on the opposite side and so it pulls from the other side and evens out .

right, I've ordered a new HDD. Just one more thing. I've downloaded Mountain Lion from a friend's computer and copied the files off it. However, he has left and I don't have access to a mac for a while. Is there anyway to make the usb from a windows computer?

You need it to be GPT I believe, which is impossible with Windows. You can, however, run a live Linux and create it using Linux.

 

[hvfsl]

You might also be able to download an ISO of a bittorrent site and burn that to disk (you will need a double layer one though).

 

[Lord Appleseed]

I'd start with putting those magnets to my cousins head.

 

[gentlefury]

Yup I have in fact recovered data from a failed drive by freezing it.

 

[Interstella5555]

Run a magnet over his head, see if the same thing happens.

 

[T5BRICK]

Is there any way of making sure it is my hdd that is the problem? I don't want to buy one and later discover something else has gone wrong.

I ran the apple hardware test from the Internet and it only seemed to test the main logic board and the memory. Then it reports everything as normal with no mention of the hard drive. I'm gonna try the freezer trick to see if it gets a jump start for a bit but any other ideas to determine that this is the true problem?

It sounds like you've already ordered a replacement, but I believe you can run an extended test that will more thoroughly test everything. It is possible that the HD just isn't showing up at all anymore and since the test software can't see it, it isn't running those tests.

 

[clyde2801]

Waiting to the follow up thread: "I took an ax handle to my cousin's a$$"