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Mid-2014 13" Pro no Apple logo and reboots as soon as I choose a boot drive

Audit13

Audit13

macrumors 604
Original poster
Apr 19, 2017
6,915
1,850
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I apologize for the long post but I've tried so many options I'm at my wit's end and wanted to provide as much info as possible.

I have a mid-2014 Pro 13" (i5, 8 GB, 128 SSD, 982 battery cycles, healthy according to system report, 5173 mAh capacity, healthy, bootrom 157.0.0.0).

When I press the power button with or without the charger attached, it chimes, screen backlight comes on, no Apple logo, stays like this for about 25 seconds, reboots, chimes, backlight comes on for 25 seconds, reboots, chimes, etc. I never see the Apple logo appear but the backlight works. Makes no difference if the battery is or isn't connected.

When I press the power button with or without the charger attached, hold option key to select a boot drive, the drive options appear. I left it like this for about 5 minutes and nothing happens. As soon as I select a boot drive, machine powers off. After powering off, it will sometimes power up on its own and try to boot, power off, boot up endlessly. Makes no difference if the battery is or isn't connected.

With or without the charger attached, I am able to select Internet recovery, select a network, starts downloading files, and then powers itself off or reboots. I never see the Apple logo.

When I press the power button with or without the charger attached and run diagnostics, no issues are found.

I put the SSD from my Air into the Pro and it booted with Catalina which is how I was able to read the battery health, etc. I then decided to boot from a macOS install USD which was successful, erased the drive to do a clean install, and it went back to rebooting all the time as I stated above.

I saw a YouTube post from a repair shop that said a bad battery caused a similar problem with a 2015 15" Pro although this Pro showed the Apple logo before rebooting endlessly and replacing the battery fixed the problem completely.

I'm ready to smash this thing as I have spent so much time fiddling with it :(

The Apple store ran their tests and said the logic board needs to be replaced at a cost of around $600.
 
Last edited:
Huh. I wonder if the SSD is toast. My failing SSD read as a logic board problem, it
went away with a new SSD. If the machine boots ok with another SSD as you mentioned, it seems a good bet the SSD failed.
 
I tried with three different SSDs and there was no change at all.

It is weird because it kept rebooting no matter what I did. I installed the SSD from my air and it worked. Using the same drive, I booted with a Catalina installer, erased using disk utility, started to install a clean os, and it went back to rebooting constantly.
 
Oh wow, ok that’s really odd. So the same ssd that worked when you first put it in started the reboot problem when you installed Catalina?
 
The reboot problem persisted from the time I got the Pro. I then installed a SSD with Catalina pre-installed, it worked, booted from a Catalina usb installer, erased the disk, started reinstalling Catalina, it rebooted in the middle of the install, and MacBook has been rebooting since then.

I removed the SSD, put it back into my air, installed Catalina again, made sure it booted and worked in my air, put it back into the pro, and it still reboots.

Some people have said it could be a bad battery. I have a late 2013 13" Pro on hand and it boots fine without a battery installed so I'm not sure a new battery will fix the reboot problem.
 
Progress: I installed Catalina onto a name drive using my Air. I then put the drive in the Pro, booted to Internet recovery, and choose to reinstall the OS. It worked and MacBook is now working (camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, keyboard, trackpad, camera, keyboard backlight, USB ports).

If I shut down and power up again using the power button without the charger attached, it will sometimes start but fail more often than not.

If I shut down with the charger attached and power up again using the power button, Apple logo appears and it works.

All this leads me to conclude it must be the battery. Or am I missing something else?
 

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Hmm. Maybe the battery is so shot it’s not providing proper voltage? That seems odd but maybe if one of the cells is dead. But your rebooting problem before happened plugged in or on battery, right?
 
profcutter said:
Hmm. Maybe the battery is so shot it’s not providing proper voltage? That seems odd but maybe if one of the cells is dead. But your rebooting problem before happened plugged in or on battery, right?
Click to expand...
Correct. It really is strange.

I did some more testing. When I power off the MacBook from the menu with the charger connected, leave the charger connected, and press the power button, it sometimes boots right to the login screen or it will keep rebooting on its own before it finally goes to the login screen.

I haven't really been able to figure out a pattern but I'm still inclined to replace the battery.

I actually bought this MacBook for parts without the SSD but it's too nice to use as salvage.
 
Yeah battery seems a logical next step. Question is, where to source a good one?
 
profcutter said:
Yeah battery seems a logical next step. Question is, where to source a good one?
Click to expand...
I definitely won't go to Apple because the cost is $269 CAD + 13% tax.

The person I bought it from said she took it to Apple and the tech said the logic board is defective and needs to be replaced at great cost.

I'm typing on it right now and it booted up right away.

There is one place I have used many times to fix liquid-damaged Airs and Pros. I'll probably go there first. On the other hand, I may not do anything with it at the moment as I can just keep it for parts since I also have a late 2013 13" Pro and both models use the same parts.
 
Problem is most 3rd party batteries are absolute junk. The one I put in my dad’s 2011 died after 2 months. If you have a good source that seems like a good idea.
 
Update: got a replacement battery from Amazon (Sloda brand which I have used in several MacBook Airs without issue) and the MacBook booted without any issues. I'm in three process of reinstalling Catalina and charging the battery.

The Apple store concluded that the problem was a bad logic board which was incorrect. The issue was resolved with a battery replacement which is a lot cheaper than a logic board.
 
profcutter said:
Excellent, thanks for the update!
Click to expand...
I actually bought the MacBook for $180 without a SSD or charger. I was going to use it for parts but, since I fixed it by adding a new battery and a spare 128 GB SSD I had at home, I have a fully functional machine :) And I still need a screen to fix a late 2013 13" lol
 
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