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I think my 2011 MBP finally died

MyRomeo

MyRomeo

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 22, 2010
493
86
United Kingdom
Late 2011 13” MBP, base i5/4gb spec upgraded over the years to SSD and 16gb RAM. about 6 weeks ago it refused to boot up giving 3 beeps which seems to point to a RAM failure. I got lucky, I removed one module and it booted fine and seemed to be ok. Last night it give the 3 beeps again, can’t remove my last module! Today I tried an alternative module but still just beeping. The module I tried today was 1866Mhz, I’m not sure if this is even supported by my Mac. Would it be worth trying a different module, 1333 or 1600 if I can get my hands on one?

can 3 beeps mean anything else other than RAM?

reluctant to declare it dead until I’m certain as buying a replacement for the infrequent use it sees is costly to say the least!
 
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MyRomeo said:
Late 2011 13” MBP, base i5/4gb spec upgraded over the years to SSD and 16gb RAM. about 6 weeks ago it refused to boot up giving 3 beeps which seems to point to a RAM failure. I got lucky, I removed one module and it booted fine and seemed to be ok. Last night it give the 3 beeps again, can’t remove my last module! Today I tried an alternative module but still just beeping. The module I tried today was 1866Mhz, I’m not sure if this is even supported by my Mac. Would it be worth trying a different module, 1333 or 1600 if I can get my hands on one?

can 3 beeps mean anything else other than RAM?

reluctant to declare it dead until I’m certain as buying a replacement for the infrequent use it sees is costly to say the least!
Click to expand...

I am very sorry to hear that. I'm sure you must have enjoyed your machine all these years. You should be proud that it lasted for 9 years. That is AMAZING! I hope my 2019 base model 15" lasts as long as your 2011. Truly spectacular to run for that long in my opinion.

May I ask what model you plan on buying next if this is not fixable? Maybe the 16" or the 13" M1 model?

--

Regarding the beeps, I have heard that hard drives can make a "click" noise and fail. I'm not sure if that is the same as the beeps. I would probably make sure that it's not one of the external components you installed. For example, if it is the SSD, maybe you can just change that out and be good again. There are black friday sales now too probably still going on.
 
MyRomeo said:
Late 2011 13” MBP, base i5/4gb spec upgraded over the years to SSD and 16gb RAM. about 6 weeks ago it refused to boot up giving 3 beeps which seems to point to a RAM failure. I got lucky, I removed one module and it booted fine and seemed to be ok. Last night it give the 3 beeps again, can’t remove my last module! Today I tried an alternative module but still just beeping. The module I tried today was 1866Mhz, I’m not sure if this is even supported by my Mac. Would it be worth trying a different module, 1333 or 1600 if I can get my hands on one?

can 3 beeps mean anything else other than RAM?

reluctant to declare it dead until I’m certain as buying a replacement for the infrequent use it sees is costly to say the least!
Click to expand...
When my mid-2012 RAM failed I had random errors and slow performance, then it finally did something similar to what you described. I replaced the faulty RAM stick and upgraded the hard drive. However, my old hard drive was likely partly corrupted because of the RAM issues. (This was in 2017.)
 
MyRomeo said:
Late 2011 13” MBP, base i5/4gb spec upgraded over the years to SSD and 16gb RAM. about 6 weeks ago it refused to boot up giving 3 beeps which seems to point to a RAM failure. I got lucky, I removed one module and it booted fine and seemed to be ok. Last night it give the 3 beeps again, can’t remove my last module! Today I tried an alternative module but still just beeping. The module I tried today was 1866Mhz, I’m not sure if this is even supported by my Mac. Would it be worth trying a different module, 1333 or 1600 if I can get my hands on one?

can 3 beeps mean anything else other than RAM?

reluctant to declare it dead until I’m certain as buying a replacement for the infrequent use it sees is costly to say the least!
Click to expand...
If it makes you feel better, I am considering buying a new MacBook with the Black Friday sales and the fact that my MacBook is no longer supported. I cannot do a couple remote tasks for work due to the software limitations. I'll probably keep it for years.
 
3 beeps (to my knowledge) always refers to "RAM problem".

You might go back to the 2 original RAM DIMMs.
Number them.
Try #1 in the upper slot.
If you get beeps, try it in the lower slot.

Still beeping?
Try DIMM #2 in each slot, respectively.

If you conclude that the MPB "is done", I suggest you remove the SSD.
It can be re-purposed with a new Mac.
If you buy an enclosure like this:
tinyurl.com

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)

SABRENT 2.5 Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP)
tinyurl.com
(cheap!)
... you can then connect it to the NEW MacBook and use setup assistant to migrate your data the very first time you boot up the new one.

Might be time to take a look at the new m1 MBP.
Some nice prices to be had right now.
 
Come on over to M1 land, the waters fine. I just upgraded from a early 2011 13" Pro with SSD, and the new speed/performance is hard for me to fully comprehend yet. If this machine lasts me another 10 years then the money is well spent.
 
You can continue to try to troubleshoot if the problem is the RAM modules themselves, but I think you also get the beeps for really any RAM problem, even if it's the slots themselves or some part of the motherboard that is failing.

That machine has served you really, really well but it may be time for an upgrade.
 
Thanks everyone. I got my hands on some different ram and thought for one moment it was resolved. It booted, got 50% along and then instant power off. Tried again and beep beep beep.

Ive decided to lay this one to rest and I have ordered a shiny new grey MacBook Air M1, base 8gb/256gb model. Most, if not all my documents photos etc are in iCloud so moving over should be painless. I’ll have a couple of apps to reinstall but nothing too stressful.

I guess it’s a little sad to see my trusted MacBook go after all these years but I got a good price back in 2011 for it and it’s probably only cost me about $1 a week to own since then. Pretty epic really.

I will for sure remove the SSD and stick it in a usb c enclosure. It may be slow by today’s standards but it’ll make a great external drive to keep my hi res music on
 
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I beleive there is an issue with these models and the solder joins around the RAM slots which detach over time.
If you are handy with a soldering station or take it to an electronics repair shop they might be able to fix it for you.
 
robotica said:
I beleive there is an issue with these models and the solder joins around the RAM slots which detach over time.
If you are handy with a soldering station or take it to an electronics repair shop they might be able to fix it for you.
Click to expand...
I’ll check that out. It would be nice to get it running if at all possible.
 
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