MacBook Pro SSD upgrade gone wrong OS install fails

[retta283]

The hard drive in my 2006 17" MBP was starting to die, my Mavericks partition in particular was showing bad signs, unusable. Didn't feel like paying a lot for an SSD, so I bought an Adata 240GB SSD for $30, brand-new.

Cracked it open and swapped the drive, no problem there other than I didn't realize there was tape on the underside of the drive holding it to the connector, I thought it was stuck for a bit. Got that off and went fine, didn't button it up just settled the keyboard again. Popped in a Snow Leopard disc and it didn't even see the SSD. I was worried at first that maybe I had messed something up inside (thinking worst case scenario first even if not logical) so I popped the top case off and put the old HDD in, booted up no problem. Figured that the SSD was either a dud or in a format that couldn't be read by SL disc. Put it in a FW800 enclosure, El Capitan Mac saw it fine and I wiped it as Extended Journaled with GUID partition table and GPT.

Put it back in the MBP, and Snow Leopard disc sees it. This wasn't the first OS I wanted to install though, so I took that out and put in my Tiger Server disc (don't have the discs for this one). Installer sees it fine, I start the process and it fails at verifying the disk and restarts. I wiped the partition again and reformatted, same issue. Tried to install SL first, and it just freezes early in the install, no errors or anything it just does nothing past a certain point. Verified the disk, no issues but still nothing.

Tried Tiger again, same issue. What gives? I know that these discs are good, I've used them to install on the HDD of this same computer and they installed fine on my 2007 Mac mini with SSD as well. Didn't have to do anything special to the SSD in the Mini to make it work, it just does. I'm starting to think the SSD I got is just bad or cheap so it doesn't work, but it's weird to me. I will be trying it in some other machine and seeing if it fails in a similar way. But anyone have insight into this?

 

[Amethyst1]

Could be an incompatibility between this particular SATA-III SSD and your MBP's SATA-I controller (or a damaged SATA cable, but my guess is the former). Put it into the FW800 case, hook it up the MBP and try installing OS X that way. If that works, the SSD itself is fine.

2006 Mac mini (SATA-I) - SSD Experiences?

While I'm waiting for my original Intel mini to arrive, I'm wondering which SSDs those of you who own/owned a 1,1/2,1 model have used successfully, given that some SATA-III ones are reported to not reliably work on a SATA-I interface. I had an Intel 320 in my MBP 2,2 (same chipset) so...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[MultiFinder17]

I've had weird issues like that with super-cheap SATA III SSDs in older SATA I Macs. Most name brands are pretty good about negotiating with the controller down to the slower speed, but many cheapo SSDs fail miserably, causing it to not be recognized like you're experiencing. For what it's worth, I've never had any issues with WD's cheap SSDs in my old Macs.

 

[DeltaMac]

hmm...

... there was tape on the underside of the drive holding it to the connector

a possibly-faulty SATA cable can act like yours: Works with HDD, but an SSD might have intermittent problems.
The difference is the speed that the SSD can handle, compared to the much-slower response in the HDD. The SATA cable can't have any faults, or it can have timing issues with an SSD (and still works without issue with an HDD!)
It doesn't take much "handling" of the SATA cable to start breaking down the connections on that thin ribbon.
And, there are a few SATA SSDs that don't work well when "timing down" to the 1.5 Gbps in your 2006 MBPro.

I agree with trying to install your system while the SSD is installed in an external case. You will find out if it successfully boots that way. Then, move it to your internal slot. If you have problems, even with a fully installed system, try replacing the SATA cable.
I don't know which 2006 17-inch you have - there's two, and the SATA cables are different on each.
One of these will be correct:
early 2006 Core Duo - https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/MacBook-Pro-17-Inch-Model-A1151-Hard-Drive-Cable/IF187-012?o=1
later 2006 Core 2 Duo - https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/Ma...ls-A1212-A1229-Hard-Drive-Cable/IF187-053?o=1
If that still doesn't work, I suspect that the Adata doesn't like that slow SATA.

