Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacBook Pro 15" (Early 2011)

S

Starbuckpga

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 15, 2009
116
0
I've got an early 2011 Macbook Pro that I bought last year. Everything's been running great since day one. However some issues over the weekend.

Last week I noticed issues with my battery and the "Service Battery" was showing up if I clicked at the top where my battery was charging and shows the percentage level. I didn't think anymore of it as the battery was still holding a small charge and figure I'd get it checked out in a couple weeks.

This weekend even more issues. I have an Intel SSD drive as my boot and main drive, then a 750 GB drive in the optical drive spot. It's been like this for almost a year now. Yesterday I went to boot it up and noticed the white light on the front flash roughly five times. Then it started up and stayed on the Apple screen for a very long time. So I turned it off and started it up again. Same result, except this time it booted from my 750 GB drive (still had old copy of Lion on it from where I had it before buying and installing the SSD) instead of the main SSD. I went into the Recovery mode and the SSD is not even showing up now. All I see is the 750 GB drive.

Also when booted up now from the 750 GB drive, the battery shows 0% and stays there. Plus the light on the battery charger cable is green rather than orange as if it was charging the battery.

So now my question is, why won't why MacBook Pro boot from the SSD? Is it because of a bad battery? I hit the "Option" button when the laptop starts and there is no option to boot from the SSD. So I don't know if I have a SSD issue as well and the battery. Or if the battery being bad it would cause the SSD not to boot properly. I wouldn't think so, but I'm not an expert on the SSD.

I did take the bottom panel off, removed the SSD and re-seated the drive and cable to see if that would help. Nothing.

Thanks for any help for anyone.
 
Starbuckpga said:
I've got an early 2011 Macbook Pro that I bought last year. Everything's been running great since day one. However some issues over the weekend.

Last week I noticed issues with my battery and the "Service Battery" was showing up if I clicked at the top where my battery was charging and shows the percentage level. I didn't think anymore of it as the battery was still holding a small charge and figure I'd get it checked out in a couple weeks.

This weekend even more issues. I have an Intel SSD drive as my boot and main drive, then a 750 GB drive in the optical drive spot. It's been like this for almost a year now. Yesterday I went to boot it up and noticed the white light on the front flash roughly five times. Then it started up and stayed on the Apple screen for a very long time. So I turned it off and started it up again. Same result, except this time it booted from my 750 GB drive (still had old copy of Lion on it from where I had it before buying and installing the SSD) instead of the main SSD. I went into the Recovery mode and the SSD is not even showing up now. All I see is the 750 GB drive.

Also when booted up now from the 750 GB drive, the battery shows 0% and stays there. Plus the light on the battery charger cable is green rather than orange as if it was charging the battery.

So now my question is, why won't why MacBook Pro boot from the SSD? Is it because of a bad battery? I hit the "Option" button when the laptop starts and there is no option to boot from the SSD. So I don't know if I have a SSD issue as well and the battery. Or if the battery being bad it would cause the SSD not to boot properly. I wouldn't think so, but I'm not an expert on the SSD.

I did take the bottom panel off, removed the SSD and re-seated the drive and cable to see if that would help. Nothing.

Thanks for any help for anyone.
Click to expand...

I wouldnt think those 2 issues are related, put the 750GB in the main bay and see if its the sata cable if the 750 works where the SSD was than you can narrow it down to the drive
 
If the SSD isn't showing up in Disk Utility, then I suspect the drive is failing.

Also it sounds like your battery is failing as a second issue.

I would put your laptop back to stock (optical drive restored, orig drive in the main bay) and have Apple replace the battery under warranty (if it is under warranty). While this is happening, I would try the SSD in another computer and RMA it with Intel.
 
They don't sound like related issues to me. Did your battery just suddenly start having problems, or has it been a slow and steady decline? Do you have anything like iStat that shows the battery health and how many cycles you have on it? It seems pretty early on for your battery to fail, but there can be things that would cause it. If you don't have an unreasonable amount of cycles on it, Apple may replace it for you. You'd have to take it to them to see.

