Tag: MacBook

macOS Catalina: Install Slows and Errors on MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012)

For around 6 months I had intermittent issues with my MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012) where it was randomly ending up on the folder with a question mark icon, or the no-entry icon.

It used a 250GB Samsung 840 SSD – which I had installed in 2014 – and I figured it must have finally been at its end-of-life.

I’ve replaced it with a 1TB Crucial MX500 SSD; the swap went smoothly and as expected.

Now, I’m having problems installing macOS Catalina at all.

After installing the new drive I did the following steps:

  1. Downloaded the latest macOS Catalina from the App Store on my iMac
  2. Created a new Catalina Install drive using Terminal createinstallmedia
  3. Booted from the USB on the MacBook Pro
  4. Formatted the drive to APFS in DiskUtility
  5. Used the macOS install button, accepting terms etc..

The installer gets to around 50% normally (in around 5 minutes), but then it slows down dramatically, with the estimated time floating around 5-7 minutes constantly. The loading bar continues to move incredibly slowly (using the ol’ cursor on the boundary of the loaded section to track progress).

This goes on for well over an hour, and at around 70% it fails with the error:

An error occurred while preparing the installation. Try running this application again.

I’ve taken the following troubleshooting steps so far:

  1. Reset SMC
  2. Reset NVRAM, PRAM
  3. Recreated the install USB pendrive
  4. Re-recreated the install usb on another USB pendrive
  5. Used different USB ports
  6. Online-recovery (defaults to Mountain Lion, which got all the way through the progress bar then loads to a folder with a question mark at mid-install auto-reboot)
  7. Cloning the old Samsung SSD to the new Crucial SSD in DiskUtility
  8. Numerous power-cycles, and letting the machine sit for a bit etc.
  9. Run health-checks on the old and new SSDs, both return no issues

The machine had otherwise been running great. Fast as always with no known issues with RAM, or battery life, etc.. I can’t think of what else to try at this point.

The machine’s also in near-new condition, it’s been very well looked after. All the ports etc are clean and in good working order, as are the charge cables.

There are no Apple stores or authorised repair centres where I live (boat/flight required for the closest, which isn’t an option due to Covid lockdown).

Any ideas on what to try next would be greatly appreciated, I’d very much like to see this MacBook working again.

Many Thanks

Craig

install fail point
point where install slows drastically

battery – MacBook Pro randomly discharges from 100% to ~90% when plugged

My 15 inch 2018 Mac Book Pro with Mojave 10.14 randomly starts draining battery when plugged in. When I try to move the cable, change the power cable to a different USB slot nothing helps. The battery indicator is in charging state, but when pressed, it says “Not charging”. After some time, when it gets to 88-92% it suddenly starts charging again.
I noticed that this happens independently of loads. Once or twice a day. This can happen when 2 IDE, browsers windows, media player are running simultaneously, and when it is in idle state showing only desktop. I’m using native 85Watt charging block and cable.

Additional info:
In System Report -> Power, the Condition is displayed as Normal. With cycles count equal to 52. This used to happen even when the condition used to be better, with fewer cycles count. But less frequently.

gpu – MacBook Pro freezing in games with eGpu

At staram this is my MacBook spec:
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
CPU 2,6 6 core Intel Core i7
RAM 16 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
GPU Intel UHD Graphics 630 1536 MB + Radeon Pro 560X 4GB

Now let’s jump to eGPU spec:
GPU: Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB
Case: Razer Core X

The problem starting when I playing games. After some time, games like to freeze. Sometimes them unfreezing but sometimes not. When I stuck, hard disconnecting cable from eGPU solving issue. Somebody have similar issue and know how to fix it?

macbook pro – What’s the purpose of the metal sponges around the CPU?

While reposting my Retina late 2013 MacBook Pro I noticed one of the spongy metal disks around the CPU partially broke.

What’s the purpose of these?

I reassembled the machine and it seems to work fine, but I’m wondering what problems will it have with one of these items missing.

TIA,
Edoardo

logic board close-up

Mac OS Blocks Reinstall on Macbook Pro 2019

My work donated a Macbook Pro to me, when I attempt to reinstall a clean copy of Mac OS Catalina via USB drive I receive a message saying that I don’t have permission to install Mac OS. Anyway to get around this?

macbook pro – Issue with Microsoft Word on Mac

Hopefully, this is the right site for this. I am using a 2020 MacBook Pro and Word 2016. I am having issues opening a document sent by a friend. He is able to open it, and this problem does not occur when I try to open files that originated on my computer. When I try to open the document, I get the following error message:

Word experienced an error trying to open the file.
Try these suggestions.
* Check the file permissions for the document or drive.
* Make sure there is sufficient free memory and disk space.
* Open the file with the Text Recovery converter.

