MBP 1,1-10,2 Late 2011 13" MBPro model 8.1 swap SSD to early 2011 15" MBPro model 8.2?

[zachiedoo]

I have a late-2011 13" MBPro with a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 model 8,1 that runs fine, albeit slowly lol. My daughter gave me her early-2011 15" MBPro model 8,2 with a 2.2GHz core i7 that won't boot up at all*. EveryMac says they use the same HDs/SSDs. Could just I swap the 13" SSD into the 15"? Would they be compatible? Would the 15" be able to boot up from that SSD (theoretically) even though their specs are not the same?

*After resetting the SMC and many attempts, I did manage to get it to try to boot up, but it would get halfway along the progress bar then go black and start all over again, repeatedly. I wasn't fast enough to think to try to get it into Safe Mode while it was doing this. I turned it off and now it won't even try.

 

[Amethyst1]

Could just I swap the 13" SSD into the 15"? Would they be compatible? Would the 15" be able to boot up from that SSD (theoretically) even though their specs are not the same?

Absolutely, yes. The SSDs are compatible, and unless the macOS install has been heavily customized for one particular machine, it is hardware-agnostic.

 

[DeltaMac]

Search for "radeongate"
an early 2011, 15-inch MBPro is absolutely one of those affected. Boot problems/black screen means it is time to replace the logic board. Or, you can try one of the potential fixes, which is to re-flow the solder connections. There's U-tube videos that show you how to do that. Not sure if it would be worth doing on a laptop well into its second decade.

 

[zachiedoo]

Absolutely, yes. The SSDs are compatible, and unless the macOS install has been heavily customized for one particular machine, it is hardware-agnostic.

'hardware-agnostic': thank you! simply stated but tells me something I never knew before. 👍

 

[zachiedoo]

Search for "radeongate"
an early 2011, 15-inch MBPro is absolutely one of those affected. Boot problems/black screen means it is time to replace the logic board. Or, you can try one of the potential fixes, which is to re-flow the solder connections. There's U-tube videos that show you how to do that. Not sure if it would be worth doing on a laptop well into its second decade.

First of all, thanks for bringing this up: It's something I had never heard of since I bought the 13" used and use it only sparingly.

Also, I touched base with my daughter and she said it was 'making noises' before it stopped working. I'm going to try the SSD swap, since I have it here and really have nothing to lose. If it works, great: I have a bigger screen I can play Uru on! 👍

If not, then it likely is the Radeon GPU and I will simply recycle the 15" and go back to the 13".

 

[zachiedoo]

Update: Once I opened the 15" this morning I pretty much had my answer: it already has an SSD, so it wasn't an HD failure. I decided to take the SSD from the 15" and swap it into my 13", which was already opened, so what the heck, eh? The 13" booted up fine with the SSD from the 15", so now I can let my daughter know I can recover any files she might have needed.

The 15" still would not even power on with the 13"'s SSD in it, so clearly it has another significant issue. I took out the memory and the battery and used one screw to replace one I was missing in my 13". Swapped the 13" SSD back in and it's fine as well so all is well.

The good news is I now have a MBPro that I know is pretty much useless as-is that I can tinker with...so of course I got to thinking: could one theoretically transfer the guts from the 13" to the 15"?🤔 I'm thinking there would be issues perhaps with ports lining up, mounting screw holes in the body not being in the right place, at the very minimum. This is just off the top of my head; I've NEVER taken a computer apart in my life. My only motivation for trying this would be to get the 15" screen...I DO love my visual real estate 😂

And yes, I know there are easier ways to get a bigger screen...I just really love to tinker...

 

[DCBassman]

Update: Once I opened the 15" this morning I pretty much had my answer: it already has an SSD, so it wasn't an HD failure. I decided to take the SSD from the 15" and swap it into my 13", which was already opened, so what the heck, eh? The 13" booted up fine with the SSD from the 15", so now I can let my daughter know I can recover any files she might have needed.

The 15" still would not even power on with the 13"'s SSD in it, so clearly it has another significant issue. I took out the memory and the battery and used one screw to replace one I was missing in my 13". Swapped the 13" SSD back in and it's fine as well so all is well.

The good news is I now have a MBPro that I know is pretty much useless as-is that I can tinker with...so of course I got to thinking: could one theoretically transfer the guts from the 13" to the 15"?🤔 I'm thinking there would be issues perhaps with ports lining up, mounting screw holes in the body not being in the right place, at the very minimum. This is just off the top of my head; I've NEVER taken a computer apart in my life. My only motivation for trying this would be to get the 15" screen...I DO love my visual real estate 😂

And yes, I know there are easier ways to get a bigger screen...I just really love to tinker...

Guts swap - pretty much not. Boards are different enough to make it look pretty impossible, even assuming, as you said, that the ports line up. Have you tried leaving it on charge all day and seeing if any life appears? Also try powering up from charger with the battery disconnected. I have two 2011s, both GPUs are toast, both are working well, so there are ways around this. My gut feeling: disconnect battery and try running off the charger.
EDIT: running without a battery will throttle back the CPU, but if the battery is the problem, you will at least know something's working.

 

[TheShortTimer]

My gut feeling: disconnect battery and try running off the charger.
EDIT: running without a battery will throttle back the CPU, but if the battery is the problem, you will at least know something's working.

Good call. An expired or faulty battery can cause power-management issues including delays during cold boots, erratic reboots and failures to resume from sleep.

 

[B S Magnet]

First of all, thanks for bringing this up: It's something I had never heard of since I bought the 13" used and use it only sparingly.

Also, I touched base with my daughter and she said it was 'making noises' before it stopped working. I'm going to try the SSD swap, since I have it here and really have nothing to lose. If it works, great: I have a bigger screen I can play Uru on! 👍

If not, then it likely is the Radeon GPU and I will simply recycle the 15" and go back to the 13".

Sidebar:

Before pursuing a possible recycle of the 15-inch, try first to upcycle it — whether by troubleshooting a way to get the system to work again (i.e., the GPU workaround methods, of which there are three threads, two pinned, which have different approaches to a workaround/fix). If that isn’t a path worth taking, find someone who wants the 15-inch model for them to try similarly, or to use it as a donor for another 15-inch unibody model.

Electronics recycling should be treated as a very last case path to follow. Diversion and upcycling are far less intensive, wasteful ways to reduce one’s overall carbon footprint.