Getting the flashing folder screen on 13" MBP early 2011

[gmhag]

So let me give you a little timeline:

- for the last 6 months it has been running slow and frequently gets the spinning beach ball
- 3 weeks ago I noticed I had very little of the stock 4gb of memory available so I ordered the 8gb upgrade kit from crucial
- after installing the new memory it was like a new machine. Life was good. No more spinning ball, ever.
-last night I opened it and it was frozen on the login screen. I could move the mouse pointer but not actually click anything. I did a hard restart by holding down the power button. The flashing folder screen appears.
- I tried to do a network recovery which I found out how to do on apples support site. I could click on any of the recovery options but couldn't finish them because it wasn't seeing the "Macintosh HD" (stock 320gb hdd). So I'm thinking crashed drive?
- I saw a posting online that it could be the cable connecting the hdd so I removed the back of the case, unplugged and then replugged the hdd cable. Hit power and still see the flashing folder screen.
- I'm getting ready to call apple support and go to turn it on again. IT'S WORKING!!!! I'm able to log in and do the disk check. It says the disk looks good. Within 5-10 minutes I get the spinning beach ball and it is unresponsive. I power it down with the power button and when it powers up I get the flashing folder screen again.
- I've got an appointment today at the Genius Bar


Anyone got any ideas? Is my hard drive gone?

 

[Mik3F]

Either the drive or the SATA cable,

If you have a USB caddy put the drive into that and boot from it. That will eliminate the cable from the equation.

I have had to replace the cable in both a 2010 and 2011 13" in the past week

The 2011 cable cost me £22.99 from eBay

 

[maflynn]

Anyone got any ideas? Is my hard drive gone?

Reworking the cable and its working temporarily does seem to indicate it could be the Sata cable but there's still a chance the drive is dying.

Good luck with your Genius appointment.

 

[gmhag]

Either the drive or the SATA cable,

If you have a USB caddy put the drive into that and boot from it. That will eliminate the cable from the equation.

I have had to replace the cable in both a 2010 and 2011 13" in the past week

The 2011 cable cost me £22.99 from eBay

yep, i am typing this from my macbook with the hard drive via a usb caddy. Booted up perfectly and runs just like normal. Maybe apple can install the SATA cable at the genius bar....?

 

[Mik3F]

yep, i am typing this from my macbook with the hard drive via a usb caddy. Booted up perfectly and runs just like normal. Maybe apple can install the SATA cable at the genius bar....?

They should be able to but they will charge a lot more than if you were to do it yourself

It really is very simple to do, have a look on ifixit

 

[gmhag]

Thanks for the help guys. I figured since I had the appointment at the genius bar I'd let them tell me how much it would cost to fix. The total was $57 which isn't bad since ifixit sells the part itself for $45. They had it fixed same day.