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My poor sick macbook

M

Macno

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 15, 2023
30
2
Needing some informed assistance.
MacBook Pro 2011 Catalina.
Painfully slow and probably not fixable but....

I tried changing to just use the Intel graphics because I read that this could be the problem. No difference. So it was then I thought it prudent to run Mac diagnostics.
They just will not run.
Holding power and D does nothing. Tried this with option button +D and Cmd button + D. Nothing.
Tried recovery mode Cmd +R works but doesn't allow me to put wireless password in. Locked.
Tried Holding power down constantly and once again won't let me enter wireless password.

Does anyone have any ideas that work? Am I doing it wrong?
 
Macno said:
Needing some informed assistance.
MacBook Pro 2011 Catalina.
Painfully slow and probably not fixable but....

I tried changing to just use the Intel graphics because I read that this could be the problem. No difference. So it was then I thought it prudent to run Mac diagnostics.
They just will not run.
Holding power and D does nothing. Tried this with option button +D and Cmd button + D. Nothing.
Tried recovery mode Cmd +R works but doesn't allow me to put wireless password in. Locked.
Tried Holding power down constantly and once again won't let me enter wireless password.

Does anyone have any ideas that work? Am I doing it wrong?
Click to expand...
Do you have a SSD or a spinner drive? If SSD, you might need to reinstall the OS. If not, I'd replace the HDD with SSD and then reinstall. Are you sure its a 2011? I didn't know 2011 could run past High Sierra
 
Macno said:
Needing some informed assistance.
MacBook Pro 2011 Catalina.
Painfully slow and probably not fixable but....

I tried changing to just use the Intel graphics because I read that this could be the problem. No difference. So it was then I thought it prudent to run Mac diagnostics.
They just will not run.
Holding power and D does nothing. Tried this with option button +D and Cmd button + D. Nothing.
Tried recovery mode Cmd +R works but doesn't allow me to put wireless password in. Locked.
Tried Holding power down constantly and once again won't let me enter wireless password.

Does anyone have any ideas that work? Am I doing it wrong?
Click to expand...
Are you using some type of software to install Catalina? The most recent operating system is High Sierra (10.13).

I suggest downgrading back to High Sierra and see if that fixes the problem.
 
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JustAnExpat said:
Are you using some type of software to install Catalina? The most recent operating system is High Sierra (10.13).

I suggest downgrading back to High Sierra and see if that fixes the problem.
Click to expand...
Stupidly I put the os of my music Mac. This one is High Sierra.
Are there error logs I can view.
 
So I found the error logs. Yes I am a novice. Nonstop errors below....
AppleUSBHostPort::disconnect: persistent enumeration failures

Nothing plugged in usb ports. See attached - thanks in advance for any help:
 

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OP:

What SIZE is the 2011 MacBook Pro?
Is it 13?
Or is it 15" or 17"?

If it's 15" or 17" -- do you know what "RadeonGate" is?
If not, you'd better look it up and start learning.

If you're not having GPU problems (due to RadeonGate), the "slowness" is almost certainly due to the platter-based hard drive inside.

This is EASILY replaceable with an SSD (and 2.5" SATA SSD's are cheap, as well).
Go to ifixit.com to see what's involved.
Important -- you need the right tools -- Phillips #00 driver and TORX T-6 driver. Easily found.
 
It's a 15 inch. I think it's graphics related, getting lots of glitches. But of course could be the mother board. Not sure about it being hard drive related and using a 2011 machine by necessity not by choice(no money).

I'm exploring the issue of switching off the GPU completely and just using the Intel.

The big problem is that recovery option comes up with a blank white screen, I need to enter terminal to disable SIP.
 
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I have tried every single thing that I can find, but one....
All recovery combos fail to give option for Terminal so cannot disable SIP.
I created a High Sierra install USB....not sure what it should be doing, but it read it, took ages and seemed to abort with progress bar at 90%. Tried twice.
On all recovery combos it just will not allow keyboard entry on wireless password.
Changed DNS to Google still no luck.
So, reinstall won't work, disable gpu not possible without terminal, recovery not possible by without WiFi....

So...using cable direct into modem next and seeing if recovery connects with that.

If anyone has any bright ideas, please post them. Thanks.
 
"If anyone has any bright ideas, please post them"

It's time to be looking for replacement.
There's not much more to say.
 
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The final act! I'm close to giving up but have managed to get all the apps saved in time machine.