I agree with the others, try swapping the HDD and the SSD to see if it's a connection issue or a drive issue. It could be that the SSD is failing and that's why it's not showing up anymore. Test it in a different computer to know for sure.
 
sweetbrat said:
They don't sound like related issues to me. Did your battery just suddenly start having problems, or has it been a slow and steady decline? Do you have anything like iStat that shows the battery health and how many cycles you have on it? It seems pretty early on for your battery to fail, but there can be things that would cause it. If you don't have an unreasonable amount of cycles on it, Apple may replace it for you. You'd have to take it to them to see.I agree with the others, try swapping the HDD and the SSD to see if it's a connection issue or a drive issue. It could be that the SSD is failing and that's why it's not showing up anymore. Test it in a different computer to know for sure.
Click to expand...

ya I also have an early 2011 it was at 64% health on 292 cycle count, apple replaced it for me last week, I did have apple care so im not sure if they would of replaced it without it
 
My next step was to pop the 750 GB drive back into the original spot and see if it will boot. I suspect it will. I'll be pissed if the SSD drive is failing, considering its not even a year old and these drives were supposed to so good and reliable.

The battery issue just happened all the sudden, just about 1.5 weeks ago. I happen to notice the battery wasn't lasting as long, so I checked it out and that's when I noticed the "Service" light at the top under the percentage icon. I did a battery cycle then to see if that helped, but same result.

Off the top of my head, not a lot of battery cycles, probably less than 100 if I had to guess. The battery issue just happened all the sudden and then the drive to follow, which I thought was weird.

No iStat, had it installed and then I removed it for some reason. Not sure why, but guess I could re-install it to get battery information if needed.

And thanks everyone for the responses.
 
Had a similar problem with my early 2011 mbp. I had a crucial m4 in the hdd bay and the 750gb hdd in optibay.

My 750GB 5400rpm harddrive died a month ago, my battery died last week. The capacity was declining over 3 weeks from ~93% to 51% with ~160 cycles. I did not get a replacement from apple because I don't have a AppleCare protection plan.

I had to pay for a new hdd and battery.
 
markdaster said:
Had a similar problem with my early 2011 mbp. I had a crucial m4 in the hdd bay and the 750gb hdd in optibay.

My 750GB 5400rpm harddrive died a month ago, my battery died last week. The capacity was declining over 3 weeks from ~93% to 51% with ~160 cycles. I did not get a replacement from apple because I don't have a AppleCare protection plan.

I had to pay for a new hdd and battery.
Click to expand...

Sounds like my case except the SSD is failing on me and not the 750 GB drive.

I'm going to be pissed if I can't get the SSD drive back up and running. Not a lot of on there, but some pictures on my desktop that I'd like to get and I'd like to double check the drive to see if there is anything else I need. Most of my stuff on the 750 GB drive as that is what it is used for as a backup/storage drive.

May I ask what did the battery cost you?
 
Starbuckpga said:
May I ask what did the battery cost you?
Click to expand...

At my local apple service partner (southern germany, no apple store around until end of september) they charged 159 euro.

But if you are willing to void any guarantee and if you are lucky you may get a cheap genuine apple battery imported from china at ebay for less than 60 euro. (a friend of mine did this, received a genuine apple battery)
 
markdaster said:
At my local apple service partner (southern germany, no apple store around until end of september) they charged 159 euro.

But if you are willing to void any guarantee and if you are lucky you may get a cheap genuine apple battery imported from china at ebay for less than 60 euro. (a friend of mine did this, received a genuine apple battery)
Click to expand...

Jesus. I was actually going to pop the battery out last night and re-seat it as well, but then noticed the special screws they used and did not have that kind tool to unscrew them and remove the battery.
 
Starbuckpga said:
Sounds like my case except the SSD is failing on me and not the 750 GB drive.

I'm going to be pissed if I can't get the SSD drive back up and running. Not a lot of on there, but some pictures on my desktop that I'd like to get and I'd like to double check the drive to see if there is anything else I need. Most of my stuff on the 750 GB drive as that is what it is used for as a backup/storage drive.

May I ask what did the battery cost you?
Click to expand...

in Canada it was listed as a $140 job for parts and labour
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back