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The March 2015 update of Apple's 13" MacBook Pro Retina Display, model A1502, features fifth-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors and introduces the Force Touch trackpad.

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Three beeps of death after High Sierra update

TL;DR at the bottom:)

Hello,

I've encountered an unfortunate problem and would like to ask if there is any way I can fix this by myself.

I've been using my Macbook for about 2.5 years without a single problem. Unfortunately I had to install Windows 10 through Bootcamp due to work circumstances and to save SSD space I formatted the OSX partition. Everything was fine until I decided to sell the machine and to do that I had to revert the system to OSX. I did that using the recovery and El Capitan was installed.

Then I decided to upgrade the system to High Sierra, which broke my laptop. During the installation it restarted to the Apple logo screen with text saying "Installation, X minutes left" and it was going fine until the screen went black and nothing happened. Then it started flickering with horizontal green lines and doing nothing. I left the machine to work for about 30mins and then I tried to restart it by long pressing the power button. After turning it on again it only showed a flashing question mark which I firured out meant a faulty OS installation, which made sense since I turned it off during the install.

After that I tried to get into the recovery and at that point I was met again with the flickering horizontal lines. I let the machine sit for about an hour and then tried to turn it on again and it just started beeping, 3 long beeps with a 5second pause and as I found out they meant faulty RAM. Please note that the Macbook was working absolutely fine before I tried to install High Sierra. Now I cannot do basically anything since the RAM is soldered to the logic board and the Macbook wont allow me to do anything. I tried resetting SMC, NVRAM and going to recovery etc but every time I was met with the three beeps.

From what I found on the internet High Sierra also does a firmware upgrade which I think broke my machine.

Is there anything I can do to fix this?

Thank you

TL;DR: During High Sierra installation the screen started flickering, I rebooted the machine and now I can't boot it because of the three beeps "of death". The RAM is soldered to there's to way to replace it

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it sounds like an issue with the ram

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I have an early 2011 macbook pro with 8 gigs ram (I upgraded it). I was running Sierra with no problems, after updating to High Sierra I got the 3 beeps, I removed the ram and tried with different configurations and the original ram. Same result 3 Beeps. Took it to an authorized service dealer and there was no hardware issues they wiped it an reinstalled OS it and it booted , they said it was probably a bad kext somewhere. I reinstalled all my files from a Time machine backup and the machine worked fine until I did the latest App Store update on reboot I got the 3 beeps of death again. After several days of frustration and waiting for Apple Care to get back to me I did a restore in recovery mode (5 hours later) it booted fine. Will think twice about doing updates again. Something very wonky about High Sierra if it does this after an Appstore update.

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I have a mid-2011 iMac 27" running Yosemite. I installed High Sierra on an external drive and if I attempt to boot from that drive I get the 3 beeps of death. But if I boot from Yosemite on my internal drive I have no problem at all. So it is not a ram issue here at all.

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2011 and a 2012 15” MacBook Pro’s, BOTH had ram failure happen during install! Replaced ram and zero issues on both.

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I'd say the issue could be a ram failure or it could be the firmware update got interrupted and left your computer in a limbo state. Since if wont let you reset the SMC you are gonna need to pull the battery connector out of the logic board and hold the power button to discharge the laptop. Follow up to step 6 of the guide.

MacBook Pro 13" Retina Display Early 2015 Battery Replacement

After holding the power button while the connector is disconnected for 10 seconds reconnect the battery connector and see if she boots. If it does then great! Boot into recovery mode and reinstall the OS. If it doesn't you may have a logic board failure on your hands. Let me know if you have any questions.

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Disconnecting the battery didn't help unfortunately. I'll take her to an authorized repair shop and let them take a look. Thank you for your help!

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Venca,

I have had similar problems. The horizontal lines across the screen sadly suggests to me a cooked logic board - based on my experience with that happening. I have 2011 MBP which once cooked its motherboard and which was replaced by Apple under warranty - its a vintage machine now but up until I stupidly upgraded to High Sierra it worked just fine. Was one of the first Core i7 machines released. The upgrade to High Sierra causes it too overheat and then give the 3 beeps of death. I had to reinstall Yosemite on it but I suspect the firmware update that occurred under High Sierra will remain installed as it is not reversible. I have also booked it in to the Apple store but I know what they'll say "its not the software, its the hardware. I will argue that it was working fine until their OSX downgrade (sic). They will say the motherboard is cooked and they no longer stock parts. Then they'll ask if I would like to look at a new MBP ". I suppose six years is ok for a machine but sad that Apple killed their own machine with their own software and old age didn't. The sceptic in me thinks they did it on purpose to make me buy a new one.

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Venca Parchomenko will be eternally grateful.
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