To recap:
1. The recovery mode does not connect to internet.
2. USB OS installer seems to be doing something, gets 90% in on progress bar then just jumps to normal logged on desktop.
3. There is no Utility menu on any option of recovery.

So, with that in mind, how exactly do I force the machine to reinstall High Sierra. It says there are no updates available, is there a way to trick it into redoing the last one?

The objective is to recreate a correct recovery section / with utilities and then disable Radeon/GPU card.
 
Macno said:
The final act! I'm close to giving up but have managed to get all the apps saved in time machine.
Click to expand...
Not sure I understand -- were you somehow able to run a Time Machine backup?

It seems like you've got some serious hardware issues, and it's a 12 year-old Mac so what you're looking at right now is probably just recovery of any important files, if you don't have them backed up.

Others might want to weigh in on this, but I wonder if it's feasible to pull out the hard drive, put it in an external enclosure, and recover it from another Mac.
 
OP:

If you come to the conclusion that the MBP isn't worth repairing, if it's a 2011 "unibody" (has the slot for a DVD on the right side), you can take the back off, and then disconnect the hard drive and "take it with you" to the replacement.

You'll need to find a USB3 external enclosure for a 2.5" SATA drive.
Many available and they are CHEAP.

Then, just connect it to another Mac, and your stuff should be "there".

You'll need a Phillips #00 driver to take the screws out of the back plate.
 
Thanks for responses. Yeah, my data was all saved before it got sick. But the apps had never been backed up...student with zero money. I wasn't using it very much because it was always iffy. I got the slowest time machine run in history performed a day ago. Took 72 hours for 120gb.

I just want to set it back to a default OS but can't get it to restore via USB installer and there is no recovery working. Objective to have a proper recovery terminal to disable SIP and stop using what looks like a faulty graphics card.

My question is, is there a way to trick the system into updating itself from the normal update screen. How do I erase the OS, if that can't be done?
 
Trying a different approach. Recreating the RECOVERY partition using script.
It seems to be working great but ends up with this error:

File system formatter failed. : (-69832)​


In terminal Disk0s3 has a blank name and should be called "RECOVERY" afaik. How do I give it a name?
 
Macno said:
Thanks for responses. Yeah, my data was all saved before it got sick. But the apps had never been backed up
Click to expand...
What apps do you have that can't just be re-downloaded, anyway?

My advice is get your hands on a new (used, refurbished, etc) Mac and restore from your Time Machine backup. Every indication is that your current Mac is cooked and too old to be worth repairing.
 
I am skint. Otherwise, I think I would have thrown it off the top of a big building.

None of the apps can be downloaded, since they were installed on this already. I tried before and Apple said no. I am stubborn, I just want a shot at disabling the Radeon graphics.
 
Thanks everyone.
I'm still trying to recreate the recovery partition using a script. Uses dmtest, Basesystem.dmg and Basesystem.chunklist.

I'm getting couldn't attach disk image -69736 still and I wondered whether the line

/Application/tmp/dmtest ensure Recovery Partition "$TARGET" etc. should have the Target variable defined as my main drive as I'm doing..... or something else?

Any ideas?
 
Using a tool called Recovery Partioner Installer from GitHub and a small change to the script for the location of "cocoa" file I got my partition rebuilt!

But, yet another "but", the disk0s3 Name field is blank. Does anyone know the command to name it in terminal? Without a name it doesn't work.

Diskutil rename /dev/disks03 doesn't work. Not mounted.
Diskutil mount /Dev/disk0s3 failed to mount. Probably because it is apple_boot?
 
Last edited:
(sigh) Wipe the machine, reinstall the OS.

Buy the software you are using without a license.

Problem solved.
 
posguy99 said:
(sigh)
Click to expand...
If it makes you sigh, kindly don't reply. Having a patronising sigh is not helpful.

posguy99 said:
Wipe the machine, reinstall the OS.
Click to expand...
Detail exactly how I do this. Every option I look at points towards the Recovery partition, Command R etc.
Internet recovery doesn't accept any wireless passwords. A bootable USB didn't load.

posguy99 said:
Buy the software you are using without a license.
Click to expand...

I purchased the MAC from eBay with all the software installed by former owner. Not knowing much about Mac but urgently needing one for a degree course, I wasn't even aware that Apple had this stupid rule about their software not being updateable or transferable.

Do you think I have hundreds of pounds to rebuy stuff already installed and bought in good faith?

posguy99 said:
Problem solved.
Click to expand...
No, that creates a dozen more. With no guarantee it will even work.
 
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