To resolve this, I tried having my friend paste the contents of the document into a new document, but I also wasn’t able to open that file. Here’s what I tried regarding the specific suggestions.

Check the file permissions for the document or drive.

I checked and the file is totally accessible, read-write enabled, Word has access to the folder it’s in (just the Desktop), etc.

Make sure there is sufficient free memory and disk space.

I just got a new computer and have 1.88 terabytes of space left, so definitely not a problem here.

Open the file with the Text Recovery converter.

In Word, I went to File>Open and selected the document. In the bottom-right corner of the window, I went to the drop-down that said “Open Original” and instead selected “Open Recover Text.” The file it produced is blank except for the words “Error serving file.” I also tried the “Open Repair” option in the drop-down menu, but that gave the same error as before.

Something else that might be relevant is that the files were sent through Slack, and the Slack preview worked on the document, but the Mac QuickLook preview does not work on the document (it just shows the document icon instead of a preview of the contents).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Macbook Pro 13 Early 2015 Display flickering and show rows

I have recently bougth a broken Macbook pro 13′ Early 2015. The display is the main issue. Infact, when the macbook turns on, the display shows this:
enter image description here

When it goes to login, the display shows this:
enter image description here

The image on the screen is flickering and also there are horizontal rows on the screen.

So I tried to connect the macbook to external display via HDMI cable and there are no issues.
I have tried to disassemble the macbook, but there are not particular issues inside.
I think the issue is not related to graphic card, but to display instead.

I have let to rest the macbook for few days, and today I turned on and the problems disappers. No rows,no flickering on the screen. Anyway after 5 minute the issue reappears.

I have no idea how I can fix it.

Have I to change the display? Assembly or only LCD? Or have I to check display cable?

Thank you

macbook pro – Possible memory corruption MBP 2020

I have a MacBook Pro 2020 13-inch with the 10th gen i5 CPU (about a month old).

My laptop froze, the screen turned black and the fans went 100% for a sec. After restarting, it stated that it was because of the following problem:

panic(cpu 3 caller 0xffffff801002b6be): 
"Possible memory corruption: pmap_pv_remove(0xffffff804f5eea80, 0x700007bc9000, 0x6c11, 0x8010000376e95066, 0xffffff9244933b14, 0xffffff9244933ad0): 
pv not on hash, head: 0xffffff806adf7080, 0x29d4355cd000, priors: 
1"@/AppleInternal/BuildRoot/Library/Caches/com.apple.xbs/Sources/xnu/xnu-6153.121.2/osfmk/i386/pmap_internal.h:979
Backtrace (CPU 3), Frame : Return Address


BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Skype Helper (Re

The log continues for a bit longer, but I think the most important parts are there. For context, I had some programs opens and was Skyping.

I tried googling a bit and saw that this is an issue with some older MacBooks. They mention reseating the RAM sticks, but that is not an option with the 2020 model (of course). They mention that some part of the RAM could be corrupted.

Now my question:
Given that my MacBook is now 1 month old, should I be worried? It has not happened since, but does this point to a bigger issue? Or is this just a one-time thing or a software problem.

battery – 2011 Macbook Pro 15″ keeps eating batteries

I have an ancient 2011 MBP that keeps destroying batteries. I had the logic board replaced in 2016 for the integrated graphics recall, FWIW. I just replaced the current batt with one from OWC (NewerTech brand), and bought a new 85w Apple mag-safe charger at the same time.

This same scenario has happened 4 times now. The charge in the battery gets low, and the Macbook won’t power on anymore. I plug it in, and the magsafe charger light stays green. After starting the machine, it says “Battery not charging” in the status bar.

No amount of SMC resets, pulling / disconnecting the battery, or PRAM resets solve the problem. I’ve only ever been able to fix this by replacing the battery with a new one. Anyone else having this problem?

macbook pro – How to disable the “Your trackpad is wirelessly connected to this Mac” notification?

So I have a 2019 Macbook Pro connected to a Caldigit TS3 Plus dock. Connected to that I have a Magic Trackpad 2 via USB cable (to charge it). It is a Bluetooth device. Every time I connected my MBP to this docking station I get this stupid notification:

Your trackpad is wirelessly connected to this Mac

And I can’t for the life of me figure out how to disable this. There’s no Bluetooth setting for the device. Clicking on “Settings” takes you to the Bluetooth System Preferences. There’s nothing I can see under Notifications Systems Preferences that pertains to this.

Now I should also mention that I connect TWO different MBPs to this same docking station and it seems like only when I change laptops does this come up but I’m not 100% sure about that (as in, I’m not 100% certain it doesn’t show up when I power the same laptop on or wake it up).

I’m actually shocked that a Google search for “Your trackpad is wirelessly connected to this Mac” (including quotes) has exactly 0 matches.