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Macbook Pro - booting problems/ he fucked it up badly

Marre_dg
By Marre_dg
in Troubleshooting
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Posted

A friend asked me to fix his Macbook Pro.

I've never seen a piece of equipment in such a bad shape.

 

So the problems of the macbook

 

- It no longer has a working battery, he removed it from the MBP

- No working keyboard, also while booting it wont accept an external keyboard.

- He has changed a line in some code that makes his laptop think its a macbook Air, so he could install windows from a usb drive. Why he did this I dont know. Bootcamp already accepts usb drives.

- Everytime he boots up the mac you wil get a black screen with a blinking cursor. That is normal for a mac, it takes a long time before it boots into windows.

- I cannot get into the Mac BIOS because it wont accept an external keyboard during boot for some weird apple reason.

 

The problems I have to fix

 

- When it boots up, it has to actually boot up and go into OS X. But he fucked up his hdd so much i basically have to erase everything.

 

 

My question

 

If I format the drive on another pc, and I put it back into the MBP will it force it to go to the download OS screen? Because I cannot go to the apple bios to delete the windows partition and force it to redownload the os becuase the keyboard does not work while booting.

 

 

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It's a mac .....

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It's a mac .....

Shut up.

Desktop: Intel i5-3570K (stock) | Asus Sabertooth Z77 | G.Skill RipJaw 16GB 1600MHz | Samsung 840 120GB | EVGA GTX 680 SC+ 2GB | Fractal Design R4 | Windows 8 Pro (soon to have dual boot Mac OS X)

Retina Macbook Pro : Intel i7-3840QM | 16GB 1600 MHz | 256GB SSD | Nvidia GT 650M 1GB | Mac OS X 10.8.5

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It's a mac .....

my mac is running 5 years, stable, not a single issue. god i regret it though

Intel 3570k 3,4@4,5 1,12v Scythe Mugen 3 gigabyte 770     MSi z77a GD55    corsair vengeance 8 gb  corsair CX600M Bitfenix Outlaw 4 casefans

 

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It sounds like he took it apart and unplugged some ribbon cables, btw try not to swear.

Mein Führer... I CAN WALK !!

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@MrSuperb got any suggestions?

 

Is there a way you can boot into Mavericks via USB drive? It's like 6GB.

 

Maybe you could replace it the OS itself? I would suggest format the HDD on a different PC, put it back in, boot from USB if you can and install Mavericks.

Desktop: Intel i5-3570K (stock) | Asus Sabertooth Z77 | G.Skill RipJaw 16GB 1600MHz | Samsung 840 120GB | EVGA GTX 680 SC+ 2GB | Fractal Design R4 | Windows 8 Pro (soon to have dual boot Mac OS X)

Retina Macbook Pro : Intel i7-3840QM | 16GB 1600 MHz | 256GB SSD | Nvidia GT 650M 1GB | Mac OS X 10.8.5

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my mac is running 5 years, stable, not a single issue. god i regret it though

Same...

Available from 3pm to Midnight Eastern Time (GMT-5). (>'-')> <('-'<) ^(' - ')^ <('-'<) (>'-')> You can't stop the kirby dance. 

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replace the keyboard man there is not a lot you can do 

If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough it will be believed.

-Adolf Hitler 

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It's a mac .....

It's the user's fault it's in this condition.

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Guys, we are here to help him, not to start fights.

i got a notification you quoted me. wonder why

 

 

OT: I think it could be solved by formatting and reinstalling Mac os. good moment to step over to maverick

protip: follow your own posts @Marre_dg

Intel 3570k 3,4@4,5 1,12v Scythe Mugen 3 gigabyte 770     MSi z77a GD55    corsair vengeance 8 gb  corsair CX600M Bitfenix Outlaw 4 casefans

 

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Same...

the unibody of my macbook is starting to tear up a bit though. and the battery gives errors every month, but nothing really broken

Intel 3570k 3,4@4,5 1,12v Scythe Mugen 3 gigabyte 770     MSi z77a GD55    corsair vengeance 8 gb  corsair CX600M Bitfenix Outlaw 4 casefans

 

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i got a notification you quoted me. wonder why

 

 

OT: I think it could be solved by formatting and reinstalling Mac os. good moment to step over to maverick

Sorry, i just mistakenly pressed quote. :)

Yeah, he should upgrade to maverick and that could solve all of the problems. :)

Error 709: Walrus on the road!

