Chosen Solution
Hello, I now dealing with an issue with my MBP mid 2010. Press start button and computer starts up (including boot chime), but screen stays gray. If i shine flashlight on screen i can see apple logo, spinning cursor and loading bar. The bar does not load but remains on screen for 3-5 minutes then vanishes but spinning cursor and logo remains indefinitely and no sign in screen I have tried all different key press combinations to reset SMC, PRAM, NVRAM, Safe Mode, Single Mode but nothing changes the above sequence. I thought maybe keyboard was bad, but the led on caps lock does glow when pressed so i assume keyboard is working. Disconnected HD cable and computer booted up to flashing folder/question mark Disconnected keyboard cable and computer would not boot. Is this a hardware/software issue? or is there anything else i can try to get not only the screen to light up but also boot into the sign in screen. Thank you.
@walkeryoung - Sounds like you have a bad drive and/or SATA cable here. Do you have access to a second Mac which you can connect your system to using Target Disk Mode. Here’s a bit more on how to set it up: macOS Sierra: Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode. In this case we want to use the other Mac’s copy of Disk Utility to check your system. If you can get your system in to Target Mode. If you can see the Icon floating on your screen we know the system is OK and only the drive or SATA cable needs repairs. If you can see and access the system using Disk Utility thats also a good sign. Here is the guide you’ll need to follow to replace the cable: MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2010 Hard Drive Cable Replacement and here is the part you want to use: MacBook Pro 13" Unibody (Mid 2012) Hard Drive Cable this is the newer version of the cable which will also work in your system. After you replace it you will likely need to reformat your drive and its possible the drive may not be recoverable. At which point you’ll need to get a new drive.
