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Mid 2012 model, A1278 / 2.5 GHz i5 or 2.9 GHz i7 processor.

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Hard Drive still not found after cable replacement

Hi!

I started to have issues with my MacBook, having question mark at boot and stuff like that. I thought my hard drive was bad, I took it out and plugged it with a SATA to USB and the hard drive was working perfectly. I have put the hard drive back and it was working. It started to freeze again, sometimes question mark at boot, etc. I tried a clean install. I never succeeded to re-install OSX. I always had error while installing. I don't remember the exact error.

I changed the SATA cable and decided to upgrade to a SSD. I reinstalled OSX in a few minutes (SSDs are so fast!) and it was working great! Then it restarted to freeze and to give me question mark at boot.

I took the hard drive out again, plugged it with a SATA to USB cable and the hard drive works fine. I tried another hard drive and never succeeded to get it detected by the MacBook with a Ubuntu Live USB. When I plug the same hard drive using SATA to USB, I can install Ubuntu on it and it works fine!

I'm really aware that it may be a bad logic board, but the hard drive connector on the logic board looks like new and I didn't find anything suspicious.

Any idea what's happening with my MacBook? Any help would be highly appreciated. I'm not a noob you can shoot technical terms. Thanks!

Update (02/22/2016)

For informations, I bought this one: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/NEW-HDD-Hard-Driv...

Update (02/24/2016)

I took the MacBook to an ASP yesterday, they changed the cable in a few minutes and it's working #1 since then. I guess the OEM cable will work for a while :-) Thanks for helping!

Answered! View the answer I have this problem too

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Did the new cable have paper covering the sticky surfaces when you got it?

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Take it back to the original factory parts. Then take it in to an ASP (authorized service provider), not Apple and ask them to test it for this repair extension program: https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro...

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Hi mayer, thanks for the answer! What do you mean by "Take it back to the original factory parts"? Put back the old cable? If so, I don't have it anymore. Also, I'm not sure how the link you sent me could help me. The only "MacBook Pro Repair Extension Program" I see is about video, and doesn't cover my model. If you could give more details it'd be more than welcome. Thanks! :D

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OK, You're right the 13" is not covered. I have seen enough to believe it should be.

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@mayer, do you think it could be possible that the cable I bought went bad too? Maybe the quality wasn't as good as the one sold here on ifixit? I'm just worried that I may buy a new cable for nothing, like maybe it's the connector on the motherboard... but the connector seems in pretty good shape.

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You can't tell by looking, yes I have gotten in new bad cables

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Thanks for your time @mayer, I decided to take it to an ASP and it just took a few minutes to repair it. I should have done that the first time instead of buying something from eBay.

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I've seen this happen if the cable died to a spill or a drop. Anything physical happen to the machine before it died?

Try Safe Boot - Hold Down shift and don't let the bugger go until you see a login screen.

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Kevin, spills don't matter on these cables. I've replaced over a hundred bad cables. It's bad cables plus the stair case turns plus the bottom hitting the cable on the last step. Apple just won't admit it. Takes a law suit now for them to fess up to any fault. This is what happens when the MAN dies and the corporation starts running the company.

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I have to agree with Mayer here.

I have also replaced many SATA cables. Apple design failed to account for a sharp edge around the metal HD frame area the cable crosses. Here a bang on the bottom cover will hammer the cable across this sharp edge. To solve this I add a few layers of Kapson tape onto the cable. I also create a bumper using some plastic stock so it stops the lid from crushing the cable.

The other thing I've found is the cables construction is different between the systems which came with a SATA II (3.0 Gb/s) drive and the ones that came with a SATA III (6.0 Gb/s) drive. So if you upgrade the firmware to enable full SATA III functions on the older system you also need to upgrade the SATA cable to the newer unit if you are planing on installing a SATA III drive.

The systems we buy get a new drive and cable as part of their rehab before they go into the field. Rarely do I get a system back after I've fixed things.

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Useful info. :)

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orditeck will be eternally grateful.
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