SOS - Dead Macbook - 2nd time!!!

[africano]

My Wife's Macbook appears to be dead....for the 2nd time!!

My wife bought her Mac book pro in september 2012, so hers is newer than mine. After a year and a half it started freezing and then when booting it started showing a blinking folder, etc, etc. It eventually died and when we were back in europe (live overseas) she had the hard drive replaced and all good.

Its now been 8 months and a few days ago she got the blinking folder with a question mark....then it booted.....then another time blinking folder etc....I booted into recovery and when to disk utility and ran checks, repair disk, etc. It said the HDD appeared to be OK. Did this several times, all came back clear.

She used the mac book no problem....BUT today she booted it and it went straight to internet recovery mode - DOESNT let us go to other options when pressing cmd + R. ALWAYS straight to internet recovery mode.....

We select the network we are on at home and let it do its thing but it always end up with an error - apple/support 2103F.

So basically.....what the hell is going on, is it the HDD AGAIN?! What can we do.....and why does it keep failing! My wife is off macs now and I don't want to spend the cash to fix it if its simply going to happen again!

Any ideas?

Advice appreciated!

cheers!

 

[T5BRICK]

It could be the HDD, or it's possible the SATA cable for the HDD is bad. You could take it to an Apple store and ask them if they know whats wrong with it, and if they can give you a quote for the repair.

 

[africano]

Cheers,

Thats what we will do......we live in the Seychelles, still I think there is an Apple retailer here that fixes apple products, will take it in.

Just pissed off, don't want to change the HDD and then happen all over again!

It got changed and only after 8 months broken again!

So probably just a bad HDD AGAIN??

 

[T5BRICK]

Or the SATA cable. Does the computer get moved around a lot when in use? You could always upgrade to a SSD, it would be less susceptible to damage and noticeably faster during day to day usage.

 

[africano]

Moved around just at home....form room to room....

SSD worth it? Thought they were expensive for not very much space?

Any specific recommendations?

 

[mns579]

All HDDs eventually fail. It's just a matter of time. Eight months is at the low end of the spectrum and generally falls under the manufacturer's replacement warranty clause. Although such warranties cover the part, they don't cover the labor to install it. (Yet the labor is simple--see below.)

HDD life is generally lower in a laptop than a desktop. Higher temperatures and jostling inevitably take their toll. And laptop HDDs themselves are smaller and more compact than their desktop counterparts--which also adds to how quickly they expire. The convenience of portability comes at a cost.

Another factor is how the laptop is used. Simple physical abuse aside (laptops are more likely to be jostled, dropped, etc. than desktops), a laptop used routinely for processor- and HDD-intensive activities will also have a shorter HDD life than a more gently used machine's HDD.

A HDD is the least expensive part to repair--$35-$100, depending on the capacity you desire. Many companies and users routinely replace laptop HDDs every 2-3 years--an acknowledgement of the fact that, on average, laptop HDDs just don't last that long. But unlike MBPs of 10 years ago, the mid-2012 unibody (non-retina) MBP poses few challenges for anyone reasonably adept with a screwdriver. My thinking is, "Spend $50 and ten minutes now--even though all is working well--and save a big headache down the line."

Everyone has a favorite brand of HDD. I prefer HGST (formerly Hitachi), though others will have different opinions.

 

[glenthompson]

Moved around just at home....form room to room....

SSD worth it? Thought they were expensive for not very much space?

Any specific recommendations?

The Samsung 850 Evo 250gb is $118 from Amazon here in the USA. The 120gb is only $70 but not a great choice unless your storage needs are minimal. If you need a lot of space the 1tb is $380.

 

[mns579]

SSDs fail, too: http://techreport.com/review/27909/the-ssd-endurance-experiment-theyre-all-dead

 

[hiccuphell]

similar thing happened to mine. thought it was logic board as HD worked fine after connecting to desktop PC. it was the SATA/hard-drive cable and cost me $29 to buy replacement and installed it myself. and yes a SSD is worth it. much much faster!