I agree with MultiFinder17 post. Another brand that I have used is PNY. I have probably used 6 PNY CS900 in various older Macs, no problems in any.
I also like the W-D SSDs.

 

[Amethyst1]

don't know which 2006 17-inch you have - there's two, and the SATA cables are different on each.

OP has a "Late 2006" Core 2 Duo (as he runs Mavericks on it).

 

[retta283]

The drive is obviously good, because in my enclosure I was able to install and boot from Tiger no problem. Swapped it over to the internal connector, and I get the Apple logo and spinning wheel forever.

It is possible that I damaged the SATA cable during the Incident with the tape, I was struggling with it for a bit trying to pull it out, although I did attempt to restrain myself from using much force it was tugging the cable. Since the tap was on one side of the SATA connector, it half came off so I really thought it was stuck until I felt under it and felt the tape.

Looks like iFixit is out of stock on the SATA cables though, so I may end up just buying a better SSD and seeing if that will work. If not, I will replace the cable. Thanks to the people who posted in this, I had no idea about these compatibility issues. Last time I really dealt with hard drive tech was during the original mid-2000s SATA transition.

 

[retta283]

Follow-up, popped in the original HDD and it works fine, no surprise there. I also decided to pop the adata SSD into my Core Duo MacBook, and likewise it shows the same issues, so perhaps it is just the SSD cannot work with this SATA I interface on these.

I will try a new SSD before a new SATA cable then, certainly. It is still possible I messed it up, but as of right now it's not clear to me that it is. Will update if I find it to be the SATA cable.

 

[retta283]

Many months later I need this thing up and running so I threw a standard spinner in there, went to install Tiger and Disk Utility was reporting my 500GB drive as 3.6TB... Incidentally, the size of the software restore disc is 3.6GB, not sure if that's what the bugged number correlates to. Couldn't do anything with it, it crashed Disk Utility repeatedly and no partitions appear when attempting an install.

Popped in Snow Leopard, and installed without issue. Even updated it and everything. Tried popping the Tiger disc back in, and now the thing kernel panics trying to boot the disc. I start to suspect the disc is bad somehow so I tried it in a few other machines, no problem. Put it back in one last time and now it starts up again, but with the same problems as the first time.

Quite annoyed by this I wasn't going to give up just yet. I put the MBP into Target Disk Mode and installed with that disc via my 2006 iMac. Everything was detected properly by the iMac without a problem, and installation/updating worked fine. I try booting from this install and it lloks to be fine, but eventually the Apple logo turns to a prohibitory sign and the wheel keeps spinning. SL still boots fine.

What the hell gives? Is this a sign that I did indeed bust the SATA cable or is that spinner I threw in bad? I don't have many spare drives at the moment to test but I'm very frustrated right now. I've used this disc and setup to install to this computer multiple times within the last year or so, and only now is it giving me these wacky problems, and only with Tiger...

 

[retta283]

Addendum to the above: DriveDX reports no issues with the HDD but it has seen its fair share of use before. No pending sectors or anything of that sort.

 

[Applicator]

I've had similar problems in the past with a cheapo Intenso SSD. It was working just fine in most of my machines (even though not at the highest speeds) but I just couldn't convince it to work properly in my MacBook 1,1.
It wouldn't install on 10.4 and 10.5 but 10.6 and still, more than once, it refused to boot after a few days, flipping me off with a prohibited sign or the beach ball of eternity.
I threw it in my gaming rig and after wasting so much time it eventually died after maybe 500h of total usage.

Since then, I avoid everything below the SanDisk Ultra stuff. It's just not with worth the hassle

 

[retta283]

Final update: HDD was failed. Got a nice SanDisk SSD at a shop and it works perfectly. I was pretty pissed off on Monday when that happened so I sought a quick solution. Another drive for the spike...