My build log: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/131216-the-small-white-p-node-304-build http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/190057-build-the-large-p/

 

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Sorry, i just mistakenly pressed quote. :)

Yeah, he should upgrade to maverick and that could solve all of the problems. :)

no harm done. I wonder how to get a free copy of Maverick. I consider upgrading myself

-edit, nvm. already found out how

Intel 3570k 3,4@4,5 1,12v Scythe Mugen 3 gigabyte 770     MSi z77a GD55    corsair vengeance 8 gb  corsair CX600M Bitfenix Outlaw 4 casefans

 

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no harm done. I wonder how to get a free copy of Maverick. I consider upgrading myself

You need to have some apple os and then you can upgrade for free, i just have no idea that how, sorry.

Error 709: Walrus on the road!

My build log: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/131216-the-small-white-p-node-304-build http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/190057-build-the-large-p/

 

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It's a mac .....

 

So? A computer is a computer, if he prefers a mac, he should use a  mac. But he must learn that those things are not meant to be opened unless you know something about it.

 

It sounds like he took it apart and unplugged some ribbon cables, btw try not to swear.

 

I've checked it, everything is plugged in.

 

Is there a way you can boot into Mavericks via USB drive? It's like 6GB.

 

Maybe you could replace it the OS itself? I would suggest format the HDD on a different PC, put it back in, boot from USB if you can and install Mavericks.

 

He said that booting from a USB drive doesnt work. And you need to be able to use your keyboard while booting for that.

 

replace the keyboard man there is not a lot you can do 

 

I was afraid of that. I'm not going to do that. it means tearing everything out and replacing the keyboard is expensive. Also he is not willing to spend more than 10 euro on it.

 

i got a notification you quoted me. wonder why

 

 

OT: I think it could be solved by formatting and reinstalling Mac os. good moment to step over to maverick

protip: follow your own posts @Marre_dg

 

But will reformatting the drive force it to boot into the recovery menu or do I actually need a OS X disc for it?

Aslo: Thanks for the following my own posts tip.

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- I cannot get into the Mac BIOS because it wont accept an external keyboard during boot for some weird apple reason.

 

Typical windows user problem. There is no BIOS on Macs, only a bios emulation for Windows and EFI.

The EFI ist not user acessable ;) (and apprantely there is no need for it to be acessible)

Mini-Desktop: NCASE M1 Build Log
Mini-Server: M350 Build Log

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-snip-

i think you need to have an OSX disc for it, your brother should have saved it. if you dont mind me saying, he did not act very smart.

Intel 3570k 3,4@4,5 1,12v Scythe Mugen 3 gigabyte 770     MSi z77a GD55    corsair vengeance 8 gb  corsair CX600M Bitfenix Outlaw 4 casefans

 

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I was afraid of that. I'm not going to do that. it means tearing everything out and replacing the keyboard is expensive. Also he is not willing to spend more than 10 euro on it.

 

chinees crap is your friend

If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough it will be believed.

-Adolf Hitler 

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Can you tell us what kinda Macbook Pro he has (age?, model?)

And what OS X version he has/had installed last?

 

 

What happens if you hit and hold alt after the gong appears when turning on the macbook?

Mini-Desktop: NCASE M1 Build Log
Mini-Server: M350 Build Log

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Ah yes, if it is a newer mac (I think 2011 or later) it will be able to download the OS from the internet without any OS. 

