Weird booting problem MBP 13 mid2012

[AlexRutar]

Hello fellow forum members, i'm new here, and i hope i'm posting in the right place.

I have two MBP 13 one early 2011 the other one mid 2012.
Yesterday my newer mbp worked just fine, and i closed the lid, because i didn't need it anymore.
I returned after few hours, opened the lid, mbp was turned off, i gave it a start, and was welcomed with a blinking ? like, no operating systems were found.

The thing is i have multiple OS on the (SSD) drive, using rEFInd boot to choose between linux or os x. I have tested the drive on the other computer and it boots just fine, later on i've assumed its the cable.
I flip the cable, switching it on another computer, and it boots just fine.
Then i took the ssd of my working computer and inserted it. The problem re-appears.
SMC Reset does nothing as well.
CMD+L only shows bootable USB devices.
Later on i try to install manjaro linux (to internal drive), the procedure went fine, i could see other partitions (hfs) of my disk and everything.
Any way the install finishes, i reboot and walla the blinking question mark appears again ??

Switching ssd with the working computer, works no problem, i can boot in any OS i want...

I did quite a bit of a research but left me wondering nowhere. Is it the cable? But the cable was working on the early11 when i switched it... Motherboard?I hope not.

Any tips from from you guys, would mean a lot to me.

Best regards from Slovenia. Alex

 

[hobowankenobi]

Agreed, if the cable were bad, you would expect the problem to follow it.

I have never used rEFIind....and wonder if could be the issue? Is there a way to remove it as a variable to see if everything works in default mode?

When you Option boot, does either partition show up as bootable?

Can you see the drive and partitions in Recovery mode?

Seems unlikely...but did you try PRAM reset too?

Do you have an external dock to boot the same ssd from? Would at least narrow it down to the SATA bus/cable if boots OK from USB/TB.

 

[AlexRutar]

Hey Hobowankenobi, thanks for the quick reply, i guess the force is strong with you!

I just did what you said now, it boots fine via usb adapter, everything works normaly.
I noticed also that rEFInd boot kinda shuts off, when you replace the disk, or the configuration changes.
So i booted via usb to os x, reinstaled the rEFInd software, wich in my opinion would also make reset changes to the, some sort of, boot configuration memory on the motherboard itself (if it exists?).
Still, when i mount the disk internaly, the flashing questionmark welcomes me.

The PRAM reset didnt help.
On Option boot i can only see bootable usb devices, if i insert them. Otherwise it's blank.
I do notice that disk utilty shows my disk, but the partition looks weird, and cant be repaired or verified due to Unrecognized file system. I'm attaching a picture.
Also, there is no startup disk showing on the Startup Disk window in recovery mode (cmd+r). Makes me wonder, isnt that like a clear indicator for bad cable?

I guess im gonna flip the cable once again, but now from my working computer. I really hate doing that, cuz they are kinda sticky on the bottom, and fragile little things.
Maybe it started working for a short time, when i fliped it, and now its stuck again... I dont know really, its kinda driving me mad, cuz im used to this computers, and they are quite easy to repair and upgrade.


If you maybe have any other ideas please let me know.
Thanks, Alex.

 

[hobowankenobi]

Interesting...

I see the partition map is MBR. That should not be bootable...surprised it works. The default/recommended for boot drives is GUID.

I booted up an old OS (10.7) on external to verify because—strangely—in later OSes Disk Utility does not specify partition map info. Yep, as I remembered, GUID and HFS+ (extended) Journaled:

If you can reformat the HD, that's where I would start. Or, if you have another drive to format and test with would be good too.

Replacing the SATA cable would not hurt as they are pretty cheap (at least here in the US).