Chosen Solution
About two hours ago my MacBook Pro shutdown, as it had no battery left. When I got home I plugged the power cord in and started my Mac up. But instead of the normal startup screen, the only thing I got was a blinking folder with a questionmark. I did some research and tried booting it up holding down the option key, but instead of the startup manager, Internet Recovery appeared. So I put my OS X Moutain Lion disc in (burned it on a disc) after the blinking folder appeared and it loaded it up. I then tried Startup Disc, but it only shows the OS X Mountain Lion disc and nothing else. Have also tried open Disc Utility, but here it only shows SuperDrive Mac OS X Install ESD
disk1 Mac OS X Base System So it seems it can’t find the HD. So I’m pretty lost. Read something about it could be the hard disc being dead, or maybe just a cable not sitting right, but I’m am not sure about anything. So I’m hoping you could tell me what’s wrong and hopefully a solution. My warranty has ended, so I cannot take it back. Thanks in advance.
I had this problem recently, when i took it in to Apple, all they did was replace a cable that connected the HD to the motherboard. Apparently in the 2010 model this is a common problem!! If I was you, I would just take it to Apple. Since it is a common problem they might do it for free (they did for me). Good luck! If this answer was helpful please remember to mark it accepted.
I am seeing so many of these hard drive cable failures that I’m stocking them for the 2009 & 2010 13" & 15" MacBook Pros. Do not buy used parts for this repair as you will run into the same issue. I suggest to all that have this issue to write Apple about it and save your repair receipts. I’m pretty sure this will lead to an Apple replacement program or class action law suit and Apple will have to repay you for any professional repair expense you should incur. Apple had to repay people on the nVidia issue (although that was actually paid for by nVidia not Apple).
A friend had this same problem and brought the 13" Macbook Pro to me and after hours of troubleshooting I realised that the cable that connects the harddrive to the board is damaged. So called an engineer friend who sold me a new cable and bingo the system is back on. Hope this answer is helpful. Adelaja Oluwatobiloba Daniel. Nigeria
i also had the same problem, folder with a question mark, and what i did is i go to apple and they said that my hardrive is good meaning no problem at all, so they change the cable becuase it might be the problem, but after they replaced it with a new one, the same problem again folder with a question mark.. i hope i can get an answer regarding this issue.. thank you
FIX I had this problem upwards of 7 or 8 times, and I fixed it by replacing the defective cable. The more times I did this, the shorter the fix held for. I have now found a workaround by using a hard drive caddy. They are available of amazon for less than £10. You remove the optical drive (for CD/DVDs) and put the caddy in its place. The hard drive is then connected to the computer via different route, bypassing the defective data cable. It does mean you no longer have an optical drive, but that’s a small price to pay to have a functional computer! Caddy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_nos…
Here I found out the solution! Mine was the faulty HDD data cable. Here is how to replace that cable own your own. It was not so hard to do!!! https://youtu.be/iZuSz86stpc