Remove the hard drive and format it as whatever. Then put it back in and it should boot up into the internet recovery. At this point it should accept an external keyboard and mouse which you can then direct it to connect to your wireless and start recovering. 

Then that should take a few hours depending on your internet connection and the speed of the hard drive. 

 

As far as tricking it into thinking it was an Air I don't know why on earth he thought he needed to do that. Apple even has a full fledged tutorial on how to use BootCamp. 

Also please refrain from swearing it looks tacky. 

 

 

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So? A computer is a computer, if he prefers a mac, he should use a  mac. But he must learn that those things are not meant to be opened unless you know something about it.

 

 

I've checked it, everything is plugged in.

 

 

He said that booting from a USB drive doesnt work. And you need to be able to use your keyboard while booting for that.

 

 

I was afraid of that. I'm not going to do that. it means tearing everything out and replacing the keyboard is expensive. Also he is not willing to spend more than 10 euro on it.

 

 

But will reformatting the drive force it to boot into the recovery menu or do I actually need a OS X disc for it?

Aslo: Thanks for the following my own posts tip.

Dude, do me a favor and slap your friend for me. 

 

Really hard, and not just once. 

Error: 410

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Typical windows user problem. There is no BIOS on Macs, only a bios emulation for Windows and EFI.
The EFI ist not user acessable ;) (and apprantely there is no need for it to be acessible)

 

 

I mean the menu you get when you hold ALT when you boot up :P where you can access the other boot drives and the osx recovery menu.

 

 

i think you need to have an OSX disc for it, your brother should have saved it. if you dont mind me saying, he did not act very smart.

 

He is an idiot and I have pointed that out in the past. You should see the state this macbook is in. The aluminum unibody is bent in places I can not understand how he did it. Also he dropped a coal from his waterpipe on the keyboard, so his spacebar is a little bit molten. It's beyond me, I also have a mbp and that thing does not even have a scratch.

 

chinees crap is your friend

 

I'll suggest it. But If he want to replace the keyboard he can do it himself. I will not be responsible for ruining this laptop even more.

 

Can you tell us what kinda Macbook Pro he has (age?, model?)

And what OS X version he had installed?

 

I believe it's a 2011 macbook pro 15 inch, i can not say if its late or early 2011. But I think it's early. I would love to tell you the model number, but the idiot has scratches all over the back plate that the model number has been scratched off.

 

The OS x version I cannot really say. But it would be either mountain lion or mavericks beta (i hope it's mountain lion, because if it's the beta I will have trouble resetting the damn thing, i've done it before)

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Ah yes, if it is a newer mac (I think 2011 or later) it will be able to download the OS from the internet without any OS. 

Remove the hard drive and format it as whatever. Then put it back in and it should boot up into the internet recovery. At this point it should accept an external keyboard and mouse which you can then direct it to connect to your wireless and start recovering. 

Then that should take a few hours depending on your internet connection and the speed of the hard drive. 

 

As far as tricking it into thinking it was an Air I don't know why on earth he thought he needed to do that. Apple even has a full fledged tutorial on how to use BootCamp. 

Also please refrain from swearing it looks tacky. 

 

Thank you, I'll try this.

 

Also: I dont know why he wanted to make it think it's an air. He's an idiot who thinks he knows everything about computers. And when shit breaks he comes to me to fix it.

 

 

Dude, do me a favor and slap your friend for me. 

 

Really hard, and not just once. 

 

I have done this multiple times in the past. Because he says stupid things. But I'm willing to do it again since you asked so nicely.  I'm willing to film it for you (and of cource for my own personal satisfaction)

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-snips-

why do you have to repair his shit btw? If my little brother destroyed his 1200 euro laptop i would let him pay for the problems himself.

Intel 3570k 3,4@4,5 1,12v Scythe Mugen 3 gigabyte 770     MSi z77a GD55    corsair vengeance 8 gb  corsair CX600M Bitfenix Outlaw 4 casefans

 

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