OSX utilities not responding

[anthdci]

I have a 2009 macbook pro here that has developed a faulty hard drive. I've swapped it over to a new one. I've done this countless times over the years but this one has stumped me. I have tried booting from a lion recovery usb stick and from an el capitan install but with the same results. I select the usb to boot from, it brings up the OSX utilities screen, with the usual options to restore from time machine backup, install osx, disk utility ect. I can move the mouse around, but clicking does nothing, i can use the keyboard arrow keys to select anything form the list but pressing enter does nothing.

So i cant install OSX. I have another mac that I used to format the drive in HFS before it was put in so it shouldn't need formating in the macbook.

My only guess is its a hardware failure of more than the hard drive.

any ideas anyone?

 

[keysofanxiety]

I have a 2009 macbook pro here that has developed a faulty hard drive. I've swapped it over to a new one. I've done this countless times over the years but this one has stumped me. I have tried booting from a lion recovery usb stick and from an el capitan install but with the same results. I select the usb to boot from, it brings up the OSX utilities screen, with the usual options to restore from time machine backup, install osx, disk utility ect. I can move the mouse around, but clicking does nothing, i can use the keyboard arrow keys to select anything form the list but pressing enter does nothing.

So i cant install OSX. I have another mac that I used to format the drive in HFS before it was put in so it shouldn't need formating in the macbook.

My only guess is its a hardware failure of more than the hard drive.

any ideas anyone?

Not sure why clicking isn't working, so we'll best do a workaround. As you have another Mac, I'd suggest plugging in your new laptop drive through a SATA>USB dock.

From there you can hold CMD+R on startup on your other Mac and boot into the Utilities -- format external drive through Disk Utility and reinstall OS X to that newly formatted drive (you can install OS X to an external volume without any issues). Once OS X is installed, just take it out of the dock and pop it into your MacBook Pro. Should then boot fine & work OK

 

[tag]

Do you by chance have a USB mouse laying around somewhere? It might at least enable you to install the OS.

 

[anthdci]

Do you by chance have a USB mouse laying around somewhere? It might at least enable you to install the OS.

This seems to have done it weirdly. I wasn't aware the click on the trackpad wasn't working. I'll check it when it's finished installing. I would have thought it would work using the keyboard which is what confused me

 

[bcave098]

This seems to have done it weirdly. I wasn't aware the click on the trackpad wasn't working. I'll check it when it's finished installing. I would have thought it would work using the keyboard which is what confused me

OS X doesn't usually use enter for the action of clicking via the keyboard. In my experience, its usually space. Not that it helps much now that its installed,