Chosen Solution

Good day all, This is my first post here so i’ll try to make it simple. I have a Macbook Pro, 4GB, Unibody, 13" 2.3GHZ, Early 2011, i5, (previously running El Capitan) with a 500GB HD (partitioned with 60GB for Windows Bootcamp). Just before Christmas I experienced a fault. The wheel of death started to spin, and continued to do so for 11 minutes. I manually shut down the machine, and rebooted it. However, upon reboot I noticed a prohibitory sign and a question mark with a folder. I decided to boot into safe mode Command + R to restart the machine. I was unable to get to the desktop. It was suggested by various forums to download a fresh install of OSX. The download would start normally, and complete successfully. However I could not boot it up to the desktop and the loading bar below the grey Apple logo would get half way, or with seconds remaining and stay that way for 5 hours +. I was then advised to erase the HD and do a fresh install of OSX, so I preceded with that. Although I deleted/erased the MAC HD, I left the Windows partition there I took the Mac to a computer repair store to get some technical help. Unfortunately the technician had never owned or serviced a Mac but spoke and shared from a PC perspective. It was suggested to change the start up disk and boot from Windows. After that point, everything went down hill from there. I could no longer see ANYTHING Apple. All I would hear was the chime, followed by a white blank screen, followed by a black screen with white text and the words reading: No bootable device found–please insert and press any key. Unfortunately, no key would work or respond. Not even the green LED on the caps-lock button. I’ve tried various command prompts (as in the links provided) Command Prompt to no avail. I then ran an experiment and inserted a 2.5" hard drive with Ubuntu Linux OS and the MBP booted and recognised it. I was able to open and close applications and so forth. I then installed a Windows 7 HD and it recognised the OS but would not boot to the desktop. I could only access the options for Safe mode, Start Windows Normally, Recovery mode etc etc. However, no matter the option I selected it would just switch itself off and reboot with the chime. I then installed a Seagate HD into the MBP with a fresh install of OSX Mavericks. No joy. White screen and error: No bootable device. I repeated this again with a Hitachi HD with a fresh install of OSX El Cap, but no joy. Again, the white screen and error code as above. I’ve tried unplugging various components such as, Optical drive / Ram/ Airport, Battery/ Eject/ Trackpad etc etc and no change at all. Again I install the Ubuntu HD and the MBP boots up. I thought the fault was the HD Data cable, but Ubuntu booting up rules that out. I thought it was a HD failure, but I connected the previous HD externally via Sata & USB into a MBA (Mac Book Air) and that was successful. I could read all files and boot from that drive whilst holding the alt/option key. It appears if the MBP is in a Bootcamp / OSX Coma and won’t accept those operating systems (OSX or Windows). If anybody has a suggestion, i’d be pleased to hear it. A little voice tells me it could be the Logic board. Or simply a Nvida chip that needs replacing… It’s been around 5 weeks now, and I’m missing my dearest April (Macbook Pro), Thank you for reading :-)

Sorry you have suffered and spent so much effort. Change the Hard Drive IR/ cable. Use a NEW one from a 2012 13" model. I know this sounds simplistic after what you have been through but I replace them all the time. It gets damaged as it comes over the last step by the bottom hitting it. I usually put pads on either side of the cable to prevent this when replacing. MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Early 2011 Hard Drive Cable Replacement