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Help with 12" MacBook

queshy

queshy

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 2, 2005
3,690
4
Hello,

I have a second generation 12" MacBook. All of a sudden, when I start it up, I get the flashing folder with the question mark. I did some research and was able to try the Internet Recovery, but when I finally get into the disk utility, my Macintosh HD start up disk isn't there, and the only disk I see is the "disk image" for the recovery. I ran the hardware test and it says no issues. Any ideas would be appreciated! I've had this machine more than a year so presumably it's out of warranty. Is there any hope? Any point in taking it to the Genius Bar?

Thank you very much!
 
Expobill said:
Restart in safe mode
See what happens
Hopefully that is a log in issue.
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for the reply. When I hold down Shift to get into safe mode, there is a delay, and then eventually I just get the flashing folder with the question mark again.
 
Sounds like your storage drive isn't readable. I'd try Apple support, just to see what they have to offer, even since it's just out of warranty.

You could try reformatting and restoring to it, but I wouldn't trust it without knowing what happened to it. Was it encrypted? I had something similar happen to me a few years on an encrypted drive, that didn't survive one of the Apple updates.
 
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Expobill said:
Did you Reset pram and all that?
You might need to reboot the MacBook from time machine.
Click to expand...
Thanks, yes I tried resetting the pram and it didn’t work. Silly me didn’t make a time machine backup. Interestingly I turned it on once before and somehow it just started up normally. But that only happened once and now I’m back to the flashing folder. I wonder if it’s a connector issue.

I’ve had Mac’s for over ten years now and this is the first real hardware failure I’ve had.
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cobracnvt said:
Sounds like your storage drive isn't readable. I'd try Apple support, just to see what they have to offer, even since it's just out of warranty.

You could try reformatting and restoring to it, but I wouldn't trust it without knowing what happened to it. Was it encrypted? I had something similar happen to me a few years on an encrypted drive, that didn't survive one of the Apple updates.
Click to expand...
Thanks, will try Apple.
I can’t reformat it since disk utility doesn’t even recognize the disk, so there is no disk to install the OS to.
Encrypted, I’m not sure. I don’t remember if file vault was on, if that’s what you mean.
 
queshy said:
Hello,

I have a second generation 12" MacBook. All of a sudden, when I start it up, I get the flashing folder with the question mark. I did some research and was able to try the Internet Recovery, but when I finally get into the disk utility, my Macintosh HD start up disk isn't there, and the only disk I see is the "disk image" for the recovery. I ran the hardware test and it says no issues. Any ideas would be appreciated! I've had this machine more than a year so presumably it's out of warranty. Is there any hope? Any point in taking it to the Genius Bar?

Thank you very much!
Click to expand...

I say it's a dead hard drive. And if it is, get ready for a steep repair bill. Let's hope it's not, however.
 
Expobill said:
Whattttttthe?
Ya gotta be kidding
Why would Apple make a disposable MacBook?
And why would anyone buy a laptop that is easily unrepairable?

That is horrible
Click to expand...

To be fair, of all the components on the logic board, the flash memory has one of the lowest failure rates. (That said, always backup!) The road to disposable Macbooks started way back with soldered CPUs and onboard power controllers, and later soldered RAM (though RAM today also has a very very low failure rate).

Given that this Macbook costs only a bit more than top-of-the-line iPad, I can see why Apple made it just as unrepairable.
 
oneMadRssn said:
To be fair, of all the components on the logic board, the flash memory has one of the lowest failure rates. (That said, always backup!) The road to disposable Macbooks started way back with soldered CPUs and onboard power controllers, and later soldered RAM (though RAM today also has a very very low failure rate).

Given that this Macbook costs only a bit more than top-of-the-line iPad, I can see why Apple made it just as unrepairable.
Click to expand...
And environmental friendly!

That is no excuse, someone at Mac with half a brain should have, ahh this does not make any sence
 
Expobill said:
And environmental friendly!

That is no excuse, someone at Mac with half a brain should have, ahh this does not make any sence
Click to expand...

I agree with you. Apple decided that thinness and supply-chain efficiency outweigh the minor environment friendliness benefit and repairability.

However, we get the company we deserve. All-in-one soldered and glued shut devices like the iPad sell like hotcakes. The message we, the consumers, are sending Apple is clear: We don't care about repairability.
 
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Expobill said:
And environmental friendly!

That is no excuse, someone at Mac with half a brain should have, ahh this does not make any sence
Click to expand...
Well it makes sense for Apple to make more money:)
On a side note: all MBP have it solderd too since 2016 (except the nTB. But here no 3rd party SSD fits)

While I hadn’t a dying SSD in the last 10 years. There where a couple of spinning HDDs kaputt

The main problem for me is that you can’t upgrade storage space anymore. While I paid 90€ for doubling SSD space in my old Air you now have to spend a couple of hundred
 
Thank you for the replies everyone! Right now the MacBook seems to start normally spontaneously (although intermittently only). Very strange. At least I'm able to get in to back up some stuff. I will take it to the Apple store and update everyone afterwards. Thank you again!
 
It's a tiny logic board. The MacBook 12 is mostly battery.
 

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Just wanted to update everyone:
I went to the Genius Bar, and they spent a solid 30 minutes troubleshooting and they even got a second opinion. Their hardware tests confirmed a hard drive error. They quoted me $575 to repair it.
One option is to use an external drive to boot, but then what’s the point of having such a portable machine?

Anyways what’s really a drag is that it’s barely 2 years old (and it wasn’t inexpensive when I got it)! It was also working perfectly up until recently. I paid a premium for this computer and would have expected it to last a little longer than that...

I’m not going to invest that much money in a 2 year old computer, since there’s no guarantee how it will perform in the future.

Thank you again everyone for your help.
 
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Sorry to hear about your issue. I also would not pay that price to repair, given the age and percentage to value. I'd sell it for parts, get what you can and move on.
 
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