Spinning Wheel crashes at start up, Not an error with actual hard drive.

[Uddername]

I recently bought a second hand macbook pro 2009. The guy told me it worked fine but you couldn't update the Operating System. I was okay with this because we agreed it must be a hard drive issue and i wanted to replace it with a 1tb SSHD anyway. I tried to enter disk utility to wipe the original 160gb hard drive, but like the guy said, the spinning wheel would just crash. So i installed my new 1000tb SSHD and the exact same thing happen, i insert a Mavericks USB, hold Option, click on the bootable USB and the spinning wheel starts and then stops.


The only way i was able to wipe the 160gb using disk utility was doing it through my iMac and having the Macbook in Target mode.


I know it's not a hard drive issue, as i bought three of these SSHD's and the other two worked fine. Would it be the hard drive cable or something else?

Thanks.

 

[Uddername]

Any advice?

 

[Laco]

You may not want to hear this. But personally, if possible I would return the computer and ask for my money back.

 

[simonsi]

The guy told me it worked fine but you couldn't update the Operating System.

Oxymoron, if you can't update the OS then it has a serious fault. As you purchased it knowing it had that fault you may not be able to return it. If you can, I would.

 

[Uddername]

Would be difficult to return it. I just assumed the hard drive was damaged. I will see what the genius's at the Apple Store say and if it's an expensive fix, i'll sell it as parts or spares.