Missing hard-drive...

[DJTEMPO7]

The computer is a 15" MacBook Pro (early model) A1150.

I got this from a friend who found herself drawn to the dark-side at work (Windoze machines) and wasn't using the MacBook anymore.

The hard-drive was missing, she moved it to an external USB case to facilitate easier transporting of files and whatever.

I put in an OS HD pulled from an external case that was working just fine, but the computer would not boot off it. Popped in an OS disc (10.5.4) and it booted fine. HD Utility did not see the internal drive.

Can boot off the ports, FW and USB), and off the Express/34 buss through a Sonnet dual FW/single USB card.

Got a new internal HD ribbon cable from a reputable seller on eBay, thinking the cable might have been damaged when the drive was removed, but still no dice. The drive spins up, but doesn't show up in HD Set-up, or in the About this Mac selections.

It's a beautiful computer, in very good shape, seems to work fine in all respects except this internal HD issue, but not of much use if I can't get it to boot off the internal drive.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Chip Tredo - Dallas

 

[ConCat]

Well, this is one reason I never ever buy parts off of eBay, even if they're reputable. It's really hard to know what you're going to end up getting. I'll buy parts from pretty much anywhere else.

 

[seveej]

Yeah, the A1150 is pesky, among other things because bluetooth piggybacks along on the HDD cable.
If you're sure the drive unit works (disk utility sees it when it' in an external enclosure), then you either need (another) new cable or you're in bigger trouble (logic board...)

... but ...

... the removal of a HDD out of an A1150 is (as I'm sure you've noted) not the proverbial walk in the park, so the story of someone actually moving a working drive from a working computer into an external enclosure merely for convenience sounds ... Well ... I'd take it with a pinch of salt...

RGDS,